Can Active Pickups Be Made Passive?

[john nam]

My Yamaha TRB 1005 has active Yamaha pickups on it, but I want to switch it to make it passive, so do I have to get new pickups or will a guitar tech be able to do some rewiring and make them passive? I want to do this because I'm kind of paranoid about running out of battery during a set and would rather have passive pickups, even if it means losing a little oomph tone-wise. Please advise.

[JtheJazzMan]

Even when the battery starts to get low youll have days of playing before it actually stops working.

Its a non-issue.

[john nam]

I guess I'm just scared that I will not have noticed it. It happened to me once several years ago and ever since, I've only gigged with passive or active/passive basses. I also want to avoid buying new pickups if I can because I like my current ones, but it's just that they are active only.

[Bocete]

Active pups will not sound great without power. They're made with far less windings or something like that. You can have a spare battery with you, or wire several batteries in parallel to add life. Or replace the battery every few months. Or before a gig.

Running out of batteries is not something that happens, it's something you make happen. Take care and no need to worry. Really.

[spade2you]

Originally Posted by Bocete

Running out of batteries is not something that happens, it's something you make happen. Take care and no need to worry. Really.

I only use active basses and I've never had problems. The big thing is to make sure they're unplugged. If you can do that, you'll often get about 6 months to years out of your bass, depending on how many basses you're using. When you make adjustments, check the battery. If you notice some funny crackles/distortion, check the battery. If you have a big gig or studio session coming up, (take a guess.....) CHECK THE BATTERY. In your case, take a battery tester, spare batteries, and any allen wrenches/screw drivers to change your battery. As long as you obey the rules, as Bocete says, no need to worry unless you make it happen.

[Liko]

Originally Posted by john nam

My Yamaha TRB 1005 has active Yamaha pickups on it, but I want to switch it to make it passive, so do I have to get new pickups or will a guitar tech be able to do some rewiring and make them passive? I want to do this because I'm kind of paranoid about running out of battery during a set and would rather have passive pickups, even if it means losing a little oomph tone-wise. Please advise.

It actually isn't the pickups; they are non-powered "passive" pickups. What's "active" about the TRB100x series is the preamp, and yes, it does eat batteries.

If you want to switch preamps, the Bartolini NTMB series has an active/passive switch and has also been praised for battery longevity. You can get some Bartolini P2 soaps if you absolutely must replace the pickups.

[JTE]

OK, there's this common confusion passed around TB. "Active" does NOT necassarily mean:

A. The PICKUPS are active
B. That there's more signal
C. That you have to worry about battery failure

So, if the bass really does have active PUPs (and that's by far the least common way of making active instruments), you can't make the PUP passive. An active PUP means there's some sort of pre-amp built into the PUP housing. Without power to that, there's no output from the PUP. And even if there were, you probably wouldn't want it. Why? Because the majority (if not all) active PUPs have rather weak output and they use the built-in preamp to shape the signal and boost it to a useful instrument level.

Now, if the bass has passive PUPs and an active pre-amp AFTER the PUP, then you could have a by-pass switch wired into it. That'll give you the opportunity to go passive if the battery fails on stage, at the cost of whatever the pre adds to your sound.

I've played active basses (passive PUPs/active EQ, active PUPs/Passive EQ, and active PUPs/Active EQ) since my first StingRay in 1979. It that 30 years I only had one on-stage battery failure, and that was the one time I did NOT use a Duracell brand battery. I change them once a year and have never had another problem. I don't really know what a bad battery sounds like on any of my current active bases because none of them has drained low enough for it to impact the sound.

I'd say get over the fear, carry a spare GOOD 9 volt battery (along with your spare strings, cables, and strap- you DO carry spares of those essentials, don't you?). You can also build a handy little way to test the battery while it's in the circuit (the only reliable way to test one BTW) with a simple 1/4" plug and a basic digital VOM. That way you can test your battery every set if you wish and be assured it's not going to crap on you.

John

[dmusic148]

To answer the OP's question: yes you can IF the pup's are actually passive, which, according to Liko, they are.

[mrluck26]

To go back to what JTE and others stated, carry a spare battery. It's much cheaper. I just fitted my TRB with an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp and I am very ecstatic about the results and the sound and guess what I added another battery. Again, carry a spare.

[Grissle]

And then theres always the option of adding a low battery indicator LED like this:
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/pro...ectronics.html

[BOTTOMBOOMER]

Get a Carvin.

Pull the volume knob out, you're passive.

Push the volume knob in you're active.

Your choice!