fatter sound.... what pups?

[slaphappychappy]

I have schecter active hardware in my pj bass, its good, but I'm not happy with the pickups, they are a little thin sounding still. I don't want to spend more than $60 roughly, what pickups do we suggest?

[Duckwater]

I really doubt it's the pickups making the bass sound thin. A while back I was fighting the muddy sound of one of my basses, so I spent $70 on new pickups, and the sound was even worse. Lo and behold, all my bass needed was a proper setup to sound the way I wanted it to.

[RBX4]

Try thicker strings maybe, and Seymour Duncan qp's! Which are fat n passive

[slaphappychappy]

It has 110 gauge strings, the set up is perfect cos I did it and I know the bass inside and out as I customized it. Through an amp its fine, its just for recording. I personally think its fine, but the singer in my band keeps saying it needs more bottom end. He is a brand snob and I really think that's the problem. The sound I get is in between a pbass and a musicman.

[RBX4]

Originally Posted by slaphappychappy

It has 110 gauge strings, the set up is perfect cos I did it and I know the bass inside and out as I customized it. Through an amp its fine, its just for recording. I personally think its fine, but the singer in my band keeps saying it needs more bottom end. He is a brand snob and I really think that's the problem. The sound I get is in between a pbass and a musicman.

It's the singer, humph

[brendanbassist]

Originally Posted by slaphappychappy

...Through an amp its fine, its just for recording. I personally think its fine, but the singer in my band keeps saying it needs more bottom end. ....

What is he using to listen to the recorded tracks on? My guess is that's the weak link. Was the bass recorded direct or by micing the amp?

[darkstorm]

Dimarzio or Emg pups should do that, give thicker sound.

[slaphappychappy]

We plug into a general guit/mike pre amp. When I plugs my bass it, it does seem thin through that, but when we plug the Mexican pbass there is a pitcher bottom end, and its a lot smoother. The mexi isn't mine, so its not there to record with.
My idea was to go a set of bill Lawrence pup, or standard pbass pups. But then I have to switch back to passive. I may try the emgs otherwise.

[phangtonpower]

Flats give that fat sound you might be looking for. Better yet heavy gauge flats.

[slaphappychappy]

I'm already on a heavy gauge string, I think ill try the emg option. I found a set $54 new .

[Gord_oh]

i associate the "fat" sound with a good low end tone.
dimarzio split p in the neck and the ultra jazz in the bridge.
huge low end. price wise, would be a bit more, but worth every penny.

Bass | DiMarzio

[whitedk57]

Try some Bartolinis...

[Phalex]

Originally Posted by phangtonpower

Flats give that fat sound you might be looking for. Better yet heavy gauge flats.

This is what I'd try first. I like ground rounds myself......

[dmusic148]

Whoa, whoa, whoa...... If the P bass sounds good, solo the P pup on your bass. Maybe roll the tone back some. Try that first.

[DavePlaysBass]

Before replacing pickups, you may get a lot more out of studying pickup height and string types before changing out pups. If you have already done that homework, then you may want to check out a 62 Fender Reissue pickup along with an Dimarzio Ultra Jazz or a SC Hot Stack for the bridge J. You may also want to take a good look at the preamp. Bypass it? Add a passive tone control with 0.1uF cap. Hard to say. Lots of variables. $60 does not get you far unless you are making a string change.

[Nedmundo]

I agree you should investigate strings and other things first, but if you want uber-phat P-bass tone on a budget, get Duncan's SPB-2 Hot. It's a heavily overwound version of the vintage-voiced SPB-1, which gives it high output and really thick low mids. If you like the MIM split-coil, you'll definitely like the SPB-2.

[DiabolusInMusic]

Originally Posted by RBX4

Try thicker strings maybe, and Seymour Duncan qp's! Which are fat n passive

+1 on the Quarter Pounds. I haven't tried the hots yet, I have a set of them just haven't put them in. The vintage SPB-1 sound really good too, plus cloth wire.

But I'd try 1/4 lbs first, I love them as do a lot of people. Put them in my main P bass and never looked back. You can get them pretty cheap on ebay too, maybe not $60 but $70

[Ric5]

Schecters have cheap 2 band preamps that do not sound good.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by slaphappychappy

It has 110 gauge strings, the set up is perfect cos I did it and I know the bass inside and out as I customized it. Through an amp its fine, its just for recording. I personally think its fine, but the singer in my band keeps saying it needs more bottom end. He is a brand snob and I really think that's the problem. The sound I get is in between a pbass and a musicman.

That's what EQ is for! Your singer also doesn't understand that if you take up all the sonic space in the low frequencies there wont be any room left for drums and stuff. And if your guitarist is using too much low end, as they often do, he needs to get rid of some of that. Then there is room for all the instruments.

Tell him his voice it too thin! He's not a bassist. Let him know that that's your sound. He wouldn't want someone telling him to sing with a different voice, right?

After you record the bass, just add some low end EQ, but not too much. Alternately remove some upper mids. But you have to hear the bass in the whole mix, not isolated. My bass sounds pretty bright isolated, but sounds great in the mix. The upper harmonics lends it presence and you can hear every note without it sounding thin or too loud.

[4StringDave]

Why not simply TELL him that you've changed pickups whilst keeping the bass as it is? Ask him what he thinks of the new ones. He'll probably say they sound better. :-)

Job done!