Tribute pickups/electronics lost road to jerryville

[1dallek1]

hi Dallek here, I have the tribute and a whole host of other guitars I have customized most of them with the cae line of buffers and installed effect loops in all of them as per the dozin schematic and have recreated jerryies rig for the most part.
Ok with that out of the way the tribute is the least Garcia sounding guitar I have and the PHIGA the closest and I mean pretty much dead on. I want to redo the electronics on the tribute starting with the pickups if I can  
 
The question -- Are the alembic pickups in the tribute active in any way, they don?t appear to be. they have 2 wires, hot and ground. Can I replace them with dimarzio super 2 and plug them strait into the alembic filters?  The super 2's appear to be the same dimensions and will fit in the tribute body,  help help

[bsee]

The first thing you should do if you want to go through with such a project is find a partner.  I bet someone would finance all of your purchases in exchange for the original electronics.

[David Houck]

Have you considered selling the Tribute?

[1dallek1]

i asked a simple question can i replace the pickups, i dont need to sell it i dont need a backer, you can see some of my stuff in the introductions area. and if something isnt right im not afraid to fix it so does anyone have an awnser

[David Houck]

Yes, all Alembic electronics packages are active.

[1dallek1]

Hi you answered me on the forum but not quite what I asked the filters are active but the pickups only use 2 wires this does not look like powered pickups like emg pickups which use 3  one for power. In this case with the tribute it looks like active filters but passive pickups so my original question is can I swap dimarzio super 2 for the alembic pickups?
ns
 
(Message edited by 1dallek1 on November 03, 2007)

[dannobasso]

The battery is an indication of active electronics. They power the onboard preamp circut. If you decide to replace your guts, there are people here who would be more than willing to buy them from you. Simple.

[1dallek1]

there is another forum for selling things if that is what i wanted i would be over there  as i said above i dont need to sell it i dont need a backer what i need is a real awnser, dannobasso dosent have it, please refrain from making these pointless posts and moving the thread away from my needs please, again just because the filters are active dosent mean the pickups are, again are the pickups active?

[FC Bass]

Alembic pickups have about 1/3 output compared to the stock pickups that came with my Fender. I think there's a possibilty the Dimarzio's have too much output for the filters/preamp, resulting in unwanted, not cool sounding overdrive...
I would check with the folks at Alembic before proceeding ;-)
 
Edit: They do work without a battery/preamp, only there's much less output than regular passive pickups.
 
(Message edited by fc_spoiler on November 03, 2007)

[hieronymous]

There is a distinction between active electronics and active pickups. Sometimes the pickups themselves are active - but (more?) often passive pickups are couple with an active preamp.  
 
Unfortunately, though, I don't have an answer for the question at hand.

[lidon2001]

For some reason, I don't think a member who own's a Phiga among others,  and uses Hard Truckers needs any type of financial advice.  I am surprised others here would'nt see that.  Which is why you will only see after pics if I choose to do the same with Pele.  lol
 
That being said, my tech said he could get the Seymour Duncan pickups I chose to work with the Skylark circuit, despite the fact that Alembic pickups are very low impedance.  The preamps are on the filter pot usually I believe, not in the pickup like EMG's which I think Mr. Dallek might be inquiring about.  I don't know how or what my tech would do to get the SD's to work, but he said the changes could easily be reversed.  I was planning to go with a full passive system myself.

[bsee]

I don't care who you are or what question you're asking.  People are providing valid responses based upon their knowledge and experience, some of which is pretty significant.  There is absolutely no reason or excuse for rudeness, especially from someone who is seeking free advice.  When in doubt, we'd rather see a guy get more information than he needs than give a one word answer that gets misinterpreted and leads to a hack job.
 
This is a group of people interested in Alembic instruments, mostly with reverence.  We occasionally see them show up for sale with alternate pickups or electronics and, almost universally, the reaction is disgust or sadness.  Additionally, there are people looking for Alembic electronics to upgrade Strats and other guitars.  If you're going to swap them because you don't like them, then someone else would benefit from you're offering them for sale with all the connectors intact.  Rich or poor has nothing to do with it.  
 
I suspect that the information you got from Flip and Harry is about as good as you're going to get without calling Alembic directly to run your ideas by them.

[lidon2001]

Bob, you know not what you speak.  My tech is Kevin Kaufman, from Kaufman Daenzer Music.  He was Jaco's tech, and the put the REAL Bass of Doom together as the story goes.  He is certified Fender, Martin, and EMG. He was one of the key players in the design of arguably Fender's most successful singature model bass.  I trust his experience equally, if not moreso, than Alembic as he works and repairs all types of instruments, not just one brand.  
 
Jerry used DiMarzios.  A huge fan of Jerry, if you bothered to look into who was making the question, who appears not to worry about cost from the rest of his equipment, made a question about pickups, not selling them.  Heck, Dallek probably has a couple McIntosh stuffed back there somewhere.  Sorry if I take the time to notice members equipment and try to make my comments fit.  You apparently just comment without looking into the persons' background.  And that's ok...
 
Send me an email if you want to continue this further.  Dallek is looking for info on electronics, not pricing.

[mica]

Note that if you ask a question of a community, you will get a variety of responses. You're always welcome to call or write to us at Alembic to get a direct answer to your question without any other suggestions.  
 
In response to 1dallek1's original question, Alembic pickups are not active. I would add that nobody else's are either. Some makers may package a preamp inside the pickup housing, but the transducer is still not active. Our preamp is repairably located outside of the pickup housing.  
 
I don't have much support to offer about wiring our electronics with other maker's pickups (or vice-versa) since it's something that we don't have experience with. I would suggest if you are trying to replicate what Jerry had in his guitar, then you'd want to change the electronics as well as the pickups. It seems like you've got good experience for that.
 
The pickup routings in the Tribute are standard single coil and humbucker shapes, so you should be able to drop in other ones without modifying the guitar. You can adjust the gain of each pickup with the trimmer on each filter control if needed.  
 
We've had lots of other responses from customers that they can get their Jerry tones from the Tribute, but perhaps they are using a different rig. Of course, everyone hears a little differently too. Ultimately, the guitar needs to work for you.  
 
Hope you're able to make your Tribute guitar into something that will work for you.

[bsee]

Tom, I would send you an email, but you don't publish your address.  I know exactly what I am saying and stand behind it 100%.  From your response, I don't believe you read and comprehended what I was saying and, instead, were looking for offense to take.  You might read it again with a less defensive frame of mind.  Here's a hint; There was nothing posted to question the competence of you, your tech, or Cornelius.
 
I would also say that if the only responses to questions on this board came from people who took ten or twenty minutes to study the profile, gear, and financial history of someone asking a question, there'd be a lot fewer posts.  
 
Cornelius, Back on the original track, I wonder if you played with pickup heights and trim pots while you were trying to get the tone you seek?