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Bass cave. Been a few additions since this was taken like a Fender P Deluxe, an Orange rig and a TE small rig.

Summary: Wow, what great pickups - totally perfect - buy them now!. Bought from some bass happy chappy on a FarceBook bass group and fitted them to my VanderEnd the other day. My bass usefully has a route for either a P or a J under the scratchplate - it's messy but useful. I've been inquisitive for a while to try it as PJ rather than the JJ jazz it's been since I got it. I had scratch-it make me both a JJ & PJ plate shortly after I received the bass and it was clearly time to try out the PJ pickguard too, cue the new pick up purchase justifications. So now the EMGGB's PJ's coupled up with my Aguilar OB3 preamp (with passive tone), has made one hell of a versatile beast and I'm loving the passive sounds too. So next strap in and prepare for the worst sound description ever...hmmm, less mid honk than the typical Fender pickups, not as dark as SD Quarterpounders on a dark night and they've made me smile more than Lindy Fralin's have ever done (which I also really like lots). It does have a very smooth sound spectrum with a sweet warm and defined low end and slightly rolled off highs...it's more akin to the 'soul/Motown sound' in my opinion but clearly this Geezer chappy is a bit of a rocker so I hear....so it must be good for that music right? It's probably the most balanced pick up I've ever used across all strings. The P on it's own is defined and warm (warm is the key sound description). The bridge J is surprising, very funky and full, not brittle like some bridge pickups...it's funky, it's a fatter Jaco, Old Gregg has blessed this pickup, (funky is the key sound description). Together they're a good compliment too, smooth like chocolate, no power imbalance - they're friends, ...(Chocolate is the key sound description here!). I like em' a lot. Conclusion: Warm Funky Chocolate!

Looks great. Just thought of another popular bass that would fit well, an Ibanez Musician.

Yes. In 30+ years of swapping out pickups these are the best I've tried. The difference is massive. I'm a big fan of these blades and am considering put a set of P and J blades in my Valenti.

(I’ve just set the comment above as the headline to the thread to alert anyone who may come across this link, hope that’s ok!)

Where do you store your bass stuff? Do you have a separate wing in your mansion? A temperature controlled outbuilding? A spare room converted to a music room with your babies lined up on display on the wall or in stands with a wall of amps and cabs? Me? My wife has graciously allowed me literally a gig bag sized space in a cupboard by the chihuahua’s bed with a space on half a blanket box which is just the right size for a Barefaced Midget with my Promethean head on top of that in its little bag. My music stand and guitar stand hidden under the bed.

I can’t play with a pick, it feels so odd! Not only that but I only play with one finger, there’s no hope for me!

Yep, welcome Loz, from Lozz

To be fair, the big rig only comes out about 2 or 3 times a year at best these days, (mostly using one of the SVT rigs for anything decent, the PF rig for smaller stuff.) usually open air stuff, festivals and things like that. Last one was in a circus big top which was cool.

I've just started browsing for pickups for my future PJ build... These sound pretty close to perfect for me. Thanks for taking the time to jot down your thoughts @Raslee!

My 4xKT88 MJW is 253w clean and 544w fully clipped. If you multiply that by 1.5 for 6xKT88 (not strictly accurate or scientific but a guide nonetheless) you get 375+ clean and 800+ fully clipped. It would be interesting to know what the big 8xKT88 amps are on the scope. If anyone wants to come and measure my Laney, please let me know.

The 'inspiration' for the Reeves and Mywatt amplifiers - Hiwatt - claimed 400w from 6 valves as did Trace Elliot with the V6. There may be some number juggling but can't imagine there's much in it under real world conditions..

I cut my D'Addario tapes regularly to fit my Precisions, never had issues. Can't comment on Pyramids but they shouldn't be any different. If you happen to have a cat, watch out for the cut off bits that go flying off, it's like crack to them for some reason.

I installed these in my Harkte cabs last year, and have been dazzling anyone who's seen us since!

Please don't take any of this personally, they are just reasoned responses to your grenades and, of course, just an opinion... Is it fair to say that if you can't understand a word that a death metal vocalist utters it's not really singing? The OED defines singing as... To articulate or utter words or sounds in succession with musical inflections or modulations of the voice, so as to produce an effect entirely different from that of ordinary speech; spec. to do this in a skilled manner, as the result of training and practice. ...although the definition neither mentions the need for the words to be understandable nor defines what the definition means by skilled manner I don't really think the definition is tight enough to exclude death metal singers simply because the words are difficult to discern. Was Led Zepplin a better band than Al Krow's two covers bands ever will be? Well on just about every definition going, yes. Hence the unfortunate idea that a set of applied definitions confers quality. IMHO Led Zepplin aren't a better band that The Spice Girls and Tom Waites isn't a better artist than Black Lace. I prefer Led Zepplin to The Spice Girls (admittedly by a surprisingly narrow margin) and I prefer Tom Waites to Black Lace but to just say better and by definition are giving some bands inherent superiority over others and I don't think that's really possible. It can only ever be subjective, surely? There's great rock (and jazz) music and then there's noise. And plenty of stuff in between. It is all just noise, we apply the words, I just applied noise in a broader way that you did, equally the words rock, jazz, great and stuff are applied words and that application is wholly subjective. My Dad would have called System Of A Down noise and never have referred to SOADs vocalist as a singer. We apply the words and when lots of us apply the words great singer they become, by definition, a great singer but I do not think that makes Frank Sinatra inherently any superior to Serj Tankian. I'm only saying this because it's a thing, in society, in groups generally and it is something I find in musical circles particularly, that there is a general consensus that some kind of music or artist is actually better than another and that's fine but then people ridicule others because they may not hold the same orthodoxy and then they belittle those who like (what the others perceive as) inferior (I am not saying you are doing this whatsoever btw) and that isn't a good thing IMHO.

Yes. If we didn't keep him occupied he'd be out vandalising bus shelters.

Great pups. A student installed them in one of his basses. A definite gas inducing experience 😉

Well, when you consider that the Corts are built in the same factory as Lakland by the same people who build Lakland's ...and they look like Laklands then it gets you thinking.

That's really sad news. Many years ago I was trying out a JayDee Roadie fretless bass through a brand new Trace Elliot rig at the Bass Centre when it was still in Wapping High Street in London. I was enjoying myself, making an unholy row doing all my favourite Pino and Percy Jones licks. After about 5 minutes, I happened to turn around, and Jim Rodford was standing there with his bass on, patiently waiting to try the Trace. He smiled, I apologised for keeping him waiting, but he said there was no rush! A complete gentleman, a great bass player, and a huge supporter of local music in his home town of St Albans. RIP.

...and arrangers.

I've currently got Dean Markley 46-102 on mine, but I'm swapping back to Rotosound 40-100 gauge when I next change.

Good morning guys, The time for answer has come Take 1 is CORT Take 2 is MM

Don't worry, it's fine to be seen as Mr F's kiss donkey. No shame in that. I would not recommend actually snogging a donkey however. If the relationship progresses well you will inevitable suffer a lot of discomfort and not just from the embarrassment. You'd also have to wear a nappy and carry a soft cushion around with you for the rest of your life. Have you seen the size of a donkey's?

Congrats! Lovely Spector, those NS-2As have a very good reputation. (Haven't tried one myself as of yet though.)

That's fair enough. You don't need to be thinking about such large RCFs if you're not putting your bass through - for me that's the key limiting factor on reducing size and weight. We manage just fine with two RCF 310As (400W a piece and plenty for most pub / club gigs - anything bigger typically has an in-house sound system) and then add an Allen & Heath mixer (or similar). This covers vocals plus acoustic guitar & sax and mic-ing up the bass drum. Me and the lead guitarist take our own amps. Job done.

In all honesty...I don’t know. im debating filling the j holes and having a MM route done. i say debating...I’m going to fill the J holes and stick a MM in it.

I'd say so, put labella flats on my P bass a few months ago & the Jazz & Stingray which are both still strung with rounds haven't been out of their cases!

I have a Barefaced Four 10, which I use with a variety of tube (Orange, Fender, Ampeg) and non-tube (Mesa Subway and TC Classic) heads. Yes it is efficient, but I can honestly say I have not encountered this problem at all with any of the heads. The Four 10 is a wonderful cab, well suited especially to tube heads, I would be looking at a different head before considering changing cabs.

What..? A pick-pocket..? Where..? Call the police..!

They are indeed very smart

You liked how it played as delivered and want to know whether to modify it. I think you may have answered your own question 🙂

The last new Ricky I bought, a few years back, had the same problem. I'd actually bought a regular set of D'addario nickels (45-105), and it was my E string that was the issue! I filed the nut, and that solved the problem for me. Sold the bass soon after....I had a good run with Rickys (good few 4001/3/4) but sold my last early 2017. Forgot to add, there was a strong rumour that the Rickenbacker branded strings are simply D'addario Nickels .....so maybe go for those?

There’s an F in big knob. and there are holes visible around the back...

The Four10 is a sensitive cab and like all BF designs, it is very efficient but if you are too loud it's the controls on your amp and bass that are causing the problem. Your amp is running something like 250-300 watts into this cab (shame Orange don't provide the 8 ohm number). The compression could be boosting the signal, but if the amp is loud on 1 and too loud on 2 try using the pad and turning the bass volume down. Do you like the sound of this amp through your cab? If you do then dial the volume back. The cab is good, you proved that with your Ashdown. Sounds to me like the problem is in your "new" amp. If I was dealing with this issue I'd be checking out other amps. Ones with more effective controls.

I bought the house, where ever I damn well want.. oh oh sorry babe, I’ll move them right away... 😵

I've got the Q4n - it's grand.

...I'd just like to say, given it's the start of the year, how damn good the music has gotten in these monthly challenges (my own notwithstanding). Seriously. It blows me away each month. Have a listen at how we all sounded a few years ago and it's even more impressive how far we've come (yeah I need to fix all the links on that page, I know...). Well done all. Sterling work

Google 'gain structure'. It must have higher gain than the Ashdown did. Throttle it back by using the amp pad switch or your bass volume control.

sweet baby jesus that is sexy!!! Just when my GAS was getting under control!

Ahh you guys are so kind, thank you! Love the wall (Wal?) paper idea... 😉 And I know it' a Saturdee neet, and I may have had a couple or three G&T's, but nobody mentioned a discount, did they...? 😂😂😂

I saw them 3 or 4 years ago and they were one of the best bands I've seen live

The ash bodied one makes my nethers twitch.

Snow Owl..hadn't heard of him before..he's rubbish! Just kidding...love that Latino groove..

Stingray - single pickup 2 band eq so has more booty than the 3 band, chunkier Precision sized neck, weighs a bit, rosewood/black, built like a tank, loads of sizzle, can knock walls down with the bass control maxed, get the mids back into it by rolling tone controls back to midway and upping the volume. The 3 band version is closer in sound to my Sandberg... Sandberg - old PM4 style so reversed P pickup in the neck and a MM in the bridge position, skinnier jazz style (but not quite so skinny) neck, flatter fingerboard - feels lightning fast, about same weight as Stingray, still has sizzle but not quite as much as a Ray, does a very good Precision sound on just the neck pickup but tightens right up if you roll back to bridge pickup, can't do a Stingray sound but has a similar flavour, built like a tank as well, can run in passive mode so you get a slightly rounder old school tone that you can't do on a 'ray. Love them both........ You could grab a USA Sub for £400/500 - has almost exactly the USA Stingray sound/feel on a budget. Fab value.....

To be honest, weak G string sound has no place in this thread as the OP has already decided they want a Stingray. Why try to talk him out of it? I own lots of Stingrays and don't experience the problem - I have never heard any sound sample which replicates this effect in hearing Stingrays recorded since 1976. Therefore I'm inclined to believe it's a user issue - there are so many variables in play that something as simple as slightly compromised hearing could create this effect (to a listener stood a couple of feet in front of speakers pointing sound out past their knees).