bigjimmyc Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Hi alI. I have two fairly cheap Peavey 5-strings which are my main instruments. As a lefty, I'm not likely to replace them anytime soon (cost, scarcity) and I like the way they play in a workhorse kind of way. The pickups and electronics are stock, which is to say cheap, pair of j-type pups with two volume and one tone pot. However I'm not mad about the sound. Changing strings and settings really makes very little difference. I tend to use roundwound 45-130 and make them last forever. Tone and volume are always on full, and I use the neck pup rather than the bridge to get a scooped sound (think Duff or Steve Harris). I'm not looking for a variety of sounds, just the one, but what I get is wooly and kinda thin. By contrast, I have a precision style 4-string bitsa which I love the sound of. It has a passive EMG Geezer split P which I believe is the key component. So here's the crunch. I'm leaning towards replacing the pickups and possibly the controls & wiring too. I don't want to go active, although the wiring cavity is huge. Ideally I want a big deep grindy sound like the Geezer, without having to make changes to the body of the guitars. Suggestions please! Cheers, Jim. PS. I play rock covers and the budget needs to be less than a new guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jebroad Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Have a look at Seymour Duncan quarter pounders. They’re nice and hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Well both Duff and Steve Harris use Seymour Duncan pickups, Duff has a Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Jazz bridge pickup, so it may be worth looking at the neck version of this pickup for your bass. They`re much fuller in the sound than a regular Jazz pickup, and hum-cancelling too which is always a bonus with Jazz pickups. Sort a KiOgon wiring loom off of here and do the install yourself - John makes excellent products which are easy to fit, I`m testament to this, as if I can fit one pretty much anyone can. I think that may be as near as you can get, as with all of those mentioned, they do have a split Precision pickup, which putting one of those in would possibly require extra routing by a luthier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jebroad Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 If you can find split coil jazz pickups you can get a more precisionish tone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjimmyc Posted April 18, 2018 Author Share Posted April 18, 2018 Thanks for those recommendations. I am a fan of SD. However, checking the dimensions of the 5 String QP Jazz Bass Neck, the distance between top and bottom poles is 2.76 inches, way bigger than the string spacing on my bass (2.5"). Should I be concerned? BTW, I've failed to find the Hot Stack in a 5-string neck position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrixn1 Posted April 18, 2018 Share Posted April 18, 2018 Consider rewiring the existing pickups in series. It will not sound like a Precision but it will be heading in that direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjimmyc Posted April 19, 2018 Author Share Posted April 19, 2018 16 hours ago, jrixn1 said: Consider rewiring the existing pickups in series. It will not sound like a Precision but it will be heading in that direction. Not a bad idea... anyone got a wiring diagram? Perhaps I could replace a volume with a series/parallel switch?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted April 19, 2018 Share Posted April 19, 2018 48 minutes ago, bigjimmyc said: Not a bad idea... anyone got a wiring diagram? Perhaps I could replace a volume with a series/parallel switch?? @KiOgon could help you there. He made me a new loom with series/parallel switch for my PJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psymoon Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Thanks for this thread folks. Just the sort of thing I’m looking at for my Peavey...need to explore more pickups I think though just out of interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinny Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 (edited) I had a couple of Peavey 5s myself, and found a huge difference after changing the pots and caps - the stock ones were just horrid! I found that the pickups sounded a lot better after that, though they were soapbar-type ones rather than singles. YMMV, of course. Edited October 10, 2018 by Vinny da spellage, innit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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