SR5 Wiring Mod (Passive).

[rutgart]

Hi World of EB/MM Info and Equipment Lovers,
I have a question to pose.

Has anyone rewired their SR5 to make it Passive (bypassing all but the Volume and Pick-up selector)?

I have had my SR5 since '92 and have used the tone controls in the studio regularly but live I think I could count on my 2 hands. Which got me (receently) to thinking about bypassing them using a push/pull Volume Pot.

I have up-dated the Pick-up and Pre-amp 2 years ago to get the advantage of the Dummy Coil for noise rejection.

Your views and opinions please.

 

[keithpas]

This can probably be done but I personally would'nt do it. Does keeping the eq controls at twelve o'clock give you the tone you are looking for? That is what I would, more than likely, opt for.

 

[rutgart]

Yes, the controls at the centre indent is where they live and your right 'if it ain't broken so why change it'!

My reasoning is based on, not having to replace a battery as often (which I think has only been 4-5 times in it life) and the an interest in what it would sound like Passively.

If it sounds good Passively wouldn't we all like that :-

1. As a tonal option (tho I'm sure it would have a decreased output Passively).

2. A fail safe for if/when your battery fails you during a gig/session.

3. A a method of stopping battery consumption between sets, between sound check and gig, between sessions in the studio or anywhere else your guitar might sit there with the lead in.

PS. Might I add that my intention is to add this (Passive Mode) to the Bass as either another switch or a Push/Pull volume pot not as a Passive only option.

 

[oldbluebassman]

1992. Hmm. If your SR5 has a phantom coil pick-up then it would be next to impossible to do because the coil switching is integrated in the pre-amp.

If it's an earlier one without the phantom coil then it might be possible as the coil switching is done before the pre-amp. In this case you would not be able to have a volume control as the value of the pot used with the pre-amp is too low for passive use.

I've used an SR5 for years and never had a battery fail, either at home or during a gig. i just change it about once a year or when I remember to.

 

[rutgart]

Now that Info, thanks heaps and Bugger!.

I might have to buy some of that shielding paint stuff, do a job on the guts of my SR5 and reinstall the old P/Up and P/Amp re-look at this.

Can I take it from your Info 'oldbluesbassman' that with the original config (P/Amp and P/Up) is could be done easily?

Is it worth doing do you think?

 

[hankSRay]

Funny. I woke up this morning and said to myself, "I'm gonna make one of my StingRays passive today." I have it easier than you though, I'm gonna do it to an sr4 but I'm just gonna take the preamp out and wire it for volume and tone.

 

[Ken Baker]

That the Stingray doesn't offer a passive/active option should tell us that the overall electronics package is designed to work as a cohesive unit. It's all about the design, and the folks at EBMM are very good at it.

I own a couple of basses that were designed to offer either passive or active operation, meaning that the pickups were voiced to work well in either mode of operation. It's unusual in the large world of basses, but it does work very well and the tone is great. There are also third-party options that allow this with just about any bass on the planet.

While it might be an interesting exercise to mod an SR to run passive, the end result may be less than optimal or not meet your expectations. Still, it would be interesting hearing the results.

Ken...

 

[oldbluebassman]

Can I take it from your Info 'oldbluesbassman' that with the original config (P/Amp and P/Up) is could be done easily?

The original SR5 pick-up was a 2-coil unit and all the coils switching was done on the 3-way switch and then sent to the pre-amp input. It would be easy to intercept that wire, and the wire from the pre to the jack. You could have the option of active with pre and volume control or passive direct out, both with coil switching.

The later pre-amp has 2 inputs, and the coils are balanced about earth for hum rejection. This is what makes it so difficult to do what you want to do.

Just out interest my SR5 has a later non-EBMM pick-up and a single input pre-amp (it was like that when I bought it). I modified the normal 5-wire pick-up to 6 wire and wired a stock 3-way switch to implement coil switching on the single input pre-amp. It's an involved process and there was/is no documentation. I just had to sit down and work it out.

One of the disadvantages is that you now have different output levels with each pick-up selection. The stock EBMM pre-amp also compensates for that.

As to whether its worth it? No comment.

 

[rutgart]

Mmmm.

It's sounding more and more like its a tech job (as the different outputs depending on the switch position would be un-satifactory).

I'm showing more of my ignorance here but wouldn't it mean by using the right value restistors between the switch and the output jack it could be done. If so once those values were worked out, it would be here for the world of interested individuals to benefit from.

Is that possible?

 

[rutgart]

Now I know this is only part way to a solution but today I open my old girl up and has a ticker with a raw jack plug I had about the place.

First I took out the battery (I vaguely remember hearing you can stuff things up if you go soldering around the place with a functioning circuit).
On inspection I spotted what looked like an in-coming (from the Pick-Up to the Switch) side and an out-going side (from the Switch to the Pre-Amp) so I first started by soldering ground from my Jack to the Green terminal (thinking this was ground) on the switch.
Then trying each of the 3 out-going terminals on the switch. I had to find the switch postition that worked but this was noisy so I moved onto the in-coming side of the switch.
I found that with ground on the green wire and tip on the first (closest to the ground) terminal I has what would be postition 2 on my 3 way switch and it was noise free. The down side was that I didn't have a volume control with this experiment.

I then put it all back and made sure it worked as I am off on a 3 day tour of Singapore in the morning.

I conclude that it is possible and sounds great, the out put was only a little down on Active if at all.

Next I'll wire a 25k pot in and see if that works, if that does I'll see if there's a push/pull pot of that value and give that a run.

 

[Rano Bass]

Just be careful, only you know if it's worth it.

 

[rutgart]

If your concern is for people messing with things unknown to them, then I am with you.

Please don't try this at home, unless you are willing to accept failure and potentionally a trip to you local repair show.

But I know there are people in this site (many infact) that have the expertise to do this and may have already.
My intention is to find the means to make this a working option that may (if it proves worthy) just become a addition to the current fantastic product lines.

 

[DTG]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.........

i haven't a f**king clue what this is about

i tried to figure it out.....but hell no i still can't work it out

back to playing the bass for me then

i sometimes envy you guys that are able to open your bass up and know what is going on in there,but i have trouble trying to the lid back on the peanut butter jar

hope it goes well for you,if not there is not allot of help i can give you apart from blame somebody else

mmmmmm peanut butter mmmmmm

 

[rutgart]

OK.
I'll back and had the pleasure of working with a Stage Tech named Matrix who works with near all the best bands in Australia (the likes of Crowded House, Powder Finger, Grinspoon, Spider Bait, INXS, Jet just to mention a few).

Matrix gave me the idea to use variable resistors to match up the outputs form the three different Pick-Up setections on my SR5. This has to be tried to see how it effects the tone, but maybe the solution.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[rutgart]

Here it is.

My SR5 has an Up-Dated Pre-Amp and Pick-Up which I installed coming on 3 years now (the Pick-Up has a Dummy Coil).

I have had what I would call 70% success and her is what I have done.

I removed the Pre-Amp form the guitar (including the switch) and installed the old switch (the original one that came with the bass). Then I wired the P/U using the wiring diagram for the old one (The old P/U that is, which left the Earth unconnected).
I wired the Earth to the switch and re strung it, the result was fantastic! Tonally Fantastic and no noise. I only down side was the drop in volume of the position 1 (closest the the Bridge).

My Bass has had conductive paint sprayed thru-out and I have no idea what it would be like without it (tho I would put a small amount of money on it beng a little bit noisy.

 

[rutgart]

Hi All,
it's near 2 months now and I'm still lovin it, tho with my main gig I use a Wireless Unit into an Alembic Pre-Amp (and hear my Bass sound thought In Ear Monitors) and I have noticed the Bass's tone or output are not as good as when I use a lead straight into the Alembic or my Aguilar DB 359 rig.

I have been told my tone and output different is because there isn't a load on the Pick-Ups when using the Wireless Unit and my Passive Mod. I am looking to try a thing called a Dragster by Radial to fix this.

I will be back with an up-date once I have tried it.

ROCK ON WITH EB!!!