MM style pickup recommendations

[Pea Turgh]

I’ve seen a couple of P-basses with MM pickups fitted recently, and it’s got me reminiscing about my first bitsa I made (and subsequently broke for parts) years ago.

I had a Seymour Duncan pickup, but they’re pricey and won’t be implemented in the same way.

I’ve also seen ridiculously cheap pups on eBay for £15.

What I’m planning to do is put an MM pup in a P, probably just back from where a P pup would normally reside.  Ideally I’d keep it passive too.

Any reasonably priced options you’ve had a good experience with?

Edited April 11, 2018 by Pea Turgh
Grammar!

[fretmeister]

A lot of the direct replacements for EBMM basses are quite lower powered - relying on the Preamp in the bass to get proper volume.

 

I know the Delano one has plenty of output when used passive, and I think the Nordstrand does too, but I'm not aware of any cheap ones.

[martthebass]

Colour me interested, looking at a direct passive replacement in my Squier Mustang (Mickey Way Sig) as I find the stock one a bit under powered and lacking in bite. 

[stevie]

I did this with a Yamaha - changed the Jazz bridge pickup for a Duncan Musicman pickup (Alnico version, MM something). It worked really well, but only when wired in series - otherwise it was a lot quieter than the P-bass pickup. It was a much better combination than with the Jazz pickup. I tried a Delano Musicman first but didn't like it at all.

[Andytre]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2Pieces-Closed-4-String-Humbucker-Double-Coil-Bass-Guitar-Pickup-Black/253551668045?epid=736050001&hash=item3b08db6b4d:g:oIgAAOSwNOJazBJN

 

I've got one of these in a P bass (right were the split coil usually sits) they're 12kohm so not massively hot, but loud enough for me. sound good too, i've got each coil wired up to separate volumes which works quite nice   

[discreet]

I have a little fantasy about a project bass fitted with this 8-coil job! Not cheap, however...

https://www.herrickpickups.com/products/8-coil-mm-humbucker/

[mcnach]

3 hours ago, fretmeister said:

A lot of the direct replacements for EBMM basses are quite lower powered - relying on the Preamp in the bass to get proper volume.

 

I know the Delano one has plenty of output when used passive, and I think the Nordstrand does too, but I'm not aware of any cheap ones.

 

Every single MM type pickup I tried (I went through a few on my old OLPs) had perfectly adequate output by themselves. In fact, the Stingray preamps provide tone shaping capabilities but nothing much in terms of boosting the signal (of course it boosts if you turn the bass EQ control up )

So... OP, don't worry about volume issues.

My favourite is probably the Seymour Duncan SMB4A, which is not the most Stingray-like in sound (but as you won't get it at the Stingray sweet spot in a Precision it doesn't matter), but it's very good sounding and nicely balanced. For more 'classic' Stingray sounds, the Nordstrand MM4.2 was pretty good, although I still preferred the SMB4A, which was fortunate as it's not expensive and can often find it used for around £50.

The GFS ones get good reviews, but it was a bit lacklustre when I tried it, in my opinion. Not a fan of Delanos either.

Whatever Retrovibe used to put on their Rick/Jazz hybrid looking Vantage basses... it was surprisingly good, and I bet it was cheap too.

[LITTLEWING]

I put a Wilkinson jobby in my OLP and for around £20 the vast improvement over the original is incredible. 

Put some Wilkinson P's in my Precision too. Love 'em for the money.

 

[jezzaboy]

Yep the Wilkinson one for £20 is decent. Had one in a Sterling Sub, wired passive with tone and a series/parallel switch and it was dinky doo.

[Mastodon2]

I quite like the EMG MM pickups, you'd need to put the EMG P with it, but it you don't want active, it's probably too modern a sound for what you're after. 

[dannybuoy]

I've got a Wilkinson in one of my basses, sounds great to me and is cheap as they come.

[kodiakblair]

The Warman pickups are,I think, very good. I'm well impressed with the jazzbar humbucker but fancy trying their MM.

 

http://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/product/mm-4-string-bass-humbucker-132k-4-wire-overwound/

[doomed]

The pickup in my Retrovibe Evo is pretty good, and passive too, I believe he sells them as an aftermarket part.

[Pea Turgh]

So glad I posted - such a lot of options I didn’t know I had!

[doomed]

There you go,

http://www.retrovibe.co.uk/parts/pickups.html

[kodiakblair]

I was stupid enough to sell my Retrovibe Evo. That pickup was seriously loud :-) 

[mcnach]

4 hours ago, doomed said:

There you go,

http://www.retrovibe.co.uk/parts/pickups.html

 

Hmm, they don't seem to have that pickup on the site

[doomed]

48 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

Hmm, they don't seem to have that pickup on the site

Think it's the £25 one, same spec just the pole pieces are covered.

[mcnach]

3 hours ago, doomed said:

Think it's the £25 one, same spec just the pole pieces are covered.

 

Might be, or not. Probably worth emailing David at Retrovibe and ask. He was pretty good when I had to get in touch. The blurb also states "this is the only mini MM pickup with 4 wires blah blah" but the picture clearly is not a mini MM... so I'd definitely ask him before buying a pickup, to be sure. The one on the Vantage I used to have (back in 2011 or so) was a ceramic pickup and I really liked it. If they still use the same pickups, they're a great option.

[mcnach]

Oooh, Retrovibe have some cool steel surrounds for MM pickups. Great if you want to have a go yourself but your woodworking skills are not very good!

http://www.retrovibe.co.uk/parts/other.html

[BreadBin]

7 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

I was stupid enough to sell my Retrovibe Evo. That pickup was seriously loud :-) 

I'm definitely not selling mine - especially since I fitted one if David's Stinger preamps with single/parallel/series switch. 

[Deedee]

My Vintage brand ‘Ray clone (old v96?) is fitted with a Wilkinson pickup. 

It sounded pretty poo until I changed the preamp, then it had more oomph than my original MM Stingrays.  The pickup itself was great