Go Canada! Usually I don’t do comparative reviews. Though I still am not in this one, when I swapped in this pickup by The Pickup Wizard, I saw the chance to understand two of my basses better by comparing their sounds in the context of the swap. Both were made by Fender (if 39 years apart), are fretted, have alder/maple/rosewood construction, and wear Curt Mangan flatwound strings. I don’t expect them to sound the same because of that, but I think it’s enough to aid in comparison of any factors.
Background
Recently I wondered what about my 2008 Fender Custom Shop ’59 Precision made it sound relatively midrange-y, especially compared to my 1969 Fender Precision. Was it the bass itself or was it the fine Curtis Novak PB-V pickup I had in it for seven months until now? Today I learned that the answer is both.
The players
The CS bass's sound is on the hi-fi side of classic, with prominent yet sweet midrange. However the Novak PB-V plays right up the middle. Perfectly wooly and spongy, it presents neither low lows nor high highs with emphasis. The Novak PB-V only plays in the pocket.
Though not much more articulate than the CS/Novak setup, the 1969 Precision emphasizes higher highs, glassiness. This feature is subtle, but it has a big effect. And the old Precision’s money frets, on the low strings especially, emphasize the low lows. To me it doesn’t sound scooped, but it is. The net result is like a nice tube equalizer adding a bit of low shelved EQ from 40 Hz down and a even less high shelved EQ from 4 kHz up.
Comparison
Hearing the CS bass with the Pickup Wizard pickup, and comparing it to the old Precision finally let me see all that, about the respective voices of the two basses and of the Novak pickup.
To clarify: It was the two basses I was comparing, mostly, not the three pickups. But I should say that in my opinion the Novak PB-V and the Pickup Wizard Precision pickups are two rather different interpretations of “vintage”, yet both are credible, musical, and quite useful.
The voice of The Pickup Wizard
Like the Novak PB-V, the Pickup Wizard split coil Precision bass pickup is a total bad**s, dynamic and harmonically rich. But, though it has a nice amount of wool, it is less spongey, it goes much lower, and it has a delicate and detailed glassiness, all without giving up any midrange. Using the shelved EQ analogy, the Pickup Wizard P pickup’s glassiness was like high shelved EQ from 10 kHz up.
That pickup voice in the CS Precision really let the instrument shine. In fact it sounds so good, both in general and particularly in that bass, that I am tempted to let this pickup complete that bass. I won’t do it, though. Instead I will blueprint this installation then try some other pickups that have been waiting patiently. But I may well settle on The Pickup Wizard’s P pickup in the end.
Deal and specs
Peter (of) The Pickup Wizard was great to work with. Though obviously busy, he took time to field my questions, asked me excellent questions about my order, and simply was a good guy. Originally my order was for a custom set of pickups. Luckily I asked if he could add a split coil Precision pickup to the order and he agreed to.
My pickup happens to have gray bobbins since Peter was out of black at the time. But it has the 42 AWG Formvar coil wire, Alnico 5 magnets, and whatever else is standard for the model. I measured it at 11.1K ohm DCR, but I think that it may have measured a little lower in manufacture, say 10.8K.
Conclusion
A beautiful pickup and a new favorite of mine to play, I highly recommend the split coil Precision bass pickup by The Pickup Wizard. As I tried it this pickup sounds excellent with flatwound strings, though I believe it would sound as good with roundwounds, too.
Background
Recently I wondered what about my 2008 Fender Custom Shop ’59 Precision made it sound relatively midrange-y, especially compared to my 1969 Fender Precision. Was it the bass itself or was it the fine Curtis Novak PB-V pickup I had in it for seven months until now? Today I learned that the answer is both.
The players
The CS bass's sound is on the hi-fi side of classic, with prominent yet sweet midrange. However the Novak PB-V plays right up the middle. Perfectly wooly and spongy, it presents neither low lows nor high highs with emphasis. The Novak PB-V only plays in the pocket.
Though not much more articulate than the CS/Novak setup, the 1969 Precision emphasizes higher highs, glassiness. This feature is subtle, but it has a big effect. And the old Precision’s money frets, on the low strings especially, emphasize the low lows. To me it doesn’t sound scooped, but it is. The net result is like a nice tube equalizer adding a bit of low shelved EQ from 40 Hz down and a even less high shelved EQ from 4 kHz up.
Comparison
Hearing the CS bass with the Pickup Wizard pickup, and comparing it to the old Precision finally let me see all that, about the respective voices of the two basses and of the Novak pickup.
To clarify: It was the two basses I was comparing, mostly, not the three pickups. But I should say that in my opinion the Novak PB-V and the Pickup Wizard Precision pickups are two rather different interpretations of “vintage”, yet both are credible, musical, and quite useful.
The voice of The Pickup Wizard
Like the Novak PB-V, the Pickup Wizard split coil Precision bass pickup is a total bad**s, dynamic and harmonically rich. But, though it has a nice amount of wool, it is less spongey, it goes much lower, and it has a delicate and detailed glassiness, all without giving up any midrange. Using the shelved EQ analogy, the Pickup Wizard P pickup’s glassiness was like high shelved EQ from 10 kHz up.
That pickup voice in the CS Precision really let the instrument shine. In fact it sounds so good, both in general and particularly in that bass, that I am tempted to let this pickup complete that bass. I won’t do it, though. Instead I will blueprint this installation then try some other pickups that have been waiting patiently. But I may well settle on The Pickup Wizard’s P pickup in the end.
Deal and specs
Peter (of) The Pickup Wizard was great to work with. Though obviously busy, he took time to field my questions, asked me excellent questions about my order, and simply was a good guy. Originally my order was for a custom set of pickups. Luckily I asked if he could add a split coil Precision pickup to the order and he agreed to.
My pickup happens to have gray bobbins since Peter was out of black at the time. But it has the 42 AWG Formvar coil wire, Alnico 5 magnets, and whatever else is standard for the model. I measured it at 11.1K ohm DCR, but I think that it may have measured a little lower in manufacture, say 10.8K.
Conclusion
A beautiful pickup and a new favorite of mine to play, I highly recommend the split coil Precision bass pickup by The Pickup Wizard. As I tried it this pickup sounds excellent with flatwound strings, though I believe it would sound as good with roundwounds, too.
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Good for you, man. When I dropped music making cold in '96, I divested all my equipment. So now after resuming years later, it's impossible for me to own any gear that I bought 35 years ago.
I hear you about the heavy. If I were a working musician now, I would never consider performing with the 1973 Precision Bass.
