tell me about Super Ferrite pickups...need info...

[Green Knight]

Glad you are happy with your pickups and enjoying the tone

Huge improvement over those sterile Aguilar DCBs. I appreciate the level of fidelity and everything, but the clarity on these things is great and they do indeed go very well with some glassy compression.

 

[XsoGol]

I am debating putting these TI Flats on but am not sure if that'll spoil the fun of shredding. Someone called super ferrites "the angry piano tone," and they can definitely do that with rounds!

Angry piano tone is a great term for it! I'm curious about the flats too but the rounds and your compression/setup...gotta here that!!!

 

[Green Knight]

I got a buddy with a vintage 70s thunderbird…
His dad played in big sugar

They were great to see live back in the day! Ah the 90s.

 

[Matt Kustom]

Just my 2c on the treble of these SF pickups , if trying to get more treble. Sine these pickup operate at 4000hz rather than 7 like Alnico in coil fender. Switching from .047uf to something like .033 or even .022uf could be beneficial

 

[ctmullins]

Any input would be appreciated.
@XsoGol
@ctmullins

All of my basses have a 20” fretboard radius, so I’m not much help here…

 

[Evanforbass]

Hey thread. Does anyone know how the 916 Super Ferrites do with a 9.5'' or smaller fretboard radius? Since these have a decently flat profile for the blade pole piece, I would be uncertain if string to string balance might be an issue.

Have had 2x 916 SF Jbass pickups on one bass and 3x 916 SFs humbuckers on another bass. I believe radius on both around 9.5 though I'm not positive. No string balance issues on any of them. Couldn't recommend Matt's work more enthusiastically. I tried no less than 7 (primo) Jazz pickup sets on my MIJ Jaguar bass and the 916 Super Ferrites came out on top--it's my #1 right now.

 

[XsoGol]

Have had 2x 916 SF Jbass pickups on one bass and 3x 916 SFs humbuckers on another bass. I believe radius on both around 9.5 though I'm not positive. No string balance issues on any of them. Couldn't recommend Matt's work more enthusiastically. I tried no less than 7 (primo) Jazz pickup sets on my MIJ Jaguar bass and the 916 Super Ferrites came out on top--it's my #1 right now.

Oh man…I forgot about those basses! @Evanforbass, do you want a club number?

 

[jdjk7]

Have had 2x 916 SF Jbass pickups on one bass and 3x 916 SFs humbuckers on another bass. I believe radius on both around 9.5 though I'm not positive. No string balance issues on any of them. Couldn't recommend Matt's work more enthusiastically. I tried no less than 7 (primo) Jazz pickup sets on my MIJ Jaguar bass and the 916 Super Ferrites came out on top--it's my #1 right now.

Funny you should chime in, because I'm actually the one who bought your Bass IV. Wasn't sure how I'd feel about the 12'' radius, but I am considering trading the neck for a 9.5'' or smaller. That's why I'm on here asking opinions on radius, because I wasn't sure if the flat blade pole piece prefers flatter radiuses. I can still play it, but it's taking more adapting than I expected to my right hand technique.

The bass and pickups sound and look great, though! I'll have to get a Bass IV family photo here soon.

 

[Snert]

DOOOO IIIIT!!!!! I love Ibbys and would be curious what these sound like in that type of bass.

It's on the serious consideration list for the longer term and they might have been an order for this week, but a dealer nearby has a new EHB1506 on awesome special and I'm trying to find the money for it.

The SR has the stock preamp, and I was going to rout it for EMG 45DCXs, but the SFs and the later inclusion of my own design preamp might make it a subtle and versatile weapon with Dunlop SS strings.

 

[XsoGol]

It's on the serious consideration list for the longer term and they might have been an order for this week, but a dealer nearby has a new EHB1506 on awesome special and I'm trying to find the money for it.

The SR has the stock preamp, and I was going to rout it for EMG 45DCXs, but the SFs and the later inclusion of my own design preamp might make it a subtle and versatile weapon with Dunlop SS strings.

That sounds amazing! I hope your project comes to fruition!

 

[XsoGol]

Funny you should chime in, because I'm actually the one who bought your Bass IV. Wasn't sure how I'd feel about the 12'' radius, but I am considering trading the neck for a 9.5'' or smaller. That's why I'm on here asking opinions on radius, because I wasn't sure if the flat blade pole piece prefers flatter radiuses. I can still play it, but it's taking more adapting than I expected to my right hand technique.

The bass and pickups sound and look great, though! I'll have to get a Bass IV family photo here soon.

@jdjk7, do you want to join the 916 club?

 

[jdjk7]

@jdjk7, do you want to join the 916 club?

Sure, why not.

 

[bigtone23]

Just my 2c on the treble of these SF pickups , if trying to get more treble. Sine these pickup operate at 4000hz rather than 7 like Alnico in coil fender. Switching from .047uf to something like .033 or even .022uf could be beneficial

I would like to hear your input on this...

I have experiemented with various values of tone caps and found they cause different roll off characteristics in the LPF aspect of the EQ. As the cap size gets bigger, the roll off goes deeper in the mids. A .015uF honks, a .1uF is pretty much all bass. I don't really hear a cap to cap value difference until the tone pot is turned down below 5 or so. Maybe it's my dull, forgiving ears, but I don't hear cap differences with the pot turned up.

However, changing the pot values has had a pronounced effect on the sparkle and air, especially when on 10. When I hooked up some SFs to a 500KA tone pot, there was a little more air when on 10. A 500KA volume pot sounds like it shifted the resonant peak up and added some brightness..? I have found the taper and treble loss when rolling down 500K volumes less appealing than 250K volumes, though. But if one wanted more aggressive top end, maybe the 500K is the way?

There is also that factory .01uF treble bleed cap in my SF Peaveys. That also helps keep it shiny sounding when turning down, though I find that value a little too clanky. I go much smaller to keep it more focused and sparkly up top. However, I rarely run my bass volume on anything but 0 or 10, so it's not really a thing.

In the end, I prefer a 250KB volume with a much smaller treble bleed cap (.0022uF or so) and a 500KA tone with a .047-.068uF cap. This way, the aggressive bite of the SF is retained, if not slightly enhanced, but can also be tamed with a gentle roll back of the tone control, and it can now get a more dubby, deep tonality if rolled waaay down.

However, I tend to just keep the basses mostly stock, until a part goes bad, then I switch it out with the preferred values. This happens rarely, as those older Peaveys have good parts. The exception is parallel stacking tone caps, it's easy to just throw an extra .033 cap on the factory .022uF to get the fatter roll off I like.

 

[Matt Kustom]

I would like to hear your input on this...

I have experiemented with various values of tone caps and found they cause different roll off characteristics in the LPF aspect of the EQ. As the cap size gets bigger, the roll off goes deeper in the mids. A .015uF honks, a .1uF is pretty much all bass. I don't really hear a cap to cap value difference until the tone pot is turned down below 5 or so. Maybe it's my dull, forgiving ears, but I don't hear cap differences with the pot turned up.

However, changing the pot values has had a pronounced effect on the sparkle and air, especially when on 10. When I hooked up some SFs to a 500KA tone pot, there was a little more air when on 10. A 500KA volume pot sounds like it shifted the resonant peak up and added some brightness..? I have found the taper and treble loss when rolling down 500K volumes less appealing than 250K volumes, though. But if one wanted more aggressive top end, maybe the 500K is the way?

There is also that factory .01uF treble bleed cap in my SF Peaveys. That also helps keep it shiny sounding when turning down, though I find that value a little too clanky. I go much smaller to keep it more focused and sparkly up top. However, I rarely run my bass volume on anything but 0 or 10, so it's not really a thing.

In the end, I prefer a 250KB volume with a much smaller treble bleed cap (.0022uF or so) and a 500KA tone with a .047-.068uF cap. This way, the aggressive bite of the SF is retained, if not slightly enhanced, but can also be tamed with a gentle roll back of the tone control, and it can now get a more dubby, deep tonality if rolled waaay down.

However, I tend to just keep the basses mostly stock, until a part goes bad, then I switch it out with the preferred values. This happens rarely, as those older Peaveys have good parts. The exception is parallel stacking tone caps, it's easy to just throw an extra .033 cap on the factory .022uF to get the fatter roll off I like.

I'm no wiring pro , it sounds like you got the roll off covered with the treble bleed capacitor choice. Me saying to maybe switch from .047 to maybe something like a .022 was based strictly on the frequency that the SF runs on.
I do not get much time to test various wiring arrangements these days. Most of the equipment I have here is guitar stuff. I need to get a nice bass amp at some point. What I have now is terrible. It's not even something I use for bass , it's a Peavey Vypr3. The bass side is horrible. It's ok to run threw guitar stuff quickly and easy. I really try to not keep anyone waiting on pickups so building takes first priority.

 

[Matt Kustom]

Have had 2x 916 SF Jbass pickups on one bass and 3x 916 SFs humbuckers on another bass. I believe radius on both around 9.5 though I'm not positive. No string balance issues on any of them. Couldn't recommend Matt's work more enthusiastically. I tried no less than 7 (primo) Jazz pickup sets on my MIJ Jaguar bass and the 916 Super Ferrites came out on top--it's my #1 right now.

Appreciate the kind words. Glad your happy with your pickups

 

[Gully Foyle]

Hi Super-Ferrite wizards - quick question for you.

Were the super-ferrites produced both with the inscribed covers and without? I picked up a '85 Patriot, my first Peavey, and it does not have the logo and name inscribed in the pickup cover. I would be surprised if it had been swapped out, as that's a good deal of expense for an old cheap bass, and from the amount of fret patina/scunge, i would say this bass had not been played in a couple decades. Started to learn more about the Patriots, and seeing all of the inscribed pckups got me wondering.

Thanks

 

[1n3]

Were the super-ferrites produced both with the inscribed covers and without? I picked up a '85 Patriot, my first Peavey, and it does not have the logo and name inscribed in the pickup cover.

I have two Patriots and more Foundations with Super Ferrite pickups. I've never seen a SF pickup without the Peavey logo and "Super Ferrite" on the top. Picture?

 

[Gully Foyle]

I have two Patriots and more Foundations with Super Ferrite pickups. I've never seen a SF pickup without the Peavey logo and "Super Ferrite" on the top. Picture?

Here ya go

 

[Matt Kustom]

Are these covers early or late stage SF? I'm guessing later SF covers.

 

[Gully Foyle]

Are these covers early or late stage SF? I'm guessing later SF covers.

Serial number says its 1985