passive to active

[mr-cheese]

gonna install some new pickups in to my passive fender p soon, n im wondering how hard it is to change it to active. (bearing in mind i am s*** with electronics)

and good tutorial sites or anything like that either?

 

[4Mal]

So - you're going to change the pickups to active ? add an active pre-amp ?

Do you have soldering skills ?

One issue you have with a Passive P is that in general they are not rear-rout which means that on a P-Bass you have to either install a battery box on the back OR remove the pickguard whenever you change the batery. Not good ... So is your bass rear rout ?


If you answered no on either of the last two queations, you should seriously think about establishing a relationship with a good luthier. They don't cost al that much and in my experience are worth every cent.

 

[mr-cheese]

i dont know, what the difference?

im ok with with soldering, and taking the pic guard off every time doesnt bother me reali

 

[AAdropout]

Personally active is fine, but I love my Passive Jazz (Geddy Lee w/QP's) A LOT more. No more batteries, no more worring if my band mates forgot to unplug the jack and ran out my batteries, etc. Get your self a nice hot Quarter Pounders, or similar pups instead, cheaper, a lot eaiser to change and no worries like batteries, and the sound will be better than what you have and very close to active pups. Just a word from experience when I wondered the same question a few years ago, and I wasted a good amount of money.

 

[mr-cheese]

i shall take your advice, seems simpler

 

[TaylorW]

i had this done...changed my fender p to an active. the battery was installed on the front...i'll try to get up pics very soon

 

[4Mal]

i dont know, what the difference?

im ok with with soldering, and taking the pic guard off every time doesnt bother me reali

You really won't like removing the pick guard after a while. For one thing eventually you'll string to wood and have to dowel and re-seat the pick guard screws.

Active and passive both have their place. Out of 5 basses in my stable, 4 passive and 1 active.

There are a lot of good pickup choices out there. It's tough to say without know the sound you're after and the rest of your rig, what would make sense.

For me, the hotter the pickup, the less I'm probably going to like it. I like a lot of detail and punch. I can dial volume in at my rig. Many of the 'hot' designs sound dull next to a well executed *normal* pickup. Aero, Nordstrand, Duncan and Lawrence, among other's all offer relly good J bass pickup sets. I'm beginning to hear some noise about GFS pickups from Guitar Fetish. They are certainly inexpensive. I may try a set just to check them out.

 

[mr-cheese]

well the rest of my rig is:
boss odb3
trace elliot gpsm7 + trace 1x15" speaker cab
ne pick-up suggestions then?

 

[4Mal]

Good question. What do you want it to sound like ? an obd3 is a distortion pedal ? frankly having that in you signal chain is going to suck the life out of most any pickup you mount. I'd say lose that or stay stock...

I'm not a big fan of distortion pedals for bass as you can probably sense ...