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Overwaters Pickup opinions?


bassmansam

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1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

With a decent recording and/or PA engineer they all end sounding like bass guitars in the band mix.

“Sounding like bass guitars” is a bit broad though. It depends what you’re after. Squire or Entwistle? Hooky or JJB? Jaco or Pino? Jamerson? Family Man? Mark King? A few of them would be extremely cheesed off if they didn’t get “their” sound live. 

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14 minutes ago, 4000 said:

“Sounding like bass guitars” is a bit broad though. It depends what you’re after. Squire or Entwistle? Hooky or JJB? Jaco or Pino? Jamerson? Family Man? Mark King? A few of them would be extremely cheesed off if they didn’t get “their” sound live. 

I’m pretty sure most of us on here arent at that kinda level where we could demand the mix be based around a specific sound...

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Just now, LukeFRC said:

I’m pretty sure most of us on here arent at that kinda level where we could demand the mix be based around a specific sound...

Why? I’m pretty arsey about how I sound. But then I’m also one of the two main songwriters. 😉

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21 hours ago, OliverBlackman said:

Yeh I’m very confident the overwater pickups will get close to those tones but also with more clarity and definition in the notes. I would record the same riff on mine for you but; mines passive, fretless ebony board, I’m using coated nickel strings and don’t have fret buzz, so it wouldn’t be a good comparison. 

Heres some samples of different sounds I could get from the Overwater pickups...

Spec is:

Fretless - ebony board

Body not alder but similar, with flame top - gloss finish

Passive pickups with buffer circuit

Nickel coated strings (probably 3-4 weeks old)

Hand position is always between the pickups.

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  • 3 months later...
On 09/11/2020 at 14:03, Lfalex v1.1 said:

On a slightly philosophical note is it not desirable that a pickup should be as accurate and uncoloured as possible?

I'm very much of the opinion that we should all treasure our own desires, so I'm definitely not wanting you to rethink this opinion, but a highly characterful pickup with a strong clear personality is what I find desirable. (And then to do as little as possible to the sound further downstream, except gently flatter it.)

 

Edit: sorry for the thread resurrection! I had quite forgotten that I came across this thread when searching for something..... 😬

Edited by Ricky Rioli
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Interesting point. Certainly, looking at the idea again from a fresh perspective, I'd probably qualify it slightly differently. 

If we accept that the pickups/electronics are one of the biggest contributors to the overall sound of the bass, then it would be wasteful to equip or design an instrument with other features to enhance the sound and NOT use pickups that would be transparent enough to bring that to the fore.

Conversely,  it might be overkill to spec features that might subtly improve the sound only for them to be smothered by a pickup that can't do then justice. 

Finding the right combination of materials,  design, features and construction with the right electronics and ergonomics  would be a real delight. I fear, however, that we're heading in the direction of some of Plato's philosophy, which would contend that such perfection is unattainable! 

Nothing's perfect, I guess.

 

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1 hour ago, Chopthebass said:

I had a Progress 5 string and I would say it was the dullest sounding bass I’ve owned! The preamp was too subtle in my opinion. I didn’t want to mess with it, so moved it on. 

I think most Overwaters I’ve played have been pretty subtle sound-wise. Which is by design, but what might not be what the individual is after. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I still have my Overwater Explorer which was built for me in the eighties. In the nineties I swapped the neck pickup with a Bartolini. I got the extra tonal range I wanted out of it but still regret losing the original. May ask Chris May if he has another lying around. 

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