Pickup / controls replacement

[bigjimmyc]

Hi alI. I have two fairly cheap Peavey 5-strings which are my main instruments. As a lefty, I'm not likely to replace them anytime soon (cost, scarcity) and I like the way they play in a workhorse kind of way. The pickups and electronics are stock, which is to say cheap, pair of j-type pups with two volume and one tone pot.

However I'm not mad about the sound. Changing strings and settings really makes very little difference. I tend to use roundwound 45-130 and make them last forever. Tone and volume are always on full, and I use the neck pup rather than the bridge to get a scooped sound (think Duff or Steve Harris). I'm not looking for a variety of sounds, just the one, but what I get is wooly and kinda thin.

By contrast, I have a precision style 4-string bitsa which I love the sound of. It has a passive EMG Geezer split P which I believe is the key component.

So here's the crunch. I'm leaning towards replacing the pickups and possibly the controls & wiring too. I don't want to go active, although the wiring cavity is huge. Ideally I want a big deep grindy sound like the Geezer, without having to make changes to the body of the guitars.

Suggestions please!

Cheers, Jim.

 

PS. I play rock covers and the budget needs to be less than a new guitar.

[jebroad]

Have a look at Seymour Duncan quarter pounders. They’re nice and hot. 

[Lozz196]

Well both Duff and Steve Harris use Seymour Duncan pickups, Duff has a Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Jazz bridge pickup, so it may be worth looking at the neck version of this pickup for your bass. They`re much fuller in the sound than a regular Jazz pickup, and hum-cancelling too which is always a bonus with Jazz pickups. Sort a KiOgon wiring loom off of here and do the install yourself - John makes excellent products which are easy to fit, I`m testament to this, as if I can fit one pretty much anyone can. I think that may be as near as you can get, as with all of those mentioned, they do have a split Precision pickup, which putting one of those in would possibly require extra routing by a luthier.

[jebroad]

If you can find split coil jazz pickups you can get a more precisionish tone

[bigjimmyc]

Thanks for those recommendations. I am a fan of SD.

However, checking the dimensions of the 5 String QP Jazz Bass Neck, the distance between top and bottom poles is 2.76 inches, way bigger than the string spacing on my bass (2.5").

Should I be concerned?

BTW, I've failed to find the Hot Stack in a 5-string neck position.

[jrixn1]

Consider rewiring the existing pickups in series. It will not sound like a Precision but it will be heading in that direction.

[bigjimmyc]

16 hours ago, jrixn1 said:

Consider rewiring the existing pickups in series. It will not sound like a Precision but it will be heading in that direction.

Not a bad idea... anyone got a wiring diagram? Perhaps I could replace a volume with a series/parallel switch??

[Norris]

48 minutes ago, bigjimmyc said:

Not a bad idea... anyone got a wiring diagram? Perhaps I could replace a volume with a series/parallel switch??

@KiOgon could help you there. He made me a new loom with series/parallel switch for my PJ

[Psymoon]

Thanks for this thread folks. Just the sort of thing I’m looking at for my Peavey...need to explore more pickups I think though just out of interest. 

[Vinny]

I had a couple of Peavey 5s myself, and found a huge difference after changing the pots and caps - the stock ones were just horrid! I found that the pickups sounded a lot better after that, though they were soapbar-type ones rather than singles. YMMV, of course.

Edited October 10, 2018 by Vinny
da spellage, innit.