Suggest a pickup for me (fretless, passive)

[fullrangebass]

I am happy that you like the tone so far. I am in love with the Villex tone (the whole range of tones, in fact). Keep us posted over the final results

[NOVAX]

Darkolini's, but warminelli.

[d_buzz]

You should also consider Aero pickups which is perfect for the sound you're looking for.

[takfar]

Wow, it's really been five months.

So after a string of unlucky events, I finally have my Villex bass complete. The Villex service was outstanding, but unfortunately the first time around one of the pickups had a bad wire, which happened to be broken just inside the casing, so I couldn't fix it locally. I sent my pickup back to Villex, but USPS somehow lost it in transit... it took another month, but they finally found it. After receiving and examining the faulty pup, William quickly replaced it and sent me a new one, but the Mail Service in Brazil just happened to go on strike for two weeks meanwhile... Oh well. It finally got here yesterday.

So right now, my new bass fitted with EMGs is ready and rocking, and my old bass has been de-fretted and equipped with flatwounds, just as planned. I finally have the bridge Villex pup installed, too.

The sound on the fretless+flats+villex is great! There's a huge amount of tone tweakability available (it does lose some output volume if the mids pot is rolled off, tho; easily compensated by boosting it with a pedal). The mids pot and PRTB totally transform the sound, to the amazement of my luthier, who had never seen a totally passive system as versatile as this. During my testing, the tone pot was great at transforming the characteristics of the attack, making it very soft or somewhat harsh, but never too trebly or clanky. Overall, solid lows and mids, great organic tone with just the right amount of growl. I'm not going to go around slapping and popping in this bass, but that was obviously never the point of this project.

I've been able to dial in a full, sweet fretless sound and get some tasty mwah going on, and that's what I plan to use the bass for, mostly. I can also tune it to straight-out P-style rocking, so it can actually work as a replacement if my main bass is unavailable (of course in that case I need to be mindful of the left-hand positioning, tho, what with it being fretless and all). It also sounds great in a live mix, cutting through nicely in a full band with drums and distorted guitars.

I guess now all I have to do is to thank you guys for helping me successfully complete this project, and add my own recommendation for a quality product and great service. And now, to wrap my mind around playing a bass with no frets. Cheers!

[fullrangebass]

Originally Posted by takfar

Wow, it's really been five months.

So after a string of unlucky events, I finally have my Villex bass complete. The Villex service was outstanding, but unfortunately the first time around one of the pickups had a bad wire, which happened to be broken just inside the casing, so I couldn't fix it locally. I sent my pickup back to Villex, but USPS somehow lost it in transit... it took another month, but they finally found it. After receiving and examining the faulty pup, William quickly replaced it and sent me a new one, but the Mail Service in Brazil just happened to go on strike for two weeks meanwhile... Oh well. It finally got here yesterday.

So right now, my new bass fitted with EMGs is ready and rocking, and my old bass has been de-fretted and equipped with flatwounds, just as planned. I finally have the bridge Villex pup installed, too.

The sound on the fretless+flats+villex is great! There's a huge amount of tone tweakability available (it does lose some output volume if the mids pot is rolled off, tho; easily compensated by boosting it with a pedal). The mids pot and PRTB totally transform the sound, to the amazement of my luthier, who had never seen a totally passive system as versatile as this. During my testing, the tone pot was great at transforming the characteristics of the attack, making it very soft or somewhat harsh, but never too trebly or clanky. Overall, solid lows and mids, great organic tone with just the right amount of growl. I'm not going to go around slapping and popping in this bass, but that was obviously never the point of this project.

I've been able to dial in a full, sweet fretless sound and get some tasty mwah going on, and that's what I plan to use the bass for, mostly. I can also tune it to straight-out P-style rocking, so it can actually work as a replacement if my main bass is unavailable (of course in that case I need to be mindful of the left-hand positioning, tho, what with it being fretless and all). It also sounds great in a live mix, cutting through nicely in a full band with drums and distorted guitars.

I guess now all I have to do is to thank you guys for helping me successfully complete this project, and add my own recommendation for a quality product and great service. And now, to wrap my mind around playing a bass with no frets. Cheers!

I am very happy that you like the tone and the very versatile tones that Villex pickups and electronics offer. The mid control does cut mids (when full counter clock wise) but adds a little hi-mid notch too (not a mere mid-cut); the mids are the easiest heard frequencies, thus the slight volume "reduction" (check the lows and highs that remain intact ). Plus I've realized that but using the PRTB and using the mid-control (counter clockwise) allows for some VERY slap friendly tones (never thin or hollow, never brittle or harsh) if one needs them

[takfar]

Yea, I'm absolutely sure they can yield some nice slap tones with the mids turned counter-clockwise, but on a fretless with flatwound strings it's just not going to work

Btw, if anyone's wondering, I'm using a pair of split Villex pups (P-like). I'm not too much into the usual Jazz sound, myself.

[cnltb]

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