Herrick MM split 8

[bloke_zero]

I'm considering building up a passive bass with a MM pickup and, sparked by someone necro-ing a Wal thread on here I went and revisted: https://www.herrickpickups.com/products/split-8-coil-mm-humbucker/

I was looking to get an idea of the tone but didn't find too much except for these 2:

Which are pretty tantalising - just wondered if anyone had some direct experience they could share!

[itu]

I saw something very similar just the other day: https://www.rautiaguitars.net/

[bloke_zero]

12 hours ago, itu said:

I saw something very similar just the other day: https://www.rautiaguitars.net/

I see what you're saying: https://www.rautiaguitars.net/multi-coil-bass-pickups.html#

Same tip - there is an openness to the sound I like - prefer the parallel to series on them.

Nice demo on that page.

[TheGreek]

I have Herrick pick ups in my Psilos Custom Bass. Great tone.

Martin is a really nice fella too. He'll build you whatever you want - just give him a ring.

[Oxnard Montalvo]

That really is tantalising. I've been trying to think of a good way to make my Stingray passive so that I need fewer batteries in my life. I think this might be a good way.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Oxnard Montalvo

[bloke_zero]

16 hours ago, Oxnard Montalvo said:

That really is tantalising. I've been trying to think of a good way to make my Stingray passive so that I need fewer batteries in my life. I think this might be a good way.

Maybe!  I just went on an emotional rollercoaster going passive to active, not liking active and going back to passive and then back to active on a stingray build.

I did it becasue the voicing of the MM pickup is, because of it's position close to the bridge, always going to be a bit bass light.

Switching from the PU from series to parallel wiring made it work with the preamp much better (stingrays are normally parallel).

One of the things that Rautia guys reference is emphasised mids and a nasal quality (great marketing!) so that top end clarity (that I love with the passive sound) came at a cost of somethig I had to EQ pretty radically when recording - which is a no for me.

[Oxnard Montalvo]

TBH I think I'm likely to put the Stingray up for sale. It's a fantastic bass and the ergonomics are just about perfect for me but I simply prefer passive. Selling it to someone who will appreciate it in its entirety is probably the better move. 

[itu]

Have you been thinking that the electronics can be bypassed? Pretty easily, even without extra holes, just replace one pot with a DPDT switch. Then you can have both in one bass.

[Oxnard Montalvo]

Yeah, I've given that some thought too. I'm not mad keen on doing anything to it, even such a minor mod, if I'm going to move it on. Also, I saw a video on the Youtubes where someone had done that and it sounded kinda meh. 

[bloke_zero]

17 hours ago, Oxnard Montalvo said:

TBH I think I'm likely to put the Stingray up for sale. It's a fantastic bass and the ergonomics are just about perfect for me but I simply prefer passive. Selling it to someone who will appreciate it in its entirety is probably the better move. 

The only rational thing to do is keep the stingray and build up something boutique with this herrick pickup, with the rout a cm or so closer to the neck - I estimate it'd only cost 2 or 3 K to get something really bumping! (Or maybe thats what i'd do if I had the money).

[mcnach]

On 23/09/2020 at 16:42, Oxnard Montalvo said:

That really is tantalising. I've been trying to think of a good way to make my Stingray passive so that I need fewer batteries in my life. I think this might be a good way.

 

You know you can use your existing pickup passively, right? It *is* a passive pickup after all. 

[mcnach]

On 24/09/2020 at 23:12, Oxnard Montalvo said:

Yeah, I've given that some thought too. I'm not mad keen on doing anything to it, even such a minor mod, if I'm going to move it on. Also, I saw a video on the Youtubes where someone had done that and it sounded kinda meh. 

 

Don't trust youtube videos, they can be very misleading. Passive Stingrays sound great. I had a preamp bypass switch installed on mine, and... I found that the sound I generally go for is pretty much the same one as bypassed! Roll off a bit of treble with a passive tone control, and it's delicious.

You can just remove the whole control plate as is, and get a new one and install passive controls. Then it's a 5 minute job to restore to original if you wish, in the future.

 

Edited September 26, 2020 by mcnach

[Oxnard Montalvo]

@mcnach yep, I know it's a passive pickup and I take your point about youtube videos (although the signal chain seemed pretty legit but again, one doesn't know for sure). I'll think over the control plate swap - that's worth considering. 

[Woodinblack]

Ooh - that is an interesting pickup. Would like to get one of those and individual buffer it. That would be pretty epic. Mind you, a bit expensive!

[Hellzero]

On 25/09/2020 at 00:12, Oxnard Montalvo said:

Yeah, I've given that some thought too. I'm not mad keen on doing anything to it, even such a minor mod, if I'm going to move it on. Also, I saw a video on the Youtubes where someone had done that and it sounded kinda meh. 

Try typing "Joe Dart + Music Man" in You Tube... Passive sound without any tone control on his Music Man. 😉 

That said, he has the same sound with his Jazz Bass. Who said that the tone is not in the fingers ? 🤣

[garfo]

Both Martin at Herrick pickups and Veijo at Rautia Guitars seem to do a great job with their Multi-coils.

Herrick seems to offer more of the Wal Mki and Pro series type of wiring, and I believe a different way (not used by Wal).

Rautia offers the same type of wirings plus, and this is intersting, the MKii and Mkiii type of wiring (one humbucker per string). 

Lusithand Devices makes a Wal/Alembic type preamp and offers a version that mixes the Multicoil wiring in the same way Wal does on their Mkii and Mkii series.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, garfo said:

Rautia offers the same type of wirings plus, and this is intersting, the MKii and Mkiii type of wiring (one humbucker per string).

That seems interesting. Seems like something to explore later!

[bloke_zero]

1 hour ago, garfo said:

Lusithand Devices makes a Wal/Alembic type preamp and offers a version that mixes the Multicoil wiring in the same way Wal does on their Mkii and Mkii series.

Mmm - interesting! I can see https://www.facebook.com/Lusithand/photos/a.1686471474749710/3388690064527834/

But i'm struggling to find more details as FB brings me out in hives...

When I have secured the funds maybe talking to Martin will help, but I like putting the thing together in my head first.

[Bass Culture]

On 01/10/2020 at 09:40, bloke_zero said:

Mmm - interesting! I can see https://www.facebook.com/Lusithand/photos/a.1686471474749710/3388690064527834/

But i'm struggling to find more details as FB brings me out in hives...

When I have secured the funds maybe talking to Martin will help, but I like putting the thing together in my head first.

There's links to the spec sheets for the three different Lusithand preamps here: https://www.rautiaguitars.net/multi-coil-bass-pickups.html  About half way down the page.

[bloke_zero]

On 17/11/2020 at 20:22, Bass Culture said:

There's links to the spec sheets for the three different Lusithand preamps here: https://www.rautiaguitars.net/multi-coil-bass-pickups.html  About half way down the page.

Awesome thanks! That clears up most everything as there is an email address too - I can ask about "Notch Filter Low Pass" - sounds like a low pass in parallel?

[Woodinblack]

15 minutes ago, bloke_zero said:

Awesome thanks! That clears up most everything as there is an email address too - I can ask about "Notch Filter Low Pass" - sounds like a low pass in parallel?

Maybe a low pass filter with an exagerated shelf edge that notches,  like a backwards square root symbol?

[bloke_zero]

Interesting thought - like a low pass filter with a bump somewhere above the cutoff frquency? I think what's meant is lowpass with a variable resonant hump at the cutoff frequency. In synth land 'notch filter' has a very specific meaning - it's also called 'band stop' where you remove a narrow frequency range.

[Woodinblack]

That isn't a synth term as such, that is just a generic filter. A notch filter is a narrowish area where all output is removed. Generally used to remove a problematic frequency, such as noise or feedback. Why you would want that on a bass I don't know.