Questions regarding passive MM setup and wiring.

[Jackopie1]

Hi all, 

 

I'm been making a body to fit a lovely neck I have spare, and I've got it all carved and playing nicely - just the electronics to go! I fancy a passive stingray setup, as it's a bit different. Also, I played a passive shortscale MM Stingray recently, and the sound was great!! 

 

If I could have help with two questions, that would be much appreciated. 

 

1. When looking for pickups, should I be looking at their output to determine whether they'd be good humbuckers for a passive setup? I have read that many humbuckers sound anaemic wothout a preamp, so how do I determine which ones will give a tone similar to the passive MM Stingray? 

 

2. I am a novice when it comes to electronics! I do have a push/pull series/parallel Jazz bass loom that has worked nicely on a jazz in the past. I suppose I can't just wire up each of the coils in a humbucker to this loom as a series/parallel switching option? 

 

Sorry if these are obvious questions - like I said, electronics are not something I'm familiar with. 

 

Jack

 

[Ralf1e]

Most of the major pickup manufacturers have a selection of pickup wiring diagrams on their websites which can be found on Google. Seymours have a good selection to choose from.

[mcnach]

I can't say that ALL MM style pickups sound great passive, but every one I've tried did.

Nordstrand MM4.2, Seymour Duncan SMB4A and 4D, GFS, a few assorted cheap ones and even the original in my 2002 Stingray.

 

I've also read quite a few times that MM pickups need a preamp etc etc, and some quote the low DC resistance (2-3 KOhm, if the coils are in parallel as a Stingray) as proof... but it's all, quite frankly, a load of... something that the forum's swearing filter would probably change

 

I wouldn't worry. 

 

If you want a classic Stingray sound, I'd recommend the Nordstrand MM4.2. It was, in my hands, very similar to the MusicMan stock, and definitely works well in passive form as well as with a standard onboard bass preamp. I was surprised when I found out the low DC resistance of those pickups, as I tended to associate that value with output level, roughly, but clearly the story is more complicated than that, and those pickups are not weak when wired passively.

 

Passive Stingray rawks

 

[Jackopie1]

Awesome- thanks for the advice! 

[bloke_zero]

Passive MM is good.

 

I have one wired up parallel, series and single coil and really like the parallel and single and find the series a bit overwhelming - could be useful live for those moments where you need to go massive?

 

I'm not sure about using the loom though as wouldn't that need 2 pickups? You could wire it up so that each half went to a volume pot so you'd effectively have two single coils just like the jazz? Depending on the pickup there will be plenty of wiring diagrams, and people like Nordstrand etc are happy to help.

 

I wasn't wild about the Nordstrand 4.4 I had, I think I would have preferred the 4.2 as the additional coil makes it a bit darker and I prefer the zing. I've got a Delano MC 4 HE/S and I really like it - very bright and clear! Same as the others on this thread I don't think you have to worry about the output sounding anemic -especially in series!

[BiteTheBoxer]

Hey @Jackopie1 - how did it turn out in the end? Nice to see a fellow West-Country chap in here. 

I just picked up a cheap Vintage (JHS) MM/Stingray, it was in terrible condition and needed a good clean but once I scraped all the crud off of it, it actually sounds fairly decent. It's a passive, three knob model. I don't know much about the MM wiring but this one seems a little odd...first of all I should say its a single Humbucker (nothing unusual there). But, it's got one volume pot and what seems to be two tone pots. from what I can tell usually it would be one volume, one bass and one treble. Is it possible that it is using a standard tone pot for each coil?? any help appreciated. 

[Jackopie1]

Hi @BiteTheBoxer

 

Yeah, it worked out OK thanks- really liked the parallel and single coil modes, and it did sound like a stingray. It sounded really nice, in fact!

 

Ultimately, though, I don't think I'm a stingray man, so I've moved the MM towards the bridge (with some shoddy hand routing) and put a P pickup in, and I really like that combo!

 

I think the tone pot for each coil is definitely possible, although strange. I'm not the right person to ask, though! Does the volume pot come after the tone pots?

 

 

 

[Jackopie1]

Also, I used a cheap and cheerful MM pickup from Warman which sounded fine.

 

The cheap Wilkinson alcino V P pickup in there sounds positively great to me.

[BiteTheBoxer]

I got the control plate off for the first time and it there was a bucket load of sawdust floating around in there (probably why the pots were a little scratchy). We have a trio of 500k pots, the volume is b500k and the tones are a500k. I still can't figure out why it's done like this. Can anyone make head and tail of it? 

[BiteTheBoxer]

Slightly better photo

[orangepeelneil]

Hi, 

 

I'd recommend Volume Volume master Tone, like my old OLP MM passive bass was like 

 

So a single volume for each of the front and rear coils of the humbucker , with both Volumes  on full it's in humbucking mode, and overall master tone

 

Your photos have capacitors on two of the potentiometers, so some kind of tone /bleed control.

 

Your pickup with have four wires and and a ground (typical colours below) so could be wired in series or parallel mode (or both through a selector switch)

 

Neil 

 

 

 

Edited January 4 by orangepeelneil

[bloke_zero]

22 hours ago, orangepeelneil said:

I'd recommend Volume Volume master Tone, like my old OLP MM passive bass was like 

Nice solution - easy to reason about, easy to implement.