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Fender Pbass pickups - what’s the difference?

#21
BigAndyA said:
Looking at Fender replacement Pbass pickups there’s Pure Vintage ‘60’s, Custom Shop ‘62’s and Pure Vintage ‘63’s. Is there a sound difference in these various options? I’m upgrading and looking for a traditional, Pbass sound. TIA.
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I have a set of the PV63 pickups which I bought to tame a rather bright (to me) stock Fender player bass. I was not happy with the stock player series pickups. After listening online and considering these, the CS62s and the Fralins, I came to the conclusion that what I needed were the ones that were slightly darker/warmer…thus the PV63.

I’m very happy with that choice. But if I was trying to liven up a thumpy bass. I’d choose one of the others.
I am using EB cobalt flats FWIW. Strings are maybe 2 years old and very lively sounding still.

I also have a fretless PJ that wears well worn-in TIJF strings. It has Fralin split coils for both the P and the J. It is way darker and thumpier than PV63 bass.

It’s possible that the strings are making more of a difference than the pickups. I have a feeling they are in my case, but I did notice a huge difference with the PV63 vs the stock pickups on the Player. Much fuller sounding.
 
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#22
Chris Wilke said:
I have a set of the PV63 pickups which I bought to tame a rather bright (to me) stock Fender player bass. I was not happy with the stock player series pickups. After listening online and considering these, the CS62s and the Fralins, I came to the conclusion that what I needed were the ones that were slightly darker/warmer…thus the PV63.

I’m very happy with that choice. But if I was trying to liven up a thumpy bass. I’d choose one of the others.
I am using EB cobalt flats FWIW. Strings are maybe 2 years old and very lively sounding still.

I also have a fretless PJ that wears well worn-in TIJF strings. It has Fralin split coils for both the P and the J. It is way darker and thumpier than PV63 bass.

It’s possible that the strings are making more of a difference than the pickups. I have a feeling they are in my case, but I did notice a huge difference with the PV63 vs the stock pickups on the Player. Much fuller sounding.
Click to expand...
Three things about basses and tone. One your choice of speakers/cab has a profound say in what your tone is.Strings are the most inexpensive means of changing your bass’s tonal character, the amp being the most expensive, and pickups somewhere in between. Having an amp with good to great midrange control like those with Parametric controls (and leaning how to use them..just don’t ask me why), can solve a lot of issues.

Don’t know much about PV63, but a while back I swapped in some 62’s into a MIM JB that made for a smoking bass. Best wishes.
 
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#24
BigAndyA said:
Looking at Fender replacement Pbass pickups there’s Pure Vintage ‘60’s, Custom Shop ‘62’s and Pure Vintage ‘63’s. Is there a sound difference in these various options? I’m upgrading and looking for a traditional, Pbass sound. TIA.
Click to expand...

Fender says they are all built to vintage specs so they should all sound the same but of course they don’t. Yes, they do sound different….how much different and which one you’d like best isn’t something I can answer for you. I wish there was an easy way to audition pickups, but there isn't.
 
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#25
The differences are subtle and you are probably the only one who will notice but it's fun the try out new stuff. The rubber meets the road not in your bedroom but on stage with a band. That's where you will find out if there really is a difference.
 
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#28
BigAndyA said:
Looking at Fender replacement Pbass pickups there’s Pure Vintage ‘60’s, Custom Shop ‘62’s and Pure Vintage ‘63’s. Is there a sound difference in these various options? I’m upgrading and looking for a traditional, Pbass sound. TIA.
Click to expand...
To my ear, PV 60 sound polite and cleaner than the rest. CS62 sound scoop . And the pv63 has more low and low mid , less high.

If I must choice one from above, I will go with PB63 along with no load pot install or swap the volume pot with A500K. Sure include my favourite.068cap install for wider tonal range tweak.
 
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#30
Just installed a PV ‘60 on my AO ‘60s P-bass replacing a Klein Epic ‘62 which was good but not sufficiently articulated for the body of that bass, which sounds woody and noticeably bass-oriented at the same time.
That bass originally came with its stock PV’ 63 pickup.
I considered the PV ‘63 pickup being on the verge of the so-called overwound pickups; I used to call it “the cannon” as it is powerful without being excessively boomy; don’t know whether, at the time, I achieved a tangible improvement by replacing it with the Klein, which sounds similar to it but, maybe, being slightly less clear.
I didn’t play the PV ‘60 a lot yet as it just arrived; however, I am satisfied.
As somebody as already stated on this thread, the differences between each individual set of vintage-voiced P-bass pickup can be subtle.
The PV ‘60 has a Formvar wire which helps in making the pickup tone clearer; the magnets poles are on the small size and the pickup’s resistance is rated at 10.4 kOhm; in fact it’s not a particularly bass-oriented pickup.
It rather seems that all frequencies are there, well balanced without being so less powerful if compared with the PV ‘63 pickup, for instance (ok, the “cannon” is the “cannon”, but the PV ‘60 may then be regarded as a good HMG).
For the price at which it can be bought on the market, I’d say is a very effective choice, a good overall combination of vintage-tone, clarity & articulation and power.
Next I shall try the much praised Arcane ‘65 and finally the Klopmann pickup, being this (at least in my opinion) a slightly overpriced unit in order to justify the subtle differences/tone improvement which if may provide, but .. I think I’ll try one the same.
Cheers 👍🏻😬
 
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#31
By the way, the bass which I placed this new Fender pickup in, is the blue one in the attached picture, sporting an old set of Labella DTB 760-FL:

IMG_3741.png
 
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#34
Yahboy said:
You forgot the different string choice which also impact the bass tone....... and different shape of plucking finger too..... :smug:
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I'm continually amazed how cats think of their basses as entirely separate from the amp when the two together form your instrument, and also wonder about something so objective: Their must be 100 different PBass replacement pickups (or Jazz) out there, and it's a roulette wheel or roll of the dice to GUESS which one is going to actually sound better than what's in there right now.
 
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#36
J Wilson said:
I'm continually amazed how cats think of their basses as entirely separate from the amp when the two together form your instrument, and also wonder about something so objective: Their must be 100 different PBass replacement pickups (or Jazz) out there, and it's a roulette wheel or roll of the dice to GUESS which one is going to actually sound better than what's in there right now.
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Pickup also can sound differently via Di recording , Mic direct recording , band room practice setup and live show rig . Honestly , YouTubers recordings are the easiest way to lose your way , disappointment and money wasted.
 
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#37
Yahboy said:
Those Di recording , Mic direct recording and live show tone also can cause some expensive pickup sound like shxt or some cheapo ceramic pickup sound nice too. Those YouTubers recordings are the easiest way to lose your way and money wasted.
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You got that right: I'm supposed to listen to bass samples on ear buds from my phone or speakers from my desktop? Really?
 
#38
Slevage said:
I put Nordstrand in my Squier P5. Was it an improvement? Yes, slightly.
Would I do it to a second Squier? No
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After 45y of modding instruments, this is my general experience, when replacing the PUs with models of a similar type. Change them to something of different construction, eg overwound, bars/poles, active etc can make a difference, but whether you thinks it's worth the coin is impossible to say. Used PUs are often cheap, and if you can do the work yourself that only costs some time as used PUs can usually be moved on for little cost like some postage and site seller fees.

It's also worth recording the bass clean and direct before and after into the same interface and normalising the levels to see if there is any actual difference, or you're just justifying the cost to yourself. PUs aren't magic, but many musicians seem to think they are. From an electrical engineering perspective, they're as simple as dirt.
 
#40
_Obra_ said:
After so many hours spent trying,comparing and making P bass pickups videos, my first choice would be Fender CS '62.

Here are some videos of mine, for You to hear the differences:











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Sometimes I think just install the cleanest, brightest full range pickup you can find, and invest in a 6db per octave low pass filter, to have every P-pickup flavour at the twist of a cut off frequency knob.
 

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