Active Preamp with Passive Pickups - Will It work?

[thevintagesound]

I have been thinking of adding a preamp of some sort to my J-Bird bass. Right now it has Thunderbird pickups in it, which sound really good, but leaves me wanting just a little more. Could I put a preamp in this without messing up the passive pickups? Sorry for the dumb question, but I have always played with passive pickups on both guitar and bass so this is new territory for me.

Thanks!

 

[John Bigboote]

That's probably how 95% of "active" basses are wired. Go for it.

-jb

 

[jworrellbass]

Most preamps have a active/passive switch, Aguilar is a small preamp and you can get it with 5,4 or 3 knobs, stacked as well. The only real problem you might have is battery placement. www.bestbassgear.com

 

[justincest]

That's probably how 95% of "active" basses are wired. Go for it.

-jb

Yep.

 

[stingray69]

MEC (Warwick) & EMG are the only manufacturers that come to mind who still make a true active pickup. Even the majority of EMG pickups are passive. As previously stated - 99% of the time, the only thing active in a bass with "active electronics" is the EQ section (sometimes referred to as the preamp). And yes, no problem pairing passive pickups with an onboard active preamp/EQ.

 

[line6man]

That's probably how 95% of "active" basses are wired. Go for it.

-jb

+1

I've lost track of how many times I have said this now, but 95% of the time "active bass" refers to passive pickups with an active preamp.

Very rarely (aside from EMG, MEC and some others) do you see active pickups.

 

[mmbongo]

Seymour Duncan makes active pickups (ProActives and some others) and Peavey also makes actives. I know they are in the Millennium basses.

 

[dorfmeister]

Does Bartolini make a true active pickup? I thought they were well known for actives.

 

[Mutant Corn]

MEC (Warwick) & EMG are the only manufacturers that come to mind who still make a true active pickup. Even the majority of EMG pickups are passive. As previously stated - 99% of the time, the only thing active in a bass with "active electronics" is the EQ section (sometimes referred to as the preamp). And yes, no problem pairing passive pickups with an onboard active preamp/EQ.

Doesn't Peavey make use of true actives?

 

[stingray69]

Seymour Duncan makes active pickups (ProActives and some others) and Peavey also makes actives. I know they are in the Millennium basses.

I vaguely recall having a bass with active SD's (a long time ago) that had some dip switches under the covers that you could manipulate for different tone or output level or something - was a long while back.

Doesn't Peavey make use of true actives?

Maybe so, but I can't say for sure - EMG & MEC are the only ones I could think of off the top of my head when I posted earlier.