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reverend P pickups -- $18!

#101
Well, I recieved my 8.7K Rev. p/u today and put it in my test mule. WOW, Sounds great. Very pleased with this. I installed it in a basswood body bass, which is normaly lacking in bottem end. It sounds fantastic with this p/u. Nice even ballance all the way across the tonal spectrum. Strong bass, nice mids, not too bright on the top end. Sounds real nice. Gives that nice "P" bark when you really dig into it as well. It seems like it will sit well in the mix in a band setting. I'll try it with the band in a day or 2 and report back.. So far I'm quite pleased.
 
#103
craigb said:
I picked up a couple of these (went for the 8.7K ones as I like my Rumblefish PJ). One will be going in my Fender HMT bass this week when I get a chance to open it up and some soldering.

But I'm still looking forward to reworking my HMT and getting it much more usable (I'm also going to be finally installing my Cafe Walter piezo buffer).. . .
Click to expand...

Did you work on your HMT?
I was thinking of doing the exact same thing to mine so I would like to know about your result.
 
#107
craigb said:
Although I don't have the HMT any more I did drop the piezo buffer and Reverend pickup in it. The piezo buffer was a huge improvement. The P pickup was just a "flavor difference" from the Lace sensor. I have some before-and-after soundclips at http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=23945
Click to expand...


First of all, thanks for posting the clips.

Second of all, I like your playing.

(Back to your scheduled Reverend P pick-up discussion)
It sounded to me like the Reverend was very low-mid heavy and lacking in punch, comparing it to the SB-2 and L2000 (neck pick-ups). I also got the impression of a compressed, Bartolini-type sound.

Right now, I'm leaning to the 7.3k. It should have more punch and treble, and be less dark (dark is a word I would use to describe Craig's clip).


Anyone else care to give a review on their Reverend P pick-up?
 
#108
illidian said:
First of all, thanks for posting the clips.

Second of all, I like your playing.

(Back to your scheduled Reverend P pick-up discussion)
It sounded to me like the Reverend was very low-mid heavy and lacking in punch, comparing it to the SB-2 and L2000 (neck pick-ups). I also got the impression of a compressed, Bartolini-type sound.

Right now, I'm leaning to the 7.3k. It should have more punch and treble, and be less dark (dark is a word I would use to describe Craig's clip).


Anyone else care to give a review on their Reverend P pick-up?
Click to expand...

I think I might be able to help you out here. I have 2 identical SX P basses. One with a G&L MFD ( should be the same as in your SB 2) in it and the other with the Reverend 8.7. Just got the second SX yesterday, and swapped the pickup out of my test mule and into the SX. Both are Alder bodied, maple neck , rosewood board P bass' with the same Fender 7150's on them. The two pickups sound quite similar. The MFD has just a little more on the top end. The Rev has a little more upper mids. Both are strong in the low mid and bottom end. The G&L might have just a touch more on the bottom. Over all the sound of the Rev is less compressed sounding than the G&L, as in a little more open and airy sounding. I set the pickup hight of both of these about the same, fairly low due to the fact that they are both very strong pickups with a lot of magnetic pull. Overall the Rev is just a little bettter ballanced across the tonal spectrum. It would be a tough call if I had to pick one over the other.
 
#110
illidian said:
First of all, thanks for posting the clips.

Second of all, I like your playing.

(Back to your scheduled Reverend P pick-up discussion)
It sounded to me like the Reverend was very low-mid heavy and lacking in punch, comparing it to the SB-2 and L2000 (neck pick-ups). I also got the impression of a compressed, Bartolini-type sound.

Right now, I'm leaning to the 7.3k. It should have more punch and treble, and be less dark (dark is a word I would use to describe Craig's clip).


Anyone else care to give a review on their Reverend P pick-up?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words.

I would caution you about comparing the HMT clips to the SB-2 clips for the following reasons:

- the HMT is hollow/semi-hollow, the SB-2 was solid (alder I think for that one)
- the HMT has a rosewood board, the SB-2 a maple board
- the HMT had old GHS tapewound strings on it, the SB-2 probably had relatively young roundwounds

I still have a bass with an 8.7K Reverend P pickup (my beloved Rumblefish PJ). In general I think the Reverend P pickup is a bit better balanced high-to-low as compared to the G&L MFD P (which makes sense as the MFDs in both the L2K and SB-2 tend to be very strong in the highs and lows). I find the G&L to be higher output overall and tends to have greater dynamic range/punch (but again my MFD Ps have all been solidbodies and the Reverend is a semi-hollow).

I felt, in the HMT, that the Reverend P pickup was a little more "raunchy" or "aggressive" in sound but listening to the recordings showed that the Lace was a good sound and might actually fit the HMT better than the Reverend.

The 8.7K isn't particularly "dark" to me in my Rumblefish PJ, but then again in that bass it's got TI Powerbass strings instead of the GHS tapewounds. But it doesn't have the high end of the MFD P.
 
#111
illidian said:
First of all, thanks for posting the clips.

Second of all, I like your playing.

(Back to your scheduled Reverend P pick-up discussion)
It sounded to me like the Reverend was very low-mid heavy and lacking in punch, comparing it to the SB-2 and L2000 (neck pick-ups). I also got the impression of a compressed, Bartolini-type sound.

Right now, I'm leaning to the 7.3k. It should have more punch and treble, and be less dark (dark is a word I would use to describe Craig's clip).


Anyone else care to give a review on their Reverend P pick-up?
Click to expand...

FWIW:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127322&page=4

From the two I have I'd say this is a Goldielocks thing. Apparently Reverend used the middle output as the stock pup in their basses so roughly a thin, medium, fat thing.
 
#114
If only it were that simple. *Puts bored geek hat on* *manic rant? - sure, why not? - she says to herself* Run away if you must - BTW some of this has been mentioned before in this thread.

Pickups are not tuned via DC resistance. DC resistance is somewhat useful in comparing pickups that are built with the exact same materials and dimensions and only differ in the number of windings in the coil itself.

In the case of the Reverend pickups we seem to be dealing with the same construction - though I am only guessing that the wire gauges are the same. This makes the number slightly useful for parts of our conversation in this thread.

The DC resistance measurement across a pickup means little in itself. People use that measurment as a way to try and infer something about the inductive characteristics of the coil that actually depend on the number of turns, size of the coil, core material etc. Usually this is done for a few reasons - 1. People don't have the equipment to measure the AC characteristics. 2. Individuals who don't understand electromagnetics are trying to get a grasp on the things that they don't understand through oversimplification. 3. Marketing - pickup vendors have told people that bigger number is "hotter"

While there is no real mystery here, electromagnetic circuits have been understood for a long time, there are many variables in the construction of pickups not to mention their interaction with an instrument and amplification system - what I am saying is what has been said many times here and why is there are so many adjective filled threads trying to describe the actual sound of equipment on this board - trying to equate a simple number to a sound is likely to be misleading.

heck *enough ranting? - yes - get off your ass and do some housework...*

Peace,
S
 
#115
OK Suzie, you got me, and you got my goat too. A little more critical thinking on my end, before hitting the "post reply" button, and I would have realized that a coil is not a resistor (in this application). Fair enough.

BUT, I just re-read this whole thread, and could not find any discussion of this subject. I then did a string of searches on terms such as resistance, resistors, potentiometers, pots, ohms, etc... and after about ten minutes I finally found a thread covering the pickup-as-resistor misunderstanding. Ten minutes, several searches.

Anyway, lesson learned, forehead smacked, etc.
 
#117
bongomania,

I have insomnia and get kinda weird sometimes - why I labeled it a "manic rant". That post was not really a shot at you or anyone other than the marketing hypers. I was just kind of ranting and trying to give a general explanation of something that is kinda complicated without making the explanation too technical. Almost everyone struggles around this subject and all us humans try to find simple ways to explain and discuss complicated subjects, it is in our nature - that is also part of what I was trying to say.

I don't expect everyone here to know what I know and I certainly don't know everything that everyone else knows. I have learned a bunch here already. I was kinda trying to be both funny and educational but I guess I did not come across as I intended. My strange sense of humor may not translate well over the net.

Sorry about that,
S
 

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