What's the best P bass pickup upgrade?

[Jono Bolton]

My favourite pickup for a while now has been the stock pickup in the Squier Matt Freeman P Bass. I bought one a few years ago with a Duncan Quarter Pounder fitted, and requested that the seller include the original in the sale so that I could swap it out.

[mcnach]

On 19/05/2019 at 10:34, hooky_lowdown said:

A simple fix if your stock pickup is sounding honky is to replace the capacitor from the standard 0.047 to a 0.1, will cost pennies, and will take out most of the highs, to leave a deeper, richer and fuller bass sound. I suggest doing this before changing pickups. If it doesn't help then a budget, modern or vintage sounding are factors we need to know in order to give the best advice?

The best P pickup imho is the Fender 62 custom shop (also known as Fender "Original" pickups) which does all what you have asked for. Also, DiMarzio Model P or Aguilar AG4P are great pickups and more than meet your brief.

 

I thought that the "Original" and the 62 CS were different pickups?

I am using both the Original and the Model P, and I'd agree that they're great pickups (different sounds). The Model P in particular is easy to find used and nost costing much at all.

[Lozz196]

15 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

I thought that the "Original" and the 62 CS were different pickups?

I am using both the Original and the Model P, and I'd agree that they're great pickups (different sounds). The Model P in particular is easy to find used and nost costing much at all.

They are, and have fairly different sounds. The CS62 is warm, rich in the low mids and breaks up nicely whereas the Original I would describe as ‘woody’ having a presence in not high mids as such, just higher than those of the 62, plus it has less lows. It really does sound like the recordings of early bass, in contrast to the 62 which is a much fuller sound - imo of course.

[gjones]

All these P bass pickups sound pretty good and pretty similar. You could buy a whole Harley Benton P bass for the price of a custom shop P bass pickup.

The point being, there's not much difference in the sound of P bass pickups. So don't spend silly money.

 

[BassManGraham]

Thanks for all your feedback, very much appreciated.

I should have said the bass only cost me £30! The body has a few dings, pickguard was damaged with a loose/wobbly jack socket , tone control not working, knob missing for volume control, with a very high action. 

This is a fun project, but I want to create a gig worthy bass. I have an SX jazz which I upgraded and players are initially convinced that it's an American Fender. SX make some cracking basses.

Sound:I always use round wound steels and tend towards mid scoop, with a tight punchy thump I like bass to cut thru mix and to avoid too much low end boom and low mid mud etc. .So Chris (Ezbass) seems to be on the money.

To date I have fitted a new loaded pickguard.( but kept SX pick-up). New Fender Hi Mass Bridge, and Fender chrome knobs . I have shimmed neck and adjusted truss rod to get a fairly low action which I prefer. So I have spent about £50 and a bit of time so far. So for about £80 it I think it compares well with a Squier or Mex Fender. I am happy to spend say £75 on a decent pickup  but I would go to as much as £120. Which would get me a very decent P bass for between £125 to £200.

Footnote: I have always favoured Jazz basses, but have recently rekindled my interest in P basses. In my early days of playing I bought a new bottle green 70s Precision new, but I sold it  on mainly due to preferring slimmer necks of Ricky's and Jazzes etc. The bridge was also poor and grub screws kept falling out of saddles. Probably be worth a fair bit now though! Hey Ho!

[BassManGraham]

11 hours ago, gjones said:

All these P bass pickups sound pretty good and pretty similar. You could buy a whole Harley Benton P bass for the price of a custom shop P bass pickup.

The point being, there's not much difference in the sound of P bass pickups. So don't spend silly money.

 

That's a great video, thanks for sharing.

I owned a Marcus Miller P7, but traded it in for an M7, which sounded far nicer IMHO. Love Sandbergs but to be honest blind sound tests always leave me rather confounded.

I have a few Fender Jazzes, but after listening to this my bass brand snobbery has been shaken. Should I sell my collection and buy a Harley and ride off into the sunset?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[EliasMooseblaster]

1 hour ago, BassManGraham said:

I am happy to spend say £75 on a decent pickup  but I would go to as much as £120. Which would get me a very decent P bass for between £125 to £200.

If you wanted to have a punt on a few different models, you could pick up* a Tonerider, a Wilkinson and/or a second-hand Duncan or Fender and still come in under that budget. I have personally been impressed with all of the aforementioned!

*no pun intended

[hooky_lowdown]

Another cheap trick to improve the sound of a pickup is replacing the magnets for a few quid. The stock pup will be ceramic, if you replace the magnets with Alnico V, will give a fatter, smoother sound. I've just done this with a cheapie I recently acquired, it's not as good sounding as a Fender 62 custom shop, but it's not far away.

[Marc S]

Another pickup you may want to consider is the Entwistle PBXN. Actually their PBX isn't a bad pickup either, and it's cheap.
The PBXN has much larger, deeper magnets - so you'll need to rout out a small "trench" in the bottom of each cavity. This isn't too difficult though...
Having the much larger magnets, the PBXN has a huge output. Your bass will still sound like a P bass, but in my experience there was definitely less "honk"

Both Entwistle pickups are very cheap, considering their quality - the PBXN being slightly more expensive
Don't let the low prices fool you - these are great pickups, especially for the money

Other than that, if you want to go for a more popular brand - I really like DiMarzio's. Always been a contender for quality pickups IMO
Perhaps try searching for some 2nd hand pickups on this forum?

[Marc S]

Just thought of another option. You could also ask Mark Morgan-Richards to sell you one of the pickups he uses in his Limelight basses.
I have a Limelight P/J - I was so impressed with the sound of the pickups in that, I bought a P pickup to go into my Fender Roadworn P
The upgrade really lifted the sound beyond my expectations. I don't know what his pickups actually are, but they are superb

The P pickup in my Limelight is the best P bass sound in any bass I've ever owned - including a couple of US P's

[Hobbayne]

28 minutes ago, Marc S said:

Just thought of another option. You could also ask Mark Morgan-Richards to sell you one of the pickups he uses in his Limelight basses.
I have a Limelight P/J - I was so impressed with the sound of the pickups in that, I bought a P pickup to go into my Fender Roadworn P
The upgrade really lifted the sound beyond my expectations. I don't know what his pickups actually are, but they are superb

The P pickup in my Limelight is the best P bass sound in any bass I've ever owned - including a couple of US P's

Mark is very cagey about his pickups. He doesn't give much away about them. Has anyone ever taken one apart?

[foxyFuze]

2 minutes ago, Hobbayne said:

Mark is very cagey about his pickups. He doesn't give much away about them. Has anyone ever taken one apart?

I bought one off him for a project, and he mentioned they were made in the far-east (China or Korea perhaps?).  Goes to show you don't necessarily have to pay top-dollar for pickups to sound great.

[hooky_lowdown]

17 minutes ago, foxyFuze said:

I bought one off him for a project, and he mentioned they were made in the far-east (China or Korea perhaps?).  Goes to show you don't necessarily have to pay top-dollar for pickups to sound great.

My guess would be Tonerider TRP1. They use these in the old Squier CV P basses which gets lots of glowing reviews

[BassBunny]

+1 for Entwistle PBXN. Punches well above it's cost in my opinion.

[Marc S]

42 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

My guess would be Tonerider TRP1. They use these in the old Squier CV P basses which gets lots of glowing reviews

Having owned 2x CV P basses, the pickups were good - really good. But the Limelight pickup is better still.
Hmmm, wish I still had room (+funds) for one of my old CV P's   Can't own 'em all eh?

[HazBeen]

Fender Custom shop I really like, also the EMG Geezer Butler signature is a really really excellent pickup (classic sound, not EMG like).

[mangotango]

2 hours ago, BassBunny said:

+1 for Entwistle PBXN. Punches well above it's cost in my opinion.

"Punch" being the right word; loads of it from that p'up. Absolute bargain.

[Roger2611]

I really like the cut and growl of the Nate Mendel pickup which I think is basically a Seymour Duncan SPB3  pickup with a bit of ageing to the slugs, I have a Nate Mendel in a red Precision and an SPB3 in an old Squier Mike Dirnt bass, I have had good comments whenever I have gigged either of the basses.

[prowla]

I've got a US one on my Precision and it sounds great.

If I were to look at options, I would check out the Geezer ones.

[BassManGraham]

Choices choices! So many pickups, so little time! This forum is such a helpful source of wisdom and education, even for an old fart like me, who likes to think he knows it all! 

Being as this is a fun/low budget project I have just ordered an Entwistle PBXN, to give it a try, which at £27 is marginally less than the bass, and a fraction of the big brand names. I am also a big fan of the late great OX, which I do realise is purely coincidental. 

I was going to go Seymour Duncan, 1/4 pounder, but had a very poor experience with a 3 coil alnico MM retrofit that never worked properly, and I haven't forgiven them yet!

In fuller time I will in investigate the wonderful array of all the fine Basschatters suggestions. The various Fenders, particularly the Custom shop 62s,EMG Geezers, Dimarzio etc.

Many thanks to all your valued and appreciated contributions.

 

[hooky_lowdown]

2 hours ago, BassManGraham said:

Choices choices! So many pickups, so little time! This forum is such a helpful source of wisdom and education, even for an old fart like me, who likes to think he knows it all! 

Being as this is a fun/low budget project I have just ordered an Entwistle PBXN, to give it a try, which at £27 is marginally less than the bass, and a fraction of the big brand names. I am also a big fan of the late great OX, which I do realise is purely coincidental. 

I was going to go Seymour Duncan, 1/4 pounder, but had a very poor experience with a 3 coil alnico MM retrofit that never worked properly, and I haven't forgiven them yet!

In fuller time I will in investigate the wonderful array of all the fine Basschatters suggestions. The various Fenders, particularly the Custom shop 62s,EMG Geezers, Dimarzio etc.

Many thanks to all your valued and appreciated contributions.

 

Let us know how you get on with the pbxn after they're fitted?

[DarkHeart]

I`ve got a Mim with a EMG GZR in it which is very good and also a bitsa with a hand wound Ghost Pickups pup in it which is also extremely good (Wilf does wind an exceptional pup) but a bit pricey, I would recommend either.

[TheGhostofJaco]

There is no best, but the Fender Pure Vintage ‘63 has to be right up there. It beat out the Geezer Butler for me by a little. Geezer is more focused on high mids, Pure Vintage gives you more low mids. Pick what you prefer. 

[hooky_lowdown]

25 minutes ago, TheGhostofJaco said:

There is no best, but the Fender Pure Vintage ‘63 has to be right up there. It beat out the Geezer Butler for me by a little. Geezer is more focused on high mids, Pure Vintage gives you more low mids. Pick what you prefer. 

I think the OP prefers Entwistle PBXN. 😉

[TheGhostofJaco]

3 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

I think the OP prefers Entwistle PBXN. 😉

I thought he ordered them and then was curious about our opinions on others?