Pickup ideas for an old Peavey

[NoGraveConcern]

Well, I'm trying to work out some persistent static issues (seems to be a dirty balance pot) and I've just come to the conclusion that, although I love the feel of this bass, I don't care much for the tone. The pickups sound clean and are fine for finger style, but I am looking for a better & more aggressive slap tone. I hate to spend too much on this so I'm hoping for something in the $150 range as more than that would get me into the range of a used/mic Jazz bass.

I've never replaced a bass pickup although I've worked with active and passive pickups on guitars many a time. The pre-amp and non standard routings through me off big time.

Background Info:
The bass is a 4 string Peavey Axcelerator which is basically a J neck on a P-Bass body with 2 active soapbar pickups (or 2 passive pickups and an active preamp...IDK). The controls are Vol, Blend, and stacked (high/low) eq. It has a little PCB inside with a few resistors, a tiny chip, and a ribbon cable going to the pots. It's 18v.

Any ideas? Would a set of basslines work with the stock pre-amp? What about getting rid of the stock pre-amp? Should I just get a Jazz bass and use the Peavey for fingerstyle?

[bertbassplayer]

Your best bet would be to use some contact cleaner and clean out the dirty pot then sell the bass and get something more of what you want. There's a couple problems with replacing the pickups... one being that you'll prob pay more for the pickups than the bass is worth, plus you will prob either have gap problems or have to reroute for whatever pickup you get. Sucks having odd sizes. Personally I have a Peavey cirrus which I think are the same pickups as the Axcelerator and have no problems.

[NoGraveConcern]

Originally Posted by bertbassplayer

Your best bet would be to use some contact cleaner and clean out the dirty pot then sell the bass and get something more of what you want. There's a couple problems with replacing the pickups... one being that you'll prob pay more for the pickups than the bass is worth, plus you will prob either have gap problems or have to reroute for whatever pickup you get. Sucks having odd sizes. Personally I have a Peavey cirrus which I think are the same pickups as the Axcelerator and have no problems.

Hmm...I'm not selling THIS one...I've got other things I could live without to raise funds for something I dig more, but like I said, I don't want to put $300 into it either. Are there no standard soapbar sizes? Would a new pre-amp be of any benefit?

[bertbassplayer]

Originally Posted by NoGraveConcern

Hmm...I'm not selling THIS one...I've got other things I could live without to raise funds for something I dig more, but like I said, I don't want to put $300 into it either. Are there no standard soapbar sizes? Would a new pre-amp be of any benefit?

There are a couple standard soapbar sizes, but peavey doesn't use any of them.

[bertbassplayer]

A new preamp might help, but usually a preamp's design is to enhance the sound of the pickups... and if you don't like the sound of the pickups that kind of doesn't help.

Normal sizes for soapbars are varied...
3.5" x 1.5" and 4.0"x1.5" is one of the more common for 4 string, EMG and Bart make pickups that sized (SD makes a 3.5x1.5), of course there's a little give and take depending on if the pickup company uses metric or standard (e.g. you might have it be 3.52" and 1.42" or something"...

Bart also makes the following sizes:
http://www.bartolini.net/pdf/Pickup%...ings_wDims.pdf

[JPaulGeddy]

I was looking into the same issue with my Millennium BXP, I *think* I found the EMG 35s would fit. First thing would be to measure the holes. Also, check out the forums at Peavey, they're more than happy to give you schematics and whatever else.

[bertbassplayer]

My VFL Pickups are 3.75" x 1.5" so the 3.5 emgs would fit... but wouldn't fill up the cavity... plus you have those half moon shaped tabs to deal with as well.

[bertbassplayer]

I haven't asked this becuase it seems stupid... but have you adjusted the height of the pickup? Active pickups especially depending on the distance of the pickup from the strings GREATLY can affect the sound. You might want to start with cleaning the pot and adjusting the pickups.

[NoGraveConcern]

Thanks for the replies. It looks like the originals are either 3 5/8ths or 3 11/16ths. They also have a radius. So it looks like an EMG35 style would "fit," but there would be lots of gap. I had figured that the half moon tabs would not be filled, but I could live with that if the rout was a little closer.

I was under the impression that pickup height was not adjustable, but I guess you could put a spacer underneath.

[Philbiker]

Originally Posted by NoGraveConcern

Should I just get a Jazz bass and use the Peavey for fingerstyle?

There's your answer. The problem with Peavey basses is that most of them use proprietary pickup routings. You'll never find replacement pickups which will fit. However, as you've noticed, your axcelerator has very nice fingerstyle tone. I have an Axcelerator 6 with the same design pickups and preamp and I absolutely love the fingerstyle tone. I've never tried it for slap though. I believe the pickups are active, and the pickups/preamp are specifically designed to work together.

One thing's for sure: if you buy yourself a Jazz bass, even an SX copy, just for slap style, you'll have a great slap tone, as the classic two J pickup configuration is tough to beat for slap.

Personally, I like the fingerstyle tone of my Axcelerator much more than Jazz bass fingerstyle tone. So much so that a year after I got my Ax6 I sold my excellent USA Fender Jazz V because I never played it. However, for slap tone, IMO, there's little or nothing that can match the classic two single coil pickups all the way up Jazz bass tone.