Hello to everyone who likes crispy and zingy buzzing bass tone. I'm trying to look for your own experiencies with theese instruments. I'm huge fan of John Entwistle's, Billy Sheehan's, Geddy Lee's, Steve Harris's, James Lomenzo's bass sound (and more of course). Not all of them use this pickup setting, but they all have pretty nice and unique sound to me. Please post your sound clips, videos, pictures of your basses. I welcome all to the topic. Up the bass!
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Dual P pickup Bass - Buzzard like
- Thread starter bass2tom
- Start date
I dont like warwick buzzards, just something off about them..... Possibly too much mids (and i am a low mid man myself).
However i am a John Entwistle fanboy
and i can tell you most of "that" sound John had was his fingers.
A carbon neck does help bring up the upper mids and top end zing, and the bass rings super clear, pretty much a universal trait on all the status necked basses i have heard.
I prefer a MM to a P at bridge however, its just a bigger tone, and a reversed P in standard position while im at it.
I can get John's tone just as easily on my buzzard 2 as on my sandberg PM5, i will admit though the B2 DEMANDS to be played hard and fast, its just so easy to get that bite.
The main key to getting a JE tone is either bi amp, keep bottom end cleanish (a little tubey fizz is ok, but natural not overpowering) and the top end, EQ like a lead guitar, you can go over board on treble as the lows are covered with the bi amp bass side. If you can grab "an ox's tale" there is a great section where he shows gordon giltrap the difference between bass players and bass guitarists
The other way (the way i use) is a pod x3, it allows two signal chains in the pedal, so i can essentially bi amp like above but send the signals out to an amp (mono, both chains come through and you can balance between them to fine tune) or direct to PA (which can be true bi amp).
This was my first attempt at using PC software to record..... And i messed up the blend of the echo track in mix down, (i aquired the tracks from a vid i found on youtube) but here is me and my B2 doing a wee bit of who
However i am a John Entwistle fanboy
and i can tell you most of "that" sound John had was his fingers. A carbon neck does help bring up the upper mids and top end zing, and the bass rings super clear, pretty much a universal trait on all the status necked basses i have heard.
I prefer a MM to a P at bridge however, its just a bigger tone, and a reversed P in standard position while im at it.
I can get John's tone just as easily on my buzzard 2 as on my sandberg PM5, i will admit though the B2 DEMANDS to be played hard and fast, its just so easy to get that bite.
The main key to getting a JE tone is either bi amp, keep bottom end cleanish (a little tubey fizz is ok, but natural not overpowering) and the top end, EQ like a lead guitar, you can go over board on treble as the lows are covered with the bi amp bass side. If you can grab "an ox's tale" there is a great section where he shows gordon giltrap the difference between bass players and bass guitarists
The other way (the way i use) is a pod x3, it allows two signal chains in the pedal, so i can essentially bi amp like above but send the signals out to an amp (mono, both chains come through and you can balance between them to fine tune) or direct to PA (which can be true bi amp).
This was my first attempt at using PC software to record..... And i messed up the blend of the echo track in mix down, (i aquired the tracks from a vid i found on youtube
) but here is me and my B2 doing a wee bit of who 
I suppose this is as good an opportunity as any to share some love for the Fender Blacktop Jazz. Visually speaking, it's not a Buzzard…not even close, for that matter. However, it is a passive, dual-Precision pickup bass. Sonically, it's easily the most powerful and aggressive passive bass I've ever had a chance to try out, let alone own.
Here's a sound clip recorded by fellow TB'er @audiomitch playing with a pick...
…and here's mine, complete with a DIY tint-job on the pickguard.
Here's a sound clip recorded by fellow TB'er @audiomitch playing with a pick...
…and here's mine, complete with a DIY tint-job on the pickguard.
All the real Steinbergers are EMG P-bass p/u's in a Humbucker housing. I find that sound excellent.
Wow, many things were mentioned ;-)
I use Billy Sheehan distortion which has the two channel option, separate loop for each. I'm really pleased with it, such a cool piece of equipment in the huge world of many others.
I tried many Sandbergs, but the classic J style "TT California Passive" fit best to my taste. I don't like the active Delano models, sound too smooth (hi-fi) to me. I like the classic Music Man, but this VM or TM combination is not for me.
The blacktop sounds great. Nice punch, sounds like something between Ric and PJ bass. I would like to listen to blacktop with reversed pickups like Lee Sklar has.
Did anyone saw a JP bass, where the J pickup is at the middle and the P pickup si at the bridge ??
I use Billy Sheehan distortion which has the two channel option, separate loop for each. I'm really pleased with it, such a cool piece of equipment in the huge world of many others.
I tried many Sandbergs, but the classic J style "TT California Passive" fit best to my taste. I don't like the active Delano models, sound too smooth (hi-fi) to me. I like the classic Music Man, but this VM or TM combination is not for me.
The blacktop sounds great. Nice punch, sounds like something between Ric and PJ bass. I would like to listen to blacktop with reversed pickups like Lee Sklar has.
Did anyone saw a JP bass, where the J pickup is at the middle and the P pickup si at the bridge ??
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I have a Takamine GE-400GT Bass with PP configuartion.
It could just be mine, but the PP sounds REALLY fenderish to my ears. Crispy, thin, and hollow. I love everything else about this bass. I just don't care fully for the PP. However, I am looking into buying the Mockingbird Ghost PP bass specifically for the tone mentioned above.
It could just be mine, but the PP sounds REALLY fenderish to my ears. Crispy, thin, and hollow. I love everything else about this bass. I just don't care fully for the PP. However, I am looking into buying the Mockingbird Ghost PP bass specifically for the tone mentioned above.
I honestly detest PJ, the pickups do not mix well at all to my ear.
I am not a J man at all (it galls me that my jag is JJ but short of routing it out its staying despite my loathing of the tone).
If you feel like going crazy check out Enfield they have a MM pickup that you can switch to P or J also by knocking pairs out of the loop not cheap but awesomeness none the less (martin simms of simms custom shop is behind them)
I am not a J man at all (it galls me that my jag is JJ but short of routing it out its staying despite my loathing of the tone).
If you feel like going crazy check out Enfield
they have a MM pickup that you can switch to P or J also by knocking pairs out of the loop not cheap but awesomeness none the less (martin simms of simms custom shop is behind them)
Along these lines, any bass with soaps that fit the emg 35 housing can have these P's in a soap pups and I like em a lot.
I own both a BC Rich Mockingbird and a Fender Blacktop Jazz, which both have the dual P pickups.
The Blacktop doesn't have quite the same thunder as the Mockingbird, which may be the pickup placement or more likely the actual pickups themselves. All I can say is I'd love the Bird if it balanced, but it doesn't so I sought out something with the Fender balance and playability. I'm willing to sacrifice my perceived sound difference for the benefits of a Fender body with contours, cuts, and balance.
I'm convinced P/P is better than P/J or J/J. YMMV.
The Blacktop doesn't have quite the same thunder as the Mockingbird, which may be the pickup placement or more likely the actual pickups themselves. All I can say is I'd love the Bird if it balanced, but it doesn't so I sought out something with the Fender balance and playability. I'm willing to sacrifice my perceived sound difference for the benefits of a Fender body with contours, cuts, and balance.
I'm convinced P/P is better than P/J or J/J. YMMV.
So I see all the comments here and what I don’t see is has anyone actually tried the reverse p pickup on the bridge position like the buzzards. I’m thinking of building some sort of Fenderbird type thing with the modern electronics of the buzzard
