I'm pretty sure I'm going to and want a bridge pickup added to my green p bass for more versatility,and sound. Question is. What should I put there? A reverse P,an MM humbucker,or a J pickup?
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What bridge pickup should I go for?
- Thread starter 5string5fingers
- Start date
Making a p , PJ is over done, got with a MM or a reverse P, a reverse P would look pretty cool IMO because that bass looks pretty 80s
Are we going on looks or tone?
I love J bridge pickups, but only soloed.
If you don't have any preference on tone, you should look into a humcancelling pickup with a high output to match with the existing P pickup.
I say reverse P on tone, you can literally buy a body routed for PJ anywhere , rarely do you see a double P . Double P's all have a great aggressive grindy tone to them and I would not do a MM pickup unless it was active, not into passive buckers.
Of course its not my bass so what i am into does not matter
but I still think PJ is far to common and if your going to do a custom job and have no real preference I would be more "unique".
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
IME, reverse P's only work well if the middle pickup is also a reversed p, since the proximity of the two treble string pickups can make the D & G strings extremely phasy when they're both on.
I always enjoyed Leland Sklar's tone when he was playing his Frankenstein double P, no phasing going on there. So if I was doing a DP, I'd want to grab a pic of that bass, and use relative measurements of the bridge-to-last- fret and bridge-to-pickup distances, so I could match his pickup spacing.
I found out recently, though, that I prefer the sound of mismatched bridge and neck p'ups for blended tones. I went through every kind of EMG soapbar on my active 5, and couldn't get good blended sounds out of matched sets. I finally settled on a P in the bridge with a CS humbucker on the neck, and I'm a happy camper.
So my vote would be for something that complements, but soesn't match, the current neck pickup. If the OP goes with another P, then maybe a Nordy. Or a loud stacked J.
I found out recently, though, that I prefer the sound of mismatched bridge and neck p'ups for blended tones. I went through every kind of EMG soapbar on my active 5, and couldn't get good blended sounds out of matched sets. I finally settled on a P in the bridge with a CS humbucker on the neck, and I'm a happy camper.
So my vote would be for something that complements, but soesn't match, the current neck pickup. If the OP goes with another P, then maybe a Nordy. Or a loud stacked J.
It's be b/a if I had the money to get a darkstar to put in the bridge position.
So what would match with the spb-2,its hot,but not as hot as the spb-3 pickup,and gets really fat vintage tone when the tone knob is rolled off.
EDIT: Just read that the big single bridge pickups are for 19mm spacing at the bridge. Pretty sure my P doesn't have 19mm spacing.
So what would match with the spb-2,its hot,but not as hot as the spb-3 pickup,and gets really fat vintage tone when the tone knob is rolled off.
EDIT: Just read that the big single bridge pickups are for 19mm spacing at the bridge. Pretty sure my P doesn't have 19mm spacing.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
it's completely different animal. along with using reverse P the pickups, he moved the middle one closer to the neck, added the one at the bridge, and used the original pickup cavity for the battery for the preamp.
the original middle p location combined with a reversed p in the bridge will sound completely different (and IME, be very phasy)
