Current HCJJ5 pickup output level

[JK]

Hello,
recently I changed the previous HCJJ5 pickups (the design with the glued-on magnets on the bottom) against a set of the current design. I'm very happy with these pickups, especially their sound, just one trade-off: The output of the pickups is quite low so that I have problems to trigger some of my pedal effects like my EBS Bass-IQ auto-wah, even with the lowest possible threshold setting on the pedal. With the previous pickups I didn't have that problem at all. Btw, the pickups are setup as near as possible to the strings to prevent touching the pole pieces while playing. Anybody having that problem too?

[Sadowsky]

Are you using these pickups in a Sadowsky bass with our preamp?

Roger

[JK]

Hello Roger,
thank you for your reply!
No, I'm a non-professional (but experienced I would say ;-) luthier and using the pickups in my selfmade 5-string bass. The pickups are wired to an Aguilar OPB-2 preamp (Vol (p/p active/passive, Balance, passive tone, bass/treble stacked).
I just changed the previous HCJJ5 set to the current design. I love the sound of the current pickups
but there's that little problem driving some of my pedals, e.g. my EBS BassIQ auto-wah doesnt respond that well. There is no difference in the output level in passive mode when the preamp is flat so I dont think there is a problem with the preamp. Maybe I should try to switch back again to the previous pickups
to be sure. What do you think? Did you notice the difference in the output level of your basses as you switched to the new HCJJ5 design?

[JK]

Is the Sadowsky onboard preamp a unity gain preamp? (that means that there is no change in the instrument's output level when switching between passive and active mode (with the bass/treble controls set to flat)).

[Fran Diaz]

Is the Sadowsky onboard preamp a unity gain preamp? (that means that there is no change in the instrument's output level when switching between passive and active mode (with the bass/treble controls set to flat)).

The onboard pre has a slightly higher output when the active eq is set flat.