musicislife Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 I'm having problems locating the correct active EMG's to replace the passive ones in my five-string Spirit. I've read lots of info on four-stringers, but can't find which ones fit inside the surrounds of my five-string. The ones that I think might fit have only two mounting screws. The ones currently in my bass have three. Does EMG sell surrounds that go with the pickups? Any help with specific model numbers would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanto Posted May 8, 2009 Share Posted May 8, 2009 Hello. I have a XZ25 and did just that. I took EMG P35 (2 pieces) and EMG BTC (tonekontrol) Then I had to go to an instrument maker that had to make room for the new pickups. It works great and sounds lika an XQ25. I think they did it this way, to make it very hard to upgrade the bass . . . good luck Another way could be to just buy the EMG BTC (which I intend to do on my second bass) and use the original pickups Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicislife Posted May 12, 2009 Author Share Posted May 12, 2009 Thanks for the reply. I think I'll start by just replacing the pots with the EMG BTC. If that doesn't improve the sound enough I'll have to use the router and get the larger pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daverowe Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/2y6wrh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicislife Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 That link is for surrounds for normal-sized humbucker pickups. The EMG P35 are larger than humbuckers. I ended up having a guy cut some plastic surrounds for me just to fit the P35s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwgreen Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I'm looking for information on how to convert my 4-string Spirit into active. I've 'heard' there is a way using the same old pickups, and, of course, another way, replacing them with active pickups -which are a bit longer and need some careful work. I imagine I'll also need to make room for the 9V battery on the back, so I may have to carve out a rectangular hole and put a cover on it. EMG shows individual active pickups and a circuit with only TWO controls. I wonder how this can match 2 pickups with THREE controls on the bass guitar... Will welcome suggestions, links, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicislife Posted November 30, 2009 Author Share Posted November 30, 2009 I wired my EMG active pickups just like diagram 2 on page 2 of this: http://www.emginc.com/content/wiringdiagrams/EMG-PJ-Models.pdf I know the diagram is for a PJ model, but this is how I wired it. The pickups come with both a volume and tone control, but I wired both pickups to one tone control. I was able to fit a single 9V battery in the same cavity as the volume and tone controls. The hardest part of converting to active was drilling out the hole for EMG's 1/4" phone jack. It's not the same type as what comes in the Spirit. You have to enlarge the hole from the inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwgreen Posted August 3, 2010 Share Posted August 3, 2010 Thank you, Musicislife, I am now looking for a BTC Control, which costs around USD80 in the US and double that in Argentina... How did you go about widening the hole from the inside for the 'active' jack that comes with the BTC? javascript:insertsmiley('[confused] ','/images/emoticons/msp_confused.gif') Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicislife Posted August 4, 2010 Author Share Posted August 4, 2010 It was a slow process, using a combination of x-acto knife and a sharpened screwdriver blade to scrape out the wood. Fortunately, the wood isn't very dense. It isn't pretty, but it worked and you can't tell from the outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelbix Posted August 21, 2010 Share Posted August 21, 2010 I'm not sure if this will be helpful, but my Spirit-like modification (of a Cort into a fretless) meant taking the EMG-sized pickups (non-active) and replacing them with active pickups from Bartolini... which are just extraordinary. They can do some remarkable active pickups for Steinberger. I believe you can still get on the phone and describe the dimension of your EMG's and they'll do a one-for-one replacement with active EQ, perhaps with tailored response or sound if you wish to invest. http://www.bartolini.net/information/bass/new_bass_pu_s.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golem Posted August 23, 2010 Share Posted August 23, 2010 It was a slow process, using a combination of x-acto knife and a sharpened screwdriver blade to scrape out the wood. Fortunately, the wood isn't very dense. It isn't pretty, but it worked and you can't tell from the outside. Sounds kinda familiar to stuff I've done long ago ... long before I dicovered the small Dremel power tool :-) Even if you have only one job in mind for the Dremel, and so you hesitate to buy it, there's two things to consider: A. Damage you might do using crude tools can cost more than the Dremel. B. Once you own it, you discover you really do have more than one job for it. ` Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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