What relacement PU for punchy bass?

[w3stie]

I sold my 'good' bass and kept my cheap Yamaha with the intention of upgrading it. I love the feel and playability of the Yamaha, but it lacks punch. I've got a DiMarzio PJ set on at the moment, but am looking for more punch. I was thinking about a Music Man Stingray replacement, or a soapbar.

Any ideas welcome.

:)

[Northerntele]

I like the quarter pound p-bass set but taming the mids can be a pain in the a**. If you're just looking for the old school thumpy p-bass sound regular pickups and flatwounds are the way to go

[martini]

I would have thought the Dimarzio set would be well on the money.....
Is it worth getting your Bass routed out for a Stingray pickup?

I'm with Northerntele on this one: Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders will have all the punch you'll need. And if you find an official SD dealer in Aus, you can take advantage of SD's pickup exchange policy if you don't rate the QP's.

[4mal]

I found the QP's to be boomy. Same thing I found in the SJB-2/SPB-2/Antiquity 2's from Duncan - there is just too much going on the the low mids. It masks the real bottom and muddies up the hi mids - My take on it anyway... To me, 'punch' comes from a real neutral pickup and proper setup. In a P, I like it with Alnico V rods and standard wind. I roll off the hi's a bit to tame and pretty mch leave things othewise alone.

This is all very subjective and there are lot's of other variables at play from the room to the rig to the musical setting... my rig is fairly neutral and will do an honest 40 - 45 hz at the deep end and rolls off at about 6K at the high end. I tend to run it with a slight scoop. I find that pickups that have the low mid's bump and I don't get along - it's much harder to compensate by rolling out the mids that it is to simply roll off the hi's I find. YMMV

Pickup wise I use Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe these days. I have for a couple of years now and will probably continue that way - you get your spec, built to order for about the same money as off the shelf.

The other P bass pickup to look at is the Lawrence P46 - a little too clear/modern for my ear but.. still very good and I never spent the time to play with other cap's/wiring options. That one is pretty popular.

In the Duncan line up, the SPB-1 / SJB-1 are as good as Seymore gets IMO.

I haven't seen all the Dimarzio's out there but... the ones with adjustable poles are boomy, big time. Kinda of a P90 style construction - bottom magenet, mild steel pole - a lot like the Fender MIM - unfocused in the low end. Tough to tell G from F# or F# from F.

[JohnS]

Originally Posted by 4mal

I found the QP's to be boomy. Same thing I found in the SJB-2/SPB-2/Antiquity 2's from Duncan - there is just too much going on the the low mids. It masks the real bottom and muddies up the hi mids - My take on it anyway... To me, 'punch' comes from a real neutral pickup and proper setup. In a P, I like it with Alnico V rods and standard wind. I roll off the hi's a bit to tame and pretty mch leave things othewise alone.

This is all very subjective and there are lot's of other variables at play from the room to the rig to the musical setting... my rig is fairly neutral and will do an honest 40 - 45 hz at the deep end and rolls off at about 6K at the high end. I tend to run it with a slight scoop. I find that pickups that have the low mid's bump and I don't get along - it's much harder to compensate by rolling out the mids that it is to simply roll off the hi's I find. YMMV

Pickup wise I use Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe these days. I have for a couple of years now and will probably continue that way - you get your spec, built to order for about the same money as off the shelf.

The other P bass pickup to look at is the Lawrence P46 - a little too clear/modern for my ear but.. still very good and I never spent the time to play with other cap's/wiring options. That one is pretty popular.

In the Duncan line up, the SPB-1 / SJB-1 are as good as Seymore gets IMO.

I haven't seen all the Dimarzio's out there but... the ones with adjustable poles are boomy, big time. Kinda of a P90 style construction - bottom magenet, mild steel pole - a lot like the Fender MIM - unfocused in the low end. Tough to tell G from F# or F# from F.

Not trying to highjack this thread, but I am curious if you have any opinion on the EMG Hz passives? I have a "35" soapbar version in a bass that I like quite a bit. Thanks.

[Bluesbob]

Don't forget strings. I get alot of punch out of the SD quarter pounder with TI Power Bass strings on my P(arts)- bass and on my EBMM Sterling. Rolled off they're too much, but with the tone knob(s) centered they sound great through my practice and gig rigs.
I'm still not sure when (or even if-lol) I'll be changing strings again, but when I do, I might try Rotosounds. They have a good rep as far as punch, at least from what I've read.
The TI flats on my '71 Jazz have plenty of punch, too. But more like 12-oz. gloves as opposed to bare knuckles. Don't forget to pronate your wrist!

[4mal]

TI Power Bass are great strings! I have them on a nicely done Franken J and they really have body and bite. I dig the Super Alloy from TI as well, not to mention the Jazz Flat. I don't get as much 'punch' - or what I think of as 'punch' from the JF's - for me those are more about woody but it's all very subjective.

For flat's - my fav for the big kick are Chromes, well broken in.

If you want to try some Roto's ... Tom Appel at Bassguitarstrings.us is blowing out his RotoSound inventory. Check the GFS at BABP for details. I snagged a set of Roto Tapes for $14 and freight ... Tom gives great customer service and has a generally very sharp price. I always check with him first when I'm looking for strings.

[4mal]

Originally Posted by JohnS

Not trying to highjack this thread, but I am curious if you have any opinion on the EMG Hz passives? I have a "35" soapbar version in a bass that I like quite a bit. Thanks.

no real opinions on EMG. I've had some of their guitar pickups and did not like them at all. Quiet and sterile. No life to them. I've avoided EMG ever since. They probably do some great stuff - there is just so much stuff out there that once I get a bad taste - well there are too many other options to go back... I guess the other thing is that EMG's seem to show up in the metal crowd a lot and I couldn't be much less interested in any form of rock music. I can't say that mine is the most intelligent approach but there ya go...

In a soap bar style, the Nordstrand Big Split is fantastic. Huge sounding, very much a single coil vibe - which is mandatory for me. They are also quiet. I dropped a set into a Lakland 55-01 and it totally changed the character of that bass is a very positive way.

Next time I need a soapbar - which will probably be never - I'll ask Pete or do the Nordies again...

For me, Electric basses sound like P or J basses with the occaisional detour into the G&L L series or the Music Man Stingray or something with a Dark Star ... other than that I have yet to hear anything that really get's to me.

[domakkah]

What about those Lace Aluma-P and Aluma-J pickups? They any good?

[w3stie]

Originally Posted by martini

I would have thought the Dimarzio set would be well on the money......

I, also, thought the Dimarzios would do the job. Maybe it's the strings. They're pretty old Rotosounds. I guess the TI are Thomastiks? They seem hard to get here in Aus. I might just go for a new strings, and a heavier guage. Then if I think
it still lacks punch, I'll look at the PU.

[Bluesbob]

What about the string tension? I'd think that would also have something to do with "punch" factor. I'm thinking of punch as the ability of the bass (and amp and string and fingers and pup, et al) to project the note as fast as possible, but at low frequencies. I find that a D played on the E string at the 10th fret has more "punch" than the D on the A string at the 5th fret. I'm not talking about actual frequency response or volume, more the ability of the note to move the speaker cone(s) as far as possible as fast as possible, at a given volume and frequency.
Does that make any sense?

[w3stie]

Yes, I think I'll go for heavier guage strings. See if that makes a difference.

[4mal]

Originally Posted by domakkah

What about those Lace Aluma-P and Aluma-J pickups? They any good?

no. Stay strictly away. very Booomy

[JohnS]

Thanks for the opinion, 4mal.

[w3stie]

Well, I replaced the old strings with Ernie Ball power slinkys. The G string let go before it even got up to pitch (insert favourite g-string gag here :) The D is also very tense. I don't think I like them. Too hard to press down on the E, and I'm not sure they make too much difference in 'punchiness' .

Back to the drawing board. If anyone has any bright ideas where I might find the missing punch please advise.

cheers