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Essex SX Pickups---amazing!

JimmyM

JimmyM

Apr 11, 2005
127,257
125,180
Plymouth NC
Disclosures
Endorsing: Yamaha, Ampeg, Line 6, EMG
#1
I got my second SX bass a couple days ago. My first is a sunburst 57 P copy. This one is a white PJ I bought for $90 because it was a blem. Had some scratches on the pickguard and two tiny dings on the upper bout that you can barely see. I would put more damage on it after two gigs, so yeah, I'll save $30.

I was pretty blown away by the pickup in my P, and this new bass is no exception. I couldn't believe how good the pickups sound, even the J. I was actually expecting to have to replace the J since it's single coil (I'm assuming) and I hate that single coil hum, but it was dead quiet. Even when it was soloed, there was no hum whatsoever. Haven't played it in a lot of places, of course, but the place I played it today is prone to single coil hum.

I have no clue why so many people buy these basses and the first thing they do is replace the pickups. The pickups are the best thing about them. And even the fretwork was good on this one. The only mods I'm going to do are Straploks and string tree. Everything else is staying as is. It's really unbelievable what $90 can get you these days...when I was a kid, $90 got you a heap of crap with a pickup. And now it gets you a totally usable Fender copy! Won't make you forget the feel of a vintage Fender, but it's not really supposed to, is it?
 
#18
niftydog said:
What makes me happy is when we can all respect each others opinions.
Click to expand...
Oh, so I have to agree with your opinion? I respect your right to have an opinion, but I don't necessarily have to respect the opinion itself, especially when it came barreling into a thread out of nowhere unsolicited and uninvited. This is a pickup thread, not a Chinese economy thread, but if you want to make me feel bad for buying a cheap bass, I'm going to defend myself. And if playing the "Can't we all respect each other" card is your way of arguing your point, you've lost.

Anyway, back on topic...what do 250k pots do for the tone? I've never been a big modder because the results are almost never as dramatic as advertised, and I never got what changing the pots to a lower resistance does.
 
#19
In passive basses, the pickup inductance reacts with the capacitance in the instrument cable. I'll spare the technical jargon and just say that a 500k pot changes this response relative to a 250k pot. The 500k pot will have a higher resonant peak right before dropping off like a rock (treble roll off). The 250k will still have a peak but it will be less pronounced.

I have some graphs. I can dig them up if interested. Not sure where they are at.

I have only simulated the response, never did and A/B. So as to whether or not you hear it, I don't know.
 
#20
Ah, so the 250k pots just have a slower roll-off? I could live without that...I always dime it anyway.

BTW, I found one minor drawback to the SX pickups...the polepieces stick way out of the pickup and make it easy to clank the strings if you have them too close. A bit irritating but nothing I can't live with.
 

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