Ready to upgrade.

[FrostyNuggets]

I have a Fender Deluxe Active P Bass Special ( Invalid Link Removed ) and I’m looking to upgrade it. I’ve had it a couple years now, and it’s still fully stock. I’ve just reached the point that I know I enjoy this, and I love playing this guitar very much. I don’t think I’ll need a new one for a long time.

I know I at least want some pickups. Seymour Duncan? Do I need to use anything special because of the passive/active switch? I’ll have someone else install them because I don’t know very much at all about it, I just wondered what some popular opinions are.

Anything else worth the money? Casual player, a few smaller shows, nothing bigger than a bar right now.

 

[ctmullins]

What do you not like about the stock pickups?

 

[40Hz]

I think the most popular opinion is that without a specific goal in mind for swapping out the original pickups and/or electronics, you’ll probably wind up spending a lot of money and time only to end up with your bass sounding pretty much just like it does right now. Once you go beyond the pickups found in less expensive basses, and move up to the better quality pickups found in basses such as yours, the differences between third party pickups is often pretty subtle. So if you already have decent pickups, don’t expect major miracles if you swap them out for something else.

What sound are you looking to get - and what is it about your current setup that it’s not giving it to you?

FWIW, if you already like your bass right now, you’d be better off just banking the money you’d spend on unnecessary mods (especially if you’ll need to pay someone to do something as simple as pickup swap) and eventually use those savings to help get a better amp down the road.

 

[FrostyNuggets]

well thanks for the advice. That’s why I came here. I haven’t been playing that long, and mostly I play by myself. I just love the guitar and I thought maybe I could make it better. I don’t really want any other bass, hopefully for a long time. My acoustic was just for my time in an apartment, now that I’m back in a place I can be a little louder I might not use it so much. I will stick to what I have and maybe buy a new pedal then! Thanks guys.

 

[CryingBass]

Probably a good call. Now - on to effects pedals!

 

[40Hz]

well thanks for the advice. That’s why I came here. I haven’t been playing that long, and mostly I play by myself. I just love the guitar and I thought maybe I could make it better. I don’t really want any other bass, hopefully for a long time. My acoustic was just for my time in an apartment, now that I’m back in a place I can be a little louder I might not use it so much. I will stick to what I have and maybe buy a new pedal then! Thanks guys.

Thank you too. It’s extremely frustrating at times when you run into someone who is intent on wasting money when they don’t need to. Most times they don’t want to hear that. So thanks for having an open mind about the possibility that a pickup swap on a bass you already like the sound of is likely to be a waste of money.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

I played that same bass in a store, and my only complaint was that the output of the Noiseless bridge pickup was about half the output of the P pickup. The bass sounded great except when the bridge pickup was soloed.
That would be the only pickup I’d replace, not the P. I’d go with something like a Dimarzio Ultra Jazz bridge pickup.
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But maybe that bass had a problem? Do you notice output differences between pickups?

 

[BlueTalon]

well thanks for the advice. That’s why I came here. I haven’t been playing that long, and mostly I play by myself. I just love the guitar and I thought maybe I could make it better. I don’t really want any other bass, hopefully for a long time. My acoustic was just for my time in an apartment, now that I’m back in a place I can be a little louder I might not use it so much. I will stick to what I have and maybe buy a new pedal then! Thanks guys.

There is another completely legitimate reason for swapping out a pickup, and that's the love of tinkering. If that's you, then it's not a bad thing to change a pickup just because, and I would second eastcoasteddie's recommendation of the DiMarzio Ultra Jazz -- it gets you a hum-canceling boost in sound without breaking the bank.

If you're not a tinkerer, though, then it's better to have a good idea of the sound you want to move to (or at least, the sound you want to move away from) before spending the money for a new pickup.