Seymour Duncan pickup upgrade

[sykilz]

So, really like my Precision for comfort,playability,low action,looks good on a bloke in his ( early ) 40`s, BUT , played alongside my old Washburn active bass it seems to lack punch and snappiness. I know P`s aren`t famous for these qualities, but was wondering if a pick up change would make a big difference or not ( currently stock Mex ones ), or maybe an off board pre amp? I was specifically looking at S.D quarter pounders `cos of the Steve Harris factor. I`m only a weekend kind of player so cost is a factor too, but the s.d`s look good value at £54. Does anyone have first hand experience or would I be chucking money away? As you can tell I`d like to keep the bass if at all possible. Thanks for looking.


[attachment=75871:black_p_bass.jpg]

[hubrad]

SD compared to stock Mex pickups?
Just YES!

[TRBboy]

I've got quarter pounders in my jazz, and they're ok, but if you want a bit more punch, growl and clarity, I would have a look at Dimarzio model p. I stuck a model p and j in my yamaha recently and they blew me away! Well worth a look. I think I got them from Axiomatic Music who seemed to have the best price at the time. You can get them in cream if you like that sort of thing.

[sykilz]

Should probably add I play hard rock original stuff, and my amp is a Peavey tour 450 into a Warwick 410, the amp seems to be reflective of the bass if that makes sense, the old Washburn sounds just the same as it did into my 1990`s rig which was Hartke into a peavey cab. Thanks for early replies,seems there are other options too,cheers.

Just looked at the Dimarzio, would look fantastic on an all black bass.....good shout!!!!

Edited March 27, 2011 by sykilz

[allihts]

+1 for the seymour duncans, got an SPB-2 in my squier P and it totally transformed the bass. Check out the download in my sig for an idea of the tone available.

[KiOgon]

[quote name='sykilz' post='1178266' date='Mar 27 2011, 01:47 PM']Should probably add I play hard rock original stuff, and my amp is a Peavey tour 450 into a Warwick 410, the amp seems to be reflective of the bass if that makes sense, the old Washburn sounds just the same as it did into my 1990`s rig which was Hartke into a peavey cab. Thanks for early replies,seems there are other options too,cheers.

Just looked at the Dimarzio, would look fantastic on an all black bass.....good shout!!!![/quote]

Another shout for the DiMarzio, crystal clear harmonics & snappy solid bass - best I've tried. SD 1/4lbs are good & a huge step up from standard Mex, but not up to DiMarzios.

<< White on White's alright I reckon

[TRBboy]

[quote name='sykilz' post='1178266' date='Mar 27 2011, 12:47 PM']Just looked at the Dimarzio, would look fantastic on an all black bass.....good shout!!!![/quote]

My thinking exactly.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=71320"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?act=attach...st&id=71320[/url]

[charic]

I've got the sd's in mine and I wouldn't swap them out

[AttitudeCastle]

As you can imagine I'm all for Dimarzio and have been since i first picked up the bass

But if you do go down the SD route, i'd say the SPB-1 is better than the SPB-3 (and Harris uses the SPB-1 anyway )

Dimarzio model P = Awesome pickup

Dimarzio Split P = Destructive and Awesome Pickup!

Dimarzio Willpower P = Billy Sheehan, need I say more?

Haha

Also Dimarzio have amazing customer support i may add!

[dan670844]

[quote name='sykilz' post='1178228' date='Mar 27 2011, 01:15 PM']So, really like my Precision for comfort,playability,low action,looks good on a bloke in his ( early ) 40`s, BUT , played alongside my old Washburn active bass it seems to lack punch and snappiness. I know P`s aren`t famous for these qualities, but was wondering if a pick up change would make a big difference or not ( currently stock Mex ones ), or maybe an off board pre amp? I was specifically looking at S.D quarter pounders `cos of the Steve Harris factor. I`m only a weekend kind of player so cost is a factor too, but the s.d`s look good value at £54. Does anyone have first hand experience or would I be chucking money away? As you can tell I`d like to keep the bass if at all possible. Thanks for looking.


[attachment=75871:black_p_bass.jpg][/quote]


You could also try some wizards I have them in all my workaday basses now, don't know about the P bass range but the wizard 74's and the 84's (74s are a cross between 84's and 64's) they defo have a great amount of punch, but you don't seem to loose any definition of clarity, i agree with others if they are the early mexi ones they are pretty much not very good ha ha they so anything will be an improvement wizard are only £70 a set.

[sykilz]

Cheers guys, no one saying " don`t bother I noticed no difference " so must be a good idea, I`ll hunt for some sound clips before deciding but the DImarzios sound like they may be the tone I want, i.e clear and snappy, but with an undercurrent of f**k you.....!!!!!

[Cat Burrito]

I have some Dimarzios in my 70s Jazz & that thing roars! My P-basses tend to have the SPB1's - more trad sounding but a definite step up from stock. I think you'd do well out of an SPB3 if the Dimarzios weren't to happen (it sounds like they will though)

[Lozz196]

I`ve tried SD QPs, and found them not to be to my liking. They seem to "De-Fender" the sound of a Precision, to me. Added lows and highs, but the highs seemd very metallic-sounding - not as in Metallica btw - making the sound more hi-fi. Of course, if this is the aim, then by all means go for it, but if you want to retain the classic Precision sound, but just get more of it, in my view they aren`t right for this. Even a friend of mine noticed this, when I got a new Precision with QPs in it - that sound more like Guns & Roses than your others, was her comment.

[watchman]

[quote name='sykilz' post='1178407' date='Mar 27 2011, 03:59 PM']Cheers guys, no one saying " don`t bother I noticed no difference " so must be a good idea, I`ll hunt for some sound clips before deciding but the DImarzios sound like they may be the tone I want, i.e clear and snappy, but with an undercurrent of f**k you.....!!!!![/quote]

I have an SPB-2 (hot p-bass, apparently) kicking around, which I bought when I didn't even have a P-bass to put it in. One of those things one finds in music shops lying around and buys because they're cheap, on this occasion. I figured that one occasionally picks up cheap P-bass copies, and it might be handy to have a decent pickup for one one day.

Stuck it in my beloved Yamaha BB414 briefly, but it was about half as loud and a lot less clear than the original pickup - pants, really, by comparison. Also, of course, it didn't really fit - but I'm not really about the cosmetics, so...

A short while later I picked up a particularly nice Mexi Standard P, with one of those lucky necks that just plays well off the bat. Flushed with the joy that only an incipient upgrade at no extra cost can bring, I did the sensible thing and left it for a while to decide what I thought of the original Fender ceramic pickup - did a few gigs, recorded a bit. Then I ran up a track with it in my faithful Garageband (quick way to get work done IMHO, less enthused about the Mac one requires to use it), and performed the swap to the SPB-2 and repeated. It's always wise to compare recordings when doing these things, and really I don't think it's particularly useful to listen to a bass outside the context of a band when judging tone. Lots of stuff gets masked by other instruments.

Conclusions:

SPB-2 was about the same output as standard ceramic Fender, possibly slightly less. Well, we know ceramics are powerful or at least tend to sound that way. More upper-mids in general.

Tone was, unsurprisingly, more alnicoey (possibly not in the dictionary). A bit more depth to the tone, but ultimately less clear and defined.

SPB-2 sounds closer to an old-school P-bass, I think, but eventually I decided I preferred the Fender as it came.

I also did a couple of fair-sized outdoor festivals with the SPB-2 in situ. It didn't really have the drive I wanted, and I swapped the original back. Actually, with my crap left arm and hand, the P-bass neck was a bit of a struggle and I returned to full-time BB414 playing. I can't recommend Yamaha's passive BBs too highly if simple punch is your thing.

So count this as a vote against the tide of opinion. As others have commented, check out what DiMarzio have to offer. Although I struggle to rationalise why I think differently to most of the musical world on this, my extensive experience with pickup swapping and modding on guitars has led me to the conclusion that I like most DiMarzio products and am underwhelmed by most Seymours.

Good to have a range of opinions, isn't it though?

As an adjunct, I now have a '99 or so P-bass Special (Mexi, anodized metal guard etc) as a spare. I'll see how the SPB-2 does in that one day. Anyone know what the pickups in it are as standard? They look like standard alnico Fender units.

Another long post. I should write a book

[sykilz]

Thanks to all who have posted so far, I think in all honesty it is a kind of Guns n Roses sound I would like, so not that bothered about sounding un Fendery, I was brought up on a diet of active pick up basses in the late 80s and through the 90`s, so was surprised passives were so popular when I took up playing again!!!! That is probably why the P sounds somewhat "boring" compared head to head to the Washburn active.
With reference to the post about the Yamaha BB series, our local shop has the active 614 for just £249 as they`re end of line, might check one out.

[WHUFC BASS]

Kent Armstrong Vintage Hot pickups take some beating. Probably the punchiest P-bass pickups I've ever used.