'62 original & Lollar P Pickup Comparison - and let YOU be the judge...

[BadBilly]

OK! As a long time peeper on TB and newly registered, it's about time to share something interesting. I am not sure whether this has been done before but up to the point of my search by now, there is not much relating sound clips around here.

Well, some background explanation first. Somehow I've got the pickup on my Fender Pino Palladino bass changed into the '62 originals, but that is another story anyway. And lately I just thought of trying some other sonic character. So I acquired a Lollar P pickup here on TB. On the weekend, lovely spring days but gig free , the experiment started...

I still stick the Pino bass with the TI flats, and it had been several months old (and perhaps more than half an year?). I really like the old strings tone, and most likely would keep on using them. However, this might result in lack of some frequency span as fresh, roundwound strings provide. Plus I mainly pluck by finger right above the PUs. So please be informed. And to demonstrate the type of old school setting, I choose to play one of my favorite lines by James Jamerson - " Darling Dear," which could show the tone across the strings around the same position. I just EQ-ed the original tune to cut out a lot of low end, pan it to 80% right, then bring it down to -15dB lower, so that we can hear mostly the hi-hat and little Michael chiming back there.


Here is my signal chain:
Pino bass -> Aguilar DB900 DI -> BAE 1272 mic-pre -> Lavry AD10 --S/PDIF--> Mbox Pro2 -> Pro Tools 8.0.3

The bass tracks are not EQ-ed, nor compressed or any other effect. Just fade-in / fade-out.

Your beloved earphone or speaker ready? Cool! Let's go hear them in the next post!!


-Billy

[BadBilly]

I separated 3 tonal settings by fade-in / fade-outs. You could tell them easily around the start of 2 choruses. The first part is the tone pot fully on, then around 50% backoff, and then fully off. Here we go:

The Pino bass with '62 original PU
The Pino bass with Lollar PU

The first few notes on '62 file show some clicking sound. That was my finger accidentally touching the pole pieces when plucking. Sorry about that. Not sure if the noise is normal. But the same thing seems not to happen on Lollar. Just for your reference.

The upload files are compressed into 256kbps mp3 within Pro Tools. I got pretty lousy, echo-y sound on SoundCloud, no matter what the bit rate I choose when compressing. I hope this box.com could let you guys hear more clearly. Please still let me know if any of you have trouble hearing them.


Personally, I have one a little bit favored than the other. But I am all ears! Please let me know what you think. Thank you guys!!


-Billy

[vin*tone]

Wow great job. Thanks for the files.

The 2 sound really similar in the higher registers but I think I'm prefering the 62's down the business end. They seem a bit softer and deeper.

[Tom Cileski]

The 62's sounded a little better to me. Thanks for the sound clips.

[jarrydee]

i thought to myself "man this dude has some nice gear" until I got to the mbox. Not trying to be a jerk, just want to ask you, why in the world would you run all that nice gear, (the Larvy..OMG) into a darn mbox? on topic I like the 62's better also! I run a studio and have had the brent and Larvy before and they are great!

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by BadBilly

I separated 3 tonal settings by fade-in / fade-outs. You could tell them easily around the start of 2 choruses. The first part is the tone pot fully on, then around 50% backoff, and then fully off.

Nice Playing! You want the tone up, but you need a foam mute under the strings for a deader tone.

Here's Jamerson soloed:

What's Going On (Solo Bass)

A lot of compression too.

Some more:

James Jamerson "Ain't That Peculiar" isolated bass & drums - YouTube

James Jamerson isolated bass track - YouTube

James Jamerson "I Can't Help Myself" isolated bass - YouTube

[dubstylee]

I like the 62's as well.

[BadBilly]

Originally Posted by jarrydee

i thought to myself "man this dude has some nice gear" until I got to the mbox. Not trying to be a jerk, just want to ask you, why in the world would you run all that nice gear, (the Larvy..OMG) into a darn mbox? on topic I like the 62's better also! I run a studio and have had the brent and Larvy before and they are great!

HA! Nice point man. You might be even more surprised to see I run the whole thing into a MacBook Pro. To me the most important is what in front of the A/D convertor. So I choose AD10 in my home studio, which is 1/2 U size and costs only a portion of those studio grand Blue or even Gold series, then send the digital signal through S/PDIF to mbox 2 pro. As long as it goes into digital, I believe it loses nothing.

Another point is I could carry the MacBook Pro + mbox pro stuff if I need to multi-track the whole band's idea during our practice. 003 or above would be too bulky to me. And even if I got a 003 for home studio, I would still go into AD10 first.

Anyway back to the topic again. Sorry not meant to distract you guys to the gears. Only would like to show how it is recorded. Look '62 got a lot of favor by now.

-Billy

[BadBilly]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

Nice Playing! You want the tone up, but you need a foam mute under the strings for a deader tone.

Thanks man! Can't stop listening to those links!

Actually I was not to copy Jamerson's tone. Only select a tune to show the pickup sound.

So which one do your prefer?

-Billy

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by BadBilly

Thanks man! Can't stop listening to those links!

Actually I was not to copy Jamerson's tone. Only select a tune to show the pickup sound.

So which one do your prefer?

-Billy

I liked both of them for different reasons. The Fender was a bit tighter while the Lollar was rounder. For the type of tone you were doing I think I liked the Fender a little more.

[gigslut]

'62 for me by a long shot. Definitely more old school P Bass tone. The Lollar sounded more modern.
I have the '62 in a MIM P-bass and was considering a change. Not that I'm unhappy with the sound, just was wanting to experiment. I think I'll stick with them.
There was a P Bass pickup comparison posted a while back with several brands, my favorite in that comparison was the Nordstrand.
OzBassForum • View topic - P-Bass Pickup - Soundcheck (UPDATED - FINAL)
Perhaps you could do this again, but this time just label the tracks "A" and "B", and post it as a poll.
Nice playing, BTW!

[Jefenator]

I subjectively prefer the roundness of the Lollar, though that might not slice through a dense mix quite so well.

OP, I'd be curious to hear your impressions on how they compare, onstage.

Thanks for sharing! (Lollar definitely tops the list of P pickups I'd like to try - IMHO his '51-style single-coil is absolutely magic.)

[mwolff]

I liked what is going on with the mids more with the lollar.

[cnltb]

I too prefer the original '62 Pickup.

[salcott]

'62s for me, too. Nice playing.

[BadBilly]

Originally Posted by Jefenator

I subjectively prefer the roundness of the Lollar, though that might not slice through a dense mix quite so well.

OP, I'd be curious to hear your impressions on how they compare, onstage.

Hmm... onstage, that would be interesting! I will try it out this week and keep it posted.

I was so surprised they sounds so similar when recorded, perhaps a part of it because of my setting and playing. Let's see what character would pop up in a live situation.

[Willicious]

I'm going to go with the Fender '62.

( … and I run the Lollar in my P Bass )

Excellent playing.

[Slammin]

'62 for me too

[lpjiang]

Nice playing! Compared these 2 files only, I think the '62P sounds more upfront and doing what everyone expects a P-Bass should.
Nice front end equipments, too!

[M.R. Ogle]

I came back.

Just got done re-installing my '62 CS pickups back into my walnut-bodied, Schecter rosewood-necked P-bass.

Had some Bill Lawrences in there, also had the G&L MFD P-set in there for playing loud, but now we're back recording, and the Fenders just work better... not the loudest, not the deepest, not the high-end sheen of some other pickups. But, man does this bass produce a solid sound in the studio.

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