bloke_zero Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 I'm wondering about UK winders! I was looking at the Nordstrand NP4a with the angled pole pieces as I really like the musicman pickup I have from them, but I'm interested in who you rate in the UK? I guess the sound I'm looking for is what I'd call a modern P sound - something that Sam Wilkes gets (I know a lot of his sound is impeccable tecnique!) e.g. here: https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2017/12/08/knower-time-traveler/ Crisp, well articulated, defined top end but without loosing too much bottom. I had a google and there seem to be a few out there but I don't want to go by quality of website as an indicator of quality of pickup! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgehouse Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Ash at Oil City has wound a few P pickups for me and he is excellent - you tell him the sound you are after and he will wind it for you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleOhStephan Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 14 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said: Ash at Oil City has wound a few P pickups for me and he is excellent - you tell him the sound you are after and he will wind it for you. +1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 (edited) https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk One of the Best in the U.K. and further afield, I’d sell the bass With it in removing it before I sell his pick up I have in it Edited June 10, 2020 by Cuzzie 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealting Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 (edited) I have the NP4v in my ‘64, it’s a beautiful pickup. I have heard good things about Oil City and the Creamery. Edited June 10, 2020 by therealting 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 Herrick pickups, sound great and Martin is also on here. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 I've been using Warman pickups for ages. Don't let the low prices sway you, they're wonderful pickups: https://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/product-category/pickups/bass-pickups/ 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthedoghouse Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, Cuzzie said: https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk.... +1 I've got one on order Edited June 10, 2020 by inthedoghouse 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthedoghouse Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 I've got one of the old 'Thumper' pickups when they were makde in Wales by Wizard - I love it. I believe they were taken over by other company when the owner retired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK Jale Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 (edited) ^ I believe Wizard's tooling etc went over to Hot Rod Pickups, down in Chichester. They still do a P pickup called the Thumper, plus a 'vintage' one. https://www.eternal-guitars.com/product-page/pb-thumper-precision-bass-pickup Edited June 12, 2020 by KK Jale 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 43 minutes ago, inthedoghouse said: +1 I've got one on order Good man - i have the 58 P - glorious 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthedoghouse Posted June 10, 2020 Share Posted June 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Cuzzie said: Good man - i have the 58 P - glorious Thanks 🙂 I've got a '74 on order. I've got a set of Strat pickups from him too, his Classic '64 set - lovely 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloke_zero Posted June 11, 2020 Author Share Posted June 11, 2020 Thanks for all the suggestions - I've had a look at all of them and there is a lot to explore! 20 hours ago, Lozz196 said: Herrick pickups, sound great and Martin is also on here. Anyone got any thoughts on "The neodymium version has a brighter, modern sounding, wilder tone." - I need to find some sound samples but my google-fu is weak today - just endless threads discussing alnico II, II, V and ceramics! I go straight into anAmpeg SCR-DI that has relatively low threshold before distorting - so too high an output is an issue for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealting Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 Oh, also if we’re talking about British pickups, I can’t believe we’ve gotten this far without mentioning Bareknuckle! I’ve got their 58 in my 60 Precision, it’s again an excellent pickup. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 22 hours ago, Cuzzie said: https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk One of the Best in the U.K. and further afield, I’d sell the bass With it in removing it before I sell his pick up I have in it Interesting - wish I had seen that those years ago before I got rid of the dingwall. Or the SR805. 19 hours ago, NancyJohnson said: I've been using Warman pickups for ages. Don't let the low prices sway you, they're wonderful pickups: https://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/product-category/pickups/bass-pickups/ I have the warman pickups in the bass I built myself. Great sound, but the output from them is crazy hot, like the G&L MFDs, I think when I do a bit more work to that bass I will put an inline volume reduction! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 4 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: Interesting - wish I had seen that those years ago before I got rid of the dingwall. Or the SR805. I have the warman pickups in the bass I built myself. Great sound, but the output from them is crazy hot, like the G&L MFDs, I think when I do a bit more work to that bass I will put an inline volume reduction! I got incredibly lucky and picked up an amazing second hand deal on it alongside a Tonestyler bass ten. If you want new, he has a backlog but it’s worth it. A mate of mine couldn’t stomach the wait and got the Barenuckle 58 p instead - great pick up, in our opinion the creamery edged it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 Just going back to the OP, to this day I'm still fascinated with the music community drive to try different pickups. I've got six basses at the moment...these range from a 1978 Aria P-Bass copy (which has a Delano pickup in it), through to a £5K custom build Mike Lull; I've maintained that I've never really had any issue dialling in my desired tone with any of my basses. OK, granted there's this hybrid Geddy Lee/Jean-Jacques Burnel tone thing going on, but equally if I needed to go 60s ponk or 80s SWR I could easily dial up an approximation of of that from my amp, considering any nuances would be lost in the mix. I still don't get it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 4 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: I've maintained that I've never really had any issue dialling in my desired tone with any of my basses. I would have been totally with you up until I got my dingwall. I even used to test basses unpowered as I figured if it sounded ok as a slab of wood it would sound fine plugged in. Couldn't get a tone I could use out of it, regardless of what I did. So I sold it. But I loved the bass itself. Sometimes you just can't eq something that isn't there in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 11 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: I would have been totally with you up until I got my dingwall. I even used to test basses unpowered as I figured if it sounded ok as a slab of wood it would sound fine plugged in. Couldn't get a tone I could use out of it, regardless of what I did. So I sold it. But I loved the bass itself. Sometimes you just can't eq something that isn't there in the first place. Reckon the only bass that bucked that trend was a Rickenbacker 4003, it just sounded different, but in a good way. I'd really love to track down some of the old stuff that I had during my formulative years...old Jedson, Arbiter, Columbus...just to see whether the same rule applies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealting Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 16 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: I would have been totally with you up until I got my dingwall. I even used to test basses unpowered as I figured if it sounded ok as a slab of wood it would sound fine plugged in. Couldn't get a tone I could use out of it, regardless of what I did. So I sold it. But I loved the bass itself. Sometimes you just can't eq something that isn't there in the first place. Which Dingwall did you have? Curious as I had a Combustion that I never really gelled with. Traded it for a Super J (sadly stolen) which was much closer to what I was after, and then bought a Super P which is pretty much the sound in my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloke_zero Posted June 11, 2020 Author Share Posted June 11, 2020 16 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said: Just going back to the OP, to this day I'm still fascinated with the music community drive to try different pickups. I've got six basses at the moment...these range from a 1978 Aria P-Bass copy (which has a Delano pickup in it), through to a £5K custom build Mike Lull; I've maintained that I've never really had any issue dialling in my desired tone with any of my basses. OK, granted there's this hybrid Geddy Lee/Jean-Jacques Burnel tone thing going on, but equally if I needed to go 60s ponk or 80s SWR I could easily dial up an approximation of of that from my amp, considering any nuances would be lost in the mix. I still don't get it! I think you're discounting the drive of the obssessive idiot 🙂 I have a real thing about passive basses and eq. I am especially obsessive at the moment because I can't get into a room with some people crank the bass and just have a good time - I'm recording and trying to get good takes in an especially exposed context (effectively sampling myself - so any given line will be initially foregrounded and then repeated). During the recording process I've found EQ to be problematic and as @Woodinblack rightly opines "You can't eq something that isn't there in the first place" - so for me, at the moment it's important. Also, it's an aesthetic right? Simple, direct circuits, no digital, no fancy eq - just the straight up sound. That, In my limited experience, with some good technique that is what makes a good recording. (Yeah, I'll probably compress it and eq it, but I want the basic sound to be as strong, clear and articulate as possible.) Live is another matter - there I find shouting a lot and whooping to be the thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 12 minutes ago, therealting said: Which Dingwall did you have? Curious as I had a Combustion that I never really gelled with. Traded it for a Super J (sadly stolen) which was much closer to what I was after, and then bought a Super P which is pretty much the sound in my head. A combustion. Yes, I always wanted to try the others as I hear good things about them, but they are expensive and hard to find locally, an I wouldn't buy another one without trying it first, so not many options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealting Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 12 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: A combustion. Yes, I always wanted to try the others as I hear good things about them, but they are expensive and hard to find locally, an I wouldn't buy another one without trying it first, so not many options. Yeah, I think the EMG pickups and preamp in that weren’t particularly what I like. Interestingly I have a Shuker that came with EMG pickups and preamp and I struggled to gel with it too. Replaced the pickups with Nordstrands and am now wondering if perhaps the pickup positions just don’t suit my preferences! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 A shout out to Entwistle pickups, but the one's i used to have were the Neo set, and they seem to be missing on his website these days. Seconded on the Warman pickups. I still have their MM pickup in a draw somewhere, that i fitted in my Vintage MM bass in place of the Wilkinson but pulled the Warman out when i sold the bass 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted June 11, 2020 Share Posted June 11, 2020 6 hours ago, bloke_zero said: Thanks for all the suggestions - I've had a look at all of them and there is a lot to explore! Anyone got any thoughts on "The neodymium version has a brighter, modern sounding, wilder tone." - I need to find some sound samples but my google-fu is weak today - just endless threads discussing alnico II, II, V and ceramics! I go straight into anAmpeg SCR-DI that has relatively low threshold before distorting - so too high an output is an issue for me. Re Herrick pickups, not sure which one I have but it’s more scooped sounding and higher powered than my Custom Shop 62s, essentially more modern sounding (but nowhere near like the SD Quarterpounder). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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