Active P pickup sounding like J, and string noise sensitivity?

[Iristone]

My Eart headless bass (similar to Steinberger Spirit) has a pair of EMG HB's in it, which are supposedly EMG P's in humbucker housings. Due to the construction this bass has a sustain that rivals my more expensive Thunderbird and Rickenbacker, and the HB's are very bright and clear with a metallic top end not dissimilar to a nice non-overwound Jazz Bass.
Interestingly it has the same Jazz Bass "scoop" when I turn both pickups up, despite them being buffered active pickups. So maybe the "scoop" is mostly just "two pickups", and not really "in parallel"?

OTOH - I like to use bright, stainless roundwounds on my basses, and those pickups amplify a lot of string gliding noise of it. Almost like it's too bright or sensitive. Now I understand why people look for roundwound-sounding flatwounds!
I wonder if I should change strings or do something to the electronics. I'm feeling that "just turning down the stock EMG tone knob" isn't the most efficient thing to do with all those rich harmonics. I'm thinking of maybe changing the pickups to the warmer HBCS? Or installing a Haz Lab-style preamp without tuning the treble full up?

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Are these 35/40P pickups? Regular EMGs or are they X-Series with the different preamp?

If the pickup placement is more favoring the bridge, you may need something more comprehensive to shape it how you like. EMG preamp or a graphic EQ pedal for the most flexible shaping.

 

[sunbeast]

My Eart headless bass (similar to Steinberger Spirit) has a pair of EMG HB's in it, which are supposedly EMG P's in humbucker housings. Due to the construction this bass has a sustain that rivals my more expensive Thunderbird and Rickenbacker, and the HB's are very bright and clear with a metallic top end not dissimilar to a nice non-overwound Jazz Bass.
Interestingly it has the same Jazz Bass "scoop" when I turn both pickups up, despite them being buffered active pickups. So maybe the "scoop" is mostly just "two pickups", and not really "in parallel"?

OTOH - I like to use bright, stainless roundwounds on my basses, and those pickups amplify a lot of string gliding noise of it. Almost like it's too bright or sensitive. Now I understand why people look for roundwound-sounding flatwounds!
I wonder if I should change strings or do something to the electronics. I'm feeling that "just turning down the stock EMG tone knob" isn't the most efficient thing to do with all those rich harmonics. I'm thinking of maybe changing the pickups to the warmer HBCS? Or installing a Haz Lab-style preamp without tuning the treble full up?

The midrange "scoop" from two pickups is from phase-cancellation of different harmonics picked up by both pickups then blended together- nothing to do with how the pickups are wired and everything to do with picking up the same string at two different physical locations at the same time where harmonics at different frequencies are all going to be at slightly different phases. Passive parallel blending does result in some overall output loss too, but I suspect you are hearing the midrange loss of phase-cancelled harmonics when using EMGs. If it is a blend control rather than two volumes it could also be an AC-taper bland control (which I believe is what EMG sells), which attenuates both signals slightly in the middle position- swapping to an MN-taper blend control would help a bit in that case since in an MN blend pot both signals are at full strength in the middle position.

EMG Ps haven never sounded like traditional P pickups IME, part of that is that the two halves are wired in parallel (in my understanding from someone who has seen the innards) rather than the typical series so the resonant frequency is much higher (without the penalty in output that wiring passive P pickups in parallel causes)

 

[Sid the Kid]

You should consider the EMG BQC system for your bass. It comes with an active blend control which will eliminate the decrease in output when the pickups are centered, though it will still have the inherent mid scoop. The treble control of the EQ reduces the highest highs but doesn’t muffle the overall sound like the tone knob does, and the bass boost/cut is always handy. I have the LHZ in one bass and when the treble is turned down I don’t have as much presence in the upper mids as I’d like, though it is a great sounding preamp though with its own voice. The EMG preamp won’t drastically change your tone, just does some sculpting and it does so very musically.

The CS pickups are a lot darker sounding and have a higher output. You may miss having those rich harmonics available and highs are easier to dial out than to add.

 

[Iristone]

Thank y'all!
Tone-wise I'm not averse to the scoop, I'm just wondering why. On my parallel passive basses the scoop seems to go away if I turn down one of the pickups just a bit (so it's not perfect parallel anymore), so I can dial the scoop in or out for more tonal options.
Noise-wise I've found the best remedy to be a slightly higher action now I prefer light strings with medium action, instead of the medium strings with low action that I've been playing for all those years.

Mod-wise I'd like to get the EMG active balance and a Haz-style preamp. It may not be as transparent as an EMG preamp, but doesn't it make for the classic Steinberger vibe? It would work better with my current HB pickups, though, and I'm not changing them anytime soon.

EMG Ps haven never sounded like traditional P pickups IME, part of that is that the two halves are wired in parallel (in my understanding from someone who has seen the innards) rather than the typical series so the resonant frequency is much higher (without the penalty in output that wiring passive P pickups in parallel causes)

To my understanding EMG buffers the two coils independently and then sum them up. It will sound roughly "in between" a regular parallel and series? Maybe the shifted resonant frequency makes it sound more J-like, but mine still sounds more J-like than many other EMG P pickups (which I like, since I prefer a passive P pickup or even Thunderbucker for the P vibe).

 

[sunbeast]

Thank y'all!
Tone-wise I'm not averse to the scoop, I'm just wondering why. On my parallel passive basses the scoop seems to go away if I turn down one of the pickups just a bit (so it's not perfect parallel anymore), so I can dial the scoop in or out for more tonal options.
Noise-wise I've found the best remedy to be a slightly higher action now I prefer light strings with medium action, instead of the medium strings with low action that I've been playing for all those years.

Mod-wise I'd like to get the EMG active balance and a Haz-style preamp. It may not be as transparent as an EMG preamp, but doesn't it make for the classic Steinberger vibe? It would work better with my current HB pickups, though, and I'm not changing them anytime soon.

To my understanding EMG buffers the two coils independently and then sum them up. It will sound roughly "in between" a regular parallel and series? Maybe the shifted resonant frequency makes it sound more J-like, but mine still sounds more J-like than many other EMG P pickups (which I like, since I prefer a passive P pickup or even Thunderbucker for the P vibe).

Yeah that would change the relationship of the coils a bit indeed, but they are also just different coils than a traditional P as well so most comparisons apart from the visual look and footprint are out the window!

 

[Aloe]

well, generally active basses do sound brighter than passive ones, that's the point.

I'd suggest to dial down the tone and wait for the strings to lose their initial brightness, and then decide if it's still too much or not.
if yes -- go with nickels, on this bass they will be bright enough.

think of it like this: bright strings compensate a dark bass, but when your bass is bright, darker strings on it will sound in the same ballpark.

 

[Iristone]

It doesn't seem as "suddenly scooped" as my passive basses, so yeah it's mainly the phase. I'd also experiment with other strings, since the bass and its current strings are both naturally bright.