• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

New Cobalt Fender Pickups

#61
bdplaid said:
The EMG Geezer kills that. So does the Fender Original.
Click to expand...

Well that depends on personal taste doesn't it? I like all these three pickups. Personally I prefer the Vintera over the GZR. The Vintera sounds more like a classic, vintage P-bass. The GZR sounds more like a slightly overwound P-bass pickups to my ears (and I absolutely hate the stock .022 uF tone cap that comes with the solderless kit). The Original is slightly brighter, more aggressive sounding than either. I love the Original with SOME basses and SOME strings. With other basses/strings it can get a bit clanky for my taste.
 
#62
These pickups (the P one anyway) reminds me of the new Guild Starfire pickup.
upload_2024-2-25_16-9-6.jpeg


The Guild pickups has alnico V magnets.
 
#63
Well, anyway, after all this extenuating flood of uninformed opinions and more or less educated guess, I believe we should wait from some actual sound samples from somebody who actually bought the pickups and played them on an actual P-bass, if I may add, with and without using flatwound strings and his/her fingers extensively !

Who wants to be first in line? :D
 
#66
InnerCityBass said:
Actually, honestly, if we talk about the design, the DiMarzio Relentless is sooooooooooooooooo fuglyyy, like they came out of an 80s pinball machine, yuck! Unlike the new Fender Cobalt Chromes, which me be THE coolest looking pickup ever designed, perfection!!


;)
Click to expand...

Regardless looks, the Relentless PJ set is super practical for those who play fingerstyle over the pickups, using them as ramps. I happen to LOVE my DiMarzio Relentless P-design, sound, and LOOKS.

I do like the appearance of these new pickups, though for the aforementioned reasons-I play most over the time over the pickups-I can see it would be a bit of a hassle for me. They should sound good, and Mr. Shaw can design lovely sounding pickups (also love the Vintera P one.) But I do not think this particular release is meant for my needs. Still, looking forward to any impressions on them.

I think those prices should be reserved for boutique/small shops pickups-Fender can surely afford to sell them at a lower price? (No Fender hater here, just IMHO.) I would indeed be happier trying out an underwound Fralin than this one (just because I know what to expect + familiar shape.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yahboy
#67
Deleted member 271037 said:
The Vintera P-bass pickups are great! They're the best pickups in any currently manufactured Fender bass IMO. At least if you're looking for an classic "vintage voiced" P-bass tone. Are you sure these were designed by Tim Shaw? I've never hear anything about this?

Of course, one could also argue that standard, vintage voiced P-bass pickups like these were actually designed in the 50s and that you shouldn't need a "pickup guru" to "design" them 70 years later... At least he tried to do something new with the V-Mods (and now these new cobalts). Unfortunately the 1st gen V-mods weren't particularly great. Lets hope the cobalts are better.
Click to expand...

S.F. Sorrow,

When all the Vintera (I) guitars and basses were 1st introduced, it was inferred that Tim Shaw was involved with all of them. I was going to link an article, but there are many about the internet, and I wanted to find something authorative-do not have the time right now. Not sure about Vintera II, but it is likely he is involved as well?

I love my Vintera P bass, all stock. That pickup is amazing to me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 271037 and Yahboy
#69
Deleted member 271037 said:
Personally I prefer the Vintera over the GZR. The Vintera sounds more like a classic, vintage P-bass. The GZR sounds more like a slightly overwound P-bass pickups to my ears (and I absolutely hate the stock .022 uF tone cap that comes with the solderless kit). The Original is slightly brighter, more aggressive sounding than either.
Click to expand...
I agree.
But I like the Original because I think it's the clearest, so to me the most beautiful of those; maybe mine are set a little farther from the strings, or my tone control is always set lower than yours. :-)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Deleted member 271037
#70
LetItGrowTone said:
I agree.
But I like the Original because I think it's the clearest, so to me the most beautiful of those; maybe mine are set a little farther from the strings, or my tone control is always set lower than yours. :)
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. The clarity/brightness of the Original (or whatever it's called these days...) works great with mellow sounding strings and the tone rolled off a bit. I particularly like it with Pyramid Pure Nickels or "old school" flats. I nearly always roll off the tone to around 60-70% (or in some cases lower) with P-basses. That's where the magic starts to happen with P-basses IMO. With pickups like the very dark/overwound Fender PV63 everything turns to mud when using mellow sounding strings and the tone rolled off. But the Fender Original excel at this.

The Original can also be very nice for livening up a slightly dull sounding bass (but it also turned out to be a bit bright for an inherently bright sounding ash/maple P-bass I own).

It very much depends on what kind of tone you're looking for. Personally I find the Original a bit too harsh/clanky sounding with bright strings and the tone control at 100% but if I played punk rock I would probably have loved that tone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LetItGrowTone and Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati
#79
EncoremMP said:
These are now on sale for a more reasonable price. Anyone with experience with them?
Click to expand...
on sale where? Sweetwater still wants 367 for the PJ set, 314 for the Jazz set, and and 262 for the P pup with an open box P pup @ 223

And to this day I still haven't heard of anyone using them, so I had to go find some reviews...

P pup, sounds pretty good, but 262 bucks worth of good?



Jazz set, sounds like a jazz set, but the demo quality is not as good as that of the P pup above.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back