A question on the pickup mode selector: Is
How will the sound be if both humbucker and p pickup is passive?
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A question on the pickup mode selector: Is
How will the sound be if both humbucker and p pickup is passive?
D
Totally achievable,
I actually like having the split coil closer to the neck like my wood grain one.
The black one was just to try a different pickup with the mm, its pretty sweet too
I actually like having the split coil closer to the neck like my wood grain one.
The black one was just to try a different pickup with the mm, its pretty sweet too
Try to have the neckside coil of the MM pickup independently selectable. Makes for a great "Musicman meets P clonk" spot, subtle but noticeable. I have both my Stingray5s (both 3-coil ceramic) with a switch that selects the neckside coil + inverts the phantom coil (keeps the whole thing a humbucker) when in the single coil position (stock single coil position captures sound from the bridge side coil). It's been my preferred tone out of my SR5s for almost a decade. Previous to that I used factory single coil. I mostly punk/HC/metal the heck out of my SR5s, both plucking or picking, fat and crunchy (mostly SansAmp, cleaned up and with added Darkglassey drive for the heaviest stuff), the increased mids/lo-mids of the neckside coil produce a certain character I really enjoy.
Yes it is absolutely possible. I didn't build mine myself but I did have it built for me and I absolutely love it. You can get great tones out of this configuration. I have a thread on here talking about my build process (Sterling by MusicMan bass with Fender P style pickup mod....) and a short video with a sound demo.
Totally achievable,
I actually like having the split coil closer to the neck like my wood grain one.View attachment 5035324View attachment 5035325
The black one was just to try a different pickup with the mm, its pretty sweet too
Do you notice any interference from the pickups being so close to each other on the red one compared to the wood grain one? Someone brought it up as a possible concern.
D
I don’t notice any interference. both pickups sound great soloed but the split coil adds some low end that thickens the mm pickup.
Both wood grain and red have Seymour Duncan SMB 4a’s. The red has geezer split coil and wood grain has fender original split coil.
Honestly I don’t know if the fender originals or their placement adds a thicker enhancement to the mm but I do like it more.
that said, the black olp has the stock mm and a Wilkinson j and that one is totally doing it for me at the moment…..
But I really like them all
Neck position: EMG 40P5 (split coil)
Bridge position: EMG 40DC (dual coil)
Much easier. sounds great. Less mud.
Bridge position: EMG 40DC (dual coil)
Much easier. sounds great. Less mud.
Posted this a little while back, but I have the best of both worlds with this bad boy.
I wanted to thin the herd, since I only needed my MM for specific types of songs I didn’t play often and greatly preferred the P overall.
Took my Fender Am Pro to Dmara Guitars in Cinci and: (1) kept the P passive circuit completely intact (stacked volume/tone); (2) moved the treble side P pickup “up” so that the MM Nordstrand pickup could be installed in the exact “sweet spot” with 3-way switch for parallel-single-series; (3) installed a John East 2-band MM active preamp (volume-treble-bass); and (4) installed a 3-way switch for P passive circuit-nothing-MM preamp. Doug at Dmara also did a custom pickguard and moved the instrument jack and battery compartment in the back.
Here’s the result, and I’m ecstatic about it. It’s everything I could want, and the versatility and convenience of not switching basses is fantastic. No noticeable change in tone moving the treble side P pickup closer to the neck - if anything, it’s better!
In case anyone’s wondering, Paradise Graphix did the conversion to yellow with polyvinyl. Excellent work there as well!
The leather strap is by ENJ, and is of amazing quality and very fair pricing. ENJ straps | Reverb
Good call on the John East pre. I had a U-retro in my first custom bass, which happened to be a P/MM (Delano) Kinal MK-21. Nordstrand pickups totally float my boat. Their NP-4a is awesome.
My Kiloton is passive and works great with separate volumes for each pickup. The MFD pickup tone is not affected by the Big Rig when that pickup volume is off. The sensitivity of the two pickups is also well matched. To me the blended tone is fuller and more harmonically rich than either pickup soloed so that’s the way I run. The MM will sound a bit different without a preamp to give it that signature tone but would still sound good. How much cost and complexity to you want to add to the project?
not to derail but anyone have an active wiring diagram for these types of pickups?..interested in experimenting with tone caps and never had an active bass. Found this but nothing for an active setup. btw a good source for wiring diagrams Guitar Nucleus <--
Old school thump to modern zing with the flip of a switch. The two pickups play well together (mid-forward P and scooped MM) to make a single full-range sound. No interference that I can detect.
It looks like you can *almost* get there if the P-pickup and MM-pickup are practically touching, though it will still be off by 1\4" or so.
"Perfection is unattainable. But, if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence." - Vince Lombardi
Not entirely sure why, but that quote seemed somehow relevant!
"Perfection is unattainable. But, if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence." - Vince Lombardi
Not entirely sure why, but that quote seemed somehow relevant!
My forever Nordy. The bridge pickup has since been swapped to a Big Blademan.
I plan on having this as a summer project but I would prefer if it could be done within 1-2 weeks. I would like to keep the cost down to a minimal but I have found the parts that should be around under 30$.
I hear ya. I wish I had the skills to build things like this myself but I get what you're saying. It was fun taking an idea and making it happen. I couldn't get the idea out of my head for a while so it was worth giving it a shot. Looking around and listening to sound demos I fell in love with Sandberg basses so that's basically what I used for inspiration.
On mine, there are two things I don't love. I do love the Glockenklang preamp but in passive mode the boost/cut treble/bass knob doesn't function as a tone knob. Generally speaking it's not an issue but I wish it did both. I'm sure someone knows why it can't/won't but it wasn't something I thought of before doing the build. Second there's a volume difference between the split coil and the humbucker. The output from the humbucker is louder for sure so that does make things difficult when playing live.
So, it's neither a Fender P or an EBMM, but it sounds close enough to both of them for my taste and I absolutely love it. She's become my #1.
Damn that looks amazing! Could you please explain what functions the knobs and switches have in your bass?
