Another Dimarzio Model P thread

[Soma666]

Hi all,

Just curious, I have a MIM player series P. Stuck some model ps in the other day. Adjusted the pickups fairly low, angled, following specs. I find the bass boomy and hot. It's too much sound. Nice and tight though.

So I thought the pickups need lowering some more. I think I have lowered them as low as they can go in the pickup cavity, as it's now tight.

Are they deeper than normal and is ot possible they are as low down as they can go?

And of that's the case, what are my options. I want to mellow them out a touch.

Cheers
A.

 

[Slater]

…what are my options. I want to mellow them out a touch.

You can try lowering the individual pole pieces.

 

[Soma666]

You can try lowering the individual pole pieces.

Not really enough adjustment room in the pole pieces to mellow the pickups. The pole pieces are meant for string balance. I have the dimarzio dp123 set in my jazz bass and they aren't nearly as aggressive and hot. And I am familiar with adjusting the pole pieces

 

[sunbeast]

Hi all,

Just curious, I have a MIM player series P. Stuck some model ps in the other day. Adjusted the pickups fairly low, angled, following specs. I find the bass boomy and hot. It's too much sound. Nice and tight though.

So I thought the pickups need lowering some more. I think I have lowered them as low as they can go in the pickup cavity, as it's now tight.

Are they deeper than normal and is ot possible they are as low down as they can go?

And of that's the case, what are my options. I want to mellow them out a touch.

Cheers
A.

They are deeper than typical alnico pickups because the ceramic bar magnets are attached to the bottom (so it is a standard height pickup + an additional magnet in depth- then again I think some MIM P pickups are also ceramic and similar height). They are definitely higher output than typical alnico P pickups, but shouldn’t really be “boomy” unless they are too close to the strings. You could try wiring the two coils in parallel rather than the stock series configuration which will cut the output and should decrease the boom as well- I don’t typically like the parallel coil tone with P pickups, but the Model J is an exception for me

 

[Soma666]

They are deeper than typical alnico pickups because the ceramic bar magnets are attached to the bottom (so it is a standard height pickup + an additional magnet in depth). They are definitely higher output than typical alnico P pickups, but shouldn’t really be “boomy” unless they are too close to the strings. You could try wiring the two coils in parallel rather than the stock series configuration which will cut the output and should decrease the boom as well- I don’t typically like the parallel coil tone with P pickups, but the Model J is an exception for me

Yeah cheers for that. Thought they may have been to deep to sit in the routs properly. Little disappointed. They are punchy as hell but I don't think I can deal with the boom. They are definitely too close to the strings, but I've run out of adjustment room. They may get the axe and I'll get some other pickups that fit

 

[bigtone23]

Try 500K pots for both volume and tone. This will raise the resonant frequency and bring out some brightness from the pickups.

 

[JimmyM]

They weren’t exactly intended for mellow. Maybe if you back off the volume a little?

 

[Bitterdale]

Hi all,

Just curious, I have a MIM player series P. Stuck some model ps in the other day. Adjusted the pickups fairly low, angled, following specs. I find the bass boomy and hot. It's too much sound. Nice and tight though.

So I thought the pickups need lowering some more. I think I have lowered them as low as they can go in the pickup cavity, as it's now tight.

Are they deeper than normal and is ot possible they are as low down as they can go?

And of that's the case, what are my options. I want to mellow them out a touch.

Cheers
A.

If you shim the neck, you can raise the bridge saddles, effectively increasing the string height over your pickups.
This, of course, depends upon your existing neck angle and saddle height.

 

[grouse789]

They weren’t exactly intended for mellow. Maybe if you back off the volume a little?

Lol that! Model P and mellow hmmm bull in a China shop?

 

[Soma666]

Lol that! Model P and mellow hmmm bull in a China shop?

I think that was the wrong choice of words. I'm not after a mellow pickup. I was after something punchy and aggressive. But I didn't expect it to be thst aggressive. It overdrives my amps. And I think it's because of the pickups being to close to the strings. And I've run out of adjustments.

 

[JimmyM]

I think that was the wrong choice of words. I'm not after a mellow pickup. I was after something punchy and aggressive. But I didn't expect it to be thst aggressive. It overdrives my amps. And I think it's because of the pickups being to close to the strings. And I've run out of adjustments.

Model Ps are what they are. Lowering them might make the slightest difference but don’t expect miracles.

 

[Nedmundo]

Maybe rout the pickup cavity so you can lower them further (of course first making sure how much additional depth is possible). Just a couple of millimeters could make a real difference. I had a Model P for awhile in a 2004 Am. Series P. It was professionally installed, but I still needed to lower it further to prevent some distortion that sounded like the strings grazing the poles. So I think you could be on the right track. It is a cool pickup, which gave me great live tone in some hard rock/punk bands.

I've had similar experiences with G&L MFD pickups, which are also very high-output pickups with ceramic magnets. They often benefit from being lowered. Among my G&Ls, this was especially true of the L-1500, but I think I lowered the split-coil in my SB-2 as well (which is similar to the Model P).