MIA jazz deluxe 2005 active to passive

Invader Zim · #1 03-28-2007, 04:12 AM

I'm thinking of changing the active pickups on my MIA jazz deluxe fretless. Has anyone done this it's not the actual job I'm concerned about, more the cavity dimensions considering the deluxe models are slightly different in size than a regular MIA jazz.

Any info would be great

RobertUI · #2 03-28-2007, 09:41 AM

i'm wondering about this as well, i've got a 5 string MIA deluxe, and would like to add a switch to kill the active eq and just have the vol... i don't really know what you're concerned with in terms of the cavity tho. if you have the active model, you'll just have a lot of spare room. you'll also have the extra knob left over if you switch to the typical vol-vol-tone setup.

if your pickups are passive with an active eq, this shouldn't be a problem at all right? you would just take out the active eq and follow the wiring diagrams on the fender site for the standard MIA jazz bass

Invader Zim · #3 03-28-2007, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertUI

i'm wondering about this as well, i've got a 5 string MIA deluxe, and would like to add a switch to kill the active eq and just have the vol... i don't really know what you're concerned with in terms of the cavity tho. if you have the active model, you'll just have a lot of spare room. you'll also have the extra knob left over if you switch to the typical vol-vol-tone setup.

if your pickups are passive with an active eq, this shouldn't be a problem at all right? you would just take out the active eq and follow the wiring diagrams on the fender site for the standard MIA jazz bass

I was concerned with pick up cavity but I think it's the same dimension as a regular Jazz.

Thanks for the eq info, hopefully they're passive and I can take it out as you suggested

Nighttrain1127 · #4 03-28-2007, 01:35 PM

The pickups in the MIA deluxe Jazz are passive noiseless pickups. They should work fine with any passive set up you go for. There are preamps(active electronics) that have passive switches and then you just change out the preamp and you have what you want active/passive. I believe the Audair and the J Retro both have the cative passive switch. you can find out more on their websites.

LoveThatBass · #5 03-28-2007, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nighttrain1127

The pickups in the MIA deluxe Jazz are passive noiseless pickups. They should work fine with any passive set up you go for. There are preamps(active electronics) that have passive switches and then you just change out the preamp and you have what you want active/passive. I believe the Audair and the J Retro both have the cative passive switch. you can find out more on their websites.

J-Retro does have active/passive switch. I had this preamp. It is really good!

Invader Zim · #6 03-29-2007, 03:10 AM

Thanks... It's all becoming a little clearer now.... I've only ever used a passive set up so I'm not familiar with active circuitry, so you're saying I can fit a switch or something like a switch?

RobertUI · #7 03-29-2007, 04:58 AM

I was browsing around on Fender's site yesterday, and it appears that the preamp circuit (or active eq... whichever it is) is mounted to the volume control, which means that adding some kind of passive switch would be very difficult if you still wanted a volume control. I think personally that I am just going to leave it alone, but that's just my thought.

That being said, if you were interested in pulling all the active stuff out, and going with a traditional setup, you certainly could, but you'd want to get a control plate with only 3 holes, as your input jack is body mounted.

Nighttrain1127 · #8 03-29-2007, 05:31 AM

the only easy thing you could do is put in a switch that pupasses the pre amp entirely and it would send your signal from the pickups to the output jack with no volume control. otherwise you would need to either get a pre amp with an active passive switch or go all passive. They are the only easily done mods

Invader Zim · #9 03-29-2007, 06:47 AM

Yes I think I'll leave it alone for a while, have a think about going totally passive in a while..see how I get on

Thanks for all the info and help guys

natselection · #10 03-30-2007, 02:46 AM

can anybody suggest a preamp that would be nice for all passive?

lowstar · #11 03-30-2007, 01:09 PM

i did this a while back...i even sold that jazz bass in the meantime...there must be a thread about it, if you use the search function.
i installed a dpdt switch...the only drawback is that in passive mode, you cannot use the volume pot anymore, but it still works in active mode. that was no problem for me, because i wanted the passive option for working with fuzzes and the like, so i compensated on the stompboxes.
just 10 minutes of work. you can download the schem of the circuitry somewhere on the fender website.

cheers,
lowstar

edit: this post is about adding an active/passive switch, obviously, not about the changing of the pu´s. if i would have changed the pu´s in that jazz, i would have added a different preamp.

B String · #12 03-30-2007, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Invader Zim

Thanks... It's all becoming a little clearer now.... I've only ever used a passive set up so I'm not familiar with active circuitry, so you're saying I can fit a switch or something like a switch?

I had my tech put a passive switch in my 05 am dlx jazz,
for emergencies. As I've said in the past, the passive
sound is almost identical to the bass when the controls
are set flat. My volume control works in passive too.

Invader Zim · #13 03-30-2007, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B String

I had my tech put a passive switch in my 05 am dlx jazz,
for emergencies. As I've said in the past, the passive
sound is almost identical to the bass when the controls
are set flat. My volume control works in passive too.

Thanks B string, worth bearing in mind maybe a switch is what I'll be doing