I thought I would share some of my recent experiences with both my Douglas 825 and Pisces basses from an electronics point of view. I'll start with the 825 since Rondo now has them in stock again.
I've enjoyed every aspect of playing this bass but since day one, never liked the stock preamp. Part of it is because I lean towards passive electronics to begin with but that's a whole other matter. So I decided to remove the preamp and also replace the stock pickups (jazz neck and HB bridge), pots, and cap with two single coil jazz pickups and wire it up as you would a typical jazz bass.
I chose EMG Select jazz pickups for a couple of reasons. As much as I love the bass, I have a hard time justifying installing expensive pickups in an inexpensive bass, especially since buying pickups is a hit and miss exercise to begin with. The EMG Selects were inexpensive and fit without any issues. After a few months of use, I think that the overall performance especially for the price is quite good. However, from a tonal perceptive, they're a bit too mid-rangey for my taste.
Just for fun, I put a meter on the stock pickups to measure their output. The jazz (neck) measured 7.1k and the HB (bridge) measured 16.67k. Based on this info, I re-installed them but wired to the now existing 250k pots with a .047 cap. The output is not bad (about 2:30 or so on the input dial of my LMII) and they definitely have a wider tonal range with a bit more depth. The sound is also very even across all 5 strings. In conclusion on the 825, the pickups can be used passively and IMO, sound better without the stock preamp.
On to the Pisces.
I've been living with this bass for three months now. I've been playing it allot lately since we're back into band rehearsals after a summer break. In general, I really like the this type of P-bass design regardless of the brand and the overall sound and tone has been growing on be big time. However, I can't get used to is the single coil hum.
While browsing the bass section over on the TDPRI forum, I can across a discussion where a member had installed a GFS Lil Killer strat pickup (vintage 6K model) in a '51 P-bass RI he once owned and loved it. Here's what it looks like:
http://store.guitarfetish.com/lilkiblhurap.html
After getting some questions answered, I decided to order one to try it out. I installed it last night and have to say that for just under $40 (CDN) all in, this is one good pickup. My bass is now dead quiet. The output is not quite as high as the stock Pisces pickup, but it's not far off. 6K for the GFS as compared to 7K for the Douglas. The input setting on my LMII went from about 1 o'clock with the stock pup to 2 o'clock before the clipping light started to come on. It dropped straight in and was wired to the stock pot.
I was happy with the stock tone but I happen to like the Lil Killer better. Even sound across all the strings and it's a bit brighter and articulate. Here are some pics:
Before:
After (sorry for the poor shot):
I would never have considered a guitar pickup for a bass, but this fits my needs in every respect and happens to work very well. I'm very anxious to try it out tonight at band practice.
So....a little food for thought for those interested in these two Douglas models.
