Let me get the
disclaimer out of the way first... Me being an endorsing artist of J Worrell Pickups was my idea because working with John on testing and sampling his pickups has been such a great experience and he's been such an incredible guy to work with. It's a mutually beneficial relationship, yes. But, my opinions are still my opinions and I'll still be 100% honest.
How does this review work?
I'm going to do clips for you guys. Pick me songs, styles, or whatever you want to hear me playing on this bass with John's P pickup and I'll record them for you. I'm at least a moderately capable bassist so don't hold back. I'm no slap pro, but I'll give that a shot too. I'll do my best to do everything you guys ask me to do.
What do I have to say about the pickup so far?
Well, my first words to John were as follows: "Holy crap John, my P Bass sounds effing huge!" Yeah, I liked it that much. I've been using it for several weeks in my Highway 1 Precision and I can't pick out just one attribute that makes it so perfect for me. I'll just run off a list:
1) It is clear. I mean that in a hi-fi kind of way. It pickups up every little thing. The brightness on new strings shimmers. When I play in the upper register I go "mmm, MMMM, MMMMMMMMMM!!!!" like Scooby Doo eating a box of Scooby Snacks. This thing sings. I've never had a bass that I could say that about before.
2) It's deep. The low end is
here. This bass was doomed to live its life under my bed until this pickup because I could never get the low end out of it. A DiMarzio DP127 delivered the lows for me after a lot of searching but it still spanked you with mids and the high end was wooly. I'm talking about an Ampeg 810 made out of sheep kind of wooly. This is not. Maybe it's the design and use of neodymium magnets? I don't know, I just love it. My bass sounded HUGE when tuned to BEAD with Roto 66 Drop Zones. The B was
tight.
3) It isn't lifeless on it's own. Like I said, it sings. I always liked EMG's in the mix but wished "clear" pickups weren't so dull and boring. I could never EQ them back to life. This thing has as much life in it as a maternity ward. I've rethought my opinions on buzzwords like "clear" or "modern" because I finally found out what they are.
4) It's still a Precision. Maybe just a Precision Plus? I run it flat through my amps and it's like the biggest P bass you'll ever heard. It flat out killed in a metal mix. It's at home with funk, RnB, punk, or whatever you want to use it for. With my J's or the DiMarzio I'd get lost in the mix. I tried to compensate with distortion, volume, and/or treble bite but everyone would tell me that they couldn't heard me anyways. This doesn't need any of that to kick some ass. It's not a pre-CBS Precision when you run the tone wide open and new strings but you couldn't tell the difference in a mix if you tweak your settings. I haven't run it with flats yet, but I'd be willing to bet that with flats an a slight tone roll off you couldn't tell that it isn't vintage. (Personal note: I don't like to imitate tones. I like new and progressive ones. I also appreciate good ones, but I try to make my own niche and not copy. I'm certainly influenced by the classics, but if you want vintage P, buy a vintage P.
)
5) John's incredible customer service. Frankly, I feel as this is truly the #1 on my list with John. He treats you so well, keeps you up to date on your orders, and even on its assembly. If there is any issue whatsoever he's ready to fix it. He'll make sure you're 100% satisfied and works with even the most picky of specs. The pickup I refer to as the short P arose because I made a mistake in not measuring my bass and John just made another pickup to fit my bass! No complaints from him at all! I've been doing customer service since I started working, but man, I have got a lot to learn from him. Thanks again John. I know it's the 2314526225th time I've said it, but it's been great.
SOUND CLIPS!
This is coming soon. I need to know what to do first! What do you want to hear? Mellow fingers? Slap? Pick punk? Tapping with my big toes? Rubbing my strings on a 1977 Gremlin? I'll at least try.
All of these are using new Musicians Choice nickel rounds 45-105 tuned EADG. (Please note: Everything said up to this point is referring to this bass with Roto 66 Drop Zones CGCF or BEAD.)
It's P Bass - > M Audio Fastrack -> Audacity with no effects except for volume leveling between sections. All tracks fall under the usual "they're sloppy" disclaimer.
Riff across all 4 strings rolling off approximately 1 on the tone on each repetition. Pick 0-10, Fingers 0-10, then both open: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9791442 Finger style (above the 12th) riff with gradual tone roll off on each repetition (about 1.5 on a 1-10 scale): http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9791407 Variation on the above riff picked with no tone change: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9761298 Same variation on the above riff played fingerstyle with no tone change:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9761272 Punk alternating Pick / Finger: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9761331 Ska going from finger / pick / finger tone off / thumb tone off: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9761440 Reggae alternating pick / fingers while gradually rolling off tone (and speeding up) with thumb at the end: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9761522 super sloppy Iron Maiden riffing fingers / pick: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9761573 (I need to work on my galloping again! It's been too long!)
Slap without compression + some random finger harmonics http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9761695
