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Adding active pickup to passive bass

K

kenlacam

Nov 8, 2005
406
5
akron, ohio
#1
Hello All-
I have searched this forum and did not find a thread regarding this, so here goes:
I have a Dean Edge 5 string bass that has passive pickups, and I would LOVE to add active pickups for a brighter sound. Is this something that I can undertake myself, (to keep costs down), or should I take it into a guitar repair shop to have it done? and what would the cost entail?
Thanks in advance!
 
#2
Really depends on the prices at your local music store.
BUT, you must know..

That if you get active pickups, you need to buy a preamp, which will cost you around $300ish, then you need to make sure your bass has room for batteries - one for the pre amp, and one for the pickups..
It is quite a hassel, but in the end (that is if you have it done) it will sound fantastic!

Rock on :bassist:
 
#5
kenlacam said:
Hello All-
I have searched this forum and did not find a thread regarding this, so here goes:
I have a Dean Edge 5 string bass that has passive pickups, and I would LOVE to add active pickups for a brighter sound. Is this something that I can undertake myself, (to keep costs down), or should I take it into a guitar repair shop to have it done? and what would the cost entail?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

You want a brighter tone?

Active electronics in a bass does not give you a brighter tone, it gives you the ability to shape your sound from the bass. I you want a brighter tone, you can look for passive pickups with a brighter voicing, with more mids and treble, and you could also try stainless steel strings.

I don't think that in your case, an active system is nescecerly the best answer in your case, it could help you but to get you there, there are less expensive options you should consider.

edit:

Also, don't forget that most of the active bass you see on the market have passive pickups and an active preamp, in fact, the only active pickups I know are EMG's.
 
#8
JustOpenYourMind said:
Active electronics in a bass does not give you a brighter tone
Click to expand...

Sure it does. A preamp buffers the passive pickups, and one advantage of that is it makes them naturally brighter. Even a simple buffer will do that.

If you add active tone controls to the mix, you can certainly crank the top end and get a very bright tone.

Here's my bass Link Removed, and then with an active Link Removed

Sounds brighter to me. And that was flat, no EQ.

Even a tone shaping preamp with the tone controls set flat brighten it up. Here's an EMG BTC with the controls set flat. Compare that to the passive clip.

Link Removed

Keep in mind these are fairly bright pickup to start with. And bright strings, and that might be the easiest way to get a brighter tone.

To kenlacam, what kind of strings are you using? If you say the ones that came on the bass, that's problem number one! I recoded those clips with fairly new nickel D'Addario XL's. Stainless Steel strings are even brighter.
 
#9
I had EMGs put in my P-bass about 20 years ago ... they the newest thing going at the time. Plenty of room in the body for a battery; I keep it from rattling with some self-adhesive velcro. The downside is that the pickguard has to come off to change the battery. The tone is extremely bright, almost too bright when the tone is all the way up. Some luthiers don't charge installation if you buy the pickups there. If you bring them in, I would expect a charge around $80.
 

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