The Dark Lord Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 On one or two of the topics I remember someone saying that the sound of a bass was all down to its electronics. There was talk of a test where someone put some P bass (or something) pickups on a plank of wood - and the sound was no different to when the pickup was actually on the Precision ...... or something like that. So ..... does that mean, if I change the 2 x Vintage MEC humbuckers on my 1999 Warwick Streamer to a P / J arrangement - then the bass will all of a sudden sound like a P / J ?????? Or even some way close to a P / J ?? If so, I'll do it - as the Streamer is extremely playable, light, with a great, great neck - but doesn't have as good a sound as a P / J (or even a P). If anyone has any views on this I'd be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throwoff Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Of course replacing the pickups to a P/J set from humbuckers will make it sound more like a P/J. If you really want to try it you need to put on Fender P/J pickups though as they are what Fender use. I do come down on the side of the fence that the vast majority of tone comes from the pickups and electronics and there is a lot of snake oil in wood choices, body shapes etc but there is something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
margusalviste Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 It all comes up during the recording session. All the nuances in wood choice, scales, nuts, even the pots. Of course, if you play some nasty punk rock it doesn't matter. But for all other styles - well, ask from your sound engineer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I think, to a certain extent that will be true-ish. But its a daft idea, they would be the wrong size! Wizzard or aaron Armstrong might be able to wind you something similar to a pj hidden in soapbar size cases... but I'm having similar debates with myself over my 4 string warwicks and am going to try passive pickups rather than the active MEC ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Also the neck pup will be too far towards the bridge to nail the p sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertbass Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Pickup placement also plays a big part in the sound. Place them where Rickenbacker do and a bass will start to sound like a Rickenbacker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftybassman392 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) The topic of issues affecting how an instrument sounds has been discussed at great length, Here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/73234-tonewoods/"]http://basschat.co.u...3234-tonewoods/[/url] Life's probably too short to wade through the whole thing (and TBH at times it did get a bit petty), but a lot of the early posts contain some interesting opinions. Edited January 4, 2012 by leftybassman392 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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