thewalruswaspaul Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Ok so I swapped out the pickup in a Mia P bass for an SPB-3 and ended up accidentally cooking the original pickup with the soldering iron and sadly the SPB-3 is not doing it for me, it seems to have less highs than the original pickup. Anyway I am after a P bass pickup with a vintage-ish voice and plenty of brightness, I love the brightness of new strings and so change my strings once a month and after something that will bring out that brightness Boutique pickups like Fralins are out of the picture as I cannot afford to spend a fortune on pickups so looking at £90 top whack. The pickups I am considering so far are Fender original p bass pickup, Wilkinson wpb pickup, Warman p bass pickup and Kent Armstrong hot p pickup. The Kent Armstrong is said to be bright but does it sound vintage? Will the Wilkinson be bright enough? Any suggestions welcome, thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 (edited) EBay “blues tribute” is what I use @Stub Mandreltried it as did @petecarlton Edited November 28, 2021 by Geek99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Herrick 58 sounds like it would fit the bill: https://www.herrickpickups.com/products/split-p-58-humbucker/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The fasting showman Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 (edited) Might seem a crazy suggestion but a few years back I had, for a while, 2 basses with identical P bass pickups (a 2008 USA P bass and an old wreck of a rerouted Tele bass I still have that I bought a stock US P bass pickup for) yet the Volume pots were respectively 1Meg in the Tele bass, 250 k in the stock Fender. I won't open the maple / Rosewood board can of worms but all I'll say is they sounded electronically very different, the 1 Meg pot bass had a much more open sound that I was able to darken if needed, the 250k pot bass seemed under a blanket somewhat. Hope this helps, I'm not an authority on the P bass sound but it's what I experienced anyway. Maybe the pot change might get you what you want without changing pickups. I've never got on with the SPB3 either, I preferred the SPB1. Martin Edited November 29, 2021 by The fasting showman Hadn't made myself clear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boodang Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 As always from me, a shout out for Creamery pickups. I got the solo P which is designed to cut through a band mix but if you have something special in mind he'll do a custom. And very reasonable prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 Kent armstrong hot vintage pick up that is all 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted November 30, 2021 Share Posted November 30, 2021 Nordy NP4 or NP4A for a more scooped eq? I’m currently thinking of buying a nice playing Squier CV P and upgrading the crap out of it, so I’m on YT comparing pickups - a lot. Current winner is the DiMarzio DP122, which turns out to be ceramic, to my surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dare Posted December 5, 2021 Share Posted December 5, 2021 Perhaps "bright" and "vintage" don't really inhabit the same universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewalruswaspaul Posted December 5, 2021 Author Share Posted December 5, 2021 (edited) 15 hours ago, Dan Dare said: Perhaps "bright" and "vintage" don't really inhabit the same universe. I'm not sure about this, people tend to think of vintage tone as being dark but I think this is mostly due to the flatwounds and limitations of these eras, most vintage pickups are wound fairly lightly which would suggest a brighter frequency response, not many vintage pickups had a heavy wind Edited December 5, 2021 by thewalruswaspaul 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloke_zero Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 On 29/11/2021 at 18:17, The fasting showman said: the 1 Meg pot bass had a much more open sound that I was able to darken if needed, the 250k pot bass seemed under a blanket somewhat. This is totally a thing - pots with higher values allow more of the top end to pass through - could be a way forward, though you are then breaking the holy P trinity of alnico 5, .1uf cap and 250K pots. Maybe try a 500K? In the end it's about what you want to hear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted December 8, 2021 Share Posted December 8, 2021 (edited) - Edited March 16, 2022 by Jus Lukin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewalruswaspaul Posted December 9, 2021 Author Share Posted December 9, 2021 On 08/12/2021 at 10:19, Jus Lukin said: I agree with the Kent Armstrong Hot Vintage, too! A classic voice with plenty of clarity- the ceramic also has a great P sound but with an even more open top end. Cool, sounds like the Ceramic might be the one 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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