EMG 40 sized options. Experiences?

[rojo412]

I'm doing a little "chicken counting before they hatch" (aka, the bass is in the mail).

I just bought a Squier Protone V with the intent of upgrading the pickups, first and foremost. In fact, I really bought it specifically to put Nordstrand Big Splits into. I had them in another bass and loved them, so I wanted that magic again.

The Nordys will likely carry a hefty price tag, as well as a 2-3 month waiting period. That got me thinking about some other options and I'm wondering if anyone could shed some light on my other options.

DUNCAN makes the NYC-5 Passive, as well as the much cheaper SSB-5 Passive. How do those stack up? What's the functional difference? There's not a ton of info about them.

DELANO is definitely not cheaper, but I had some once and thought they were quite nice. They are also available!

LANE POOR, though defunct, can still be found used. Not cheap, though. I have no experience with them personally, so how do they define themselves?

And while I'd like to keep it passive, there's new versions of EMG pickups (active) that are different than the old ones. What does the X series really do?

Forget Barts, they are never what I want. I've had many, never liked a one.

Any other recommendations?
My goal is aggressive, clear, punchy pickups. The added bonus would be series/parallel switching on each, but isn't needed.

Also, I'm sort of contemplating just buying some covers and covering up a set of Dimarzio UltraJazz, but that's a maybe so far. I love the Sadowsky HCs, which they are fairly similar to.

 

[Rano Bass]

I think Sadowsky soapbars would be perfect on that bass.

 

[Musiclogic]

Reed James Engineering, SGD, John Worrell, Magnetics, Tesla, Aero, Lindy Fralin, Davd King, Kent Armstrong Handwounds(probably the best pickups made in my opnion).....there are a bunch of options

 

[rojo412]

Of those, who has the meatiest, clearest output?
And Kent Armstrong hand wounds... Heard of them, but only saw ones from WD. What am I missing?

 

[Means2nEnd]

Why not the new Aguilar ones announced at NAMM this year I have dying to hear a review on them...

Let your eyes scooodle on down this here page rite cheer

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[Means2nEnd]

I haven’t tried them all but I have had the Bartolini DC40 shape with various preamps and well left me yawning am at the point with Bartolini unless it’s custom soaps and preamp like the ones Mike Tobias uses they leave me underwhelmed. I have tried Nordstrand in other basses but the DC40 size and I want to love them so badly everyone goes crazy over them but so far to me they sound so vintage I want to get a blanket and warm milk and pass out. Just sort of ho hum to me..

Granted all these things are so subjective but I am interested to hear some other opinions I simply am head over heels in love with my Euro 4 and 5 bangers but am sort of still on the search for the perfect combo of preamp and pickup. I have tried the Seymour Duncan actives and found them so hot they sounded dirty muddy to me and I paid quite a bit for them. I do want to try the Duncan passive NYC version.

I am an EMG fan boy for sure but as far as my personal taste goes my feeling on say the active DC40s have clarity I love and dynamics but I find the high end treble sounding like stainless steel washers changing around inside of a dryer sort of tone brittle and thin. What I have in my 5 banger currently is I feel the best I have tried to date. I have a set of EMG TWX and an EMG BQC system. So far the only pickups I like better than EMGs are more EMGs. The TWX are like the CS steel ceramic and have a wonderful warm organic tone but don’t put me to sleep like watching C-Span on cable. The (X) lets you switch to the stacked single coil without the volume loss of the plain TW and gives you like 80 zillion tones to play with. I will subscribe to this as I am open minded to hear others journeys in this realm...

 

[rojo412]

The Big Splits and Sadowsky HC pickups are the best sounding pickups to my ear holes. Thick, angry, modern J tone. That's what I'm after for this project.

The EMGs aren't bad, I like them a lot. But I'm trying to stay passive.

Musiclogic, thanks for the leads (no pun intended). The Tesla pickups look interesting, high output and good prices. Anyone have insight on them?

 

[rojo412]

Well, instead of asking this again, I'll just re-activate this thread

I've got a new project now. I'm putting soapbars in a different Squier. Currently, I'm vacillating between a couple options:

1) Reed James Neos
There's a set in the classifieds and they are CREME, which I love. I hear good things about them, but am not sure on the level of output. Anyone want to chime in?

2) Kent Armstrongs from a US Masters on eBay
They are a lot cheaper, but I hear good things. There are a ton of awesome pickups made by Kent Armstrong (Celinder, Benevente, Ken Smith to name 3), but I don't know if the level of quality/output is the same from the US Masters/WD versions and the handwounds.

I still want loud output, size doesn't matter (I'm routing for whatever I get... and no jokes, ladies!), and the ability to switch (4 lead and possibly quad coil) is fantastic.

Barts, SGD, Lane Poor: Don't bother suggesting, I won't do 'em.