Highest output bass?

[DownUnder_Funk]

If you combined different parts from different manufacturers…say MFD pickups with a non-trim TonePump. RIP amp and speakers

Better yet, has anyone built one?

Failing that I’d love to hear about what your hottest output bass is and how much more ballistic it is compared to something more standard (P bass etc).

How do you tame your beast?

 

[Flaked Beans]

Just put your gain knob of your amp down and yoy're good to go.

 

[Grinderman]

TBH, I don't see the point.

 

[mongo2]

If I need more volume I turn up the amp or use a higher wattage rig.

I'll also use earplugs.

 

[Riff Ranger]

A high output from the instrument itself will allow for some different sounds at different volumes through different rigs from what a moderate- or low-volume instrument will produce, so I wouldn’t dismiss the question so readily

My personal experience is hardly comprehensive, but for what it’s worth, my Westone Spectrum GT was easily the hottest passive instrument I have ever played, and I kind of wish I still had it.

My Spector Legend 5 Classic had a Tone Pump Junior preamp in it. The sound of it really didn’t work for me, but it certainly put out a hot signal if I ever wanted it.

I suspect the MFD-Tone-Pump combination could produce an incredibly hot signal. I would be interested in hearing what it could do with different rigs at different volumes.

 

[CTW68]

I neither need nor want a higher output from my SB-2. It already overloads the inputs of some amps and pedals.

 

[Grinderman]

A 5% or 10% pickup overwind to tweak the sound is understandable. Far beyond that, fascination with highest of all possible boosted output from a bass itself, then wonder how to tame that, not so much.

 

[west al]

My Epi EB-0 is up there in output. The Sidewinder Humbucking on it holds it's own well.

 

[kodiakblair]

Failing that I’d love to hear about what your hottest output bass is and how much more ballistic it is compared to something more standard (P bass etc).

Two come to mind.

First up. Retrovibe Evo , this was the original model not the reissue from Chowny . A fairly standard passive MM type of thing , basswood body with a ceramic humbucker wired V V T. Day it arrived I'd been practising through headphones , plugged the Evo in and promptly blew my socks off

Second was my own doing. Peavey Zodiac Scorpio DE , this was the Dave Ellefson signature model. A passive PJ with those awful Seymour Duncan QPs. Picked up a second Scorpio for much cheapness , made even cheaper buy instantly selling the Duncan QPs Alan Entwistle Neos were installed for a massive transformation of the bass. Output had a huge boost but unlike the overwound Duncans the boost came via the Neodymium magnets. Wire count on the Entwistles is quite normal , around 9k for the split-P so no muddiness.

Did a quick A/B between the Duncan Zodiac and the Entwistle one. Same strings on each (Rotosound Nexus), same pickup height, same pots/cap and of course same recording settings. Screen shots show the difference.

Dunan QPs.

Entwistle Neos.

Having that much power on tap is fantastic as it's better to turn down than degrade your tone by boosting.

 

[jastacey]

I say that the Gibson TB+ pickups, are the highest output for a passive bass, I have a set on my $bass and my Thunderbird, but that's just my opinion

 

[scuzzy]

Fender starcaster semi hollow with the fender wide range humbuckers. It's insane. Even more than my Thunderbird. It is pretty annoying actually. It's so high gain it takes a boost pedal to switch to any other bass in the same set. But it does sound glorious.

 

[themickster]

Ibanez SR Series give so much output on bass and/or mid boost that they overdrive the head's preamp. You need to back off the SR volume to keep it clean, if you want a lot of tone boost.

 

[Yonni]

Highest output is my Bass Centre Bruce Thomas P bass. Hotter custom wound pups than my active Lakland by a long way. Tamed with tone at 50-60% low gain, vintage eq on my Rumble.

 

[DarkStar90]

The most output I have ever had in a bass was a Dark Star equipped jazz that had a 18v Aquilar OBP-3. It was overkill. Pedal and amp inputs always clipped, no matter where I set the gain.
To illustrate how loud it was: the dark star jazz is now passive and is still louder than my active stingray when cranked. The 18v preamp made it even louder and less compatible with equipment.

Having really high output is kind of useless. Just get an amp with some real headroom.

 

[micguy]

Hotter pickups are usually done by putting more winds on the coils. That makes the pickups higher in impedance, which also means it's very sensitive to capacitive loading. Change your cable, your sound changes. Also, the fact that your volume control is in the middle between the pickup inductance and cable capacitance means that your tone changes when you change the volume control. I find this to be a less than desirable situation.

My basses use hum cancelling pickups, wired in parallel. That lowers the impedance by quite a bit, which fixes the issues with loading and the volume control being a tone control. It raises another issue, though - most folks that have tried parallel wiring say it sounds "thin". It does that, but only if you don't take one more (rather simple) step. Adding a loading capacitor before the volume control "unthins" the sound - you can choose how "fat" it sounds by the choice of a capacitor value - instead of forking out $100 (sometimes more) to try a differently wound pickup, you can change a 50 cent capacitor, and have the same effect (except in this case, you actually KNOW which way it will go).

So, forgive me if I don't really care how hot a pickup is - I get the sound I want, I have volume controls, so I can get as loud as I need, and I've got a more consistent, more usable instrument doing things this way. Hotter pickups made sense in the 1940's when all there were were noisy tube amps, and you had to get your signal over that noise. It's no longer 1940, we can do things differently (and better) now.

 

[Stewie]

I have the body, and I believe, the original pickup, from. 1998 MIM P Bass. Someone told me it might be a Duncan SPB 1 or 2, but it blasts. I keep the volume knob about halfway down to match my Squier CV50s and my Krivo equipped upright.

 

[ac100X]

I thought the King of high output passive basses was the 1960's Gibson Mudbucker, the down side is you loose all the higher frequencies, that's why they call it the Mudbucker.

 

[jamro217]

In my collection the loudest is a Fender Modern Player Telecaster. It's based on the humbucker equipped '72 Tele only with twice the fun. A second humbucker in the bridge position. The original Tele was a direct competitor to the EB-O, this is the competitor to the EB-3. With the neck pickup on full blast the house slides off the foundation.

 

[Sub-hoo-fer]

The original sterling subs. And not in a good way. Mine would distort my poor TC BG250 at any volume above like 3.

 

[Engle]

My 70’s MIJ 4003 copy and Jack Casady are both really high output.