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UK made P pickups?


bloke_zero

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I'm wondering about UK winders!

I was looking at the Nordstrand NP4a with the angled pole pieces as I really like the musicman pickup I have from them, but I'm interested in who you rate in the UK?

I guess the sound I'm looking for is what I'd call a modern P sound - something that Sam Wilkes gets (I know a lot of his sound is impeccable tecnique!) e.g. here: https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2017/12/08/knower-time-traveler/

Crisp, well articulated, defined top end but without loosing too much bottom.

I had a google and there seem to be a few out there but I don't want to go by quality of website as an indicator of quality of pickup!

Cheers

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Thanks for all the suggestions - I've had a look at all of them and there is a lot to explore!

20 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Herrick pickups, sound great and Martin is also on here.

 

Anyone got any thoughts on "The neodymium version has a brighter, modern sounding, wilder tone." - I need to find some sound samples but my google-fu is weak today - just endless threads discussing alnico II, II, V and ceramics!

I go straight into anAmpeg SCR-DI that has relatively low threshold before distorting - so too high an output is an issue for me.

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22 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk
 

One of the Best in the U.K. and further afield, I’d sell the bass With it in removing it before I sell his pick up I have in it

Interesting - wish I had seen that those years ago before I got rid of the dingwall. Or the SR805.

 

19 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

I've been using Warman pickups for ages.  Don't let the low prices sway you, they're wonderful pickups:

https://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/product-category/pickups/bass-pickups/

I have the warman pickups in the bass I built myself. Great sound, but the output from them is crazy hot, like the G&L MFDs, I think when I do a bit more work to that bass I will put an inline volume reduction!

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4 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Interesting - wish I had seen that those years ago before I got rid of the dingwall. Or the SR805.

 

I have the warman pickups in the bass I built myself. Great sound, but the output from them is crazy hot, like the G&L MFDs, I think when I do a bit more work to that bass I will put an inline volume reduction!

I got incredibly lucky and picked up an amazing second hand deal on it alongside a Tonestyler bass ten. If you want new, he has a backlog but it’s worth it. A mate of mine couldn’t stomach the wait and got the Barenuckle 58 p instead - great pick up, in our opinion the creamery edged it

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Just going back to the OP, to this day I'm still fascinated with the music community drive to try different pickups. 

I've got six basses at the moment...these range from a 1978 Aria P-Bass copy (which has a Delano pickup in it), through to a £5K custom build Mike Lull; I've maintained that I've never really had any issue dialling in my desired tone with any of my basses.  OK, granted there's this hybrid Geddy Lee/Jean-Jacques Burnel tone thing going on, but equally if I needed to go 60s ponk or 80s SWR I could easily dial up an approximation of of that from my amp, considering any nuances would be lost in the mix.

I still don't get it!

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4 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

 I've maintained that I've never really had any issue dialling in my desired tone with any of my basses. 

I would have been totally with you up until I got my dingwall. I even used to test basses unpowered as I figured if it sounded ok as a slab of wood it would sound fine plugged in. Couldn't get a tone I could use out of it, regardless of what I did. So I sold it.  But I loved the bass itself.

Sometimes you just can't eq something that isn't there in the first place.

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11 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I would have been totally with you up until I got my dingwall. I even used to test basses unpowered as I figured if it sounded ok as a slab of wood it would sound fine plugged in. Couldn't get a tone I could use out of it, regardless of what I did. So I sold it.  But I loved the bass itself.

Sometimes you just can't eq something that isn't there in the first place.

Reckon the only bass that bucked that trend was a Rickenbacker 4003, it just sounded different, but in a good way.  I'd really love to track down some of the old stuff that I had during my formulative years...old Jedson, Arbiter, Columbus...just to see whether the same rule applies.

 

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16 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I would have been totally with you up until I got my dingwall. I even used to test basses unpowered as I figured if it sounded ok as a slab of wood it would sound fine plugged in. Couldn't get a tone I could use out of it, regardless of what I did. So I sold it.  But I loved the bass itself.

Sometimes you just can't eq something that isn't there in the first place.

Which Dingwall did you have? Curious as I had a Combustion that I never really gelled with. Traded it for a Super J (sadly stolen) which was much closer to what I was after, and then bought a Super P which is pretty much the sound in my head. 

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16 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Just going back to the OP, to this day I'm still fascinated with the music community drive to try different pickups. 

I've got six basses at the moment...these range from a 1978 Aria P-Bass copy (which has a Delano pickup in it), through to a £5K custom build Mike Lull; I've maintained that I've never really had any issue dialling in my desired tone with any of my basses.  OK, granted there's this hybrid Geddy Lee/Jean-Jacques Burnel tone thing going on, but equally if I needed to go 60s ponk or 80s SWR I could easily dial up an approximation of of that from my amp, considering any nuances would be lost in the mix.

I still don't get it!

I think you're discounting the drive of the obssessive idiot 🙂

I have a real thing about passive basses and eq.  I am especially obsessive at the moment because I can't get into a room with some people crank the bass and just have a good time - I'm recording and trying to get good takes in an especially exposed context (effectively sampling myself - so any given line will be initially foregrounded and then repeated).  During the recording process I've found EQ to be problematic and as @Woodinblack rightly opines "You can't eq something that isn't there in the first place" - so for me, at the moment it's important.  Also, it's an aesthetic right? Simple, direct circuits, no digital, no fancy eq - just the straight up sound.  That, In my limited experience, with some good technique that is what makes a good recording. (Yeah, I'll probably compress it and eq it, but I want the basic sound to be as strong, clear and articulate as possible.)

Live is another matter - there I find shouting a lot and whooping to be the thing...

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12 minutes ago, therealting said:

Which Dingwall did you have? Curious as I had a Combustion that I never really gelled with. Traded it for a Super J (sadly stolen) which was much closer to what I was after, and then bought a Super P which is pretty much the sound in my head. 

A combustion. Yes, I always wanted to try the others as I hear good things about them, but they are expensive and hard to find locally, an I wouldn't buy another one without trying it first, so not many options.

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12 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

A combustion. Yes, I always wanted to try the others as I hear good things about them, but they are expensive and hard to find locally, an I wouldn't buy another one without trying it first, so not many options.

Yeah, I think the EMG pickups and preamp in that weren’t particularly what I like. Interestingly I have a Shuker that came with EMG pickups and preamp and I struggled to gel with it too. Replaced the pickups with Nordstrands and am now wondering if perhaps the pickup positions just don’t suit my preferences!

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A shout out to Entwistle pickups,  but the  one's i used to have were the Neo  set, and they seem to be missing on his website these days. 

Seconded on the Warman pickups.  I still have their MM pickup in a draw somewhere, that i fitted in my Vintage MM bass in place of the Wilkinson but pulled the Warman out when i sold the bass

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6 hours ago, bloke_zero said:

Thanks for all the suggestions - I've had a look at all of them and there is a lot to explore!

 

Anyone got any thoughts on "The neodymium version has a brighter, modern sounding, wilder tone." - I need to find some sound samples but my google-fu is weak today - just endless threads discussing alnico II, II, V and ceramics!

I go straight into anAmpeg SCR-DI that has relatively low threshold before distorting - so too high an output is an issue for me.

Re Herrick pickups, not sure which one I have but it’s more scooped sounding and higher powered than my Custom Shop 62s, essentially more modern sounding (but nowhere near like the SD Quarterpounder).

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