HB PB50 with rails pickup?

[JJMotown]

Anyone put a (hot) rails pickup in their HB PB50? Thinking of having a rails put in mine, but not sure how different it'll sound from the stock roswell one? 

 

 

[kodiakblair]

German lad over on Talkbass did that.

 

He never said anything about a change in tone which didn't surprise me, I've tried  51 spilt coils, stacked and quad coils in my PB-50, had DCR from 6.7k ohm to 29.9k ohm; for good measure I've also went through ceramic, alnico 2 & 5 and neodymium magnets. None of them make a huge difference, alnico 2 was a bit quieter and the neodymium was louder but that was about it.

 

What struck me was the rails looked odd, German lad thought so too. He later fitted a gold cover, made the thing look like a 'Guitar Hero' controller  🤣

[JJMotown]

I saw a video on YouTube of a guy with a homemade 51 p with a rails pickup, sounded decent, but thought I'd see if anyone had any further feedback.

 

But good to know, there's not much sonic difference. The idea is to get rid of the single coil noise. Not too fussed with how it looks, so that's not an issue. 👍

[neepheid]

On 11/10/2024 at 19:11, JJMotown said:

I saw a video on YouTube of a guy with a homemade 51 p with a rails pickup, sounded decent, but thought I'd see if anyone had any further feedback.

 

But good to know, there's not much sonic difference. The idea is to get rid of the single coil noise. Not too fussed with how it looks, so that's not an issue. 👍

 

I think any which way you want to do it, be it rail humbucker or split side by side single coils will be fine.

[hooky_lowdown]

My pb50 has a rails pup. Has a fuller lowend and tighter highs than the stock SC, and more punch and output than then stock pup.

 

Neck is lovely, and has an unusual quilted maple headstock, very classy for an inexpensive bass. Tips the scales at only 8.1lbs. Best of all - no SC noise.