SGD Lutherie Pickups

[DavidRavenMoon]

Originally Posted by cybersnyder

I'll be watching, but if I miss the results, shoot me a PM/email when the passive design is ready. Extremely interested in those.

OK... here it is. Totally passive. These pickups feature neodymium magnets. The neck and bridge are wound differently to voice them for each location. The neck weighs in at about 6.6K and the bridge is 10K. Both are in series, but they sound good in parallel too. I just haven't gotten around to putting switches in the bass yet. DC resistance numbers don't tell you much about the pickup though, but people like to see them.

In this clip, the signal chain is each pickup to a 500K volume pot, one 500K tone with .047 M cap. Out the bass to the high-Z input on a Roland VM-3100Pro digital mixer to my Mac. It was recorded in TC Works Spark XL. Everything is totally flat.

A few notes... the strings are very old, and the pots are very dirty! I had to scrounge up some in my parts box. I have plenty of 25K and 100K pots. Also the bass is not yet shielded, so it buzzes a bit, and the output jack is attached via alligator clips.

Here's the test bass in question. It has a cherry body with maple top, maple and walnut neck, two truss rods, graphite reinforment, and phenolic (ebonol) fingerboard.



Here's the clip. It starts with the neck pickup, tone open wide. Then with the tone rolled back 3/4 off, and then all the way off. Then both pickups with the tone up, and then the bridge pickup, tone up, and then rolled back right before the harmonics at the end, where I opened it up again.

SGD Passive Pickups Test

I'm posting this to get everyone's opinions.

[cybersnyder]

I like the neck. The bridge seems a little too hot to me, but it could be the headphones that I'm listening with. I would have guessed that the bridge was parallel, but that's a 50/50 guess and I would have been wrong as I usually am with the listening tests.

[Human Bass]

The bridge sounds very Jacoish! Me likes!

[GlennW]

I like them, especially the neck pickup.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Here's a better recording... same thing, neck solo, neck with the tone half down, then full off, then both pickups, then the bridge, then the bridge with the tone half off, then full off.

New passive Pickups 2

I have some variations of the pickups, such as a different bridge pickup with a slightly different tone, as well as a different neck. I'll have to get clips of these and also the pickups in parallel.

[cybersnyder]

What's different with this recording versus the last? It's sounds like an entirely different bass to my less than critical ear. I think the first recording sounded more "alive", but that could just be the result of a different recording process. The pickups are sounding good.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Originally Posted by cybersnyder

What's different with this recording versus the last? It's sounds like an entirely different bass to my less than critical ear. I think the first recording sounded more "alive", but that could just be the result of a different recording process. The pickups are sounding good.

Thanks again.

Exact same bass and pickups. The only thing different is I recorded at a slightly lower level. I think the first one was on the verge of clipping, so it got a little grindy. I might have also been hitting the strings harder. I realize I play a certain way, and wanted to get a more neutral playing tone.

The bass is also now properly setup (frets dressed, bridge adjusted, etc.) and shielded, though the pickups are not yet fully shielded or potted. Now it needs new strings... The low B is a bit dead.

The only other thing was the audio interface used. I recorded the first on a fairly cheap USB interface, and the second was though an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 with a totally digital (S/PDIF) signal path. I was waiting for new drivers for the card after I updated to Mac OSX Leopard.

I have another variation of the pickups which I have to wind and install and record. This stuff gets time consuming!

[cybersnyder]

I guess it's like at BestBuy, everyone always buys the TV that's turned up the brightest. And CDs are all cut at maximum levels with no dynamic range. I have iPod ears.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Originally Posted by cybersnyder

I have iPod ears.

I do too. I kept blowing out the ear buds so I had to get some nice Sennheiser noise canceling phones.

These are very dynamic pickups, so plucking hard yields a bigger tone.

I just wanted to show the other side, that polite plucking can give you something else. Both are accurate representations of the pickups. Just two sides.

Remember these are direct recordings without EQ. Not exactly the way you would record your bass. A little tweaking goes a long way. I liked the first recording's tone better myself.

Next I'll have to record them through an amp.

[DavidRavenMoon]

OK, same clip through an SVT plugin (AmpegSVX) simulating an SVT 4-Pro, tweaked to sound pleasing to me, if not a tad over driven.

Passive Pickups with SVX

[A9X]

After 7 years I finally have a functioning soundcard connected to the stereo and listened to your samples. Very nice, and I'm even contemplating ordering some for the Conklin GT5.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Originally Posted by A9X

After 7 years I finally have a functioning soundcard connected to the stereo and listened to your samples. Very nice, and I'm even contemplating ordering some for the Conklin GT5.

Thanks... from you that's quite a compliment!

[A9X]

Originally Posted by DavidRavenMoon

Thanks... from you that's quite a compliment!

My pleasure.

Plan of action is maybe some Villex for the B2V and yours for the Conklin. As they're both EMG40 sized I can try them in both basses. The Conklin will be gettiing Alembic style filters too.

PM to follow.

[DavidRavenMoon]

New clips... same old strings. New strings next week...

Passive pickups clip 6

I think this is a good representation of how they sound.

[DavidRavenMoon]

In case anyone was wondering what's going on with these (and even for those that weren't!), here's the first non-prototype "production" pickup. Still hand made. This is a passive neodymium EMG-40 size soapbar bridge pickup. There will be three versions of this. This version is wound to have an enhanced midrange for a tighter punchy tone. Another variation is rounder sounding.

This is installed in one of my cherry/maple/purpleheart 5 strings in the bridge location, which is roughly in the same spot as a Jazz Bass. It was directly to the jack for this test, and into a Roland VM-3100Pro digital mixer, and then to my Mac via S/PDIF. After I get a neck pickup made I'll wire up a blend/vol/tone setup.

New Passive Neo Bridge Pickup

[GlennW]

That's sounds great David...would like to have heard a couple of bars of Peter Gunn. Very nice playing too.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Originally Posted by GlennW

That's sounds great David...would like to have heard a couple of bars of Peter Gunn. Very nice playing too.

Thanks, and thanks. I was trying to come up with something to play, but in the end I was just noodling.

Peter Gunn I know!

I should have a neck pickup done this weekend... waiting for wire and magnets in the mail...

[GlennW]

Peter Gunn is what initially drew me to music, and bass. That's some powerful stuff.

Looking forward to the hearing neck.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Originally Posted by GlennW

Peter Gunn is what initially drew me to music, and bass. That's some powerful stuff.

Looking forward to the hearing neck.

I always loved that piece of music as well. I like just about everything Henry Mancini did.

For me it was the Beatles and Motown, but originally I wanted to be a drummer. But I always paid attention to the bass parts.

Here you go...

This is the prototype neck pickup on my bolt on neck bass, played with a pick.

Peter Gunn

[GlennW]

Thanks David, wonderful as always. I'm 99% sure I first heard that song as a TV show theme in the '50s. The music was the main reason I'd watch (listen to) the show. I liked Perry Mason too...had that stong bassy undertow going on.