Bass Guitar Electronics Question: passive to active conversion.

People always say active pickups. It's wrong in a lot of cases. To be active, the pickups themselves are energized by the batteries and don't work unless energized. Most other active systems are passive pickups that run through an active pre. Those particular EMG pickups are truly ACTIVE PICKUPS. They don't work unless energized.

Audere makes a highly regarded onboard preamp.

 

From the EMG website:

However, EMG preamps don't boost the signal much, if any, with the EQ knobs set at the detents.

 

Bartolini 3.3 A/P
Bartolini NTBT Preamps - Best Bass Gear

I love Bart pre's because they have adjustable gain controls where most other pre's do not. Very handy if you need more or less output, or need to match output with other basses.

 

Not at detent, But that's what the 'Boost' is for- on bass, treble (BTC), and mids (BQC), including 'cut' also for the tonal balance desired, and the only difference is using the correct pots (bal and vol) for passive or active pickups.

18db of boost should be enough for most pickups.

 

The BTC's I've run across have been dirt cheap...relatively speaking. Keep an eye open on E-bay. I have BTC's in my Schack 5, G&L 1505, and some variation in my NS Design CR5 headless. They can be used with just about any pickup and are classified as "Controls" in the EMG catalog. "Systems" can only be used with EMG pickups.

EMG Pickups / Electric Guitar Pickups, Bass Guitar Pickups, Acoustic Guitar Pickups

They won't boost your signal at detent position but they are very nice for tone-shaping. I'm still trying to get a handle on which treble DIP switch setting sounds best!

Riis

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of EMG preamps. Mainly because they're pretty much transparent at the detents.

I just didn't want the OP to find out after installing it that there wouldn't be an overall boost.

 

Gotcha- yeah, at center/detent, there's no boost/gain to be noticed, but if the bass, treble, and mids (if BQC) are boosted, that's a lot of boost, and it's pretty clean, too. Some have too much treble with it boosted much, and some pickups (like EMG DCs) if bass-boosted much, can clip the amp input, so there's a lot of boost avail.
The Bart preamps have a gain trim-pot to boost the overall output, but I think with each BTC/BQC pot boosted just a little, it's sort of the same thing.

 

Yeah I won't have a bass without that gain control now. And as a side note, the gain control on a Bart is not the same thing as turning up the knobs on an EMG. Two totally different things.

 

In lay terms, it means you have enough power in reserve to cleanly accommodate the peaks without clipping or distorting. If you have the room, go with the 18 v configuration. We were able to stick two 9 volts in the control cavity of my Schack, the G&L has only one, and the CR5 has two but we're also having to contend with a piezo system.

Riis

 

Go with an onboard buffer.

 

Yes, 18v is fine with Bart pre's.

 

Planet Bass has them.
Bartolini HR 3.3AP/918 , High End Bass Guitars, Amps & Bass Strings

All of the Bart NTMB pre's are the same, so if you hear sound clips of a Bart preamp, you're hearing the 3.3. The difference is in how the pots are configured. No reason your knobs shouldn't work.

 

I have two passive 5's right now, had a third, and there's nothing inherently wrong with a passive 5. I suspect many 5's are active merely because 5 strings are somewhat "trendy" and active preamps are somewhat trendy as well. It's not a signal strength issue (typically).

Don't get me wrong, I wish you success with your active conversion, but there's typically not a problem with the low B's signal strength (granted there might be instances of setup issues, or pickup height issues, or perhaps some pickups may not be wound to optimize the B string). The reality is that the speakers are typically the weak link in a system with a 5 string, and boosting the lows are going to be counterproductive.

A hot pickup can give a 2 or 3 volt peak-to-peak signal, maybe even 4, without a preamp. That's more than ample to drive a typical input tube into saturation, no preamp required. An onboard preamp does act nicely as an impedance buffer, should one be desired.

Again, I'm not trying to dissuade you from your efforts, but rather let's clarify exact what the goals are and what could/should be obtained from adding an onboard preamp.