Tonal Differences between "hot wound" and "quarter pounder" pickups (P Bass)

kalipigeon · #1 07-02-2007, 11:58 PM

I'm working on replacing the pickups in my peavey Grind NTB 4 stringer with some P-Bass aftermarket ones. (I know, they don't fit the routs, so I'll have to modify the bobbins and casings to fit the holes.) My question, is with the aftermarket pickups, the two non-vintage styles are typically hot wound or quarter pound magnets, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience/insight on the tonal differences between the two.

I will be putting two split coil pickups in this bass most likely, and thus will have to consider balance between the neck and bridge positions as well as overall output (I don't want it to always be overdriven like I've seen on some of the MM HB style pickups). For those who don't know the bass is a neck through (mahogany and maple stringers) with Imbuya (brazillian walnut species, IIRC) wings and a 4 piece ABM style bridge. The stock soapbars sound like there's a blanket over my cabinet on every amp I've played them on when compared to my P-Bass, so I figure, hey lets go split coils for replacements.

luknfur · #2 07-03-2007, 07:21 PM

FWIW:

sounds on the extreme side to me but a different approach for sure.

SD has descriptions, specs, and a tone chart on their site.

I don't know what you're P bass sounds like but if it has the classic recorded type P bass sound, I've had some 20 P's (including the 1/4) and never got that tone in my jazz style basses. Don't know if it's the mass of the neck or what. I've got a P track of a '65 Fender just the bass and I've had J's that would nail it and had better luck getting it with basically anything but a P pup.

Also I've had 3 NT's, and they all sounded different but had a compressed quality to their tone - which is sort of like a blanket thrown over them. But I really don't like them for several reasons not just that.

Also there's lot of P pup choices other than what you're saying. The Reverend 8.7 is the first to come to mind. Also you can have pups wound however you want going through Carey and others.

kalipigeon · #3 07-03-2007, 09:49 PM

Well, I've always wanted a double P bass, so if the pickups don't help the Peavey, I'll return it to stock and build a body from scratch to go with them...I'd rather spare the cost if I can, though. I was mainly interested in the hotter P pickups because the neck through body isn't all that resonant, and I figure the extra output will help with the lower general power of the bass. I'm not totally set on these two pickups, I'm just looking for more info on these two types that several manufacturers have. It seems like they'd both have a higher output than a vintage P pickup, but I was wondering tonally what the difference would be in the increased contribution from windings vs. magnets, respectively.

kalipigeon · #4 07-07-2007, 12:52 AM

So can anyone offer some insight here into the differences I can expect sound wise from each of these options compared to a standard P pickup?

markdavid · #5 10-19-2007, 12:46 AM

I know this is an old thread so I apologise if you have already done the mods and my post is obsolete but...

Tonal differences between the two (I take it by hot wound you mean an overwound pickup) is that the hot wound pickups will typically have more mid range bias which is due to the over winding and the quarterpounders have more of a bias towards the Bass and Treble frequencies (more bass,more treble) , I believe this is because the quarterpounder uses larger pole pieces to get its sound than most pickups