Can I use EMG pots with MEC?

[rarebasses]

Hello, I am restoring a Streamer LX-5 that was destroyed in a tornado. All of the pots and preamp (MEC stock) are no good. The MEC pickups however are good. My question is: I have a EMG BTC with all the 25k stock EMG pots, from a Frankenstein that was also destroyed, can I use those pots and the BTC with my MEC pickups??? Thanks!

 

[mmbongo]

25k pots are for active pickups, are the MEC's active?

 

[rarebasses]

No they are passive. I just looked at the old pots and noticed they are

 

[rarebasses]

500K on the vol and 100 K on the tones and not sure what the blend is...

 

[mmbongo]

Blend is probably 500k also. So no, you can't use 25k volume pots. Not sure if you can just swap out the volume pots, but probably so.

 

[ctmullins]

Actually, I don't think that's true. When wiring passive pickups into an active preamp, there are generally two ways to do it:

- pickup -> volume pot -> preamp -> output jack. In this configuration you would use typical pot values used with passive pickups; i.e. 250k or 500k

- pickup -> preamp -> volume pot -> output jack. With this setup the volume pots are typically of the type used for active circuits - 25k or 50k

I've wired basses both ways, and they both work fine, although the first option allows for an active/passive switch.

Having said that, however, the best recommendation is to look up the various wiring diagrams for the preamp you're interested in. I know EMG has lots of good info available on their website.