Hi everyone,
I recently bought and assembled a Pitbull Guitars MMB4 kit bass as a fun COVID lockdown project (happy to post pictures if anyone is interested!). The quality is surprisingly good (it's definitely one of the better quality 'kit guitars' I've ever seen), and after a decent set up it plays really nicely. The tone is fine, but definitely could be improved. Right now it's a stock (passive) pickup which does the job but is nothing too exciting, and no onboard preamp. I've got a birthday coming up and I'm interested in replacing either the pickup or adding an active preamp (eventually I plan to do both, but right now it'll probably be one or the other because they're not cheap).
I have two questions:
1) Would you recommend replacing the pickup or adding a preamp first?
2) Does anyone have any recommendations for either? I'd like a Stingray-ish tone, but it doesn't have to be an exact replication of that tone if there are other options out there (on my Google search I've seen several posts from people asking which after market pickups give the closest possible recreation of the Stringray tone, and e.g. seen people complaining the EMG pickup isn't very similar to the classic Stingray pickup - I'd of course be thrilled with a perfect Stingray tone but I'm also happy with something a bit different if it sounds good). The main limiting factor is cost; as it is a relatively cheap bass kit I don't want to spend too much money. I've heard great things about Nordstrand, Aguilar, and Seymour Duncan. I use Seymour Duncan P-bass pickups in two of my basses and one of my guitars, so I know they're good pickups for a reasonable price.
I'm also aware when it comes to Musicman pickups there are no standard sizes, so whatever is recommended I will have to check whether it will fit before buying.
Like I said above, I'm pretty open to any suggestions and it is just a fun project bass, so if you have other options/ideas with what to do with it, just let me know!
Thanks for the help