Supro Huntington Club

[TheIndieKid]

I had a new replacement rear pickup placed in my H3. It seems to have a weird plastic layer on, beneath the chrome cover, but above the gold foil. Does anyone elses have this? Tried to get it off with a needle but it won't come off, and there's now a bit of damage. Can't tell if it's to the gold paint or plastic layer. My original front pickups don't have it. I wonder if this is a new development, and Supro have had responses about the gold colour scratching off and protected it.

 

[Skillet]

I had a new replacement rear pickup placed in my H3. It seems to have a weird plastic layer on, beneath the chrome cover, but above the gold foil. Does anyone elses have this? Tried to get it off with a needle but it won't come off, and there's now a bit of damage. Can't tell if it's to the gold paint or plastic layer. My original front pickups don't have it. I wonder if this is a new development, and Supro have had responses about the gold colour scratching off and protected it.

Did you source it from the Supro site?
In my webbish dalliances I've run across sellers on Ebay claiming to be selling the "original" Supro pickups and not the 'new' cheaper ones.... I didn't really pursue it though. You might shoot them a query via email and ask.

 

[Skillet]

Hi Guys,
I am torn between what model to get for a different flavour for my rock band. Aside from aestethics and versatility, is there a difference in the ability to cut through, meatiness or "weight" in the sound when comparing the 1-pu version to the 3-pu one, for example?

@Alban, I'd imagine that the number of folks in this thread who have multiple Huntingtons and thus be able to answer you would be near .... none. I have the H1, and I really dig it. The sound is very reminiscent of a thick P bass. I can add the somewhat odd but trebly sonority of the piezo to change it up, but I've never played the 2 or 3 pickup versions. I've heard anecdotally from an H3 owner who said he wasn't getting a variety of sounds from it, but hell, it's got 3 pickups.
Good luck in your quest!

 

[TheIndieKid]

@Alban, I'd imagine that the number of folks in this thread who have multiple Huntingtons and thus be able to answer you would be near .... none. I have the H1, and I really dig it. The sound is very reminiscent of a thick P bass. I can add the somewhat odd but trebly sonority of the piezo to change it up, but I've never played the 2 or 3 pickup versions. I've heard anecdotally from an H3 owner who said he wasn't getting a variety of sounds from it, but hell, it's got 3 pickups.
Good luck in your quest!

Damn, I'd really like to hear what his criticisms are. I find you get a very wide variety of sounds from it. J do think I should have gone with the H1 though, for sake of simplicity.

 

[TheIndieKid]

Did you source it from the Supro site?
In my webbish dalliances I've run across sellers on Ebay claiming to be selling the "original" Supro pickups and not the 'new' cheaper ones.... I didn't really pursue it though. You might shoot them a query via email and ask.

It is from the official site. The rest of my pickups are rough and you can rub your finger over the gold part and feel all the notches of the pattern. This new pickups is smooth and feels like it has plastic over.

 

[Skillet]

It is from the official site. The rest of my pickups are rough and you can rub your finger over the gold part and feel all the notches of the pattern. This new pickups is smooth and feels like it has plastic over.

Well, for all I know, what I read (on Fleabay) was a seller building up his goods at the expense of Supro. He implied that what he was selling was superior to their current offerings.

As to the number of pickups, you'll get folks for instance saying that the Stingray with one pickup sounds better than the HH because the 1 pickup is in the sweetspot.
If I have some unknown rich uncle bequeath me millions, I'd buy all varieties and do a write up.
The chances of that would seem to me to be slim.
Meanwhile, I'm going to rock what I've got!

 

[TheIndieKid]

Well, for all I know, what I read (on Fleabay) was a seller building up his goods at the expense of Supro. He implied that what he was selling was superior to their current offerings.

As to the number of pickups, you'll get folks for instance saying that the Stingray with one pickup sounds better than the HH because the 1 pickup is in the sweetspot.
If I have some unknown rich uncle bequeath me millions, I'd buy all varieties and do a write up.
The chances of that would seem to me to be slim.
Meanwhile, I'm going to rock what I've got!
View attachment 3480095

Rock that tie-dye too!

 

[Chace90]

I've done two gigs now with my Supro with the 3 pickups. I totally dig it! But I'm experiencing the quieter E string compared to the others, especially the open E. Anyone have any revelations on that? It's definitely annoying, but not a deal breaker.

As easy as it plays and the variety tones available, I have to say two things aren't great for me. The tuning machines aren't a great ratio. And the stock pots are junk, IMO. The taper is totally ridiculous, to the point where I'd prefer a strat-style pickup switch. A short turn of maybe 10-15% turns the volume on the pickup down probably 70-80%. Nearly impossible to blend at all. So I'm considering a rewire or replacing the pots.

 

[Skillet]

I've done two gigs now with my Supro with the 3 pickups. I totally dig it! But I'm experiencing the quieter E string compared to the others, especially the open E. Anyone have any revelations on that? It's definitely annoying, but not a deal breaker.

As easy as it plays and the variety tones available, I have to say two things aren't great for me. The tuning machines aren't a great ratio. And the stock pots are junk, IMO. The taper is totally ridiculous, to the point where I'd prefer a strat-style pickup switch. A short turn of maybe 10-15% turns the volume on the pickup down probably 70-80%. Nearly impossible to blend at all. So I'm considering a rewire or replacing the pots.

Upgrade Update!

I removed the 1 Meg pot in my H1 and replaced it was a 500k pot with a better volume taper. The 500k pot smoothed out the high end in a subtle, but nice way. I find myself not touching my tone knob as much, because theres a little less bark and honestly sounds even closer to a P IMHO.

 

[gregbackstrom]

@Alban, I'd imagine that the number of folks in this thread who have multiple Huntingtons and thus be able to answer you would be near .... none. I have the H1, and I really dig it. The sound is very reminiscent of a thick P bass. I can add the somewhat odd but trebly sonority of the piezo to change it up, but I've never played the 2 or 3 pickup versions. I've heard anecdotally from an H3 owner who said he wasn't getting a variety of sounds from it, but hell, it's got 3 pickups.
Good luck in your quest!

I can't comment on other H3 owners' experiences, but my H3 gives me a VERY wide range of tone. I love the bridge pickup-only sound (which I use predominately on my other basses too). The blended bridge and middle is a perfect slap sound, and the middle / neck positions produce lots of variations on neck-J and P pickup sounds. A little bit of piezo adds some extra sizzle on the rare occasion I want some. There's way more useful tonal variation with this bass than with anything else I play. (Just no B string, of course!)

 

[gregbackstrom]

I've done two gigs now with my Supro with the 3 pickups. I totally dig it! But I'm experiencing the quieter E string compared to the others, especially the open E. Anyone have any revelations on that? It's definitely annoying, but not a deal breaker.

This is what I did to correct the output of the E string on my two HIII's. Some other TBers have tried one or more of these steps and have told me that they got good results.

My formula for getting the HIII output to be balanced is (1) the right strings -- in my case, they're Smith RW SS 44-63-84-106, (2) setting the witness point on the E by pushing the string VERY firmly down on the pickup side of the saddle with the hard plastic handle of a large screwdriver (I had to do this a few times) [BTW, I also do this at the nut, although I'm careful not to break it], and (3) adjusting the pickup height to make the E and G string output fairly balanced. This makes the E end of the pickup higher than the G end. All three pickups on my H3 look like wedges.

Another thing I had to pay attention to was my E string attack. On my other basses, my attack on both the B and E strings is actually a little bit lighter than on the other strings. When I attack the E like I do the D (for example) on the HIII, the output is balanced.

Output with bridge pickup solo'd was most critical to me, since that's where I "live" and I feel like I've especially nailed it there. My slap setting --- middle and bridge pickups dimed --- sounds great and balanced to me too. Other combinations are less important to me but they sound pretty balanced too.

Hope some of this is helpful.

 

[Rich48]

I'm looking to upgrade the tuning machines on my H1. Has anyone done this? Which ones did you use? I'm also going to upgrade the volume and tone pots. I was going to try the 500k pots mentioned above. Anyone have a specific brand they used?

 

[TheIndieKid]

Has anyone had a hard time with string to string balance?

I took my bass for a pickup replacement at a luthier, to see if the strings were the reason for the really uneven sound. It's still the same! I can't remember if I had the same issue with the old Huntington, but I don't think I did. It was weird because the bass sounded fine through the amp at the technicians, but when I play through headphones, the G string is very quiet.

 

[Joe Nerve]

In response to a bunch of posts I was going to quote but didn't ....

I have that E string issue, and I do find it annoying, though not too hard to adjust to. I took @gregbackstrom 's suggestions, and they helped some, but there's still an issue.

I wrote to Supro, and they blew me off. They sent a 1 sentence response telling me to put a thicker E string on. That kinda pissed me off, but whatever...

I'm confident that someone is going to come up with a cure for this. Perhaps if we ALL start emailing Supro ?????

Its interesting to me that with the Piezo soloed, there IS no issue. Does that mean the pickups are faulty? Or just positioned weirdly?

What sucks most for me is that the bass if freaking awesome outside of that. There are tons of sounds, and lots of warm-thick-gooey ones that I don't get out of my Fenders. The bass feels great, plays great (outside of the E string issue), and is probably the best looking bass I own.

Bla, bla, bla.....

If anyone wants to buy mine and work these issues out, I'll give a great price. Let me know. I'm a supporting member, so I'm allowed to do this.





Oh yeah, I replaced the pots. Actually, Supro did (they provided them, my tech did the job). Much smoother volume control with the new ones.

 

[Skillet]

I'm looking to upgrade the tuning machines on my H1. Has anyone done this? Which ones did you use? I'm also going to upgrade the volume and tone pots. I was going to try the 500k pots mentioned above. Anyone have a specific brand they used?

I bought a set of the Hipshot Ultralite 3/8s size tuners for mine, but it hasn't made it up the work queue, and I don't remember how I arrived at that hole size.... you might pull one of the factory tuners and just measure the hole to be safe.

 

[TheIndieKid]

In response to a bunch of posts I was going to quote but didn't ....

I have that E string issue, and I do find it annoying, though not too hard to adjust to. I took @gregbackstrom 's suggestions, and they helped some, but there's still an issue.

I wrote to Supro, and they blew me off. They sent a 1 sentence response telling me to put a thicker E string on. That kinda pissed me off, but whatever...

I'm confident that someone is going to come up with a cure for this. Perhaps if we ALL start emailing Supro ?????

Its interesting to me that with the Piezo soloed, there IS no issue. Does that mean the pickups are faulty? Or just positioned weirdly?

What sucks most for me is that the bass if freaking awesome outside of that. There are tons of sounds, and lots of warm-thick-gooey ones that I don't get out of my Fenders. The bass feels great, plays great (outside of the E string issue), and is probably the best looking bass I own.

Bla, bla, bla.....

If anyone wants to buy mine and work these issues out, I'll give a great price. Let me know. I'm a supporting member, so I'm allowed to do this.





Oh yeah, I replaced the pots. Actually, Supro did (they provided them, my tech did the job). Much smoother volume control with the new ones.

It's strange that most people have issue with the E, and I have the issue with the G. It may well be pickup placement. I'm considering selling as well.

 

[_jojo_bass]

This Bass does have a couple flaws. The volume drop on the E (or G) is just a product of a pickup that's too small to capture the full rotation of the string. I play super light with feathered action and I don't really have this issue with uneven volume. Seems as though the harder you pull, the more rotation is gonna be out of range of the pickup and it's gonna be quieter, lighter you play, the more over the pickup the string is going to vibrate.

QUICK FIX: a light Compressor with it does a lot of good. I've used one with it a few times and it makes a big difference it terms of volume consistency.

Still working on better tuning stibility after changing to licensed Hipshot tuners. It's not doin it. Gonna try some USA ones and hopefully it'll be better. If that doesn't work I'm gonna cut a new nut and get a new bridge cause i want it to work

 

[Joe Nerve]

This Bass does have a couple flaws. The volume drop on the E (or G) is just a product of a pickup that's too small to capture the full rotation of the string. I play super light with feathered action and I don't really have this issue with uneven volume. Seems as though the harder you pull, the more rotation is gonna be out of range of the pickup and it's gonna be quieter, lighter you play, the more over the pickup the string is going to vibrate.

I also found this to be true.

Depending on how I play, I sometimes can't even tell there's a difference.

 

[mojomike001]

For those with quieter E strings, why not raise the pickups a bit on the E side?

 

[Joe Nerve]

For those with quieter E strings, why not raise the pickups a bit on the E side?

Because it also raises the volume of the A string. Raising the pickup doesn't help. Actually seemed to make it worse on mine.