Converting from active to passive? Help please!

[Matthew Morter]

Hello all,
I have an issue/query that I am hoping I can get some advice on from the wonderful and knowledgeable talk bass community.

So, I have a 2007 German Warwick Corvette Std. 4 string with the stock active MEC pickups and electronics that I am thinking of converting to passive. But I don’t even know what to do or where to start, would I just need new pick ups or and entirely new electronics system?
My reason is that it picks up so much radio noise that it is impossible to record with, or hardly play it plugged in at all in my apartment. Now, I live at the top of Capitol Hill in Seattle, RIGHT UNDER the radio towers, this must be the problem because if I take the bass anywhere else, like using it to try an amp at a shop or playing open mic night about a mile down the hill, there is no radio noise problem. Also, I have a passive American Fender Jazz Bass 5 string and a passive American Strat, (and my friends squire strat) that get zero radio noise problems, so it must be the active pick ups and/or electronics. Some pedals also pick it up, but I am recording on my computer without pedals mostly these days so I can live with that.

So my options are to keep the bass until I move and just store it, which would be over 5 years, don’t want to do that. Or sell it/trade it for a good passive bass like a fender. Or I could convert it to a passive bass. Right now I am leaning towards trading/selling, as that could potentially not cost much extra but converting it to passive will definitely require at least a few hundred bucks I imagine. I like the look of fenders more, and my 5 string is an amazing bass, but I love the sound and feel and 24 frets of the Warwick too.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, or any insight if anyone has converted a Warwick from active to passive before and has direct experience.
Thanks a bunch!

P.S. I attached pictures of my Warwick and fenders, another complicating factor, wouldn’t it be sick if I had an Olympic white with tortoise shell pickguard 4 string fender that matched my 5 string and strat? Or is that too much matching, I just love that color combo so much.

 

[rogerbmiller]

You can have a push/pull pot installed where the volume control is. Pull up and you bypass the preamp for active mode. This is a stock feature on many of these basses. Have you checked to see if yours has this? If not it is an easy mod that any tech can do for you.

 

[sugarsand]

Usually the pots on an active bass will be like 25k a standard jazz bass uses 250k. check with a meter on the -dc setting the value coming off the pickup wires. If it's way lower than a normal jazz pickup, you can have a pickup maker, even the most basic technical abilities , have winds added to get to the target output number. Here in Calif. It's about $60 per pickup. you can add more or less winds or do a tap whatever you like at that point. Three linear 250k pots and a cap are not expensive.

There's another way, if you take all the components out of the bass and plug them in and amplify. check to see if they keep broadcasting the station. The bridge ground wire also. If they are not the same distance from each other, they will amplify different frequencies. In other word your components are like the radio dial, tuned onto that station, if you move their relationship you will de-tune that radio station. When you figure out which part makes the station come in clearer/louder you make the wire connecting that piece longer or shorter, until it stops picking-up the station/noise. Also put aluminum duct/vent tape on the back of the cavity lid and inside the cavities. wire mesh works too. Some people like the look of copper for some reason, and insist on that aesthetic. Look up Faraday's cage.

A real radio ham radio person could broadly extrapolate on radio noise and unwanted frequencies and trouble shooting.

 

[Killing Floor]

How will switching to passive change that?

 

[Reedt2000]

I Don't know if going passive will fix your problem, may we'll be a shielding issue.

But if you do wanna go passive, you'll have to change pickups (assuming you have the active gold logo Js). And you'll have to get all new pots in the appropriate values. But it's not hard to do if you can solder, could probably buy a pre-wired harness and only have to connect the pickups. Its not a permanent mod and you can always put the original stuff back in.

 

[Matthew Morter]

You can have a push/pull pot installed where the volume control is. Pull up and you bypass the preamp for active mode. This is a stock feature on many of these basses. Have you checked to see if yours has this? If not it is an easy mod that any tech can do for you.

Thanks for responding! But yes, mine does have a push/pull pot to make it passive/active. And while there is maybe a little less noise in passive mode there is still super loud radio noise coming through. I feel like the tone suck from a low battery happened in either mode though, so maybe it doesn’t completely bypass it? But it does bypass the tone controls, I know that for certain at least.

 

[Reedt2000]

Thanks for responding! But yes, mine does have a push/pull pot to make it passive/active. And while there is maybe a little less noise in passive mode there is still super loud radio noise coming through. I feel like the tone suck from a low battery happened in either mode though, so maybe it doesn’t completely bypass it? But it does bypass the tone controls, I know that for certain at least.

If you have the active MEC pickups, the push-pull only bypasses the preamp, the pickups still rely on the battery.

 

[Matthew Morter]

Thanks for the technical advice, some of those suggestions are beyond my technical ability however, but I would take it to a shop for any serious work. The reason I think going passive will fix it is that none of my passive instruments get it. What could the reason be that my passive Fender JB with single coils is dead quiet and the Warwick is so loud it renders recordings totally unusable, even if I try cutting out all high frequencies.
Someone said my bass could be ‘tuned in’ to that radio station and changing the length of a wire could help, that’s interesting..

 

[Matthew Morter]

If you have the active MEC pickups, the push-pull only bypasses the preamp, the pickups still rely on the battery.

I thought that was the case! Thanks a bunch for confirming my suspicion.

 

[Jogobass]

I hope you find a solution that doesn't involve changing too much things about that bass. It has a unique sound typical of Warwick basses. Otherwise you might as well get a passive jazz bass or something else.

 

[burgerdj]

You have a MEC BEC2 preamp and active MEC pickups. Both rely on the battery . The push/pull bypasses the preamp but still feeds the pickups. The easiest fix to your interference issue is to fully shield your electronics cavity. Make sure your jack is properly grounded.

 

[HowieD72]

If I was in your shoes, I'd do what you already mentioned and be done with it:

"Sell it/trade it for a good passive bass like a fender....... Right now, I am leaning towards trading/selling...... I like the look of fenders more, and my 5 string is an amazing bass".

 

[tidbits]

You have a MEC BEC2 preamp and active MEC pickups. Both rely on the battery . The push/pull bypasses the preamp but still feeds the pickups. The easiest fix to your interference issue is to fully shield your electronics cavity. Make sure your jack is properly grounded.

Yeah this is probably the move. If you swap the electronics to passive yourself, the main cost is your pickups. A decent jazz bass wiring kit is relatively cheap, and soldering irons aren't terribly expensive either.

It's not a terribly hard project, and you could knock it out over an afternoon. There's a zillion videos on youtube you can watch for guitar wiring and basic soldering.

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

 

[Matthew Morter]

I hope you find a solution that doesn't involve changing too much things about that bass. It has a unique sound typical of Warwick basses. Otherwise you might as well get a passive jazz bass or something else.

I agree, and I love that unique sound! If only I had the funds to just get a whole new 4 string lol

 

[Matthew Morter]

If I was in your shoes, I'd do what you already mentioned and be done with it:

"Sell it/trade it for a good passive bass like a fender....... Right now, I am leaning towards trading/selling...... I like the look of fenders more, and my 5 string is an amazing bass".

Yeahhh, it’s just hard to part with these things! But you’re probably right. Sell it and get an Olympic white jazz 4 string, then all my instruments will match

 

[HowieD72]

Yeahhh, it’s just hard to part with these things! But you’re probably right. Sell it and get an Olympic white jazz 4 string, then all my instruments will match

Yes, I know. I have a 1995 Warwick Fortress Masterman that I just can't let go. But.....Olympic White is the perfect choice in a jazz or p-bass IMO!

 

[tidbits]

That's half the reason for converting it yourself - so you can convert it back once you're not living under a radio tower.

But an Olympic White Jazz bass does sound pretty sick.

 

[Jazz Ad]

How will switching to passive change that?

It won't. Shielding is how you get rid of noise. Passive or active electronics don't change much to it.

 

[HowieD72]

Yeahhh, it’s just hard to part with these things! But you’re probably right. Sell it and get an Olympic white jazz 4 string, then all my instruments will match

Unless you're happy to just play your 5 string Fender and wait 5 years....

I stored my Warwick Fortress Masterman for 8 years.....