Best 2 PuP combo for good variety of tones/styles

Get a set of these:

Bigrig 4 Dual Coil

Wire them up with push/pull volume pots for series/parallel operation.

 

Q-tuners and an ACG filter preamp.

But that’s more than $500...

Edit: Perhaps a bit more reasonable: Three Wilde J45s on a Strat five-way switch through an Audere Classic. That’s probably around $350.

 

What about a pair of delano hybrids

 

So what is your budget, what are your preferences, and what are the physical constraints of your bass? If you have the coin for two Delano Hybrids, then that approaches the cost of an ACG filter preamp, which is hugely flexible, arguably more so than any pickup combination. But filter pres are not for everyone...

 

Thanks, I’m assuming that’s US$? I don’t know where you’re located (hint: update your TB profile).

 

I have a whole mess of different pickup combinations in my basses ...in fact I'm pretty sure that no two out of my eight instruments have identical electronics! ...and the one that I consistently find to be the most versatile in terms of easily accessing usable tones, is the Lakland LS-3 package: It's a dual coil MusicMan-ish humbucker in the bridge position that can be split into either one of two single-coil pickups or combined for both coils simultaneously, and then a J-type pickup for the neck position. Just the coil select switch on the bridge pickup alone let's you approximate 60s Jazz, 70s Jazz, and Stingray tones. Add the neck pu and a 3-band EQ and the world's your oyster.

I think you could use a Delano Hybrid to do something very similar.

But I love the idea of two Delano Hybrids!

 

What exactly do you mean with versatility? To some of us, a P can be versatile....

Simply for a number of options, I’d say quad or dual coil humbuckers. With lots of switches.

What size cavities does your kit bass body have?

 

Hi
If you are looking for a price on the ACG EQ01 just drop me a mail and I will be happy to answer any questions.

Alan

 

You have to buy it direct from the UK - dude will still charge you the 19% VAT which I guess you could apply to get refunded. Personally since every business I deal with on that side of the pond (all of europe) discounts the VAT when shipping here, I found that a deal breaker. Never ended up buying his pre-amp. If you look hard enough there are other, similar filter based options out there.

 

I think you can find the price for that from BestBassGear.com
"Better" is subjective, and an unwieldy word to define, especially regarding a preamp/EQ that uses a completely different paradigm than most others on the market. I have an ACG EQ02 in one of my basses, and it definitely is capable of getting a wide variety of sounds, and it definitely is capable of getting sounds that can't easily be achieved via any other type of equalizer, and it definitely has a learning curve that may or may not make sense to you because of that aforementioned paradigm. It's an extremely well-made piece of kit, and I'm really happy I have it on that one bass...but I don't think it would be my first choice for every instrument, and especially not for any instrument where it might be required to quickly and repeatedly dial in a number of specific sounds.

 

A pair of Nordstrand DC with series/single/parallel switching on each pickup