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Ultra boutique P bass pickups

#901
I just order my second Klein 62 on March 3rd and got shipping notice on Thursday, 3 weeks later. The 62 has remained my favorite P pickup since scoring a used one 4/5 months ago. Absolutely love it.

I was able to get a used 59 of theirs and am enjoying that as well. Less highs than the 62 but also a wonderfully balanced pickup. Going to gig that for a while and see how I like it live. I love the slightly lower output of both Klein pickups.

I also have an Arcane 65 coming cause I couldn't resist. I have three split coil basses and until I try out the Arcane I think my plan at this point is
Regular lollar /rounds
Klein 62/ rounds
Klein 62/ flats
 
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#903
Laurent said:
As an aside note, it drives me crazy that large and small pickup producers are for the most part not posting demos or audio tracks of their pickups. In this day and age it's kind of ridiculous to rely on consumers to do this on your behalf (and that's in the best case scenario). Very often there are no recording of pickups. Some of these pickups are in the $120 to $140 range and consumers should not have to buy them blind.
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There are so many parameters involved in the final sound, ie. Bass cabinet, amplifier, tone settings, sound of the room, micing technique, type of mic / DI, musicians fingers, audio interface / preamp, audio codec, etc., that sound samples on the internet are all but meaningless.
 
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#904
byacey said:
There are so many parameters involved in the final sound, ie. Bass cabinet, amplifier, tone settings, sound of the room, micing technique, type of mic / DI, musicians fingers, audio interface / preamp, audio codec, etc., that sound samples on the internet are all but meaningless.
Click to expand...

I realize all that and agree with you. However when a manufacturer gives me an outline of how the sample was recorded, it gives me a general sense of what went into the recording and it's still better than no sample at all.

I made that comment in 2015 so this gets the prize for the longest flashback.
 
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#908
Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati said:
Update on my Klein Epic ‘62 order:

Order made on March 25th.
Pickup delivered to Italy on April 13th.

I believe it’s a reasonable waiting time for a made-to-order unit.
Saturday I’ll proceed to its installation.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

That's significantly faster than my two orders were completed by Klein.
 
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#909
DWBass said:
Meh. A good P pickup is a good P pickup. Not paying boutique prices for pickups that sound the same as consumer pickups.
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So, following your way of reasoning, all the so-called boutique pickups do sound as an Oripure or a Schaller pickup and people buying them are all obviously affected by hearing problems as they believe to hear what’s not there?
Well, if you talk about, for instance, the SD SPB-1 pickup, I’d be the first saying that it is a very fine sounding, vintage-voiced pickup for the price .. granted.
In fact, I own one.
Nonetheless, there are pickups, so-called boutique or ultra-boutique (ahahah), which do sound slightly better.
Differences may be subtle, but they’re there and there are people, such as the undersigned, who, from time to time, eagerly pay some bucks more to buy one of them.
Last pickup I bought was in fact a Klein Epic ‘59 which I acquired 2.5 years ago.
Very good investment I have to say.
Next in line will be an Arcane Exp. 65 maybe next year.
I don’t believe I’d go bankrupt for this.
Whether or not it will be better than those I have I don’t know however; the good is in the surprise !
 
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#910
Well here are some updates on my impressions with regard to the Klein Epic ‘62 pickup, I’ve recently received:

PACKAGE & CONSTRUCTION:

1. Package is good.
2. Set included covers, screws and rubber pads but didn’t include schematics for pickup connection.
3. Windings were ok as well as the bobbins, very well made.
4. Bad solders however; in fact two detached during the handling for placing the pickup into the cavity; it seems as they worked in a bit of rush; solders were re-done in 10 minutes, so no biggies here.

SOUND:

The pickup sounds exactly as in the samples on Klein’s website.
Its tone sits well between the super bassy punch of the Fender PV ‘63 pickup and the sweet, fat tone of the Klein Epic ‘59.
It‘s a VERY clear sounding pickup, with the right balance between bass, mid and treble frequencies with the tone becoming slightly growly, but without being grindy, when playing hard on the strings.
In a way, it’s a slightly powered-up version of the Epic ‘59 model and that’s what I was looking for, after having extensively played the bass fitted with its original PV ‘63 pickup, which, however, remains a super punchy unit in my mind ;)
In a few words, the pickup sounds as in the promo. clips on the manufacturer’s website and it is what I wanted, a clear and reasonably powerful vintage-voiced P-bass pickup.
Highly recommended although a bit pricey nowadays.
I’ll post a sample tune played with it tomorrow !
 
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#913
Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati said:
So, following your way of reasoning, all the so-called boutique pickups do sound as an Oripure or a Schaller pickup and people buying them are all obviously affected by hearing problems as they believe to hear what’s not there?
Well, if you talk about, for instance, the SD SPB-1 pickup, I’d be the first saying that it is a very fine sounding, vintage-voiced pickup for the price .. granted.
In fact, I own one.
Nonetheless, there are pickups, so-called boutique or ultra-boutique (ahahah), which do sound slightly better.
Differences may be subtle, but they’re there and there are people, such as the undersigned, who, from time to time, eagerly pay some bucks more to buy one of them.
Last pickup I bought was in fact a Klein Epic ‘59 which I acquired 2.5 years ago.
Very good investment I have to say.
Next in line will be an Arcane Exp. 65 maybe next year.
I don’t believe I’d go bankrupt for this.
Whether or not it will be better than those I have I don’t know however; the good is in the surprise !
Click to expand...
For my ears, in the context of a band mix, who's going to actually hear the difference in a consumer pickup over a boutique pickup? I'm am guilty though of modding basses quite frequently with pickups by Nordstrand, Aguilar, EMG, Bartolini. Are they considered 'Boutique' though?
 
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#914
DWBass said:
For my ears, in the context of a band mix, who's going to actually hear the difference in a consumer pickup over a boutique pickup? I'm am guilty though of modding basses quite frequently with pickups by Nordstrand, Aguilar, EMG, Bartolini. Are they considered 'Boutique' though?
Click to expand...
Agreed, and "better" could not be more subjective.
 
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