dirt cheap pickups suggestions?

[stratovani]

Personally I'd say look for some pickups from a MIM Fender bass. Ebay or this forum may have some. People swap out the pickups on those all the time, and in my experience the MIM pickups are pretty nice - certainly much nicer than the stock pickups in your SX. You can usually pick up used stock pickups for almost nothing.

The stock pickups on most SXes that I've played are competent pieces that sound decent, but stock MIM pickups are a definite step up.

I did that for my Squier Affinity P-Bass. I got a MIM P-Bass pickup on eBay for $5.00, and I was the only bidder, which surprised me, since they're good pickups - not great, but good. Better than what I had on my Squier, that's for sure!

 

[Philbiker]

Dirt cheap and qaulity dont go together for pups. Nor for most things. Either save up so you can afford stuff like dimarzio, seymour duncan, etc. Or try local stores who do repairs etc and ask if they have any removed pups from other customers they can sell you. Buying cheopo new pups means no value had from replaceing current not liked pups.

I've read this kind of philosophy here and elsewhere.

This is a rhetorical question, not specifically aimed at you, darkstorm.

For you people who believe you have to pay a lot for good pickups - do you know how pickups work? It's some magnets with a copper coil wound around a bobbin. These things are not rocket science. They're about the simplest electronic device you can think of. Why should it cost a lot of money to get "good" ones?

I understand active pickups like EMGs are different than most conventional passive pickups, but even those can be made for very cheap.

 

[WarriorJoe7]

raise the pickups, change strings to steels, get a proper setup overall.

 

[mid_life_crisis]

If you like the sound but just want it louder, have you considered adding an on-board pre-amp?

 

[DaLoCo]

Rais ethe pickups....if you fret the strings at the last fret (22 or 24) the distance to the string from the pickup should be around 3mm for the neck pickup and 2mm for the bridge pickup. From here it becomes adjustmet for personal preference. Closer means more attack, but less sustain...plus some tonal variations.

After this, look at the strings, stainless give more definition, but can sound bare ( I love the Warwick reds on my BTB and on my Rockbass).