Removing the Active Preamp on my Bass | Ibanez SR505

Check out my official shop for NAM Models, IRs, and more! https://nickleonard.gumroad.com/ update: as ZMix pointed out, the stock blend pot is only 25K (very low). That explains why there was hardly any difference between the 1M and 500K volume pot. I put in a 500K volume pot and the difference is massive! If you have this bass, or something similar, do this!

This was a relatively easy mod to do that converted my bass from active to passive. The preamp does shape the tone, and you may prefer the sound of it, but I have always had noise issues with it, and I'm glad to have it gone. Whatever it loses in brightness can always be made up for with EQ on a cleaner signal. If you have a bass with this pickup/preamp configuration, this will work, other basses may vary. Some active basses do require power to the pickups, so do your research before you tear apart your bass!

I also replaced my crackly volume pot and intermittent input jack while I was at it, I've had this bass since at least 2009, so it's time! I replaced the stock (500K) volume pot with a 1M pot to get it as bright as possible, though these strings are about a year old too...

Here's the pots I used:
affiliate link
1M Volume Pot: https://amzn.to/3PPuaUa
500K Blend Pot: https://amzn.to/3vddyxL

0:00 What the video is about
0:37 Where guitar noise comes from
1:44 Why I'm doing this
4:42 How to do this mod
6:22 Clean demo
7:55 High gain demo
9:40 Noise investigation
10:37 500k vs 1M volume pot mod

#bass #guitar #luthier



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