Music man style pickup

[Adam John]

Hello,

I just bought a Hamer Slammer Impact Music Man copy and am curious if anyone has upgraded the pickup in one of these?

I got the bass for next to nothing. It functions as it should just needs a set-up by rights. It is at my Brothers shop now and while he is doing the set-up I figured it would be a good time to upgrade the pickup.

I am just learning bass, however my intentions is to play at church and a little RHCP and the such.

In my research I have come across the high end pickups like Semor Duncan but also Warman and Artec.

My Brother did check out the bass and electronics, including pickup and said I could leave it as is.

My thought is if I am going to change the pickup at some point I might as well do it now and that way I am learning with what I want right from the start.

Any experience would be much appreciated. I did read a lot of the Music man sticky, but to be honest it confused me. The picture of the bass in in my profile.

I am also willing to change pots if anyone has experience to share with this as well.

I love this bass and I am the type that I would rather put a few dollars into it to make it mine than buy a high end bass. Another Brother of mine has a Fender Precision bass. It is pretty awesome but not my thing.

Anyway hopefully someone has experience with these bass and can impart some wisdom.

Thank you

 

[Jim C]

I used a Nordstrand 4.2 in an OLP bass and it sounds reasonably close to my SR even without a pre-amp
MM4.2 Dual Coil

 

[Adam John]

I do hyperfocued research and came up with a contender I believe.

I went with a Kent Armstrong MM4. The plan is to wire it passive but with ability to switch between parallel and series.

I used a Nordstrand 4.2 in an OLP bass and it sounds reasonably close to my SR even without a pre-amp
MM4.2 Dual Coil

 

[Geri O]

Is there something wrong with the pickup that is in the bass now?

Several years ago, a friend bought a Music Man copy of some kind and without even playing it, bought a replacement Nordstrand pickup to go in it. I didn’t think much about it, I figured he had the good sense to play the thing and see what it sounded like.

Well, that what I get for thinking….

Not only had he not plugged the bass in and tried it, I opened the case to see the bass and lo and behold, there was an Aguilar MM pickup in the bass! The owner, actually a very good lighting director, had never heard of Aguilar pickups.

And the bass, for a passive MM-style bass, sounded pretty decent.

Lesson learned. We were able to sell the new and un-installed Nord pup.

 

[Adam John]

Is there something wrong with the pickup that is in the bass now?

Several years ago, a friend bought a Music Man copy of some kind and without even playing it, bought a replacement Nordstrand pickup to go in it. I didn’t think much about it, I figured he had the good sense to play the thing and see what it sounded like.

Well, that what I get for thinking….

Not only had he not plugged the bass in and tried it, I opened the case to see the bass and lo and behold, there was an Aguilar MM pickup in the bass! The owner, actually a very good lighting director, had never heard of Aguilar pickups.

And the bass, for a passive MM-style bass, sounded pretty decent.

Lesson learned. We were able to sell the new and un-installed Nord pup.

The bass was played and it was decent as is but I wanted the kent armstrong mm4 because of the reviews, the 13k resistance and the potential to wire it with a push pull for switching between parallel and series.

I just like the potential versatility

 

[Adam John]

So I was up to my Brothers shop today and hammered out the details for the build.

Going with the kent armstrong mm4 pickup, should hopefully have that next week. He is going to install a switch where the tone knob was, move the tone pot to where the jack was and install a jack on the bottom of the bass instead of the front.

It should look pretty similar to a musicman but without the plate under the knobs. Well and a switch instead of another knob.

Will have series and parallel but no single coil ability. Which I am fine with.

Even scored an black musicman pickguard for $10. Test fitted it today and looks great.

Very excited.