Choosing pickup for vintage bass project

[toonelind]

I'm choosing a replacement pickup for my bass. The instrument was originally Bulgarian origin Orfeus Bass, made probably at the beginning of eighties. Something like this

The neck was really bad and I had it replaced with the one originating from seventies Ibanez jazzbass.

Now it's a solid old bass with good acoustic tone. I have Fender 9050M flatwounds on it. Looks like this:



The original pickup had a single coil with rail magnet. It had high output, loads of low end, but no definition in high end and is very boomy.

Here is and example I found from youtube.

I replaced it with Fender Original Single-Coil Precision Bass Pickup from a Japan made '51 p-bass and I'm not too happy with the sound. The mids and highs are much better compared to the original pickup, but the solid low end is completely missing. I tried different positions, but nothing.

I'm aiming towards dub like vintage sounds. May be something like neck pickup of classic Höfner Beatles Bass.

So I want the solid and extensive (may not too good sounding) low end back, which the original pickup has. At the same time I don't want to give up completely the nice definition in high end, which I have now with Fender single coil.

So I was considering two Seymour Duncan pickups:
Antiquity II™ for Single Coil P-Bass® (Tele)
and
SCPB-2.

At their forum I was advised, that:

the antiquity will sounds sweet but might not have as much bottom end as you want. the scpb-2 or scpb-3 will have a bigger, bolder bottom

Should I go with scpb-2 or am I missing something. Is there anything else for center position, that suits the description which I might not have noticed?

Any suggestions?

[luzceloffan]

I would consider Lollars too ... I have a pair in my Squier 60s CV P bass and honestly it is just amazing , the sound improved lots, a few days ago one bass players band was using a fender precision 1976 and we just sounded on pair, we used the same setup and EQ, but as my bass have a mod done, I am a bit more versatile in my tone , thats my experience with lollar, hopefully You'll experience the same if You give them a try ... http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/mer...=pbass-pickups

[bolophonic]

Looks like an awesome project.

[BuffaloBass]

Big and Phat , to me, means AERO

www.aeroinstrument.com

[toonelind]

thanks for advice. but what about big and phat but not hot?
something like sixties psychedelic pop?

at the moment i'm tempted with scpb2, because it's most easly obtainable, although it's not alnico and i'm afraid, may be it is too hot.

any suggestions where to buy aero in europe?

[JEDI BASS]

I put a Fralin split single coil P pup in my Lakland '51 prototype, and it was the perfect mix of single coil attack and treble and split P pup bass and thump. It was costly at $140 but I couldn't have been happier!!

[Stealth]

The cavity is big enough to sport a mudbucker, maybe something like that would work?

[toonelind]

Originally Posted by Stealth

The cavity is big enough to sport a mudbucker, maybe something like that would work?

Which one would you suggest?

[Stealth]

Someone else will have to chip in, I'm afraid - I don't have a mudbucker equipped bass (yet).

[BassGreaser]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBass

Big and Phat , to me, means AERO

www.aeroinstrument.com

I agree Aero makes some really good pickups. I have a P type 1 in my Pbass

[toonelind]

I'm thinking about humbuckers now also.




what about höfner pickup in the middle position? anybody has an experience with this?

or SMB-4A?

[loopee]

Well I put SDG's in mine, and with flats, it's vintage and phat

[toonelind]

The design of the original pickup is rough. As the same plant also produced furtniture, then the magnets are probably the same, that they use for cupboard door closers. But the shielding is nice. The back cover of the pickguard is copper.







I had a gig yesterday, so I placed the original pickup back, because I didn't have time to install the fender single coil correctly.

First, when I tried it alone, it was quite perfect compared to the fender single coil. Lot's of low end and balls. I thought that, ok - I don't have to change at all. But the joy faded, when I played with the band. Notes were difficult to hear and there was certain ugliness in the sound.

I also realized, that '51 p-bass has the pickup closer to the neck.



May be I would gain some extra low end, if I extended the cavity and placed the new pickup a bit closer to the neck?

[testing1two]

This looks like a prime candidate for a Darkstar...if you have the patience to wait for one.