Hollowbody Pickup Help

[bluehevy75]

Hi I'm new member to Talkbass although I've browsed threads as a non user numberous times to find help. I've never really done threads before so I don't know if I'm doing things right but I have a question.

I recently acquired an Ibanez Art Core 140 Bass Semi-hollow body. My question is what will happen if I take the humbucker out of my G&L 1500 (and maybe the electronics, pots, ect....) and put it in the Ibanez? I'm looking for something that will give me that overdriven sound when I dig in and (or) kick up my amp. I don't want to sound exactly like anyone but I do enjoy the sound Casady got through that Starfire and occasionally I hear old nuggets where somebody's playing aggresively through a hollow body and I really love that growl and bite...

I know people will say I need a Dark Star but I don't have the money. While I was at it does anyone think I should swap the tuners off the G&L too. I really like how big they are.

If it helps: I'm playing through a '68 B-15 or an early 70's SVT stack depending on the show. My other bass is a early 70's tele. Usually I play with my fingers, sometimes I play with a pick, my original love is old roots music but currently I'm playing with an indie rock band.

Thanks in advance for the help guys.

[62bass]

Originally Posted by bluehevy75

Hi I'm new member to Talkbass although I've browsed threads as a non user numberous times to find help. I've never really done threads before so I don't know if I'm doing things right but I have a question.

I recently acquired an Ibanez Art Core 140 Bass Semi-hollow body. My question is what will happen if I take the humbucker out of my G&L 1500 (and maybe the electronics, pots, ect....) and put it in the Ibanez? I'm looking for something that will give me that overdriven sound when I dig in and (or) kick up my amp. I don't want to sound exactly like anyone but I do enjoy the sound Casady got through that Starfire and occasionally I hear old nuggets where somebody's playing aggresively through a hollow body and I really love that growl and bite...

I know people will say I need a Dark Star but I don't have the money. While I was at it does anyone think I should swap the tuners off the G&L too. I really like how big they are.

If it helps: I'm playing through a '68 B-15 or an early 70's SVT stack depending on the show. My other bass is a early 70's tele. Usually I play with my fingers, sometimes I play with a pick, my original love is old roots music but currently I'm playing with an indie rock band.

Thanks in advance for the help guys.

I have been using my Artcore a lot lately and I'm very happy with the stock pickup. I can get an overdriven sound easily. It's plenty hot enough. Of course, I'm using a Mesa Walkabour Scout. If you set the pickup closer to the strings you of course get more output. Strings make a difference too. I'm using T.I. flats and altthough they aren't a particularly high output string, they do have some "beef" to them in the lower mids. With the two amps you're using I would think the Artcore would sound great.

You could swap out the pickup for a G&L assuming it will fit. You might have to do some routing. It might be a hotter pickup. I don't know. The sound will change of course. If you need to route the body for a pickup swap it can add to the cost unless you can do the work yourself.

I've seen some nice Darkstar installations done but personally I love the stock pickup. Sometime down the road I might add another pickup with a selector switch but I'm in no hurry right now.

I wouldn't mess with the tuners either.

[GlennW]

I'd experiment with a different tone circuit and strings before changing the pickup, lots cheaper. Have you tried TI JF344s? I don't know how easy it would be to find a direct fit pickup for that bass.

[Rvl]

I would lower the string height to get some growl and snarl
Great amps to play to get the sound you want
Hit the strings a little harder to get more compression/growl/snarl with the tube amps

Later on I would change strings , to get better EQ ie more bass/mids/highs

And then a rack EQ to boost or cut

Then experiment with mics to get the sound you want out o the PA

Thanks

Robert VanLane

[bluehevy75]

Thanks for the help. I didn't know strings could make that big of a difference. I've always just played round wounds until I broke a string and then I would replace the entire set. On my other basses I usually use round wound medium or custom gage Ernie Ball Slinkys or GHS bass boomers.

I will definetly play with string selection and pick up height before I mess with swaping out the pick-up.

New questions:
Will I mess up the neck if I play the artcore with roundwounds? Also, will round wounds give me more bite, growl, feedback, (all things I'm kind of looking for) then the flatwounds? I know it is preference but why do most people choose flats for semi-hollow bodies?

[62bass]

Originally Posted by bluehevy75

Thanks for the help. I didn't know strings could make that big of a difference. I've always just played round wounds until I broke a string and then I would replace the entire set. On my other basses I usually use round wound medium or custom gage Ernie Ball Slinkys or GHS bass boomers.

I will definetly play with string selection and pick up height before I mess with swaping out the pick-up.

New questions:
Will I mess up the neck if I play the artcore with roundwounds? Also, will round wounds give me more bite, growl, feedback, (all things I'm kind of looking for) then the flatwounds? I know it is preference but why do most people choose flats for semi-hollow bodies?

Strings do make a big difference-often more than a pickup change.

You won't ruin the neck on the Artcore with round wound strings. The factory installed strings were rounds. You'll get more fret wear of course.

I use Thomstic flats because they sound better to me than any other strings I've used. They also feel better. The Thomstics are unlike any other flats for sound. Big full sound and they last forever. I'm over 6 years on one set on a P. Up to 3 years on my other basses. I just don't like the roundwound sound and I don't like the sound of other flats.

But, you are different and may prefer the rounds. I played on a set of Thomastic rounds that I sort of liked and I think with a few years of playing them they might mellow out to something I could live with.

[GlennW]

IME, strings, pickups, amps and speakers have the largest influence on the sound (not in any particular order).