Alder/Maple classic Fender tone -- from my Epi Thunderbird

[HUnt49]

Hi guys- looking for some suggestions. Having always loved the look (but not the sound) of T-birds, I picked up the Epi alder/maple sunburst, with the intent of having the T-bird look with a more traditional sound.

I'm not a heavy rock player, and don't need or want this bass to sound like a Gibson. That's why I went with the Alder/maple sunburst rather than the mahogony goth. My current basses include a G&L L2000 with TI flats, an SX J 5'er with Nordstrands and TI flats, an SX P/J with half-rounds, and a few other strays (okay, 7.)

So I really like the p/j configuration. I'd like something for the neck that will get me a good solid, full, warm, articulate low end, and a bridge that will dial in some space and depth without a lot of growl or twang. Smooth but instantly present, solid, and warm. Old-school tone but with a solid low end. Acoustically, that sound is in there with the bass.

The pickups routs are sized so an EMG 35 would fit, but I find EMG's painfully sterile. That size gives you an idea of rout constraints. I can rout more in the neck-bridge direction, but not for width - the raised center prevents more than a mm or two.


So, what do you think? Any suggestions? I've considered Nords, Aeros, Fralins, etc. - any reason I should look at one over the other for this setting?

[HUnt49]

Nobody? Maybe I can throw out some configs I've been thinking about:

Nord NP4, with a Nord J or a Nord MM4.2 Bridge

2 Nord MM4.2's

Aero P-in-a-J for neck, paired with ?

Bartolinis classic bass series (no routing here)

Seymour Duncan ssb-4's (no rout here)

Nord fat stacks or big singles


Does that help? Anyone want to share their experience with those?

[HUnt49]

Okay, I went with a leap -

Nordstrand Big Splits, wired passive. Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats. Holy Mary, this thing sounds huge! It's an absolute punchy toneful warm monster, and I can't wait to gig with it tomorrow!

It's got more output than any passive I've ever seen - I have to dial things way back. There's plenty of nice tones to be had, and I really like the bridge solo, which is rare for me.

at 5 neck and 7 bridge, with the tone pot rolled way down (almost closed), it's just the tone I was describing above. There's more growl to the mids than I thought I wanted, but that's a good thing - I think this thing will sit solid in a mix but never disappear.

I did have to use a Dremel and sanding head to take off 1 or 2 mm from each side of the rout (3.95" pickup was just a hair too wide). No big deal. It does also leave a gap in the 1.25" dimension, so I may do some custom rings.

If I get a chance this weekend I'll try to post some sound clips. I've been going through an ART MPA Gold with a vintage tube, direct into a power amp and a 410. This has no tone control except what's on the bass, and what I'm getting is very useful no matter how I dial it in.

That said, it's easy to overpower and get crispy. The stock harness has Alpha 500k pots in VVT setup. I'll think I'll start with the tone pot and go 250k - is that a good place to start? I'm not sure which ones are ideal to swap out. I usually go all 250's, but I like the voicing of the pickups themselves, I just want a more useful range of the tone control than the last 25%.

Any suggestions for passive pot matchups?

[HUnt49]

Okay, played a posh fundraiser in Phoenix tonight. Very impressed with the pickup. I may lean toward running them through a ToneHammer or something similar to define/color the sound if I feel the need, or maybe just get a rackmount EQ.

But the pickups would be totally fine without any of that. The cut very well, and I was surprised how much treble I rolled back in to sit more prominently in the mix. The lows were there, but the definition rolled in nicely with some highs. I'm thinking the 500K pots stay put.

Okay, I'm done having this conversation with myself. At least maybe somebody can get some info from this, anyway...