Hey guys im currently looking at doing some work on a 1987 warwick thumb i purchased. It has a after market custom paint job the stock pickups have been replaced with status graphite hyperactive pickups and though they sound good i want to get back to a more original style emg j pickups. Since this bass has been so heavily adjusted to im not hugely afraid of loosing resale value. I first plan on stripping the paint of it so i may refinish it. I also plan on reshaping and refitting the existing pickup holes back to j pickup size by adding back wood possibly walnut with bubinga veneer on top or straight bubinga. The bass has 5 control knobs and a coil tap switch and i wouldnt loose any sleep if I had to remove and fill in the holes left of two of the knobs and the switch, since i think the number of them look bad on the thumb body.My main question would be what preamp to get with the emgs? Ive looked some at aguilar as well as an emg preamp. Im looking for suggestions of what would be a good combination with emg active j pickups.
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help with warwick pickup/preamp project
- Thread starter rabidwolverine
- Start date
Rickett Customs
Commercial User
He's referring to the "fixed" preamp, built into the pickup housing.
There's a wide variety of "onboard" preamps that you could get for it:
Aguilar
EMG
Glockenlang
SD (Duncan)
Bartolini
Etc, Etc, Etc......
Just keep in mind, if you're using The "active" EMG J's (and not the "HZ" passives), they do not offer anything in a "J" casing, that could be split. Anything with a "TW" behind it will split.
if you're using "HZ's", they do come in a 5 wire configuration.
Ok I got it now,i have been looking at the aguilar obp-3 and the emg bqs system when it comes to on board preamps. I have looked at seymour duncan but im open to any possibilities.
Rickett Customs
Commercial User
The BQS *system* is designed to work with the "active" EMG pickups only. The BQC *control* can work with any pickup.
The OBP-3 is a pretty popular one, I have not heard many complaints about them.
yea i know about the bqs system working only with active pickups and it wouldnt be that huge of a deal since im pretty much 100% positive il end up with active emg j pickups because they are very similar to the mec pickups inside my 1997 thumb not to mention they are what would have been in my 87 if they hadnt been replaced. ive heard a lot of people have had success with the aguilar preamps inside warwicks. Really the only thing i see being awkward is trying to decide to part with a couple of the knobs and the switch or keep them and incorporate them into my configuration.
