P bass pickup thread #52148247

[Pow_22]

Im very much an old school tone kinda guy - p's and j's via a Origin Bassrig SV and cali76 into an old SVT non pro and always flatwounds.  I like a 'just on the edge of an SVT breaking up' kind of thing.  I recently purchased a gorgeous 60's Vintera II and loves its vintage spec - slab rosewood board, tall narrow frets, alder body, reverse tuners etc but am finding the pickup slightly lacking.

 

Here come the basschat clichés but I'm not necessarily after thumpy Motown tones but that dry, woody, growly open p bass tone.  The kind of thing where when you hit the low notes it goes all guttural and throaty without sounding muddy or woolly.  I like the highs to be open but not brittle or harsh and most importantly i want it to be very even across all strings.  If i was to give an example of the tone it would be this (i know its not everyones cup of tea)...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZvz14paUHU

 

I suppose its kinda reminiscent of U2 - Where The Streets but with more depth and lows yet never muddy and always open sounding. Or even more so this...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znoxSwzjI3A

 

Previously I've had decent joy with Toneriders though they lacked a little 'dynamic'.  Im maybe wondering if something more 'boutique' like Lollars would get me closer to my tone goal?

 

[Supernaut]

Asked the same question recently and I went for the Nordstrand NP4. Fantastic pickup. 
 

 

[Hellzero]

Love your thread's title. 🤣

[PaulThePlug]

All about the £€$...

You mentioned Toneriders (I was going to mention Toneriders and Kent Armstrong)

 

Have you seen or heard about the Tonerider Duke?

https://tonerider.com/products/the-duke

[Beedster]

I recently stumbled across the EMG Geezer Butler Precision PUPs and was very pleasantly surprised 👍

[police squad]

I have both the fender 'original 62' bass pickup and a custom shop version

They are very nice and sound very similar. They would be my go to but I have a Tonerider classic that I'm putting in a build

It will interesting to hear the difference

 

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, police squad said:

I have both the fender 'original 62' bass pickup and a custom shop version

They are very nice and sound very similar. They would be my go to but I have a Tonerider classic that I'm putting in a build

It will interesting to hear the difference

 

 

Tonerider's a very good 👍

[police squad]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

 

Tonerider's a very good 👍

yes so people say

It's going in my Adam Clayton beaten up sunburst P

[Hellzero]

On a more serious way, if you try a Lollar P-Bass (not the Hi Wind, but the regular model), you'll get exactly the tone you're after, but it's an expensive pickup.

[JJMotown]

6 hours ago, police squad said:

I have both the fender 'original 62' bass pickup and a custom shop version

They are very nice and sound very similar. They would be my go to but I have a Tonerider classic that I'm putting in a build

It will interesting to hear the difference

 

There's a significant difference between a CS 62 and a tonerider. Fuller sounding, better low mids, dynamics, and a lot more output.

[JJMotown]

A fender CS 63 will give the op what they want. Along with the right strings, flats won't do it.

[Gank Bass]

Second for GZRs, I just put some in a heavy lump of Chinese plywood eBay parts build and the whole thing sounds incredible 

[ghostwheel]

On 21/03/2025 at 09:48, Pow_22 said:

Im very much an old school tone kinda guy - p's and j's via a Origin Bassrig SV and cali76 into an old SVT non pro and always flatwounds.  I like a 'just on the edge of an SVT breaking up' kind of thing.  I recently purchased a gorgeous 60's Vintera II and loves its vintage spec - slab rosewood board, tall narrow frets, alder body, reverse tuners etc but am finding the pickup slightly lacking.

FWIW, it's quite the same I thought about the stock pickup of a Vintera II '60s P. I got one of those '62 Original, and had been quite happy with it for a while. One day, I was keen to give the stock one another try, and put the stock pickup back into the bass and strung her with TI JF344 (I must admit, I don't like TIs, but they were exactly what gave this bass the sound I am after). There have been no changes since. It may be worth to set the stock pickup a little bit lower, just like Fender recommends for "vintage" pickups.

[Lozz196]

My long term faves have been the Fender Custom Shop 62s, but the clip above from @Supernaut re the Nordstrand NP4 is great, I think if I were looking at anything new this would be a good one to check out.

[ezbass]

I went down this rabbit hole some months back and narrowed it down to 3: the Nordstrand NP4; the DiMarzio DP122 and the EMG GZR. I then listened to numerous examples of these 3 and any one of them would have been excellent. However, I did finally rate them in order of my preference: 1 GZR; 2 DiMarzio; 3 Nordy. Really nowt in it, although the full replacement electronics, with no soldering, swung it for EMG. I then did nothing about it, as I was abstaining from gear purchase at the time .

[Stub Mandrel]

So the basic question (asked over and again) is what pickup will give me the authentic early 60s p-bass sound without having to use an accurate reissue of an early 60s p-bass pickup?

 

Sub-topic: ideally with the same tone but more output so I don't have to strain myself by turning up the gain as far.

 

 

 

<just joshing 😁>

 

 

Edited Saturday at 14:47 by Stub Mandrel
bad spilling