Gotoh 5 string soapbar pickups ?

[Gecko 5]

Does anyone know anything about Gotoh 5 string soapbar pickups that used to be sold by Stew-Mac ?
I have some in my Warmoth Gecko and am not liking the sound lately .
I bought the bass used and lately I am feeling the sound is kind of thin , and lacking bottom . Like it has a lot of mids .
The guy I bought the bass from got them from Warmoth .
In another thread I started it was suggested that the pickups may be "out of phase" .
I guess when it comes down to it , I'm not a "techy" kind of player . I don't know a thing about wiring pickups .
I hate to go out and buy new pickups , when it could be a simple fix .
Does anyone know anything about these pickups ?
Thanks

 

[chrisp2u]

You could take it to a local guitar shop or luthier (if there are any around) and have them take a look. Should be pretty quick for an experienced guitar repair tech to figure out if there's any issue. Or, you could take some pics of the inside of the control cavity and post them up here.
---
Chris

 

[luknfur]

Does anyone know anything about Gotoh 5 string soapbar pickups that used to be sold by Stew-Mac ?
I have some in my Warmoth Gecko and am not liking the sound lately .
I bought the bass used and lately I am feeling the sound is kind of thin , and lacking bottom . Like it has a lot of mids .
The guy I bought the bass from got them from Warmoth .
In another thread I started it was suggested that the pickups may be "out of phase" .
I guess when it comes down to it , I'm not a "techy" kind of player . I don't know a thing about wiring pickups .
I hate to go out and buy new pickups , when it could be a simple fix .
Does anyone know anything about these pickups ?
Thanks

FWIW:

Out of phase you can figure out yourself without touching anything but the controls on the bass. When pups are out of phase the volume will become louder the further the pups are from equal setting. With two volumes, you'd simply set one pup volume midway then roll the other from zip to max. It will do a doppler-like affect as you sweep past equal settings. With a blend it would be weakest centered. This is assuming everything is wired correctly aside from phase. This is not something you have to listen for, it will be blatant not subtle.

You say "lately" as if something has changed. So, if you've changed anything (style/tunes, rigging) then that may be the source. The same pups with different variables WILL sound different. It could be just your taste have changed or that the tone is just wearing on you and there's nothing unusual about that.

If it's just tone, something like a Sans di or MXR M80 (whatever) may be a viable solution as they can be had for around $100 used and are readily available on ebay, will fatten tone, you don't have to change anything on your bass, it can be bypassed and serve other functions, you can use it on different basses, and if you don't like it you can resale it and not be out much cause they retain their value. Definetly a consideration if you like the bass other than the tone you're getting. If you don't like the feel, comfort, and playability of the bass, that's a bass I personally would jestison anyway, otherwise it's salvageable in my book.