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Convert SR1200 to Passive?

Daniel109

Daniel109

Guest
Jun 10, 2014
47
20
36
New Zealand
#1
Hi,
I have recently purchased a 1995 Ibanez SR1200 (Transparent Turquoise) neck through body.
It has a P/J setup with Ibanez AFR (Active Full Range) Pickups.
I got the bass quite cheap because the electronics are not working.

I'm considering converting it to Passive electronics.
considering the bass has quite a small body would passive pickups sound alright in it?
has anyone tried passive electronics in a SR? how do they sound?
(Otherwise I'll get an electrician mate to see if he can fix the current circuit board, and keep the original electronics)

The pickups I was looking at were Lace Man O' Wars. and wiring them to have 1 Vol, 1 Balance, and 2 tone pots.
Are these good pickups and is there a better way to wire 2 pickups with 4 pots?

Thanks
 
#2
I don't see how the size/weight of the body would affect that much the response of a passive pickup. Go for it, a lot of Ibanez SR have a passive/active switch, so it should not be that bad :-).
 
#3
You can wire the pickups straight to the jack (with batt power also, to pickups), to see if they are strong enough to run w/o a preamp, and if so, just wire them with vol/vol or vol/bal and tone pots as EMG actives can be- they don't require a preamp.
Most 'active/passive options are really just preamp bypass, whether active or passive pickups are installed.
 
#4
gregvds said:
I don't see how the size/weight of the body would affect that much the response of a passive pickup. Go for it, a lot of Ibanez SR have a passive/active switch, so it should not be that bad :).
Click to expand...
Let me introduce you to the Fender Precision Lyte, then ;) Basswood body, lighter than most Fenders, and passive vintage-style pickups don't work worth a crap in it. Hot pickups like the Quarter Pounder and Model PJ set do, and so do hot active systems (I have EMG PJ's in mine), but not the more average output pickups like your garden variety PJ passives.
 
#11
So really, if i change it to the passive Lace Man O' War pickups it will sound roughly like any other bass with the same Pickups? or is there going to be a major difference?
I know that the newer Ibanez SR bases have passive soap bar pickups with an active EQ.
But I don't want the Active part. I don't want to have to worry about batteries, and there is an EQ on my amp.
 
#12
++^^^
line6man said:
There is no correlation between output level and being active or passive.
Click to expand...

Some passive pickups are lots 'hotter' than others- has to do with the desired tone and the windings req'd to get them.
Active pickups are the same- EMG's can be run w/o a preamp if desired while others require a preamp to boost/buffer the signal adequately for an amp's input.
The signal out of a preamp, whether connected to passive or active pickups may or may not be hotter than some passive pickups.
Whether the Ibanez active pickups- AFR P/J or ADX series require a preamp, I dunno- haven't tried w/o a preamp yet, altho the ADX series work just fine with an Aguilar OBP-3 (and likely an EMG BQS) as do the EMG's.
Or just ditch all the electronics (those AFR P/J's may sound really good with the right pre, tho) and run a passive system w/o first giving what you already have a chance.
There's an Ibanez owner's thread (couple at least now) and maybe some of those with experience can give you good advice, or just learn from what they've found out. Has to be 20 years experience with that bass and pickups by now- why ignore it?
 
#13
So putting in "hot" Passive pickups without a preamp will be similar to actives? (without the controls)
I don't want to spend money on new pickups to find that they sound horrible.
all the SR basses I've seen have an active preamp, so I figure is that because the bass might sound bad without it

I prefer to not have an active bass. All my other basses are passive. I like to leave them plugged in
 
#14
Daniel109 said:
So putting in "hot" Passive pickups without a preamp will be similar to actives? (without the controls)
Click to expand...

No. There are two main differences between active and passive pickups, and these differences can be attributed to the buffering that is inherent to active pickup designs. Firstly, active pickups almost always have a lower output impedance than passive pickups. Secondly, the coils in active pickups cannot load each other in the same fashion as the coils in passive pickups can, because of the buffering between each pickup's coil(s) and its output. There is a common misconception that active pickups are louder than passive pickups, and possess a particular tonal signature. While this can be true in some cases, it is a design choice that is not inherent to being active.
 
#15
Preamps are usually used to provide flexibility of tone- more options.
As 'line6man' said, active pickups due to their designed low impedance don't drop the volume and affect each other when both fully on as passive pickups tend to do-
that's one main reason they are designed that way. They could've just simply made them passive- lots less design and fab work.
If you're set on passive pickups, just replace the active ones and install the vol/bal/tone pots they require.
It's all your choice- see if what you have gets the sound you like, or just switch them out.
 

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