Upgrade pickups?

[Pork_Chop]

I've got a MIM Fender road worn PBass. What's the consensus on the factory pups? Should I replace them, and if so, with what?

 

[Pilgrim]

Try other things first. Strings can make just as much difference in the sound as pickups. Bottom line is that the only opinion that counts is yours.

Personally, I seldom change pickups, because I figure that the pickups are part of the sound of that particular bass.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

I agree with Pilgrim that a basses p/u's are part of the reason I get a bass, but on the other hand I have swapped out a handful of different P-Bass pickups.

I personally love my Seymour Duncan quarter pounder's (SPB-3) and I really enjoyed the vintage's (SPB-1) but to each their own, I won't even begin to try describing what pickups sound like, not my strong point. Read online. I just once played a bass with QP's in it and I loved it, always wanted them, so I put them in my MIM.

Before you change your pickups I recommend shielding the factory ones, once you get rid of the Fender hiss the stock MIM pickups are actually pretty good. I liked them too.

 

[Pork_Chop]

Thanks for the input. I've played around with my sound over the years changing strings, preamps, technique and what not, but never changed out my pups. Never had thought about it before, but started to think that maybe the MIM pups might be cheap and make for a good upgrade.

 

[96tbird]

How do we know what your bass sounds like? Your strings, amp, cab, etc. Make your sound. Question is, do you like it? If not, explore your options, but then its impossible to explain how a replacement will sound so you could drop a bill and not be happy. One of the most drastic things I have found tone wise lately are DR Sunbeams and LaBellas flats. I was a Rotosound steel guy til I tried these two, albeit not on a split coil P.

 

[String Theory]

I was dissapointed with the pickups that come with the MIM standard. I replaced them with dimarzio model p pickups which sound much fuller than the nasally stock ones. I would likely replace the roadworn pickups with Seymour Duncan Antiquity I or II since they sound great and look road worn.

 

[Pork_Chop]

Thanks for the advice, StringTheory. That helps alot.

 

[genericbass]

I was dissapointed with the pickups that come with the MIM standard. I replaced them with dimarzio model p pickups which sound much fuller than the nasally stock ones. I would likely replace the roadworn pickups with Seymour Duncan Antiquity I or II since they sound great and look road worn.

Just dropped in the same pickups on an old Hondo2 POS project. They sound so much better than whatever was in there originally. But then I also replaced the entire electronics, got new strings, replaced the bridge, new tuners. So it may all add up.

 

[nubs]

easy. Nordstrand - NP4s

 

[madmachinist]

i agree,
new pickups can change a sow's turd to a pig's ear(?)

anyway..... a dimarzio or duncan or whatever .. will only
cost about 2X the price of a good set of strings , and
won't hurt anything in the process . 15 minutes to install
and that's about it.

my squier bronco went from a thin-sounding mess -to a
thumpin' funk machine , by just replacing the ridiculous weak
6-pole strat-type guitar pickup w/ a duncan blade pickup.

$30 from craigslist.

 

[96tbird]

LOL, "Sow's ear into a silk purse." Why use a cliche' if you don't know it? ;D

Check the classified, lots of P'ups come up.

 

[Pork_Chop]

Thanks everyone. Looks like I have some research to do. Speaking of cliches...I'm going to turn some Sh@& into Shinola! or something like that.

 

[bassgrooves2]

I hated the Pickup in my 2011 MIM Precision when I first got it, I thought.
To start off, it is WAYYYY HIGH OUTPUT. Checking the level on my meter bridge full volume on my MIM P was 8db louder than my Spector Euro 4LX with the TonePump pre, with both Bass and Treble knobs up full.*
(I DID lower the overall output level on the preamp itself from where it was upon purchase)

I Found that instead of the Factory Spec of 5/64 and 4/64 for Pickup height bass/trable sides, I am more like 9/64, and 7/64 or so. In any case that seemed to even out to volume somewhat and gave mea more pleasing tone to my ear.

Then I changed from D Addario XL220 to La Bella Flats, 760FS to be exact and VIOLA!
Tone Tone and More Tone. I love it now except for the mediocre tone pot.

I will have a ToneStyler Bass before the end of the week and plan to do a before after comparison to see the difference, so we'll see.

I don't really plan to change out the pup now though, for now. I would like it to be a bit more "vintage" sounding in the factory recc setup spec, but Where I have it works.

Experiment a little with what you have in there and you may be surprised.
I was.

 

[georgestrings]

For the money, Duncan's SPB-1s can't be beat, IMO - they sound better than my '76 P's original pups and also a set of Fender's "original '62" pups as well... I sold the Fender '62 pups, strashed the originial '76 pups, and am currently running the SPB-1's in my '76 P bass...

- georgestrings

 

["Q"]

All the roadworns have the '62 RI pickup in them already. It's a great P pickup but it can be a little "soft" sounding if you prefer a more modern tone.