Emg J Bass Pickups Problem

Beecher

Hey Guys,

Im trying to install a set of EMG J Bass active pickups on a 4 string Warwick Corvette. Since the Corvette is passive I realize I will have to use the pre-wired pots supplied with the pickups, however the Warwick uses a different shaped jack to the one EMG supply so I wont be able to use the EMG one. The Warwick jack is shaped similar to this:



No problem, im handy with a soldering iron, however the battery clip is connected to the EMG output and is wrapped in what appears to be some sort of Insulation, you can see it here:



I dont see any way to remove the wire from the pot, so im wondering if it would be okay to cut the wire about the insulation and solder it to the Warwick jack or will I need to buy a new jack? If it helps the Warwick jack has the same connectors as this jack:



Any help would be great. As I said im fine with soldering, I just have no clue about electronics.

Dord

With active EMG's you have to use a stereo jack, once the Warwick jack is stereo then you're fine. It doesn't matter if its a different style of jack but it has to be stereo. The purpose of this is that the EMGs are wired so that when the cable is taken out it breaks the circuit and stops the batteries draining. So when you have the EMG's in, don't leave the cable in for extended periods when you're not using the bass, otherwise the batteries will drain.

Also, I recommend that you wire it up for 18v. It sounds much better!

Beecher

Cheers Joe. Now how do I figure out if the jack is stereo? I have a horrible picture of it here:



On the left is a small terminal which the blue wire is attached too, then in the middle is a regular sized termical which the ground is attached too, and finally on the right is a large metal slab labelled switch which has no wires attached to it. Im really clueless to all this, I generally just solder according to where the pictures tell me too, im not used to having to think about it

Dord

It looks like a stereo jack to me, although I'm not too familiar with barrel jacks.

You could just replace the jack with the one EMG provided to make things easier?

feylya

Looks like the Warwick one is a barrell jack so the EMG one wouldn't fit. The existing one looks like a stereo jack so you should be able to wire it up fine.

You need to wire the jack to that the tip goes to the pot, the ring goes to the negative battery terminal and the sleeve goes to ground. Easy Peasy :P

Beecher

Cheers Joe and Fey. Fey you are right, it is a Barrell jack, hence the problems. I might aswell give it a shot, I only need to desolder 4 wires to remove the Warwick electronics so worst comes to worst there wont be that much work putting them back in

feylya

If it doesn't work, it's 4 wires to resolder. If it does work, EMG goodness Are you going to try the 18v mod?

Beecher

feylya wrote: »

If it doesn't work, it's 4 wires to resolder. If it does work, EMG goodness Are you going to try the 18v mod?

Unfortunatly it didnt work, luckily Warwick sell stereo jacks for a tenner so its all good. I would like to try the 18V mod at some point but the sole reason for adding these EMG's is to bring the bass to the same output level as this;

Mmm 6 string EMG goodness



Grolsh Straplocks



New brass nut



I may add the 18v mod on it but tbh I love how this bass sounds as is.