Ghost Pickups

[cd_david]

I'm not the person for audio fashion and fads. In fact I've had the same amp rig for over 25 years. It's not that I don't like change I just won't change unless it's significantly improves what I already have. I apply the same principle to my bases I've owned many over the years, however I gig just a handful depending on what the band or the music requires. The sound I like has taken many years of listening, producing, playing and engineering perfecting. Obviously this is personal perspective and everybody has their own preferences but I've had nothing but compliments about my tone and it suits live and recorded situations perfectly.
I was recently approached by ghost pick ups from Whitley Bay company that I'd heard good and respected opinions about. Wilf and Mike had been emailing me regarding building me some pickups for approximately a year before I actually got to meet Wilf. Wilf was genuinely interested in what I thought made a good pickup. He didn't try to sell me stock or what he had created. He listened to me ramble on for a couple of hours about harmonic content, resonant peaks, frequencies, dynamics etc. and didn't seem to be bored one little bit. Wilf made furious notes and did copious amounts of research based around pick ups manufacturers and sonic examples I referenced during our chat. He set about building them over a couple of months wanting to create a pickup that he felt was accurate to my descriptions. He kept me updated of the progress, sending me pictures of the manufacturing process and feedback on his findings. I found this incredibly useful and it made me feel completely involved in the design of these pickups. After a couple of months I got a photo of a single finished pickup and a message saying when the second would be ready. When the day finally arrived I visited Wilf at his workshop and we sat and discussed the process of the build, how we felt they would be, but most reassuringly that he wanted my input and feedback regardless of it being positive or negative so he could then further refine his processes to make sure I was a very happy customer. I took a pickups home and installed them on to my bass a Spector Euro LX5 string. The bass has a burled poplar top and was originally stocked with EMG soap bar pick ups. With the EMGs being Active I thought I may have to alter the circuit slightly but I thought I would just try and solder them straight in just as a quick test and reference. I needn't have had any qualms about these pickups being passive and being unmatched to an active circuit (Spector Tone Pump) the preamp required no gain adjustment at all and when the pick ups were fitted I played a comparison bass track and I have to say I was instantly blown away by the results without any tweaking to the instrument or the EQ or the preamp on board. In my opinion these pickups surpass the EMG pickups and the Tesla pick ups we were trying to emulate. I've always preferred passive pickups into an active preamp which is the best combination of organic tone in the pups combined with a line level clean signal. The Ghost pickups are a revelation. They are single coils (wired out of phase for hum cancelling) with exposed pole pieces and figured burled popular tops to match my bass. Sonically they are incredibly rich in harmonic content yet articulative and vocal with an incredible dynamic reproduction which is something I feel a lot of active pickups don't have. They cut through with presence and clarity but without dominating a mix. When I recorded them I ran them direct through a valve DI box into Logic Pro and they sounded spectacular there is very little that blows me away with regarding new equipmentbut I really cannot recommend these pickups highly enough let alone the service and attention to detail, given to their production by Wilf.

https://soundcloud.com/david-anderson-bass/memo-ghosts

https://soundcloud.com/david-anderson-bass/memo-teslas

https://soundcloud.com/david-anderson-bass/memo-emgs

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[Roger2611]

It's nice to hear a company going that extra mile for you so as to improve the products they offer, it is also nice to hear from someone who can acurately articulate what they want in a pickup, I end up trying loads and finding one I like, In my P basses I love the Lindy Fralin pickups but I couldn't tell you what I prefer about them to Seymour Duncan's or stock pickups so I would probably be pretty useless if they wanted to design my perfect pickup!

I just like the sound they produce in my basses with my playing style