Stereo jack?

[Marion Turner]

I’m building a bass with an active EMG P-J pickup set. Just noticed that the jack that comes with the pickup set is a stereo jack. Is a stereo plug required for this jack, or does this use a stereo jack simply to provide a way of taking the battery out of the circuit when the plug is removed (a conventional plug “shorts” the shaft and ring terminals)?

[Jim Becker]

EMG uses the stereo jack as a switch to turn off the active electronics when you unplug your normal instrument cable. This is a very common method and has been for a long time. the 1981 Kramer I have with active electronics does the same thing. It preserves the 9v battery necessary for the active system for a LONG time.

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As an aside, there are some instruments that were designed with stereo jacks to separate the neck and bridge pickup outputs. Chris Squire's iconic Rickenbacker sound with Yes is a good example of how that was leveraged. The two pickups got entirely different EQ setup for recording and live play so there was still a "bottom" to the perky highs.