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Fender Yosemite pickups

A

Ambrose1769

Apr 14, 2020
10
6
#1
I’ve recently been looking at a fender American performer p bass and the only thing I’m slightly hesitant on is the Yosemite pickups. I’m just wondering how they compare to traditional p bass pickups as I’ve heard some people say they don’t sound much like a p.

anyone have any Experience with the Yosemite p-ups in comparison to traditional fender p p-ups?

any advice would be much appreciated
 
#2
Ambrose1769 said:
I’ve heard some people say they don’t sound much like a p.
Click to expand...

I don't have a direct experience with Yosemite, unless you are talking about the park, but based on what I know about the performer P, I think I can come up with a few points:

- it does sound stupid, but the performer P comes with a J at the bridge and, believe me, I wouldn't be too surprised if someone says it doesn't sound much like a P because they heard the instrument with both pickups on. I hope that's not the case, by the way.

- the performers have the so-called "greasebucket" mod on the tone circuit, which is more subtle in subtracting frequencies and counteracts the resonant bump when the tone is off. Most people don't like it or find it sounds a bit off, I'm one of those weirdos who has soldered that mod to one P by will, as I mainly use the tone to fine tune the presence and clank in the high mids while retaining intelligibility in the ensemble, at louder volumes. I might grow tired of it someday or I might not...
Anyway, what I mean is that "some people" might not know about it and attribute a different tonal quality to the pickups while it can be primarily down to a couple of cheap capacitors and a resistor. Especially if their idea of "P tone" verges on tone rolled down.

- I think @JimmyM often mentions being unimpressed by the pre-2012 Am St stock ones (which are not the same, on paper at least) and he definitely has more on-hand experience than me hardware-wise. Modern lines of Fender pickups are not voiced as their reissue counterparts and tend to have less character, let's say. So that might be the case too.
 
#3
I upgraded a Fender JP-90 (USA made, low-cost, from the 1990s) about a year ago with the Yosemite PJ set. The JP-90 came with ceramic P-J pickups, like most imported low-cost Fender basses and guitars.

I like the Yosemite set, and I implemented the same tone circuit from the American Performer, with the 3-way switch of the JP90. The P pickup is nice, growly, middle and deep. The J-pickup is probably more optimal positioned closer to the bridge than on the JP-90.

All in all, a substantial upgrade from the originals that I've been playing for 20+ years.

I'd describe them as medium high output, good balanced tone with a mids-forward flavor and nice focus.
 
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#4
I just put a set in my pj to try them out. Initial reaction is, I dig them. They have a modern sound. Less mids, more highs. To me, they sound like quarter pounders, with a small drop around 800hz, and they aren't crazy hot. They are about even on output with any other standard pickups. Tone on flat is kinda like what you would eq yourself anyway. I'm gonna do a little recording with them and make a "keep or ditch" decision.
 
#7
I think the tone you get will depend a lot on the bass itself, and also the wiring you've chosen.

The load of the potentiometers and the tone circuit you pick will have a lot of influence.

I liked the American Performer PJ bass which uses the Yosemite and I followed the same values in pots and tone circuits when I rebuilt my JP-90. The JP-90 has a soft wood (poplar I think?) and that probably has some influence on sound.
 

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