Question Luke 3 pick up question

[Grounded]

Hi, I am the proud new owner of a Luke 3. My first Ernie Ball Guitar, I am in love with the way it plays, but I am wanting to change the bridge pickup. As far as I can tell from what I have read, it has passive dimarzio pickups with the E.B. preamp making it active. I am wondering if I can just swap the bridge pickup out for another passive pickup (lace) and retain the rest of my stock electronics, or would I have to have it totally rewired? Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[carydad]

I havent looked at the wiring in the EB, but it should be doable. I'd like to voice the gotcha I just posted in another pup thread-EB guitars often have a triangular cutout, a lot of vendors use square(where the spring attaches to the pup). I had a petrucci a few years back that I swapped pups in-and to keep from modding the guitar, I put different base plates on the pups.

The EB preamp is a very cool setup, and I wouldnt recommend pulling it all...but if you do, let me know, I might be interested in buying it

 

[Grounded]

Thanks for getting back to me. I am wanting to keep the pre amp, just want to change the bridge pickup in front of it, which is a humbucker. I don't know if that can be done though. hopefully someone on here has done this can give me some insight on it. If I can't do this then I will be removing the preamp and whatever else is needed, so I will let you know. Thanks again.

 

[Roubster]

You should have no problems with changing the pickup if it's a 4 conductor like the dimarzio. Just wire it up like the original...just make sure to identify the proper wires as some manufactures use different color coded wires.

 

[kimonostereo]

Thanks for getting back to me. I am wanting to keep the pre amp, just want to change the bridge pickup in front of it, which is a humbucker. I don't know if that can be done though. hopefully someone on here has done this can give me some insight on it. If I can't do this then I will be removing the preamp and whatever else is needed, so I will let you know. Thanks again.

Should be no problem. You can use any passive pickup with this setup and it should work with the preamp.
Only two caveats 1. Use a pickup with 4 conductor wire if you are just swapping and want to keep the correct switch positions and sounds 2. the preamp is always on and will probably make the pickup sound slightly different.

Like Robuster said, be sure to check the four conductor wiring colors since diff. manufacturers use different colors for wires.

 

[Grounded]

Should be no problem. You can use any passive pickup with this setup and it should work with the preamp.
Only two caveats 1. Use a pickup with 4 conductor wire if you are just swapping and want to keep the correct switch positions and sounds 2. the preamp is always on and will probably make the pickup sound slightly different.

Like Robuster said, be sure to check the four conductor wiring colors since diff. manufacturers use different colors for wires.

Hmm... I wonder if there is a way to put a bypass switch on the preamp. It seems just a little too high output for my setup. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Roubster]

The way to turn it off would be disengage the battery. So I'm sure there is a way to wire something like that...maybe a push-pull pot. I have no idea what it looks like inside so cant tell for certain...but removing the battery would definitely bypass the preamp.

 

[kimonostereo]

The way to turn it off would be disengage the battery. So I'm sure there is a way to wire something like that...maybe a push-pull pot. I have no idea what it looks like inside so cant tell for certain...but removing the battery would definitely bypass the preamp.

As far as I can tell the circuit needs the battery to have any output signal. I tried pulling the battery to see if I could run the guitar passively and just like EMG's with no battery connected, there is no sound/output signal.

Taking a quick look at the schematic EBMM customer service sent me, it looks like to disengage the preamp, you'll need to bypass it entirely by rewiring the volume, tone and 5 way switch direct to the jack.

 

[Roubster]

Interesting...thanks for the input on that kimono! I personally did not hear any bad qualities of the tone from the passive pickups, even with the preamp running all the time. Only thing on the LIII I would change due to my personal preference is the bridge humbucker for something fatter and warmer like an Air Zone or AT1. I really love the fact that all positions are balanced and you can control that as well as the amount of the boost. Really must save up for this one!!!