NPD - Tonerider Classic P

[bassbiscuits]

New pickup day - is there such a thing?

 

I’m slowly doing up a bitsa P which used to belong to my brother. It’s mostly a pretty ancient Squier Affinity P with a few upgrades and changes over the years.

 

Bit the bullet and bought some Tonerider Classic P pickups for it which i installed today. 
 

Wow. Absolutely chalk and cheese compared to the cheap nasty pickups that were in there (somewhere amid the grime and rust.). 
 

In fairness I’ve been gigging it with the original pickups over the last few weeks: it’s sounded thumpy and thick but hey it’s a P with flats. 
 

But suddenly yeah it’s like a blanket has been taken off it. Suddenly loud, bright, articulate, punchy. All the good things you’d want. And didn’t burn myself on the soldering iron, which itself is progress. 
 

Top marks. Best £35 I’ve spent in a while. 
 

Gigging it tomorrow so I can’t wait to hear it. 
 

Here’s a pic of the finished work, which admittedly just shows a bass with some pickups in it…..

[Reggaebass]

Nice job, I’ve got the same pickups in one of my precision’s, I can’t remember how much I paid but it wasn’t a big price, really great aren’t they

[Lozz196]

They really are good pickups, imo very similar to Fender Custom Shop 62s which are pretty much £100 more. 

[Beedster]

Toneriders make PUPs that should make us all realise we’re being fed a load of shit by some of the better known and more expensive manufacturers 😡

[lonestar]

I had a one of these on my Precision and throughly agree with the comments.

I swapped them out for a fender vintage ‘63, which I picked up on here for a good price.

The Tonerider IMHO, is in the same league, although I prefer the Fender pickup by a smidge. Price wise, however, the Tonerider wins hands down and I’d gladly fit it on another bass should circumstance arise.

[neepheid]

I have a Tonerider Duke in my Fazley Hot Rod (the "ratlet") and I'm very impressed.  Between this and the Entwistle PBXN (neodymium) - I don't see any need to spend more on a split P pickup.

 

[ghostwheel]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Toneriders make PUPs that should make us all realise we’re being fed a load of shit by some of the better known and more expensive manufacturers 😡

There have been rumours about Tonerider making PUs for one of those better known and more expensive manufacturers. 

[BlueMoon]

10 hours ago, neepheid said:

I have a Tonerider Duke in my Fazley Hot Rod

The Duke is overwound, correct? Anybody compared this with the normal Tonerider P? 
 

I’m well impressed with Tonerider pups overall.

[police squad]

+1 for Tonerider pickups. I have one in my Adam Clayton bitsa P bass. Sounds absolutely as it should

[ghostwheel]

6 hours ago, BlueMoon said:

The Duke is overwound, correct? Anybody compared this with the normal Tonerider P?

I haven’t compared them personally, but a guy who bought one of The Duke from me, told me, it sounded quite the same as Fender PV63. 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I fitted a Tonerider TRP1 in my Squier mini P Bass a few weeks ago, also making a new loom using mini CTS pots and other quality parts. I thought the stock ceramic pickup sounded okay, but the tonerider made a much bigger improvement to the sound than I thought would be possible.

[bassbiscuits]

3 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I fitted a Tonerider TRP1 in my Squier mini P Bass a few weeks ago…. I thought the stock ceramic pickup sounded okay, but the tonerider made a much bigger improvement to the sound than I thought would be possible.

Same here - the original cheapy ceramic  pickup had got me through two gigs and two rehearsals so far and it was ok-ish. Not amazing but no horror stories and it’s a very cheap bass anyway. 
 

But soon as I soldered in the Tonerider and plugged it in - massive improvement to the sound, articulation, clarity, detail. Everything really. 

Edited September 27, 2025 by bassbiscuits