Pickups Gospel Bass Players Use

[socoo]

Yeah im looking for pickups that produce a warm, upright bass, full round, sound I dont know bubbly like submerged in water. I hear it a lot on Gospel tracks, like from Fred Hammond, Kirk Franklin. I will try to find a song and post it so you can hear the bass.

I have a Jay Turser JTB1004 bass with Rotosound 77's, Active/Passive controls. It currently has 2 soapbar style pickups and I am looking to replace these. Any suggestions would be great!!

[joelb79]

P-Bass, flats, Ampeg B-15. Tone control = off.

But there would be nothing wrong with putting some nordstrand pickups in your bass. DC4's in Parallel should work. They are a bit pricy, you might just consider a new bass.

[socoo]

thank joelb79 you are the second to recommend nordstrand pickups. Thanks a lot, I might just consider those.

[stretchcat]

You might try finding out what the players on these albums are using. It seems like a lot of guys use Ken Smith basses. I don't think that the sounds that they get sound like an upright though. If I were you, I would save my money and try out as many modern 5 string basses with dual humbuckers as you can and get the one you can afford that you like.

[saxofunk]

Originally Posted by stretchcat

You might try finding out what the players on these albums are using.

+1. If you like someone's sound, step 1 is to figure out what they use.

It seems like a lot of guys use Ken Smith basses.

Ken Smith, MTD, Conklin - whatever the brand there is definitely a trend toward custom made basses, most are loaded with proprietary pickups or Bartolinis.

You may end up reconsidering the stock preamp also, but pickups will likely make a bigger difference.

[Dan Knowlton]

I think that the issue is more of the extreme range of sounds expected in Gospel than "only the best." Plus, most of those players play a LOT - makes sense to me to get an instrument you really like when that is the case.

I have some nice stuff and have had some irritating comments about "spending too much on my instruments" from some village idiots. The funny thing was one of them came from a guy who just spent $16+k on a CNC machine - that he used for his hobby of carving ducks! And no, he had never been able to sell one. But the cost of an instrument is "different!"

Dan K.

[socoo]

Yeah I would spend the money, but dont want to miss out on a simple pickup install that could help save the pockets a bit and the fact that i do like the turser, its just so natural looking and feeling. Here is the gloss version, I have the matte finish, didnt really want my bass to be shiny like my electric guitars.
http://www.wilburncustomshop.com/JT-1004-L.jpg