Bass pick-up question...

[Rich]

I have a Ibanez 405 5 string. It's maybe 7/8 years old. It is/was my main bass. How do I tell what pick-ups are in it?? They are active with a 3 band EQ.

Any input will be great.... Thank You....

[MOONDOGGY]

Did the pickups at one time have a white logo on the bottom right corner? Most of them get worn off from playing. Are they soapbar style or J style? If they had the logos and are soapbars, they are probably the DX series of pickups.

They are also most likely passive pickups with an Active pre.

EMGs, Alembics, and some Peavey pickups are some of the few mainstream 'internally active' pickups. Most other pickups (Bartolinis, Basslines, Dimarzios, etc...) are all considered passive pickups.

[bassist_25]

The SR400 has a P/J configuration, but I'm pretty sure all five and six string Soundgears have soapbars. At eight years old, I'd be 99% sure that they're DXs if the bass still has stock pickups in it.

Currently, Ibanez puts Bartolini pickups and preamps in their basses. I'd really like to try an SR535. It's a pretty hawt bass.

[Rich]

The white lettering is gone. But if I hold it up to the light I can just barely see "DX5". So are they "Passive" with a active pre-amp or are they active, active? I was under the impression they were active from the day I bought it.

[MOONDOGGY]

The pickups themselves might be internally active, but it's unlikely.

If they are internally active, then inside the pickup casing there are actually fixed EQ settings that aren't adjustable. I don't exactly get how having that feature is helpful. But that's what I understand to be an active pickup.

The only way I can think of to find out if the pickup is active would be to meter out your DX5s and compare them to other similar pickups that you know for sure are passive. I'm assuming the DX5s are humbuckers (dual coils) so you'd have to do it to another humbucker as a J or P pickup won't read quite the same. It should be within 1 or 2 Ohms of other passive pickups. If they're active it should be much less compared to a passive pickup

[Rich]

Huh, interesting.... I learn something new everyday... Thank You.

Obviously I'm not versed in bass pick ups. But here is what I'm "trying" to do. I have a older Ibanez 4 string, my first. I know it's passive. It only has a tone knob and a knob that splits the pick ups. No battery or anything. I want the picks to be the same as the 5. Or as close as possible. I really like them. So if I switch basses they sound the same without messin' with stuff... I want to use it for the really low tuned stuff...

Or maybe you can give me an idea on what to use???

[xero380]

rich you should probably use the lowest tuned bass for the lower tuned stuff....lol just trying to help out...give me a break i'm a drummer but thought i'd help haha

[Rich]

I'm talking like, "A" stuff... Something that just will need the gig to be set up with heavy strings and tweaked...

[bassist_25]

The closest approximation of what you're going to get between the two basses by having the same pickups is if you leave the EQ flat on the SR405. Still, they're not going to sound exactly the same, because there is probably going to be some colorization from the preamp.

With that said, for what you're wanting to do, the 5 string would probably be the best candidate for lower tuning.

Or maybe you can give me an idea on what to use???

What I'd personally do is get a 35" scale five-string with a Hipshot on the B string so I could drop it to A.

[metalchurch]

I agree with Paul, it is highly unlikely to get two instruments to sound identical, no matter if they are the same brand,year,etc...

After some trial and error, it is possible to have them sound similar, though.

In theory, it sounds like a logical approach to set them both up with similar electronics as your starting point.
You can try it and see what you come up with.

But yeah as Paul said, the 5 string may be better suited for lower tuning, especially the whole way down to the legions of "A".

Also, when tuning down things tend to get muddy and undefined, and I'm not so sure that the stock Ibanez pickups will have the definition to overcome those characteristics.
I would say try EMG's for the lower tuning.

Best of luck, let us know how you made out.

[bassist_25]

Also, when tuning down things tend to get muddy and undefined, and I'm not so sure that the stock Ibanez pickups will have the definition to overcome those characteristics.
I would say try EMG's for the lower tuning.

For what it's worth, I've been told by people who have seen Korn live that they sound like a lot of undefined mud; they're of course tuned down to A and Fieldy's an Ibanez player. I'm not saying that you're going to sound like Korn or Fieldy. LOL

It is possible to play in lower tunings and still have everything sound good. Locally, The Embalmed are like tuned down to Qb or something. They sound awesome, but Jason, Chad, and Greg have all spent some serious time picking out quality rigs that are made to reproduce that type of tuning and playing and have had their instruments properly set up specifically for that style of music. I'm not saying that it can't be done; I'm saying that to do it and do it right, it takes some time, some thought, and unfortunately, some monetary investment.

But of course, YMMV.

[Rich]

Well, what "I" was thinking was.... I "can" get some many different tunings and/or drop tunings out of the 5. (E, B, C, D....) Use that for the majority and just set one up, since it is so low and will need tweaking, for just that "A" stuff. (Make sense?? or no??) But the hip shot thing sounds like an idea... It's only a few songs that are tuned that low.

Who does that kinda stuff???

And again, Thanks for the input!!!

[JackANSI]

I agree with Paul, it is highly unlikely to get two instruments to sound identical, no matter if they are the same brand,year,etc...

I have 3 yamaha BBN-5's, two are the same year, less than 400 a part in serial, and the same wood finish (natural-flat), same strings, the rest (was) stock. They sound similar, but their bite (some say growl) and sustain are varied enough that I can tell them apart by sound alone.

They oddly even feel different to play even though I set them up pretty much identical.

Changing the pickups on them was the best thing I ever did to thosw two, even though I was happy enough with the stock sound I bought a third just so I could have one stock.


Once you start on the pursuit of that "tone" or "sound" you'll never stop... just a warning..

[MOONDOGGY]

These may fit:

link

They are 3.5" long. If you're putting these in your 5 string, then you'd probably need the 40s. I'm an EMG fan for life because they simply make awesomely unique and amazing sounding pickups. The only thing they don't do well is a warm mellow sound. But if you're playing metal and rock, these are the only pickups you should ever need!

[JackANSI]

+1 on the emgs. I won't ever go back