I've just ordered an EMG 37HZ set from EMG for $178 (AUD). They're passive, apparently the right size. I'll report once installed.
The ones that came with my IB-5 were so low in volume, that I thought the Aguilar preamp I put in was defective. I complained to Bestbassgear about the poor volume, and they sent me a new preamp, which worked exactly the same. So now I have to put the first preamp in another bass ha ha, but not with those shite pups.
To be fair once I had lowered the action and also raised the PUP's a smidge they did sound better but not in the same ball park as the Custom John Benson's they were replaced with. Totally different tonal range plus more output, what more could you ask for? Would highly recommend them to anyone willing to make the switch and pay USD $220.
Are the EX-4/5 pickups 2 or 4 wire? Just wondering if 4-wire whether they were configured in parallel or in series? No wiring diagrams for the EX-4 or EX-5 on the Pit Bull site.
4 wire Simon and here is a link I posted a while back on how to wire them up with push/pull switches to coil tap them.
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6476
Thanks. So it looks like they were wired in series to start with. Just looking for a possible reason for having such a low output and if they had come with the coils wired in parallel, that could have accounted for some of it.
Probably explains why most guys who build IB5 run an active pre amp on board as they use the same stock PBG PUP's.
I did notice that the IB6 kit is rather a mystery wiring-wise. It's got 5 pot holes. The kit description states two volume and three tone controls (and looking at the pics it comes with 3 capacitors), but the wiring diagram is for three volume (one master + individual pickups) and two tone controls. A kit that is really crying out for three-band active tone circuitry.
IB5 & IB6 should be exactly the same except for the additional string and slightly wider neck? They are after all based on the same guitar.
Surprisingly they aren't. Go and have a look. Definitely 4 pot holes on the IB5 and 5 pot holes on the IB6.
I stand corrected.
Had looked at IB5 many times before buying the EX5 but never took much notice of IB6 as it seemed too many strings for me to handle coming mainly from just a humble 4 string background.