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5 Wire Bass Pickups


ALR8LUV
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Hi all

 

This is my first post.  I'm hoping for some help in converting my passive bass to an active.  Its the first bass I ever owned which I am upgrading.  I have purchased some SB-4B pickups and an active preamp.  The preamp is already wired up but I am at a loss as to how to configure the 5 wires coming from the pickup.  I've searched on the web and its suggesting the following:-

Bare wire – this is the overall earth wire and needs to be connected to a common ground / earth point. The earth loop on the guitar can be connected into on the back of one of the potentiometers.

Black wire – this is the negative / start of coil 1

White wire – this is the positive / finish / hot out of coil 1

Red wire – this is the negative / start of coil 2

Green wire – this is the positive / finish / hot out of coil 2

It goes on to say white and red wires should be joined together.  Before I go wiring this up incorrectly I would be grateful if anyone could advise me if this is correct?  Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Wiring.jpg

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Hi and welcome to BC!

Your wiring diagram above is for guitar and not specifically your SB-4B pickups. Your wiring options will depend on number of pickups you're installing (1,2,3....etc), what pre-amp you have and the controls layout (vol, vol/vol, treble, mid, mid sweep etc etc). On the Syemour Duncan resources page there is a drop down selection for types of pickups and wiring configurations etc.  Link Here: SD Wiring Options

Are you sure the pickups are SB-4B as I read it on the website as they are 3 wire (2 core plus ground) not 5 wire (4 core and ground)? 🤔 The only other 4 string pickups with 5 wire I could see were the NYC version.

Edited by Acebassmusic
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Casting around, it sound like there's a ESP Designed range of pickups, SB-4B being the bridge pickup of the OEM pair in many ESP/Ltd basses.. is yours one of those, or is it definitely a Seymour Duncan model?

SD are a good place to start when looking for clues as to wiring colours, but you may have to go in with a multimeter and your ears to decide just which wire does what.. good luck, it's all part of the fun!

Edited by hubrad
spelling!
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23 hours ago, hubrad said:

Test for continuity to determine the ends of each coil, then it's a bit trial and error getting the phase right.

Put the DMM setting to VDC. When you hit the pickup with a magnetic tool like a screwdriver, the voltage raises shortly to the positive side if it is in phase. The DMM may have a min/max function and here it is very handy.

Edited by itu
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1 hour ago, itu said:

Put the DMM setting to VDC. When you hit the pickup with a magnetic tool like a screwdriver, the voltage raises shortly to the positive side if it is in phase. The DMM may have a min/max function and here it is very handy.

I never got round to knowing that.. thanks for the tip, itu!

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