What kind of pickups can I use for a P/J active? I dont know squat about actives.

[Diesel Kilgore]

So later today ill be the owner of a used Ibanez GSR200. Want to do a re-fin and possibly new pickups and electronics. Im buying it to have a mod bass, since ill be getting it for a decent price.

Problem is, ive never owned an active bass. I dont know what to look for when searching for pickups. Do I have to look for soley active pickups or are passive/active pickups all the same and its all in the preamp electronics?

[THand]

Those are passive pups and an active bass boost/eq thing.
So you could go straight passive, with any of the favs, and take that bass boost thing out.
Or, you could take it all out and put in some EMG's if you want active.

[Diesel Kilgore]

Oh okay. So any passive pickup would do.

Say I wanted to change the electronics and go all active. That would eliminate the passive pickup option? What would I have to be looking for then?

[Doner Designs]

Originally Posted by Diesel Kilgore

Oh okay. So any passive pickup would do.

Say I wanted to change the electronics and go all active. That would eliminate the passive pickup option? What would I have to be looking for then?

Very few basses use all active. Passive pickups with a preamp give you the best of both worlds if you install a preamp bypass. The only (ok primary) reason for active on a bass is to give you bass/treble boost/cut controls onboard.

The most important thing with a PJ (IMO) is to make sure the J pickup you get is hum cancelling since the P pickup will not cancel with the J like on a pure J bass.

Dimarzio and Bartolini make reasonably priced hum cancel pickups. I think all that they make are hum cancelling. Duncan makes some too, but they also make pure singles which most people would not want in a P/J application.

[THand]

It depends on what you buy.

EMG's are true active, and they supply the pots and jack you need if you go with them. It's a pretty easy upgrade.

If you bought say, some Seymore Duncan P/J passive pups, you could buy a pre-amp from say Glockenclang which will give you a push/pull passive/active option. At that point you will have dumped enough cash into it that you could have bought a different bass.

Notice I didn't say "better" cause some of those 200's really play nice and have a good feel to them.

I would either go with the EMG system for active, or go full passive with some Duncan pups and new pots and jack.
http://www.bestbassgear.com/ is a good source, as is http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/middle_bass.htm

[Diesel Kilgore]

Originally Posted by THand

Notice I didn't say "better" cause some of those 200's really play nice and have a good feel to them.

You are right. This is why I am buying one. I really like the way these sound.

You guys answered basically everything I needed to know. I figured something was up because the EMGs were the only actives I could find. Its all in the preamp. Not the pickups.

The neck and the GSR "twang/growl" is what I want. It may all stay the same except for the re-fin. I was curious about what options are out there.

[THand]

If you really like the way it sounds, then why change it?

[Diesel Kilgore]

Just exploring. Actives are opening up all kinds of new things for me.