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V-Mod ii P Bass Pickups

jcidulka

jcidulka

Supporting Member
Jul 13, 2006
534
1,044
Chicago IL suburbs
#1
You know I’ve had my share….

I recently picked up 2 fender american pro ii p basses with the v mod ii pickups. LOVE the ergonomics of this bass!!

I play with flats - GHS precision flats and Dunlop flats - and play with the tone throttled back quite a bit. Thick and lush is my thang.

With flats, it seems that the v-mod ii pickups come to life with the tone wide open (or close to it), but sound a bit lackluster and nasally with little to no tone.

So, I am thinking of throwing in GZRs in my sunburst, and Model Ps in the black n maple. For variety, and getting great tone with little-to-no tone dialed in.

But I’m curious what you all think of the v-mod II pickups: where they shine, and where they are uninspiring.
 
#3
I recently bought an american pro 1 in candy apple red. I must say I really don't like the V-mod pickup ( I know it's not the v-mod 2 but it's a similar concept of alnico 2 and 5 combo), I don;t like especially the A and E string, I find those two strings a little lifeless, good in the mix but I don't feel the notes popping under my finger. I'm swapping those pickups out for some Fralin that I have on order. I have on another mexican 50 road worn as that bass sounds just sooo much better with the fralins. I hope I can get the same sound on this american pro as I really like the narrower neck and the tuners otherwise I'm going to sell it and put the new fralin in another precision player I have.
 
#4
If this is the pickup that has the Alnico II magnets in the EA part and the Alnico V magnets in the DG part, try swapping the parts around so that the EA part has the Alnico V magnets for better definition and the DG part has the Alnico II magnets for rounder tone.
 
#6
Just here to say.....I love to keep my Fenders as stock as possible, but I recently decided I can't go on with the V-Mod II's I my Pro II P5. The bass itself has a bit of a low and dark tone naturally, and there is something about the particular overtones that the pickups put out that don't seem to cut through in the right way. Especially the B string seems to be lacking. From what I understand, the B-E-A side of the pickup is close in tone to that really thick, deep lows overwound QP type thing - and I think that's a bad combo that accentuated the deepness factor of the instrument's tone. Strangely the B is also weak sounding instead of deep.

I'm having a Norstrand NP5Fa made, it's slightly underwound and I'm hoping it opens up the tone a bit. I'm also going to put a new tone pot in w orange drops. I'll let you know the difference it makes hopefully soon.
 
#7
Rayjay said:
Just here to say.....I love to keep my Fenders as stock as possible, but I recently decided I can't go on with the V-Mod II's I my Pro II P5. The bass itself has a bit of a low and dark tone naturally, and there is something about the particular overtones that the pickups put out that don't seem to cut through in the right way. Especially the B string seems to be lacking. From what I understand, the B-E-A side of the pickup is close in tone to that really thick, deep lows overwound QP type thing - and I think that's a bad combo that accentuated the deepness factor of the instrument's tone. Strangely the B is also weak sounding instead of deep.

I'm having a Norstrand NP5Fa made, it's slightly underwound and I'm hoping it opens up the tone a bit. I'm also going to put a new tone pot in w orange drops. I'll let you know the difference it makes hopefully soon.
Click to expand...

Have you installed the Nordstrand yet? What's the result?
 

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