Articulate and punchy pbass pickup

[eadbass]

Hello,
I'm looking for a kinda "modern" pbass pickup, articulate, clear highs, hi-mid punch, tight lows with a nice low-mid growl, a bit like emg active but in passive.

EMG PHz have mixed reviews, but I found this video, this guy knows how to make them sound!

The Delano PC4 HE/2 seems to have a sound I like, but it seems it's not their most popular pic

There are a lot of nice reviews here about Wide P-46 pickups, but they aren't vers common here in Europe. It seems they are bright, punchy, articulate, but with alnico 3 magnets I'm not sure they are aggressive enough for my tastes, and it's hard to find some soundclip shootouts.

You're welcome if you want to help me! Thank you

 

[winston]

G&L Magnetic Field Design (MFD) P-pickup withe ceramic magnets has more of everything - top, bottom, mids, volume. With the right tone control you can get a wide range of sounds; plus with volume wide-open the tone is very aggressive, backing off on volume pulls it into vintage territory.

 

[ctmullins]

The P-46 is a modern take on the classic sound. Lots of TalkBassers love it, including me!

 

[P Cheen]

Honestly, I got all these from the stock pickup that came out of a 2018 Player Series P bass. I installed it on my Road Worn 50s P bass. It was cheap too. That covers the “articulate, clear highs, hi mid punch, tight lows.”

That “nice low mid growl” can be had from the Seymour Duncan SPB-4.

 

[eadbass]

The P-46 is a modern take on the classic sound. Lots of TalkBassers love it, including me!

But does it sounds more classic or more modern?! Assuming I have a bass with maple fingerboard, can the P-46 sound like the videos I posted in the first post? thank you

 

[musicman556]

I just put the Dimarzio Relentless P pickup in a P bass this weekend. I think it absolutely does what you are looking for!

In fact, I tried it out in a church setting yesterday and while I had a ton of fun playing with it, it has TOO MUCH mids/aggression to really fit in with most of what I do there, so it will be relegated to rock duties from here on out.

That isn't a knock on the pickup AT ALL, but rather shows that it really is different from your run-of-the-mill P pickup. I think Billy Sheehan is pretty much the archetype for upper-mid aggression out of a P pickup, and this thing NAILS it. Also, the shaping, mounting method (comes with a length of surgical tube for a more solid backing than your normal foam, etc) and just plain old insanely hot output make this pup stand out from the crowd. A LOT of thought and design went into this thing. It's not just an overwound 70 year old P pickup design... it's a completely ground-up pickup design, made to fit in a traditional pickup cavity. I am SUPER impressed.

 

[sikamikanico]

But does it sounds more classic or more modern?! Assuming I have a bass with maple fingerboard, can the P-46 sound like the videos I posted in the first post? thank you

In short, yes, it can sound like that, at least on my bass. Ash body, maple/maple neck. I also minimized the loading throughout, using just one 500KOhm tone pot, and a low capacitance cable. In fact, it's almost too bright like that, but I can load it with caps or turn the tone down. With stainless strings it just works perfectly for what I want it to do. You can get it to sound even more "modern" if you run it in parallel (+turn up the amp) and use loading caps to tune the sound to taste.

To me, this is THE modern P pickup, tho I suppose a "modern P" is an oxymoron I'm not 100% sure what modern is... Hi-fi? I wouldn't worry about Alnico 3 magnets, if they are indeed Alnico 3 (I thought they were Alnico 2)? Either way, from what I can tell, different Alnico magnets only slightly change the tone, all else being equal. But Bill designed this, so nothing else is equal - there are 5 long magnet rods per pickup half, and the coils are wound taller than most P pickups.

From my experience trying other "modern" P pickups, like DiMarzio Model P or G&L MFD, I don't find the tones I like. Too beefy sounding, IMO/IME, they don't have the right balance. I can see how they're great rock pickups, and maybe they were modern in the 70s and 80s, but they didn't work for me as well as the Wilde did. I hate to generalize from limited experience, but I've come to a conclusion that I dislike steel poles with ceramic magnets at the bottom. My sense is perhaps that steel adds to inductance, and "blunts" the edge. I think thin blade pickups might work better for that? Or pickups wound around ceramic bar magnets (no steel), but I'm not sure who makes such P pickups?

Last, I'll mention two other designs that might do the "modern P" well. First are pickups with large alnico poles, like the Musicman Caprice/Cutlass. While I didn't get to A/B them, I did try one of these MM basses in a store and liked it overall. But large poles are only the most obvious and visible characteristics, I have no idea how they are wound, and how other similar pickups are constructed. The other potentially promising design is the Nordstrand P pickup with angled poles. I only tried their Big Split and it's a mean pickup, so I presume their P pickup may be similar (maybe they'd make a custom Big Split in P housing?).

Also, this is just my opinion and experience, with all my biases. As per usual, it all depends on the particular pieces of equipment you use. My Wilde P46 sounds quite a bit different in my other P bass, which I suppose shows that it does not impart its own tone but translates well the tones that are in the bass (and bass player).

 

[eadbass]

thank you for your answer. I think I read somewhere here on TB that the PB-46 is alnico 3 and the JB-45 is alnico 2.
You suggest the parallel wiring. It seems the JB-45 is noiseless. The PB-46 in series is humbucking, but is it noiseless in parallel?

 

[Laurent]

DiMarzio Model P pickup will do all you want. Great inexpensive pickup. A classic.

 

[kodiakblair]

I'll throw the Alan Entwistle PBXN pickup into the list.

Don't let the 33€ price tag fool you , these are serious pickups. I've used them in many basses and the power never ceases to amaze.

Entwistle PBXN pickup for bass guitar (neodymium) - designed by Alan Entwistle | eBay

 

[BassinCT]

Another option for a modern, punchy P pickup is the Nordstrand NP4. I’m sure all of the other options listed so far will get you to your tone goal, but I thought I would mention my favorite as well. Maybe someone could provide some comparisons between the models mentioned.

The NP5 doesn’t favor the >2k range as much as what I’m hearing in the recording of the EMG , but that difference could easily be the string choice, signal chain, technique , etc.

 

[eadbass]

thank you for all your suggestions, now I'm totally lost!
I'm really curious about Wilde pickups but it's too bad there aren't so many soundclips and youtube videos. Since I live in Europe I have to order directly to USA, so it's not really an easy try

 

[Yahboy]

How about the "Turbo Charge Version of GZR " ~ Benson Handwound P bass pickups.

https://www.bensoncustom.com/product-page/p-bass-set

I been use it on my previous pbass and friend's pbass , she has thicker Low mid punch than EZG , great tone with both Sadowsky black label flat and DR Fatbeam bass string.

Hopehelp

 

[Bozendoka]

Here's another option: Aluma P Bass Pickup. I have this in the soapbars and I think they'll do what you want.

 

[Coke Kane]

Try stainless steel strings like the DR LO-rider first. That's what I hear in the first video and your tone decription of hi-mids and tight lows.

 

[Killing Floor]

Lollar
Fralin
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and start with 6th place.

 

[L. L. Elwood]

I know this is a Zombie Thread.. But again.. for posterity sake and if anyone is still looking for an articulate, Punchy P bass pickup. LOLLAR split P is the only choice. Plus it sounds classic at the same time. I don't know how they did it. But it is head and shoulders above anything else out there in my opinion.