Thoughts on two pickups I'm deciding between?

[foetus66]

Maybe I could get a few people's opinion on the pickups I'm looking at.

I'm thinking of getting a pickup, most likely from curtisnovak.com, and currently trying to decide between these two:

Tele Bass® Duo Pickup http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/tb-jb.shtml
Tele Bass® Humbucker http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/tb-hc.shtml



I don't know much about the current pickup except that it is very tinny sounding to me, or lacking low-end. It needs more balls, or at least ones that don't look at me like this:

as i'm playing.

That said however, I also do like the percussiveness of the tinny sound so I'm not looking to eliminate it, per se.

Any thoughts on this? Particularly with regard to the typical tonal differences one can expect between the dual magnets (jazz style), the dual-coil (hum cancelling), vs. the standard single coil that's in there now.
thanks!

[GlennW]

I think both pickups you're considering will significantly change the character of the bass.

The one pole per string single coil is what these basses are all about.

I'd go to a .1uF cap before swapping pickups; it'll knock off some of the tinniness. If that's too bassy for you, try a smaller cap like .08 (.047 + .033) or .069 (.047 + .022), they're cheap.

[foetus66]

Thanks for the advice. I should also add that the pickup in there when I got it is not original, is not a Fender pickup, and was not professionally installed.

I'm not happy with the current sound and since I don't know much of anything about the existing pickup anyway, (and it's not original), i'd just as soon take the opportunity to indulge in picking out something new. I'm not terribly concerned with preserving the current character of the bass since I don't know how it compares with the original pickup anyway.

I took it to a guitar shop last night to see what they might have, and they suggested I replace it with a Seymore Duncan Quarter Pounder, which they didn't have in stock. http://www.warmoth.com/Quarter-Pound...P1438C804.aspx

Has anybody had any experience with the Quarter Pounder, or for that matter, any other pickups that fit this bass?

[scobis215]

Would love to know more about this pickup too! - Tele Bass® Humbucker http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/tb-hc.shtml

I am actually in contact with Curtis right now discussing it. I was looking for something that would resemble the early 70s tele basses with the big humbucker in the neck. He said he has the covers for those big humbuckers. Now I'm trying to see if he'd just throw that tele bass bucker in it or make something else.

I'll let you know what he says about the tele bucker though.

[GlennW]

I like the SD QP single coil. It's very touchy about pole-to-string distance. Mine is set with 8/32" between the E and G magnet and the open strings. You can get them new on ebay for about $60.

[FunkMetalBass]

Humbucker. Always.

[foetus66]

scobis, any extra info you have about the humbucker would be great -- that's the one I'm leaning toward I think. I'm still left wondering about the "jazz" style pickup though. I've seen the dual magnets on a few other basses (namely jazz basses, duh) but have no idea what the potential advantage is, or what they are designed to do differently than a normal 1-magnet-per-string pickup.