Got an Epic ‘59 (think this is the model name now IIRC) myself; how does the Lollar, which I’m very curious about, sound when compared to the Klein?
PS
That sonic blue body with the gold anodised guard is top notch
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Ultra boutique P bass pickups
- Thread starter Laurent
- Start date
PS
That sonic blue body with the gold anodised guard is top notch
I kept them in a shelf with their original mint pickguard and electronics .. no, i wouldn’t go back, the Klein Epic ‘59 is decidedly a better sounding pickup if you are looking for a vintage sound.
Got a Fender PV ‘63 on my other P (it’s an American Original) which is a little too much on bass side of things, and I’d like to change something else (Arcane 65 or a Lollar) although I don’t quite like the idea of touching the instrument
Got an Epic ‘59 (think this is the model name now IIRC) myself; how does the Lollar, which I’m very curious about, sound when compared to the Klein?
PS
That sonic blue body with the gold anodised guard is top notch
It's difficult for me to express for lack of words and, due to the differences in body and neck composition and stainless flats vs nickel rounds, an apples to apples comparison isn't possible unless I test, swap/switch and test, all in same P. I also need to make recordings of the two basses for immediate alternating comparison.
Other than that, the sum totals of each of the two basses, one with the Klein, the other the Lollar, both sound great but different... which exactly what I want because I don't want two of the same, to my ears.
Installed yet another SD Antiquity 2 in my P. After playing my rewound 63 for a while, this pickup still manages to “wow” me. It’s basically the same as my 63, but there’s a clarity in my tone that I don’t get in my 63. It’s almost if I can hear my fingers. Still lovin it. If anyone wants a nice vintage tone with some clarity the SD antiquity 2 is by FAR my favorite production “vintage voiced” p pickup out there.
That's the one I've settled on too, for my "vintage tone" P bass w/ TI flats. I haven't come close to trying everything, but that pickup sounds really good and I don't feel the need to keep swapping pickups in that bass anymore.
Thanks for the update - I had seen you had the re-wound '63 up for grabs.
I've recently come to a similar conclusion on the Antiquity II. It just seems to shine in whatever bass I install it.
Been meaning to post more details here - just haven't gotten around to it....
Put a Klein Epic ‘62 in my ‘73 P-Bass, to replace a Nordstrand NP4. Not that I was unhappy with the Nordstrand, but I wanted to try something else, maybe more vintage voiced. I can say that I feel like the Klein is a bit warmer and much fuller sounding. Definitely happy with it. Now I have a set of Epic ‘62 Jazz bass pickups coming for my ‘70 Jazz.
58 Bare Knuckle won my Pick Up Hunt,
Tried against the Epic 59 and 63.
All were very good, the Knuckle was fuller with the maple neck on my Custom Shop.
I did like the original handwound Fender as well, but hated the raised pole pieces.
Tried against the Epic 59 and 63.
All were very good, the Knuckle was fuller with the maple neck on my Custom Shop.
I did like the original handwound Fender as well, but hated the raised pole pieces.
Same, but I made a "shim" out of thin cardboard stock and a paper hole punch.
It worked so well, I decided to retrofit any others that are protruding.
Literally just did this an hour ago on a '75 I'm restoring.
The only winners here are the PU manufacturers. I now play a CV 70' P and I doubt the PU is anything special but the whole package makes my playing sound good and thats more to do with decades of steady practise and honing of my technique. (incidentally I tried a few Duncan PU's years ago and sold them on....no appreciable difference to the original Fender PU's I was using.
Got an Epic ‘59 (think this is the model name now IIRC) myself; how does the Lollar, which I’m very curious about, sound when compared to the Klein?
PS
That sonic blue body with the gold anodised guard is top notch
I've been meaning to circle back to try to better answer this question, after I'd spent a good amount time with the completed blonde P with Klein pickups, with the correct/intended neck and the same Dunlop flats as I have on the blue P with Lollar pickups.
These pickups sound or do very differently things from each other. With everything set to noon on my MB WD-800, for sake of simple comparison, I'd even go so far as to say the Lollar and the Klein Epic '58 sound wildly different from each other.
In my opinion, the Lollar pickups sound comparatively modern vs the Klein. It's louder/higher output, more low bass forward and brighter.
The Klein, with noticeably lower output, is much more mid forward. To me it sounds more like what I think a late '50s vintage P ought to sound like. It also seems more versatile, meaning more variety of good sounds I can dial in with my amp. There's more nuance or complexity to how they sound whereas the Lollar are more straight forward, simple.
Does anyone else here find it ironic that I found a P pickup I liked and haven't swapped it since installing a solderless harness in my bass? lol
I bought and installed the SD Antiquity II pickup at the same time as an Obsidian Wire solderless harness. At the time I was doing a lot of pickup swapping in that particular bass so the solderless harness made sense and seemed like a good investment. But since playing the A-II I have very little desire to keep hunting for different pickups in that bass. I'd try another Novak PB-V or something similar if it fell into my lap, but honestly it sounds great and I don't even want to mess with what that bass is giving me right now.
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Adding a more thoughts and notes, if you don't mind...
I have both of my P basses wired with .1uf caps, to be clear about much of an apples to apples comparison I'm trying to make.
I'm inclined to describe the Lollar pickups, compared to the Klein, as being so straight forward that it's almost what could be called a "plug-n-play" deal.
With the Klein Epic '58 I find the potential tonal versatility to be comparatively much closer to the tonal versatility or variety I get from my VTVT jazz bass, even with the same set of flats, let alone changing string sets. I did not expect that, not such an extent. It counters common perceptions about how tonally versatile or flexible a P bass can be.
I can't quite find a happy medium combination of amp/preamp settings that's satisfactory with both when I change between the two P basses, without any adjustments. At a minimum, when I change P bases--from the Klein to the Lollar--I have turn up the highpass filter on MB WD-800 to around 2 o'clock vs 10 o'clock with the Klein. Settings that work for the Klein are way too boomy with the Lollar.
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I considered using an Obsidian Wire True Vintage 58' when I was building the blonde P with the Klein '58 pickups but in the end I chose to harness the thing the old fashioned way.
I am curious to find out what my two P basses would sound like if I traded pickups between them. I'm also tempted to put Klein '59 or '62 pickups in my Nash PB, replacing the Lollar. (Although, ordering from Klein now seems a dicey proposition--kind of sad about that)
