Passive Headless Hohner B2 (Steinberger Lic.): possible pickup replacement. Asking for help.

[Soltao]

Hello everybody, I have a question about the B2 (the simplest one, passive). I’d like to change the infamous Select by EMG pickups. EMG has the HB and the HBCS option, ready to be dropped in.

My concern is that my bass is only passive. I’ve read that these pickups are active: that means that I always have to use the battery and I’d have to route a space for the battery..
Is there another drop in solution with passive pickups that would fit into this bass?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

IIRC those are standard guitar size humbuckers so anything that size. Wilde has several options and I believe most of the TV Jones that size come with an adapter to use with guitar humbucker rings.

 

[ctmullins]

Yes, you can literally use any guitar humbucker available! You may not like the tone of some of them though….

I always enthusiastically recommend the Wilde L90. I love mine!

L90

In 1976, Bill revolutionized the guitar industry with his release of the twin blade L90. Earlier in his career, Bill spent years doing rebuilds of traditional humbuckers for players in his shop that wanted improvements to the response losses created by metal covers and mounting plates, poorly...

www.wildepickups.com

 

[Matt Liebenau]

No association but there is a set of L90’s for sale in the classifieds right now.

https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/bill-lawrence-l-90-pickups.1659730/

 

[Snert]

My concern is that my bass is only passive. I’ve read that these pickups are active: that means that I always have to use the battery and I’d have to route a space for the battery.

No routing required for the battery according to @ectoflanger in a post I have saved.
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/sp...d-by-emg-pickups.1547659/page-2#post-27875412

I hope it's also the case for the guitars as I have an 89/S/81 set almost (waiting on the S) ready to go into one of my Spirit guitars. Not sure what I'll put into the other one, but maybe Alumis.

 

[Jerry Catanescu]

I don't want to discourage you, but I think the problem is the bass, not the pickups. I have owned a Hohner, a Spirit by Steinberger, as well as several real, graphite Steinbergers (I still have one). The wooden ones (Hohner, Spirit) just don't compare with the original Steinies. Only the shape is the same. Nothing I did to my wooden ones helped. Changed preamps, pickups... You name it. They just don't sound good and have no sustain.

 

[Snert]

I don't want to discourage you, but I think the problem is the bass, not the pickups. I have owned a Hohner, a Spirit by Steinberger, as well as several real, graphite Steinbergers (I still have one). The wooden ones (Hohner, Spirit) just don't compare with the original Steinies. Only the shape is the same. Nothing I did to my wooden ones helped. Changed preamps, pickups... You name it. They just don't sound good and have no sustain.

Don't agree at all, and I still own my 86 XL2 purchased new as well as 3 Hohner Woodberger basses, one Spirit, and 2 Spirit guitars (I still own all of them).

 

[Jefenator]

I've had a Hohner like that, but with an active preamp (B2A-FL) so I know there would be room for a battery sonewhere. (Routing may be required with this model.)
I've also had a Steinberger XP-2 with real EMG (not Select) pickups in that shape that were passive. Might be worth calling EMG to see if they would bang out a set of those for you. (If not them, surely some other small pickup maker with the tooling for that shape & expertise to pack it with guts that would work for bass.)
There was a time I would have poo-poo'd the stock guitar pickup option, but based on my experiences with Musicmasters (which use the single coil Strat shape) that could actually work, too. My latest Musicmaster came with a Lace Sensor that sounds great (light blue IIRC) and I see they also do hum buckers.
Lots of options, here. Keeping it on budget and/or avoiding routing might be a challenge, but IME that's part of the fun. Good luck!

 

[ctmullins]

Again, literally ANY guitar humbucker will work. Even the ones with six poles. Trust me.

The world is your humbucking oyster. Some of them will sound better than others is all.

 

[ectoflanger]

For those you who have Steinberger XT series I found a solution for hard turning tuning keys on this YouTube video where the guy replaced the factory rubber washers with special roller bearings available on Amazon-



Amazon link- Amazon.com

 

[ectoflanger]

I don't want to discourage you, but I think the problem is the bass, not the pickups. I have owned a Hohner, a Spirit by Steinberger, as well as several real, graphite Steinbergers (I still have one). The wooden ones (Hohner, Spirit) just don't compare with the original Steinies. Only the shape is the same. Nothing I did to my wooden ones helped. Changed preamps, pickups... You name it. They just don't sound good and have no sustain.

Well, while I do prefer the narrower neck on my XL-25 Fretless and the EMG active pickups and HAZ active electronics are pretty hot, I found that the EMG 35 J and JX-CS worked out really well on my black XT-25. And the HB-CS active pickups would pretty phenomenal in my XT-2

 

[Iristone]

Wood may vary a bit more than carbon composite, so there's the possibility that one Woodberger is a lemon while many others are great. I run a pair of EMG HB's in my Eart knockoff. It's medium output and sounds great, no lack of warmth here. The sustain doesn't quite compare to my Thunderbird (more mass, better wing wood, with Super Steps strings), but not what I'd call "short".

 

[Soltao]

Hi everybody. First of all, thanks for answering and bringing opinion and experience. I finally decided to put a pair of EMG HBCS in my B2 making an always active bass, what wasn’t my original plan. I have two active basses but I prefer to rely on passive system as I tend to play live every week or so and I wanted badly to make this B2 a companion of my trusty Precision.
What can I say… the result is amazing! The mids are profound, it roars. The HBCS were made to correct the sound a little bit “cold” of the L2 but in a wooden bass, man these pickup sound good. I used them in a small club, with a fender 500 v3 rumble, that can be a little bit clanky sometimes but I’d say that when I soloed the neck pickup, it was darker but sounding as good as a precision, growling. And with both pickups at full, it sounded more scooped and very similar to a jazz bass. The battery fits perfectly in the rear compartment without having to route or carve anything. So if someone is reluctant to try them on a Spirit, Hohner or high end Steinberger, my humble opinion is go for them!

 

[ectoflanger]

Hi everybody. First of all, thanks for answering and bringing opinion and experience. I finally decided to put a pair of EMG HBCS in my B2 making an always active bass, what wasn’t my original plan. I have two active basses but I prefer to rely on passive system as I tend to play live every week or so and I wanted badly to make this B2 a companion of my trusty Precision.
What can I say… the result is amazing! The mids are profound, it roars. The HBCS were made to correct the sound a little bit “cold” of the L2 but in a wooden bass, man these pickup sound good. I used them in a small club, with a fender 500 v3 rumble, that can be a little bit clanky sometimes but I’d say that when I soloed the neck pickup, it was darker but sounding as good as a precision, growling. And with both pickups at full, it sounded more scooped and very similar to a jazz bass. The battery fits perfectly in the rear compartment without having to route or carve anything. So if someone is reluctant to try them on a Spirit, Hohner or high end Steinberger, my humble opinion is go for them!

I’m happy for you - and am happy that you did so without concern for having to route the control compartment to accommodate the battery. It was cool that Snert passed that info to you from one of my earlier posts- nice to know I’m occasionally good for something!!