Umm.. what exactly is classic P bass tone? You've got from Jamerson to clangy Punk and everything in between and a ton of makers. Foam mutes, rounds, fresh flats... dead flats, tape wounds.. Sure Im being a tad flippant but Ive played a ton of P basses from every era and maker and they all pretty much sound very similiar.
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Fender Pbass pickups - what’s the difference?
- Thread starter BigAndyA
- Start date
For most of the modern pickups, the difference is marketing. From a technical aspect, there may be a few turns of wire difference pickup-to-pickup, or the gauss of the magnet pole pieces when the originals way back when were mass magnitized with a coil of wire and an automobile battery. There will be more variation in both number of wire turns and gauss of the magnets bass-to-bass with vintage basses. What tone are you looking for? Middle of the road? Then Alnico V magnets and about 11 or so kohms' worth of Formvar wire. Mid '70's? Then about 10 to 11 kohms' worth of enamel or polysol. Dark tone? Depending on how dark, low gauss Alnico V or Alnico II with 11-12 kohms' worth of wire. Hard grind? Something in the middle of the road and crank the pre-gain on the amp. And so on.
In other words, the question is not what is the difference between pickups. It is what is the OP's desired tonal concept and playing style, repertoire, etc.
In other words, the question is not what is the difference between pickups. It is what is the OP's desired tonal concept and playing style, repertoire, etc.
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And we shall also not forget what strings the OP may be willing to use, being more comfortable with rounds rather than flats for instance ..
Tone is a combination of several contributing factors one of which, surely important but not the only one, is constituted by the selected pick-up ..
Indeed. And mostly the fingers. I played in a blues trio years ago and we went to a couple of festivals. A guy came up to me, complimented my tone, and asked what flats I was using. He was dumbstruck when I showed him my bass was strung Roto Swingbass rounds!
This is good to know. I am looking at a Mod Shop P and these are offered as a choice.
I recently installed a set (PV ‘60) on one of my P-basses replacing a set of Klein Epic ‘62.
I was looking for a better notes articulation when playing and I’ve got it.
This allowed me to reinstall on the bass an old set of Labella DTBF 760FL and to get the best Motown tone so far .. exhilarating satisfaction when playing honestly
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I still am curious, however, about the kind and amount of further improvement I may get by placing on the instrument (or on a similar one) a set of Arcane Experience ‘65 of of Kloppmann ‘63.
Who knows ?
I was looking for a better notes articulation when playing and I’ve got it.
This allowed me to reinstall on the bass an old set of Labella DTBF 760FL and to get the best Motown tone so far .. exhilarating satisfaction when playing honestly
.I still am curious, however, about the kind and amount of further improvement I may get by placing on the instrument (or on a similar one) a set of Arcane Experience ‘65 of of Kloppmann ‘63.
Who knows ?
Exactly the info I was looking for. The Labella 760FL would be the strings I would be using with the PV ‘60. Thanks!I recently installed a set (PV ‘60) on one of my P-basses replacing a set of Klein Epic ‘62.
I was looking for a better notes articulation when playing and I’ve got it.
This allowed me to reinstall on the bass an old set of Labella DTBF 760FL and to get the best Motown tone so far .. exhilarating satisfaction when playing honestly
I still am curious, however, about the kind and amount of further improvement I may get by placing on the instrument (or on a similar one) a set of Arcane Experience ‘65 of of Kloppmann ‘63.
Who knows ?
I don;t know about the Pure VIntage 60's, but the 63's have more low end than the 62's
Not a popular opinion around here, but in every blind test I've seen, people have failed to not only identify different pickup installed in the same bass, recorded the same way and level matched, but they also have failed to recognize WHEN there was a change of pickup. Even those who a priory claimed there was a major difference after a pup change, completely failed in those blind test.
Goes to show that people listen with their eyes and inject a great deal of emotions into what they hear.
I'm not talking about going from passive to active, or changing the pup position on the bass, but strictly changing passive pup.
What I gather from that is that changing pup is a big waste of money.
It's also been my own experience. I once did the whole pups dance thing, and I finally concluded: Why spend money on pups when turning a knob a mere 1/8 of a turn on an EQ will have drastically more impact on tone?
Goes to show that people listen with their eyes and inject a great deal of emotions into what they hear.
I'm not talking about going from passive to active, or changing the pup position on the bass, but strictly changing passive pup.
What I gather from that is that changing pup is a big waste of money.
It's also been my own experience. I once did the whole pups dance thing, and I finally concluded: Why spend money on pups when turning a knob a mere 1/8 of a turn on an EQ will have drastically more impact on tone?
My 2023 AM Pro 2 P bass came with the stock V-Mod which I didn't like. I installed Lindy Fralin PU's and noticed an immediate increase in warmth, clarity and smoothness. FWIW
I spent quite a lot of time scrutinizing a ton of demo videos of a specific group of Precision pickups (some of them individual demos, some in head to head against a wide selection of similar type Precision pickups), and whenever possible hands on experience with instruments housing one, or other of the pickups I was interested in.
Over time I built up a clear picture of what to expect from each individual pickup, within the group I was interested in (and wasn't too surprised to find that the TB consensus tended to align, in terms of tonal descriptions - for example comparing the CS62 with the PV63).
I was pretty content to have finally figured it all out.
I then, quite by accident stumbled across a couple of really excellent videos that compared either all, or most of my shortlist of candidates.
I was pretty shocked.
When compared side by side, in the same instrument, in the same mix context, there was barely any discernible, or at least meaningful difference between the PV63, V-Mod II, CS62, or EMG GZR (and I think the Seymour Duncan Antiquity).
The only ones that had a noticeably different voicing, were the standard wind Lindy Fralin, and the equivalent Lollar (and I think a late 50's style, but I forget which), although they sounded almost indistinguishable from each other - it simply boiled down to two different style voicings.
That really shook my world, because even though I'm generally perfectly happy with the pickups I already have, I was resigned to the fact that I'll probably replace them with a more classically vintage pickup at some point, and was expecting to stick with a Fender made (probably CS62), or Fender '62 inspired (GZR).
What it's confirmed to me is that I generally prefer late 50's voiced (comparatively underwound) pickups, but beyond that, the differences pale into insignificance compared to strings, preamp, microphones, contextual requirements.
I'll probably end up with a Fralin at some point, as it has my favourite voicing, and character, but over the years I've read conflicting descriptions by Fralin himself, on his website, as to whether his particular pickup is 50's inspired, or 60's inspired (at varying times, the same product has said both, and recommends the use of a .022 tone capacitor) - all of which is a really long winded way of saying I still haven't got a clue, but Fralin pickups are great.
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If you like the late ‘50s P-bass pickups models, there’s another very nice candidate in my opinion which may positively surprise you and it’s the Klein Epic ‘59.
I replaced an Epic ‘62 with a Fender PV ‘60 on one of my P-basses as the Epic ‘62 is a good vintage-voiced pickup but I was looking for a bit more articulation.
The ‘59 however is very smooth, almost silky I’d say and has got a nice low-mid clear warmth, which, paired with, for instance, a set of TI JF344, makes for quite a remarkably sweet sounding Precision bass.
I’d give it a shot .. perhaps you may wish to listen to the sound samples on Klein’s site
PS
Not affiliated to anything rather than a good bass tone
(when I can get it)
Well … well … I don’t know, not owning a decent amp nowadays.
However somebody on another thread here directed the readers into a series of YouTube videos by FatBassTone; talking about possible P-bass replacement pickups there’s a ton of info there as the performed only use one bass and he dies always the same things just swapping the pickups in each video.
Although the difference between a given pair of P-bass pickups is not night and day, playing always the same stuff allows the listener to picky-up the subtle tone variations between them.
watching those videos I started to take a liking in the Nordstrand NP4 pickup and in the Lindy Fralin standard, whereas the Lollar seemed to me too muffled.
However, unfortunately having seen the price, the two Kloppmann (PB57 and PB63) stood decidedly a tad higher, especially the 63.
The published should have added other pickup models such as the Fender PV ‘60 and ‘63 and the Arcane Experience ‘65, and we would have had the P-bass pickup sound bible (maybe, in the future, these pups will be tested as well).
In my case, I have to say that I’m very pleased about everything that the newly installed Fender PV ‘60 pup puts out at all frequencies; with the Labellas its soul heaven !!!
After checking the relevant FatBassTone video I’d also recommend the Kloppmann PB57 pickup:
Just after posting I found this video as well:
Just after posting I found this video as well:
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