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Old Ibanez SR-885 ADX5 pickups as pasive?

J

Javi_C

Sep 14, 2019
53
34
43
Santa Ana, San José, Costa Rica
#1
Hello,
I have a spare set of ADX5 soap bar pickups. From what I am able to see, they come with 4 wires, a red, a white, a black and a bare wire. This set came off an older Ibanez SR-885 that had active circuit.

My question is, is there a way to wire these pickups as regular passive circuit, like 2 volume and 1 tone?

I can't seem to find any combination of wires where it could work?

Thanks!
 
#2
I believe those pickups are active and require a battery to run regardless of if they’re hooked up to an active eq. This schematic shows that red is battery+, white is hot and black and bare should be ground. Use a TRS or stereo output jack. Signal hot to tip, battery- to ring, ground connections to sleeve. As far as the rest, use a J bass diagram for VVT or VBT just substitute 25K ohm pots for whatever value is on the diagram.

23C25380-EEC6-4BB5-B099-9A0146F2D3C3.gif
 
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#3
Matt Liebenau said:
I believe those pickups are active and require a battery to run regardless of if they’re hooked up to an active eq. This schematic shows that red is battery+, white is hot and black and bare should be ground. Use a TRS or stereo output jack. Signal hot to tip, battery- to ring, ground connections to sleeve. As far as the rest, use a J bass diagram for VVT or VBT just substitute 25K ohm pots for whatever value is on the diagram.

View attachment 4433851
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for your reply!

So does that mean that I could use these pickups with a passive VVT or VBT but I need to include tha 9V battery in the circuit?

What happens is that the original active circuit was damaged in this older SDGR Soundgear by Ibanez made in Japan SR-885. The owner of this bass could not locate the replacement electronic part to fix the original active circuit so we thought it would be better to rip off the existing damaged active system and just put some passive pickups in it with a passive VVT or VBT circuit. The problem is, that I am having trouble trying to locate a set of 5 string soapbar pickups that will fit properly on this bass. Te dimensions are approximate to 4.10 in. long by 1.54 in. wide. Bartolini makes these size replacement pickup set, but they are expensive and only Sweetwater sell them by special order, which takes longer.

I don't think the owner of this bass wants to spend around $250 or more for a set of pickups that we don't know how they sound. There are other options of 5 string soapbar pickups that will fit this bass, based on dimensions, but they are even more expensive. So the pickups could be more expensive than the bass.

I think this is a great sounding bass, at least acoustically. It has a beautiful acoustic tone and excellent ring and sustain. It plays really good and will have a great setup.

It will be nice to put some decent sounding pickups on this bass, since it has a beautiful acoustic tone with great sustain, but it seems like all of the decent 5 string bass soapbar pickups sets are around $250 - $350.

What options do I have to save this bass?
 
Last edited:
#6
Javi_C said:
Thanks a lot for your reply!

So does that mean that I could use these pickups with a passive VVT or VBT but I need to include tha 9V battery in the circuit?

What happens is that the original active circuit was damaged in this older SDGR Soundgear by Ibanez made in Japan SR-885. The owner of this bass could not locate the replacement electronic part to fix the original active circuit so we thought it would be better to rip off the existing damaged active system and just put some passive pickups in it with a passive VVT or VBT circuit. The problem is, that I am having trouble trying to locate a set of 5 string soapbar pickups that will fit properly on this bass. Te dimensions are approximate to 4.10 in. long by 1.54 in. wide. Bartolini makes these size replacement pickup set, but they are expensive and only Sweetwater sell them by special order, which takes longer.

I don't think the owner of this bass wants to spend around $250 or more for a set of pickups that we don't know how they sound. There are other options of 5 string soapbar pickups that will fit this bass, based on dimensions, but they are even more expensive. So the pickups could be more expensive than the bass.

I think this is a great sounding bass, at least acoustically. It has a beautiful acoustic tone and excellent ring and sustain. It plays really good and will have a great setup.

It will be nice to put some decent sounding pickups on this bass, since it has a beautiful acoustic tone with great sustain, but it seems like all of the decent 5 string bass soapbar pickups sets are around $250 - $350.

What options do I have to save this bass?
Click to expand...


The pickups need a battery to work. They don’t have to be connected to an active (battery powered) eq. Older Ibanez basses tended to use odd sized pickups. I have a 6 string from about 1995 that has smaller then typical soapbars. I tried some 5 string pickups but the C was too far out of the magnetic field and they didn’t work well.
 
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#7
Matt Liebenau said:
I believe those pickups are active and require a battery to run regardless of if they’re hooked up to an active eq. This schematic shows that red is battery+, white is hot and black and bare should be ground. Use a TRS or stereo output jack. Signal hot to tip, battery- to ring, ground connections to sleeve. As far as the rest, use a J bass diagram for VVT or VBT just substitute 25K ohm pots for whatever value is on the diagram.

View attachment 4433851
Click to expand...

Please excuse me, my bad. When you originally mentioned this explanation, I did not understand how to use these ADX5 active pickups, regardless of the circuit, active or passive. I finally got it! Thanks so much, it was very helpful! Now I know how to wire these pickups always using the 9v battery to power them, as required, but with a standard Jazz bass style VVT passive setup.

I was able to to wire the neck pickup to test it, without any pots, just straight to the stock TRS output jack and it works. I tested the pickup output by sliding a screw driver from coil to coil and I get normal output. This is very helpful, because now I know I have the option to go back to the stock pickups, in case we could not find a suitable option of decent pickups set that fit this bass, for a price that is right for the owner.
 
Last edited:
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#9
Matt Liebenau said:
Glad I could help. Just use 25K ohm pots instead of 250 or 500K ohm if you go without an active eq.
Click to expand...

Okay so if I go for standard passive VVT Jazz bass wiring, should I get all three pots as 25k?

Also this bass has four holes in the body for the 4 stock pots. Would you suggest another wiring that could be best for this bass, like something with a 3 way switch, to cover one of those holes? Or am I best with a 3 pot wiring like the Jazz Bass VVT?
 
#10
Something else, kind of weird that I've noticed on this pickups, is the high dc resistance number. I know that the dc resistance doesn't always say everything about a pickup, but the neck pickup here read 57.3K on my meter. I have never measure such high rating on my meter and I have tested many pickups. So I was just curious on this high dc resistance.
 
#11
If the pickups are built like EMG’s there’s a small preamp built into the pickup itself. That’s why it needs the battery power. You’re reading the the resistance of the preamp or some component in it like an opamp.

For the extra control, there’s lots of options. A switch is a good choice. Maybe an extra tone control with a different value cap.
 
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#12
Matt Liebenau said:
I believe those pickups are active and require a battery to run regardless of if they’re hooked up to an active eq. This schematic shows that red is battery+, white is hot and black and bare should be ground. Use a TRS or stereo output jack. Signal hot to tip, battery- to ring, ground connections to sleeve. As far as the rest, use a J bass diagram for VVT or VBT just substitute 25K ohm pots for whatever value is on the diagram.

View attachment 4433851
Click to expand...
Looking at the diagramme and knowing active Ibanezes, the pickups are passive but the EQ is active.
 
#14
Matt Liebenau said:
Except that the positive (red) from the battery connects to the pickups. Also, as I said, I have an older Ibanez 6 string that the stock pickups connect to the battery and require power to work.
Click to expand...

The red conductor is the dead giveaway. If the stock preamp is hosed, I can think of a few that will accommodate the active pickups. For that fact, I have a couple Fernandes harnesses that will meet your needs. My first choice would be an Audere. Don't believe they ship internationally but we could assist from this end.

Riis
 
#15
I apreaciate all comments and sugestions!

We are going to use the stock active pickups with the 9v battery and passive electronics. I will wire it as VVT like a Jazz Bass and on the 4th body hole I will put a 2 way SPDT On-Off-On toggle switch that will switch between cap on tone knob to no tone control "wide open".

I have read here on Talk Bass people that have achieved great tones with active pickups and passive electronics. We'll see how it sounds with these stock pickups and take it from there. I will need to wait a few days for some parts that I ordered online from USA.
 
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#18
Matt Liebenau said:
If the pickups are built like EMG’s there’s a small preamp built into the pickup itself. That’s why it needs the battery power. You’re reading the the resistance of the preamp or some component in it like an opamp.

For the extra control, there’s lots of options. A switch is a good choice. Maybe an extra tone control with a different value cap.
Click to expand...

I have a question about the wiring I said I want to do. I want to wire this bass as VVT and the 4th hole of the body that used to have a pot, will be covered by a 2 way toggle On/Off/On (SPDT) switch. I want to be able to switch between regular tone pot with the tone capacitor to no tone pot or ''wide open''. But I am not sure how to wire it properly. I know that the center lug of the switch will go to the pot case (ground) and I thought I connect one leg of the capacitor to lug 1 of the pot as normal and the other leg to one of the outer switch knob, but what do I do with the remaining switch lug?

Thanks a lot
 
#20
Matt Liebenau said:
This is one option although it leaves the tone pot in the circuit in the middle position. You would need a different switch to take the tone pot out of the circuit completely, if that’s what you’re trying to do.


View attachment 4435005
Click to expand...

I think I might just go with that option that you just sent me. I could use the 2 way SPDT switch that I order and I could switch between two tone cap values. Do you think that that is a useful option?
 
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