Music Man sound and pickups

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Glad it's working

Get yourself some copper or aluminium foil and shield the pickup and control cavities, that should sort most of your hum issues.

 

[sawzalot]

The thing that makes a humbucker "buck hum" is that the the coils are reverse wound and the *magnets* are reverse polarity. Reversing the leads off the pickup isn't going to do it. If you've got good solid sound from both coils, and the pickup is still humming, either the rest of the control cavity needs shielding or you have a pickup that only looks like a humbucker but really isn't one.

td

 

[justinmbouliann]

Ok... here's the final story...
Everything works fine.... the hum? Bad patch cord. Lol (that's a noob mistake lol)

With the pups being so close together there is not much tonal difference... but im fine with that.
mission complete!!! Thanks all!!!

 

[dkelley]

Ok... here's the final story...
Everything works fine.... the hum? Bad patch cord. Lol (that's a noob mistake lol)

With the pups being so close together there is not much tonal difference... but im fine with that.
mission complete!!! Thanks all!!!

Sweet! U could throw a tiny capacitor in line with the neck pup to lower its resonance frequency and create greater tone difference.... lots of fun possible with pickups and capacitors if u understand the circuit well.

Anyhow... cool stuff!

 

[Not yet]

What up people. I have a question... What brands do offer the 3 coil version of the MM Stingray 5 pickup ? I know Seymour Duncan, Nordstrand, Bartolini. If you have made this mod already, can you please elaborate on how the tone changes? It is an easy mod to do? Thanks.

Any answers on this.... Curious too.... Also alnico vs ceramic... Looking advice to get as much P bass like sound as possible out of a great bass had for almost 30 years hate sound of. It's not a P bass comments not needed

Have a 3 coil Bartolini in there not working for me. Thanks

 

[doctorwholittle]

I'm very much a noob regarding any kind of p'up modding, so please bear with me if these questions have been answered elsewhere (this thread is a bit overwhelming in info saturation).

I've got an OLP 5-string body that I'm looking to slap a fretless neck on and get wired up as close to my Tony Levin OLP as possible. Please recommend the closest p'up and preamp (if needed - body is not routed for a battery box) to reproduce the Tony Levin OLP sound. I'd also like to find out how to best install a 3-way toggle switch on both the TL and the soon-to-be fretless to get as much tonal variety as possible

Any and all help is greatly appreciated, and again, apologies if I'm re-covering old ground.

Have a great weekend!

-- DWL

 

[Sputnik Monroe]

Newest bass acquisition is a Firemist orange EBMM Sterling ... Got it for a bargin, as it seems the previous owner messed up the pre-amp board and installed the wrong pickup to boot.

As this may become my main gig bass (Jazz Bass holds that spot now) some changes are coming. Independent hum canceling coils with a separate preamp for each coil. Warwick had this setup on the Pro M series and I liked it on the one I had. ... I'll check in as work progresses

 

[rojo412]

I've got a question that may be easy, but I'm not finding the answer...

Did the US made EBMM SUB 5 string use alnico or ceramic?
I ask because it doesn't use the typical tri-coil pickup found in the SR5. They seemed to make the SUB 5 and 4 very similar: 2 band EQ, 21 frets, oval guard, etc.

I have an 89 SR5 and love the tone, likely due to its alnico pickup. I've got a USA SUB 5 en route as a backup to it and my SR4, but I don't know if the stock pickup will sound the same as those.

 

[narud]

I've got a question that may be easy, but I'm not finding the answer...

Did the US made EBMM SUB 5 string use alnico or ceramic?
I ask because it doesn't use the typical tri-coil pickup found in the SR5. They seemed to make the SUB 5 and 4 very similar: 2 band EQ, 21 frets, oval guard, etc.

I have an 89 SR5 and love the tone, likely due to its alnico pickup. I've got a USA SUB 5 en route as a backup to it and my SR4, but I don't know if the stock pickup will sound the same as those.

alnico. its just like a sr4 pickup. the passive subs had the pickup hardwired in series and the active basses were parallel. any sound difference will probably be more attributable to the preamps than the pickup as theyre pretty different sounding circuits.

 

[rojo412]

That's good to know! I was hoping it would be more similar to my SR4 with the 2 band anyway.
Is there any major difference between the SUB 2 band and a '93 2 band?

 

[narud]

That's good to know! I was hoping it would be more similar to my SR4 with the 2 band anyway.
Is there any major difference between the SUB 2 band and a '93 2 band?

there shouldnt be any difference since theyre the same circuit. most of the tone difference will come from what theyre made of. the poplar/rosewood combo has a different spin than the ash basses. but if youre 93 is a solid color they could sound pretty close.

 

[Laurent]

Which aftermarket pickup hits the 1978-1984 tone the closest?

Note I am not interested in the tone of the original pickup, 1976-1978; I want the second version, pre-EB.

I am looking for a 4 string pickup powered by the two tone control. I have an original two tone control so I am in good shape with the preamp.

 

[Dave W]

Nordstrand MM 4.2 would probably be the best choice.

 

[mcnach]

alnico. its just like a sr4 pickup. the passive subs had the pickup hardwired in series and the active basses were parallel. any sound difference will probably be more attributable to the preamps than the pickup as theyre pretty different sounding circuits.

Not really, it was more confusing than that.
I only ever had a single SUB5, active, from 2004, and that was indeed in parallel.
However, I have two stock active 4 string SUBs. The 2003 one is wired in series!!! The 2005 in parallel.
From talking to other people, I'm getting the feeling that, at least 4 string SUBs were initially series (at least 2003 and some 2004), and later ones (2005-2006) seem parallel (never came across a late one in series yet).

I noticed no correlation with active/passive, but I haven't really seen but a couple of passive ones, and I don't know how they were wired. All my info comes from active ones.

I can't find a definite rule.

My 2003 one in series is a wonderful beast. I think the 2EQ preamp complements the series configuration beautifully.

 

[Laurent]

Nordstrand MM 4.2 would probably be the best choice.

They sound really dark and massive on the demos I have heard. I know they get a lot of love here but it's hard to tell if they hit that sweet spot.
I tend to trust Seymour Duncan who despite their size seem to do well.
That being said, do they capture the second period of pickups?

 

[Joe Kyle]

Now, what about the Musicman Bucker vs MFD?

(I own both!)

 

[Dave W]

They sound really dark and massive on the demos I have heard. I know they get a lot of love here but it's hard to tell if they hit that sweet spot.
I tend to trust Seymour Duncan who despite their size seem to do well.
That being said, do they capture the second period of pickups?

They are supposedly built to the same exact specs with the 5/8" slugs instead of the 1" slugs on the early version. I have an MM 4.4 in one of my Stingrays right now that I find dark. I'm going to be replacing it with a 4.2 before my gig tonight.

I don't have any direct experience with the SD offerings. I do have one of their ceramic pickups sitting in a box somewhere. If the MM 4.2 doesn't do it for me I'll be trying the SD out.

Now, what about the Musicman Bucker vs MFD?

(I own both!)

Two very different pickups. MFD's are extremely hot and are ceramic rather than the alnico of the MM.

 

[Joe Kyle]

My thoughts exactly. I'd really like to swap out the Musicman pickup for an MFD out of curiosity. See just how much the placement/preamp do it.

That being said, I like both equally, though the ray sounds a bit 'tighter,' with the MFD's sounding more round.

 

[Laurent]

So there has been 25 pages of conjecture and there does not seem to be a detailed account of the tonal differences of the ALNICO Stringray pickups available for a 4 string bass.

The aftermarket options are:

Aguilar AG-4M
EMG MMHZ
GHS MM Pro Plus
Nordstrand MM4.2
Seymour Duncan SMB-4a

Meanwhile on the original pickups side of things, there are:

The original pickup 1976-1978
A transition pickup, pre-Ernie Ball 1978-1983
A post and current pickup 1984-present

The Aguilar AG-4M, the Seymour Duncan SMB-4a and Nordstrand MM4.2 all claim to be a take on the original 1976-1978 pickup. As I understand it these pickups were handwound. That generally means there are wide tonal variations within that series of pickups.

Has anyone ever conducted a shootout between the aftermarket options and the originals?
Any sense of their tonal respective characteristics?

 

[Dave W]

Just to make that list more complete...
The EMG HZ is ceramic

There are a whole bunch of aftermarket options that you are missing:
Nordstrand MM 4.4
Aero MM4 Type 4B
Aero MM4 PHC Type 4B
All of the various Bartolini offerings, although I don't know which, if any, are alnico
All of the various Delano offerings, some of which are alnico
There are a few more that I know I am forgetting