MEC Pick ups for a jazz bass.

[funkgod]

hi all, just a quick question,

has anyone used an MEC dynamic silver writing pick up on an active bass ?

from what i gather the gold writing on the pick up means active and the silver is passive ?

I have been after some MEC pickups for my jazz and been offered a good deal on a silver writing dynamic correction one by a good BC member

but my jazz has a pre amp in it,so we are both wondering.

cheers for any info

[aguacollas]

Just  in case, remember a fender jazz has long/short pickups, but Warwick basses are long/long pickups. The bridge pickup may have a different length than you need. 

[funkgod]

4 hours ago, aguacollas said:

Just  in case, remember a fender jazz has long/short pickups, but Warwick basses are long/long pickups. The bridge pickup may have a different length than you need. 

hi yes they do, but they do jazz sets now, here you go. but no mention if you can use the passive ones with an active cct,

http://www.mec-pickups.de/?&c=35352344224&modul=shop&site=shop_overview_2&filter=new&nm=D0444213001389959557A15|MEC|D0444282001389959557A15|D0444455001389959557A15

[fleabag]

I would have thought you could use a pre. with any passive pickup, though the output might be on the hot side, since passives designed

to be passive, tend to have a higher output than passive pickups designed to be used with a pre.

I think EMG make active pickups that cannot be used passively

That may be wrong

[NickA]

Can't speak for the MEC pickups, but my DIY project with Kent Armstrong pickups failed because the pickups could make transients of up to 20V which the little amplifiers in my home-made pre-amp could not handle (they were powered from a 9V battery); hitting the strings too hard caused the little amps to clip the signal, which sounded nasty.

Generally, to use passive pickups in an active bass you need either a pre-amp with a higher supply voltage (2x9V batteries or a voltage step up circuit), or you need to reduce the output of the passive pickups.  I guess you can do this by feeding the pickup outputs into a resistor divider (eg a 1MOhm potentiometer) to reduce the pickup output before feeding it to the pre-amp - but that will only work if the pre-amp has a buffered input (otherwise the extra resistance may mess with the filtering/EQ and volume controls).  

The Gold MEC pickups in my Warwick have only two wires from each - there is no power supply going to the pickups, so I don't know what is "active" about them.  I guess they are just low output so as to suit the 9V pre-amp, and the bass certainly has a low output despite being active.  It actually has a "passive" switch, but that only turns off the EQ.  Taking out the battery kills the sound even with the passive switch engaged. 

[R.I.P.]

On ‎11‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 09:46, funkgod said:

hi all, just a quick question,

has anyone used an MEC dynamic silver writing pick up on an active bass ?

from what i gather the gold writing on the pick up means active and the silver is passive ?

I have been after some MEC pickups for my jazz and been offered a good deal on a silver writing dynamic correction one by a good BC member

but my jazz has a pre amp in it,so we are both wondering.

cheers for any info

The answer is, if your jazz bass has passive pups' (which it probably does), then yes, you can use the Dynamic Correction MEC pups and connect it to the pre in your jazz bass

FWIW, most active basses use a passive pup paired with a preamp....yours is probably this way to

MEC (Gold Colored) pups are active and are paired with a preamp that is designed for use with active pick ups only

 

Edited November 24, 2017 by R.I.P.

[funkgod]

sorry about the late reply, been away,

cheers all.

i have pre in at the mo with passive pick ups but the  pre was designed to just drop in with what ever pups are in there.

i think i will look out for an active set with the right pre.

thanks for all your help, very much appreciated

cheers again