Ultra boutique P bass pickups

[DavidEdenAria]

Dear @soulstar89 .. if you like bass-oriented P-bass pickups, with a distinctive Motown character, I’d definitely give the widely available Fender PV ‘63 pickup a shot.
If you like a bit more midrange and a bit less bass, whilst keeping that peculiar vintage taste, you may wish to try a Seymour Duncan SPB-1 pickup, a bit underestimated in my opinion but a very fine sounding pickup.
Going up a little step .. well .. definitely the Klein Epic ‘62; it has got all one may want from a P-bass pickup IMO.

SPB1 is a great reference...should be able to find a used one most anywhere online fwiw.

Ive compared SPB1 to my buds 64 Fender P bass (which is crazy light slightly under 8lbs) in several basses he owns...its close and i agree a bit underestimated...my SPB1 is in a late 80's USA Peavey Fury which is light and i think poplar body, 2 piece maple neck w RW board...it sounds really good and its light, right at 8 lbs...sounds like a proper P bass.

The Peavey Fury had a SPB2 hot wind (yes it IS HOT) Duncan that just did not sound right at all for a traditional P sound fwiw.

 

[Laurent]

I am new to this forum. I found this thread when looking for reviews and options on some p bass pickups. I read through all 50 pages. It was long but extremely informative.

So... i have a 70's yamaha pulser 400 p bass (a late 70's fender lawsuit copy). It is a sen body (Asian ash) with a maple neck. The bass resonates like crazy unplugged so I know I have something here. plugged in the bass is bright and has a snappy attack. Very similar to a late 70's fender p bass.

I am looking to replace the pickups. I play a mix of 70's-80's funk (mostly fingerstyle Paul Jackson and rocco prestia vibe), some Motown stuff, and neo-soul type music. I play with roundwound strings

I was thinking fralin or lollar. They both have standard wind and higher percentage winds. From reading the thread @Ringhammer has many 70's fenders with very similar setup to mine and has also used fralin and lollar both standard and higher % winds. I would love to know how they differ. Also any suggestions would be most welcome. I know back in the 70's players who had Fenders would swap the Fender pickups for dimarzio p pick ups.

Sadly the Acrane 65 which was highly regarded here Isn't going to be available to me here in the UK. Curtis Novak may also be expensive due to extra customs tax over here.

Cheers

Interesting question. Here are a couple of thoughts. When a bass is too bright and lacks bass, the pickup is a great way to correct this issue. The question becomes by how much. Many overwound pickups go too far in my opinion: I played the Aguilar AG 4P-Hot (it appears to be discontinued), the SD SPB-2 Hot and the Lollar overwound and preferred the normal wound. The Aguilar in particular was way over the top in my opinion. The Lollar overwound was the most balanced of the three listed here. Another great pickup you could consider is the Fender Pure Vintage 63. That pickup is fat, wonderful sounding, with slightly muted highs. I generally find Fender pickups too shrill but this one is just wonderful.

I have the same issue with a mahogany body bass and the best pickup I've found for this is an Arcane 65L which was a limited run released a few years back.

You could also consider the Aguilar AG 4P-60 which is a regular wound pickup but it has muted highs. It's beautiful sounding and laid back. Out of the two standard wind you listed, I would lean toward Lollar simply because Fralin has a bump in the mid to upper highs that might wreak havoc with your bass. I have no experience with the Fralin overwound but many people on Talkbass swear by the over wound 5% they offer. Whatever you do, don't go too big. When dealing with over wound pickups less is more in my opinion. To gain something with a pickup you have to lose something too. Ultimately a good pickup is a balanced one.

If Arcane 65 is not available in the UK, they come up regularly on Talkbass in the used section. I might be selling one in the near future but I'm still on the fence.

You might want to start with the Fender Pure Vintage 63, it might work really well for your situation.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Interesting question. Here are a couple of thoughts. When a bass is too bright and lacks bass, the pickup is a great way to correct this issue. The question becomes by how much. Many overwound pickups go too far in my opinion: I played the Aguilar AG 4P-Hot (it appears to be discontinued), the SD SPB-2 Hot and the Lollar overwound and preferred the normal wound. The Aguilar in particular was way over the top in my opinion. The Lollar overwound was the most balanced of the three listed here. Another great pickup you could consider is the Fender Pure Vintage 63. That pickup is fat, wonderful sounding, with slightly muted highs. I generally find Fender pickups too shrill but this one is just wonderful.

I have the same issue with a mahogany body bass and the best pickup I've found for this is an Arcane 65L which was a limited run released a few years back.

You could also consider the Aguilar AG 4P-60 which is a regular wound pickup but it has muted highs. It's beautiful sounding and laid back. Out of the two standard wind you listed, I would lean toward Lollar simply because Fralin has a bump in the mid to upper highs that might wreak havoc with your bass. I have no experience with the Fralin overwound but many people on Talkbass swear by the over wound 5% they offer. Whatever you do, don't go too big. When dealing with over wound pickups less is more in my opinion. To gain something with a pickup you have to lose something too. Ultimately a good pickup is a balanced one.

If Arcane 65 is not available in the UK, they come up regularly on Talkbass in the used section. I might be selling one in the near future but I'm still on the fence.

You might want to start with the Fender Pure Vintage 63, it might work really well for your situation.

Yes, as stated, the Fender PV ‘63 would certainly fill the bill

 

[Yahboy]

Interesting question. Here are a couple of thoughts. When a bass is too bright and lacks bass, the pickup is a great way to correct this issue. The question becomes by how much. Many overwound pickups go too far in my opinion: I played the Aguilar AG 4P-Hot (it appears to be discontinued), the SD SPB-2 Hot and the Lollar overwound and preferred the normal wound. The Aguilar in particular was way over the top in my opinion. The Lollar overwound was the most balanced of the three listed here. Another great pickup you could consider is the Fender Pure Vintage 63. That pickup is fat, wonderful sounding, with slightly muted highs. I generally find Fender pickups too shrill but this one is just wonderful.

I have the same issue with a mahogany body bass and the best pickup I've found for this is an Arcane 65L which was a limited run released a few years back.

You could also consider the Aguilar AG 4P-60 which is a regular wound pickup but it has muted highs. It's beautiful sounding and laid back. Out of the two standard wind you listed, I would lean toward Lollar simply because Fralin has a bump in the mid to upper highs that might wreak havoc with your bass. I have no experience with the Fralin overwound but many people on Talkbass swear by the over wound 5% they offer. Whatever you do, don't go too big. When dealing with over wound pickups less is more in my opinion. To gain something with a pickup you have to lose something too. Ultimately a good pickup is a balanced one.

If Arcane 65 is not available in the UK, they come up regularly on Talkbass in the used section. I might be selling one in the near future but I'm still on the fence.

You might want to start with the Fender Pure Vintage 63, it might work really well for your situation.

If someone need little more bite and little aggressive version of PV63P , 12K wound Yosemite P are good choice .

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

If someone need little more bite and little aggressive version of PV63P , 12K wound Yosemite P are good choice .

Yes I heard them in many YouTube videos .. they sound slightly Grundy but super great for rock IMO

 

[DavidEdenAria]

Yes I heard them in many YouTube videos .. they sound slightly Grundy but super great for rock IMO

Remember, not only the hotter resistance is at play (no pun intended), but type and strength of magnets....fully charged alnico 5 gives firm powerful but warm bottom...its all in the whole recipe!

12k is pushing it imo unless you go to smaller wire in which case more winds are needed.

 

[soulstar89]

I do have a “high wind” Lollar in one of my single pickup P’s and it is definitely hotter than the Arcane 65 that came out of it. When the Arcane was in it it had that signature P-bass midrange sound and a fat low end as you would expect, but also kind of “zinging” high, and the fret click was pronounced. The fret click/clack is something I struggled with on this particular maple fb bass. The Lollar gave it more output, and seemed to tame the highs some, and I felt it was an improvement overall. That bass doesn’t get a lot of playing time (like all of my Fenders at the moment), because I’m fully enamored with Gibson Thunderbirds lately and have bought five over the last couple years. Two of them have Lollar Thunderbird pickups and they are a definite improvement (to my ears) over the stock black plastic TB+ pickup that come in them. I guess what I’m getting at here is I would recommend the Lollar pickups (either standard or high wind) for your application. I think they’re a great company that makes a quality product. They are what I have in more of my P’s than any other. But beware, if you aren’t already down this rabbit hole of pickup swapping, you will be soon. No matter what pickup you choose, you’ll always wonder if the other one(s) you didn’t choose is/are somehow better….

You are not wrong about the rabbit hole. I emailed both fralin and lollar. lollar suggested the highwind and fralin the stand wind. I've ordered a solderless loom kit so I'll keep researching until the kit arrives.

 

[soulstar89]

Dear @soulstar89 .. if you like bass-oriented P-bass pickups, with a distinctive Motown character, I’d definitely give the widely available Fender PV ‘63 pickup a shot.
If you like a bit more midrange and a bit less bass, whilst keeping that peculiar vintage taste, you may wish to try a Seymour Duncan SPB-1 pickup, a bit underestimated in my opinion but a very fine sounding pickup.
Going up a little step .. well .. definitely the Klein Epic ‘62; it has got all one may want from a P-bass pickup IMO.

Hey Gianni. Your examples of the Klein 62 have been great. Nice playing also. It does sound like a great pickup most definitely. Ill keep in mind the SPB-1. Thanks for the advise.

 

[soulstar89]

How overwound? Do you know the actual resistance? The Lollars sound like a deal to me considering your location...you can always flip them if need be.

Ive played several early 60s P basses including my buds 64 and i dont care for really overwound P pickups usually such as Duncan SPB2 (depends on the wire and other factors)...matter of fact i have a 70's Japan Masada P bass; Ash wings w maple center block, maple RW bolt neck i bought a cheap 'underwound' China alnico 5 P pickup and am very pleased (its like 5% underwound)....i use a Duncan SPB1 as a reference which ive had in several P bass types....slight over and underwound variations of a traditional Fender alnico P pickup are popular as we know.

Hey.

Lollar highwinds are +10% The reading is 12.7k. Just looked up the reading of the SPB1 and they are 11.7k.

I emailed Kloppmann and the pb63 is 10.8k and the pb57 is 12.4k. I do not have any plans to get them for this bass but an interesting fact is even if you solder the pickups and don't like them you can get a refund.

 

[soulstar89]

Interesting question. Here are a couple of thoughts. When a bass is too bright and lacks bass, the pickup is a great way to correct this issue. The question becomes by how much. Many overwound pickups go too far in my opinion: I played the Aguilar AG 4P-Hot (it appears to be discontinued), the SD SPB-2 Hot and the Lollar overwound and preferred the normal wound. The Aguilar in particular was way over the top in my opinion. The Lollar overwound was the most balanced of the three listed here. Another great pickup you could consider is the Fender Pure Vintage 63. That pickup is fat, wonderful sounding, with slightly muted highs. I generally find Fender pickups too shrill but this one is just wonderful.

I have the same issue with a mahogany body bass and the best pickup I've found for this is an Arcane 65L which was a limited run released a few years back.

You could also consider the Aguilar AG 4P-60 which is a regular wound pickup but it has muted highs. It's beautiful sounding and laid back. Out of the two standard wind you listed, I would lean toward Lollar simply because Fralin has a bump in the mid to upper highs that might wreak havoc with your bass. I have no experience with the Fralin overwound but many people on Talkbass swear by the over wound 5% they offer. Whatever you do, don't go too big. When dealing with over wound pickups less is more in my opinion. To gain something with a pickup you have to lose something too. Ultimately a good pickup is a balanced one.

If Arcane 65 is not available in the UK, they come up regularly on Talkbass in the used section. I might be selling one in the near future but I'm still on the fence.

You might want to start with the Fender Pure Vintage 63, it might work really well for your situation.

Hey Laurent,

Thanks for creating this thread. Its a gold mine!

Very helpful reply post. I have little experience in pickups. I can get the lollar overwind for 100 uk pounds. They are new. The person had them for a project and it didn't work out.

I will be in the shadows ready to ponce if you decide on letting the arcane go lol.

Alot of useful information to absorb. Time to go and listen to examples.

 

[Laurent]

The Kloppmann PB63 is an extraordinary pickup and it delivers a lot of bass as well. It can compensate for the lack of bass frequency in an instrument but I don't recommend it often because it's very expensive and there are pickups that might achieve what you are looking for in a better way. All that said you've got to pair the frequency of the bass and the frequency of the pickup so it requires some trial and error.

I believe Seymour Duncan let you exchange pickups, at least in the US, they don't refund. I've not heard of a pickup maker with a refund policy. It's a large corporation thing and most top winders are small operations.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

Hey.

Lollar highwinds are +10% The reading is 12.7k. Just looked up the reading of the SPB1 and they are 11.7k.

I emailed Kloppmann and the pb63 is 10.8k and the pb57 is 12.4k. I do not have any plans to get them for this bass but an interesting fact is even if you solder the pickups and don't like them you can get a refund.

I have a cheapie 8.5k alnico 5 P pickup, it sounds way better than a cheapie should but the magnets are strong....imo once you get over 13k things 'start' to change quite a bit (all else being equal)....but these pickup companies come up with their own recipes by adjusting different factors, materials etc.....its all in the overall balance.

Duncan SPB1 is a sort of reference for a traditional P pickup to my ears like a Duncan 59 is for a Gibson PAF....Kloppmann refund policy is great

 

[soulstar89]

From my search session, i found the creamery picks based in Manchester UK:

Bass

Has anyone had experience with them? I've only found one video of the 58p pick up

 

[Coughdrops]

So I have a bass that I can't quite find my happy place with a P pickup. The bass basically always runs bright. I've tried a couple of overwound options... Lollar and Fender 63 but they're a little too powerful and bigger than I like. My ideal is a balanced pickup in the lows and mids with a somewhat reduced treble response. Also ideally, I would like it if the pickup didn't compress much naturally. My thoughts drifted to maybe the Aguilar 4p60 or one of the Duncan antiquity versions. But I don't know about the low end on those or if they compress. I've had both in the past but it was so long ago I forget exactly what they were like. Any thoughts?

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

So I have a bass that I can't quite find my happy place with a P pickup. The bass basically always runs bright. I've tried a couple of overwound options... Lollar and Fender 63 but they're a little too powerful and bigger than I like. My ideal is a balanced pickup in the lows and mids with a somewhat reduced treble response. Also ideally, I would like it if the pickup didn't compress much naturally. My thoughts drifted to maybe the Aguilar 4p60 or one of the Duncan antiquity versions. But I don't know about the low end on those or if they compress. I've had both in the past but it was so long ago I forget exactly what they were like. Any thoughts?

Klein Epic ‘62 or Arcane ‘65 .. can’t go wrong with these two in your case according to me with my personal preference going towards the Klein as I think it has a more open sound.

 

[Coughdrops]

I've rotated both of those through the bass. Both were a bit too bright for my liking though in that bass.

 

[soulstar89]

I've rotated both of those through the bass. Both were a bit too bright for my liking though in that bass.

That’s interesting. Did The tone knob not help at all? What capacitor have you in the bass?

When I was doing my research I saw on Lindy fralins site state that his 10% is great at taming a bright bass. I would presume this is a rule of thumb for any pickup.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

one of the Duncan antiquity

What other pickups have you tried / what strings are you using?
I can only speak from my experience.
I have a P that has a bit of a pronounced mid-voice (and I don't mind mids).
I started with the SPD-1 in it - what I consider to be a good "reference" PU.
It actually would have served that bass well, but that was when in my phase of trying out numerous P pickups...
From there, I tried the CS '62 - closer to what I was looking for, but still wasn't quite what I wanted.
I ended up with an Antiquity II in that bass. It was a great fit - a little more "open" on the high-end.

Given that however - the Ant II may not be for you.
I'd start with the SPD-1 and see what you fell it needs from there.
I'd also try a .1 cap.

Some of my 70s Ps where I want to keep the stock PU, I just experiment until I find the right string to get the results I want. That has worked well for me.

I am wanting to try the Klein and Arcane (and a few others), but I'm pretty satisfied with my present line-up that includes; stock PUs in my 70s, and Olinto, Fralins, and the Geezer in others. But I think the Duncans can be a solid choice if you find the right combination.

 

[Laurent]

So I have a bass that I can't quite find my happy place with a P pickup. The bass basically always runs bright. I've tried a couple of overwound options... Lollar and Fender 63 but they're a little too powerful and bigger than I like. My ideal is a balanced pickup in the lows and mids with a somewhat reduced treble response. Also ideally, I would like it if the pickup didn't compress much naturally. My thoughts drifted to maybe the Aguilar 4p60 or one of the Duncan antiquity versions. But I don't know about the low end on those or if they compress. I've had both in the past but it was so long ago I forget exactly what they were like. Any thoughts?

I am not sure about the compression part. I personally don't hear compression with pickups. With regards to soft highs you're on the right track with the Aguilar AG 4P-60 and the Duncan Antiquity II. Both have balanced low end without being emphasized. I would start with the Aguilar but you might have to try them both to hear which one works with your bass the best. They do come up in the classified regularly so with a bit of patience, you'll see them.

 

[Coughdrops]

In this case, I'll admit to just being very picky. It currently has an SPB-1 in it. The tone knob helps but even then, when I have the amount of treble I want, it retains a somewhat unpleasant character to it. I'll give one of those two, Antiquity or Aguilar, a shot maybe. Part of me just enjoys tinkering around with this stuff but at my last few gigs this bass just hasn't been doing it for me. Which is annoying cause otherwise I love everything about the bass.

In regards to natural compression, I just noticed some pickups have a bit more squish to them when digging in. The Lollar does this really well, and I use it in one of my main basses. By comparison, I recently got the Pure Vintage 60 and so far really like it. Tonally, and eq wise, it reminds me a lot of the Lollar but sounds a little more stiff and does not seem to compress to my ears.