franzbassist Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) Hi folks Does anyone have experience of both of these pickups? I like both from what I can hear in Youtube reviews, but I'd like a BC opinion of both if possible. I ask as my American Specials have the "American Standard Alnico Split Single-Coil" in them, which is a decent enough pickup, but I find it a touch indistinct at times. Happy to consider other pickups as well, but I want something that sounds "traditional" and had really good separation and balance between the strings. Thanks Gareth Edited March 10, 2015 by walbassist Quote
JamesBass Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Gareth, it might be worth you going down the custom route. I know Jaime at the Creamery, www.creamery-pickups.co.uk makes a hand wound 65 P pickup that costs about £80 as opposed to the £110 of an Aguilar. Though I still can't decide which I want to go for to put in my MIM and my parts build I'm planning on doing! As for the Gzr, there's a super thread over on TalkBass worth checking out, http://www.talkbass.com/threads/geezer-butler-signature-pick-ups.1046730/ Let us know what you finally decide, I'm really interested to hear whatever it is you choose! Quote
Wooks79 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I cant give any input on the Aguliar in comparison, but I replaced my American Special pickups with the GZR set and I love them. Quote
AndyTravis Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) I have the Aguilar in my Nate Mendel, it's a truly wonderful, open sounding pickup. It was (as mentioned) a dear do. But it's brought the bass to life, and instead of riding the tone control with a Duncan quarter pounder, I leave the tone control on full and it's not brash, harsh or overbearing. Depends what you're after though. http://instagram.com/p/ynmvE6uQbX/ http://instagram.com/p/ynXqXVOQRT/ Edited March 10, 2015 by AndyTravis Quote
eddiehoffmann Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I replaced the pickups on my American Special with these: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_vintage_pbass_pickup.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_vintage_pbass_pickup.htm[/url] It's the second time I do this mod to a Precision and it turned my good but indistinct sounding P-Basses into vintage monsters! I'm not sure if other pickups out there costing twice the price can out P-Bass the one that's supposed to be the real thing. Of course... It's all subjective and this is my experience. Quote
JackieMoon Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I absolutely love my GZR P in my Nate Mendel P. Vintage P with extra balls. Quote
franzbassist Posted March 10, 2015 Author Posted March 10, 2015 Thanks for the comments guys, I'm tempted to go GZR in the fretted and Aguilar in the fretless at the mo Quote
Guinness21 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 The aguilar is in the f bass vf-p, if you haven't already maybe listen to some clips of that. I think my next bass will be a p bass, either an america standard or an american special with this aguilar pickup. Personally I'd go for the Aggie. Quote
skej21 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I have the AG4-P60 that sometimes lives in my Nate Mendel (although not at the minute as I switched it out for the quarter pounder for a fuzz pedal demo video). It's a great pickup and worth every penny. Like Andy said, really open and not brash at all. Has loads of vintage character and as someone who thinks that the pickups in Am Specials lack character (like the OP), I think you'd really like the Aguilar pickup. If you buy it and don't like it, it'll be gone in NO time if you put it up for sale on here! Quote
Guinness21 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 [quote name='skej21' timestamp='1426019828' post='2713571'] I have the AG4-P60 that sometimes lives in my Nate Mendel (although not at the minute as I switched it out for the quarter pounder for a fuzz pedal demo video). It's a great pickup and worth every penny. Like Andy said, really open and not brash at all. Has loads of vintage character and as someone who thinks that the pickups in Am Specials lack character (like the OP), I think you'd really like the Aguilar pickup. If you buy it and don't like it, it'll be gone in NO time if you put it up for sale on here! [/quote] Did you keep the greasebucket with the aggie pickup? Quote
skej21 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 [quote name='Guinness21' timestamp='1426025684' post='2713662'] Did you keep the greasebucket with the aggie pickup? [/quote] The Nate Mendel doesn't have a greasebucket, it has a Quarter pounder, which I have kept in addition to the AG4-P60 and switch between the two. Quote
molan Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 I always think EMG pickups have a distinctive sound so you're hearing the pickup rather than the bass itself. I haven't been able to try a GZR though so maybe this one is different. I have heard the Aguilar in everything from an original 64P through to a very modern American Standard and it sounded really nice every time. I'm a bit of an Aguilar fanboi though so maybe I'm overly biased, they just never seem to make a bad sounding product (maybe the Agro is an exception - never really got on with that!). Quote
Guinness21 Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Sorry my mistake, for some reason I thought you were talking about the am special. That's a toughie - am. standard or am special with aguilar pickup, maybe upgraded bridge. Quote
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