Dimarzio Model J Pre-wired problem

[Coheed3434]

I installed these pickups into my MIM jazz bass earlier (well, tried). And for some reason, I'm getting no sound at all from them. I followed the instructions perfectly, and they seemed simple enough.

They said to do this:
-Connect the red wire from the neck pickup into the first terminal of the terminal block on the neck volume pot.
-Connect the black and white wires from the neck pickup to the second terminal of the terminal block on the neck volume pot.
-Connect the green wire from the neck pickup to the third OR fourth terminal of the terminal block on the neck volume pot.

And it's the same thing for the bridge pickup.

I did exactly what it said, but nothing. I tried forever to figure what's wrong and I couldn't. But I figure it's something really stupid and simple.

I'd appreciate it if someone could let me know what I did wrong.

[line6man]

Who told you that?

What terminal block?

The way you have it, sweeping the volume to one side shorts the EA coil and to the other side, shorts the DG coil.

For proper series coil wiring, the green wire goes to ground, the red wire goes to the second terminal of the volume pot, and the black and white wires should be soldered together, not connected to anything else.

[Coheed3434]

These are the pre-wired solderless model.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Coheed3434

These are the pre-wired solderless model.

Prewired, solderless pots???

[Coheed3434]

Yes, exactly. Just wires from the pickups to the terminals on the pots. Sorry if I made it confusing.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Coheed3434

Yes, exactly. Just wires from the pickups to the terminals on the pots. Sorry if I made it confusing.

I've never heard of such a thing, aside from EMG's systems.
Pics, or a link or something?

[Coheed3434]

Yeah I'm pretty sure they just came out pretty recently. But I'm not at home right now so I can't post a pic, but they're on musicians friend if you wanna try to find them on there.

They are similar to the EMG systems though. I installed some EMGs in one of my other J basses with no problem whatsoever. But that's all of my bass electronic experience so I'm a noob to it all.

EDIT - Now that I have access to a computer, I can post a link to the pickups I bought.

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.c...Set?sku=H02746

[SchizoBassist]

From Dimarzio's install pdf:

"Standard Humbucking Series Wiring
All DiMarzio 4-conductor pickups have red, black, green and white wires. The standard wiring for most humbuckers is series humbucking. To do this, solder the BLACK and WHITE wires together. Cover the solder connection with tape so it does not touch any other part of the circuit. Solder the RED wire to the hot connection in the guitar’s circuit. In most cases where you are replacing a pickup, the RED wire will be soldered to the same place as the hot, or center wire of the original pickup. The GREEN and BARE wire are soldered to ground. Usually, this connection is made to the back of a control. When connecting the BARE wire to ground, make sure it does not come in contact with any other connections.

RED IS HOT
BLACK+WHITE GO TOGETHER
GREEN AND BARE GO TO GROUND

If you install a DiMarzio pickup in a two-pickup instrument and find the pickups to be out of phase (weak and thin) when they are on together, you must reverse the phase of one of the pickups. This applies to all DiMarzio pickups with side-by-side coils or blades when installed in guitars with single-coil pickups similar to Stratocasters. To reverse the phase of the DiMarzio pickup, reverse the red and green wires. Solder the RED wire to ground, and the GREEN wire to hot."

[lbwdog]

In my experience, pre-wired means just that. The pots are already wired in, all that has to be done is to put them on the control plate, and screw the pups into the bass. I also don't see any "pre-wired" on the Dimarzio site.
Neverthrless, the black and whites need to be attached together, and follow the rest of installation instructions.

[Bob C]

Coheed,

Have you solved your problem yet? If not, I would call Dimarzio and ask for help.

What I don't understand is if they are prewired, why do you have to solder all those connections? Furthermore, the pics in your MF link show pups (with loose wires) and control plate. Shouldn't the pots be wired up?

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Bob C

What I don't understand is if they are prewired, why do you have to solder all those connections? Furthermore, the pics in your MF link show pups (with loose wires) and control plate. Shouldn't the pots be wired up?

Prewired usually means that the pots are wired, but obviously you have to solder in the connections to the pickups.

What I don't understand is how the OP has mentioned some kind of terminal blocks on the pots.

[Bob C]

Originally Posted by line6man

Prewired usually means that the pots are wired, but obviously you have to solder in the connections to the pickups.

That makes sense, I guess. But I bought an EMG system years ago, and I thought the whole works came wired up. I don't know - It was a long time ago.

[Coheed3434]

Okay guys, I finally got a picture, it's a crappy cell phone pic but it'll do I suppose.



Okay, what's going on here is the red (hot) wire from the neck pickup is connected to the terminal marked 1, just like the instructions say. The black and white wires are connected to terminal 2. The green wire is connected to terminal 3. The instructions say to connect the green one to either 3 or 4.

And I have the bridge pickup wired the same way.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Coheed3434

Okay guys, I finally got a picture, it's a crappy cell phone pic but it'll do I suppose.



Okay, what's going on here is the red (hot) wire from the neck pickup is connected to the terminal marked 1, just like the instructions say. The black and white wires are connected to terminal 2. The green wire is connected to terminal 3. The instructions say to connect the green one to either 3 or 4.

And I have the bridge pickup wired the same way.

Ok, it appears as if "1" corresponds to the first terminal of the pot and "2" corresponds to the wiper terminal. Is this correct?

If so, red goes to "2," green goes to ground, and black and white should be soldered together, not connected to anything else.

[Coheed3434]

There's supposed to be no soldering at all involved.

The directions literally say connect the red (hot) wire into the terminal marked "1". And it wants me to twist the black and white wires together and connect them into the terminal marked "2". Then connect the green wire into either terminal 3 or 4. They all connect via a tighten screw method, where you put the wire in the terminal then tighten the screw on the top of the terminal.

I'm sorry for being so confusing, and I really appreciate all the help.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Coheed3434

There's supposed to be no soldering at all involved.

The directions literally say connect the red (hot) wire into the terminal marked "1". And it wants me to twist the black and white wires together and connect them into the terminal marked "2". Then connect the green wire into either terminal 3 or 4. They all connect via a tighten screw method, where you put the wire in the terminal then tighten the screw on the top of the terminal.

I'm sorry for being so confusing, and I really appreciate all the help.

The black and white wires should not be connected to anything but themselves.

What directions?

[Coheed3434]

The instructions that came with the pickups. I followed them and did exactly what they said to do. And they do say to connect the black and white wires together then connect them to terminal 2.

Haha, I have no idea. I'm just as confused as you are. The only previous wiring I've done was installing EMG JX pickups and those were easy as pie to install.

[line6man]

Originally Posted by Coheed3434

The instructions that came with the pickups. I followed them and did exactly what they said to do. And they do say to connect the black and white wires together then connect them to terminal 2.

Haha, I have no idea. I'm just as confused as you are. The only previous wiring I've done was installing EMG JX pickups and those were easy as pie to install.

I suppose terminal 2 is meant to simply to allow you to connect the wires together without soldering, but I don't like the idea of doing it that way. Theoretically, you have a larger physical area for which RFI/EMI can be "picked up" between the pickup coils, because the signal goes through the exposed terminal block instead of just a bead of solder. It probably makes no difference in practice whatsoever, but it's a poor design from an engineering standpoint. Then again, I'm not a fan of terminal blocks in basses anyways. Nothing beats a nicely soldered connection.

What is connected to the other side of the terminal blocks? I can't tell from the pics.

[Coheed3434]

Hmmmm, well maybe I'll just sell these then, and buy the solderless version and have someone at a guitar shop install them. I wouldn't trust myself soldering, especially with my very limited knowledge of guitar electronics.

And there's nothing on the other side of the terminal blocks.

[sconix]

http://www.youtube.com/user/LarryDiM.../2/xoFroR1YRzw

It's not for a Jazz, but will show you the technique to use the terminal blocks. Just x2 for the jazz.