Decent budget P pickup?

[lemmywinks]

My daughter is starting lessons soon and wil be using her old Tanglewood Elfin 30" bass I bought her a while ago, it's decent enough and is a good size for her but the pickup is weedy - low output and lacking decent bottom end.

 

Is there a decent low cost upgrade, sorta up to £30 ish? The bass itself is worth about £50-£60

 

Seen Wilkinson, Tonerider, Entwistle etc but I'm not a P bass guy and don't know what's what really. The last P pickup upgrade I did was back in the Sue Ryder days!

[Supernaut]

Tonerider. 

[Paul S]

Just now, Supernaut said:

Tonerider. 

 

Yup.  End of thread. 

 

[neepheid]

Warman maybe?  I've nearly bought some of their stuff in the past, and heard some positive things.

 

https://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/product/p-bass-classic-pickup-8-56kohm-and-5-21-henries/

 

[lemmywinks]

Cheers guys, I'll have a look at those. She likes Queen, Abba, Bowie etc but also modern pop.

[lownote]

Tonerider

[kodiakblair]

Big fan of Warman pickups but here I'll say Tonerider 👍

[Paolo85]

Tonerider for lots of bottom end, Wilkinson (thr alnico one) for a brighter ("normal" bright, not oddly bright) sound

[lemmywinks]

Ordered the Tonerider, oddly cheaper to buy it from North West Guitar Parts than directly but that seems to be the winner.

 

Not much less than what the bass is worth but hopefully it should give it some more authority.

[Paul S]

I stuck one in a Harley Benton PB Shorty and it is a little monster now.  I mean, it was OK before but that pickup has given it the balls the stock pup was lacking.  It's been said before but worth repeating that the Tonerider sounds almost exactly like the Fender CS'62 Pickup but considerably cheaper.

[stevie]

46 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

Big fan of Warman pickups but here I'll say Tonerider 👍

So what's the difference? The Warmans are surprisingly inexpensive.

[lemmywinks]

The price of the Warman was quite attractive, £19 delivered is half the Tonerider.

[kodiakblair]

3 hours ago, stevie said:

So what's the difference? The Warmans are surprisingly inexpensive.

The Warman split coil Ps have ceramic magnets.

 

Now I'm by no means a magnet snob, Josi's Jazzbar and Drivetrain both use ceramic mags and I'm happy with those in a couple of basses; it's just I find ceramic a bit too bright for my taste in a P-bass.

 

Alnico Toneriders fit my idea of a P-bass better 👍

[PaulThePlug]

Got a Tonerider in my SR300 Passive P... Great Tone and Authority...

 

Might i suggest a look at the wiring, cap value... 47uf... and pots?

If ya got a spare £5 i cannot rate the Pure Tone Jack sockets highly enough.

Edited December 20, 2023 by PaulThePlug

[lemmywinks]

24 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

Got a Tonerider in my SR300 Passive P... Great Tone and Authority...

 

Might i suggest a look at the wiring, cap value... 47uf... and pots?

If ya got a spare £5 i cannot rate the Pure Tone Jack sockets highly enough.

 

 

I'll be redoing the wiring at the same time, got a box full of random pots and caps so I should be able to conjure up a P bass harness.

[Jack]

This is timely, thanks. Subbed.

[tauzero]

On 20/12/2023 at 21:36, PaulThePlug said:

Might i suggest a look at the wiring, cap value... 47uf... and pots?

 

Are you sure you mean 47uF and not 47nF or .47uF?

[PaulThePlug]

47 something capacitance thing... green it was...

[soulstar89]

The consensus from here at basschat and talkbass is the tonerider pickup is very similar to the seymour duncan sbp1 and the fender original 62. At a third of the price. 

[casapete]

Are you sure it’s the pickup that needs replacing -  I had an Elfin and the pickup sounded 

great, loads of bottom end etc. May be worth checking the wiring / pots first?