Replacment pickup(s) for an Urge

[Count Bassy]

I have a Fender Urge Mk1 (32" scale) with the two jazz pick ups and a P pickup between them. Generally I'm very happy with it, but have always found that the sound of the P Pickup is very similar to the sound of the two Jazzes blended together, and as such it seems a bit of a waste. (perhaps Stu Hamm's ear is more sensitive than mine).

For those who don't know the instrument it has a small body (smaller than a strat) and thinnish neck, with generally a bright tone - in fact I've already gone to ground wounds in order to dull the tone down a bit.

Anyway, I've now decided to do something about it, to try and get a more useful range of tones. I have spoken to Andy at Wizard (who is not familiar with the instrument), and we sort of concluded that a sensible thing to try would be to try a Thumper in place of the standard P pick up and leave the jazzes as they are. He also pointed out that part of the problem could be that the P, being between the two Js, is probably closer to the bridge than it would be ideally.

However, this is all conjecture, I've not a great experience of different pick ups, and have never heard a Thumper in the flesh, and would it sound the same on this small bodied bass anyway? Having said that, I suspect that what I want is for the P pickup to sound more like a precision bass, even though it is not on a precision bass body/neck.

So, I'm really after opinions on what I should try, especially if anyone out there has had the same 'problem' with an Urge and has done something about it. I don't really want to change the bass as I love it in all other respects.

The cost of a Thumper isn't a problem if it gives me what I want, but I don't want to buy that only to decide that really I wanted to change the Jazz pick ups!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[markdavid]

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='512219' date='Jun 12 2009, 03:31 PM']Firstly, my apologies if this is in the wrong forum. Couldn't decide between here, "Bass Guitars", "repair/technical issues" and 'Miscellaneous equipment".


I have a Fender Urge Mk1 (32" scale) with the two jazz pick ups and a P pickup between them. Generally I'm very happy with it, but have always found that the sound of the P Pickup is very similar to the sound of the two Jazzes blended together, and as such it seems a bit of a waste. (perhaps Stu Hamm's ear is more sensitive than mine).

For those who don't know the instrument it has a small body (smaller than a strat) and thinnish neck, with generally a bright tone - in fact I've already gone to ground wounds in order to dull the tone down a bit.

Anyway, I've now decided to do something about it, to try and get a more useful range of tones. I have spoken to Andy at Wizard (who is not familiar with the instrument), and we sort of concluded that a sensible thing to try would be to try a Thumper in place of the standard P pick up and leave the jazzes as they are. He also pointed out that part of the problem could be that the P, being between the two Js, is probably closer to the bridge than it would be ideally.

However, this is all conjecture, I've not a great experience of different pick ups, and have never heard a Thumper in the flesh, and would it sound the same on this small bodied bass anyway? Having said that, I suspect that what I want is for the P pickup to sound more like a precision bass, even though it is not on a precision bass body/neck.

So, I'm really after opinions on what I should try, especially if anyone out there has had the same 'problem' with an Urge and has done something about it. I don't really want to change the bass as I love it in all other respects.

The cost of a Thumper isn't a problem if it gives me what I want, but I don't want to buy that only to decide that really I wanted to change the Jazz pick ups!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.[/quote]

Looking at a picture of the Urge bass I suspect part of the problem is the close proximity of the pickups. From what you have described about the sound of the P pickup sounding similar to the 2 jazz pickups blended together it sounds like either the bass is very bright accoustically (therefore emphasising treble frequencies over mids) or maybe the P pickup in the Urge bass is designed to be brighter and less midrangy than a standard P pickup. A good way to make the P pickup sound more Precision like would be to choose a P pickup with a strong mid range response (which I believe the Thumper has)

Edited June 12, 2009 by markdavid

[Count Bassy]

Thanks MD.

Anyone else got anything to suggest?