Stub Mandrel Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 29 minutes ago, shoulderpet said: Cool, the pickup I have is a hot pickup but cant hurt to supercharge a bit more, does it matter if the pickup is ceramic or alnico? 5mm wide or thick? One of the reasons I couldnt use the Pbxn pickup is that it was just to big depth wise All that rally matters is that you test and make sure the magnets are the same way around as the existing pole pieces. The physics is that, whatever type of magnet your pickup has what matters is the strength of the magnetic field around the strings. The existing poles will help direct the field towards the strings but its strength will be dominated by the sheer strength of small neodymium magnets. One issue I found when I 'supercharged' my Squier Jazz was that the magnets were strong enough to cause the signal to 'wow' at a low frequency. This suggests they are powerful enough to drive other strings and generate beats through intermodulation. The cure is simple - move the pickups away from the strings - you will probably want to do this anyway. My magnets (a quid or two off ebay) are 3mm thick, 5mm diameter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoulderpet Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share Posted May 7, 2020 5 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said: All that rally matters is that you test and make sure the magnets are the same way around as the existing pole pieces. The physics is that, whatever type of magnet your pickup has what matters is the strength of the magnetic field around the strings. The existing poles will help direct the field towards the strings but its strength will be dominated by the sheer strength of small neodymium magnets. One issue I found when I 'supercharged' my Squier Jazz was that the magnets were strong enough to cause the signal to 'wow' at a low frequency. This suggests they are powerful enough to drive other strings and generate beats through intermodulation. The cure is simple - move the pickups away from the strings - you will probably want to do this anyway. My magnets (a quid or two off ebay) are 3mm thick, 5mm diameter. thanks, i will have a look on Ebay, does it change the tone or just boost the output? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oopsdabassist Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 On 23/04/2020 at 13:59, shoulderpet said: Anyhow I'm sticking with the Kent Armstrong pickup so if anyone wants the Wilkinson pickups I will be selling them, they are decent pickups but I am satisfied with the KA pickup If those Wilkinsons are still going begging, I'd love to give em a run on my bitsa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 12 minutes ago, shoulderpet said: thanks, i will have a look on Ebay, does it change the tone or just boost the output? I'm not very good at judging things liek tah, I think it made it more 'meaty' but that might just have been more output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoulderpet Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share Posted May 7, 2020 4 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said: I'm not very good at judging things liek tah, I think it made it more 'meaty' but that might just have been more output. Fair enough, im much the same, whenever I see pickup or string comparison videos I can never hear the difference unless it is a blatant night and day difference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoulderpet Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share Posted May 7, 2020 13 minutes ago, Oopsdabassist said: If those Wilkinsons are still going begging, I'd love to give em a run on my bitsa. drop me a pm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oopsdabassist Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 pm sent 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicVibes Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 Isn't the Dimarzio Model P supposed to be quite aggressive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoulderpet Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 (edited) Ok , have found one more cheapy pickup that I may well have to try out Roswell QPA Quarter Pound clone for £30 it has too be worth trying, if I dont like it I can always sell it on and wont have lost too much cash, seems to be a clone of the Quarter Pounder (edit: it is, the description on the Roswell website describes it as QPA Quarter Pound PB) and the reviews although not plentiful seem pretty good. I like the KA pickup I have a lot but curiousity has got the better of me and if these are like the Quarter pounder but less than half the price then that is a bargain And, ordered, looking forward to trying these out , On another note about Roswell pickups, their PBA pickup is wound to 17k according to their website but is apparently lower output than the above pickup wound at 8k , that cant be right? 17k would be super hot output, i think the PBA pickup is used on some Harley Benton basses Edited May 27, 2020 by shoulderpet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoulderpet Posted June 3, 2020 Author Share Posted June 3, 2020 Ok I have the Rowell QPA fitted , my initial impression is that it is not a million miles from the tone of the Kent Armstrong, sounds good and the big pole pieces look awesome, im sure someone with better ears than me would be able to disect the differences but to me it seems that with a couple of exceptions (SPB-1 and SPB-2 , Yuck!!!) picking out the differences between a split coil P pickup is a bit like picking out the difference between 2 different brands of black paint and I would even say that changing the value of your pots will likely have a bigger impact on your tone. I have the Kent Armstrong Hot pickup up for grabs, if anyone is interested message me and I will do you a good price, the pickup wires are cut very short (probably about 2" long) so they will likely need to be extended but the pickup is in good working order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoulderpet Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 Ok so I have found some neodymium bar magnets for only a few quid so have ordered some and will be experimenting with them, not sure whether to use one of the ceramic pickups I have and replace the ceramic magnets with the neodymium magnets or whether to put them at the bottom of one of the pickups I have with Alnico pole pieces Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoulderpet Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 (edited) Ok so have tried to do some soundclips of the Kent Armstrong Hot P compared with the Roswell Quarter Pound P , sound quality sadly is not great and you will have to excuse the sloppy playing and fret buzz, this is on a bass that is in need of a good fret dress and it was late, I was tired and not bothered about being precise. First part is the Kent Armstrong, 2nd is the Roswell Quarter Pound P, although the sound quality is not great on the recording I think I am hearing a stronger low mid bias on the Roswell pickup and a slightly brighter tone from the Kent Armstrong pickup Pickup comparison link Edited June 18, 2020 by shoulderpet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoulderpet Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share Posted July 12, 2020 (edited) Ok so having sourced a Duncan Quarter pounder after fitting it I have gone to adjust the pickup height and the solder joint joining the 2 halves together has snapped Honestly Seymour Duncan get your act together, this happened with my Spb1 as well, if Roswell and Wilkinson can do decent solder joints on a pickup a third of the price why cant Seymour Duncan? If anyone wants a Quarter pounder P pickup drop me a message and I will do you a good price for this pickup Edited July 12, 2020 by shoulderpet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiOgon Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 17 hours ago, shoulderpet said: Ok so having sourced a Duncan Quarter pounder after fitting it I have gone to adjust the pickup height and the solder joint joining the 2 halves together has snapped Honestly Seymour Duncan get your act together, this happened with my Spb1 as well, if Roswell and Wilkinson can do decent solder joints on a pickup a third of the price why cant Seymour Duncan? If anyone wants a Quarter pounder P pickup drop me a message and I will do you a good price for this pickup Or you could send it to me and I'll fix it for you 😎 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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