cameltoe Posted February 13, 2010 Share Posted February 13, 2010 (edited) I recently got myself a Cort Artisan C4H, and while I'm very happy with the way the bass feels and plays, I'm not overly keen on the way it sounds. It has two Musicman style humbuckers, so they should be easy enough to replace, but the question is, with what? The problem with the Cort is that it sounds way too 'middy' for me. With either pickup, or even both on together, I can't escape the strong high mids. I can fiddle with the EQ on the amp, and the bass/treble EQ on the guitar, but still it's the high mids that cut through. This bass also has active/passive switching, and while that's a great feature, it kinda just allows me to switch between really middy, and a bit cleaner really middy. I've no idea if this is Cort's attempt to replicate the sound of a Musicman, I've never played one so I'm not too sure how they sound, but I remember being told in the past that they can have strong high mids. My regular gigging bass is a Mexican P, and I love the way that sounds. While I don't want to replicate the sound of a precision, as I don't want two guitars that sound alike, it's the punchyness of the P that the cort really lacks. I could do with clearer, tighter lows, with nice low mids, way less high mids, and nice bright trebles but nothing too twangy. I know I'm kinda describing a P! I'd honestly like it to sound different to a precision, but I've got to get it sounding better, I'm just unsure which way to go with it. I don't mind it being a bit more middy than the precision, so I can get a bit clearer note definition, to then use it to gig at places where the precision can sound a little wooly, but at the moment it's really lacking some growl and thump, whereas the high mids are off the chart. It's not easy reading descriptions of pickups either, most Seymour Duncan ones all get described the same way on their website. Edited February 17, 2010 by cameltoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 Try [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk"]Wizard Pickups[/url] They've have a good reputation and they'll custom wind something to suit your needs if necessary. Prices are great as well. Definitely worth a phone call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameltoe Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 [quote name='7string' post='745447' date='Feb 15 2010, 12:47 AM']Try [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk"]Wizard Pickups[/url] They've have a good reputation and they'll custom wind something to suit your needs if necessary. Prices are great as well. Definitely worth a phone call.[/quote] Nice one, I'll try them out. There don't seem to be a lot of aftermarket relacement pickups out there. I see Seymour Duncan and EMG do replacements, but they keep banging on about recreating the 'original musicman tone'. That might be a good thing, but it might not! Like I said, I don't really know what a musicman sounds like. I know I don't like my bass to lack low-end punch, and this one does. Sounds very thin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Only guessing, but it sounds like the pickups are wired in series and that changing the wiring to parallel could do the trick for you. It won't cost you anything except a little research and some solder to find out. You can listen to a demonstration of the differences between series and parallel here: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Fo7AKwfA0&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67Fo7AKwfA0...feature=related[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 You'd do well to check out [url="http://www.delano.de/"]Delano[/url] too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redstriper Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Sounds like you need a jazz bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 If you thinking about changing pickups, then get a sound refernce so you can show the tech what you want it to sound like. Custom winds can be variable..and how it reacts with your bass woods, but these guys should know what works and built to suit. FWIW, I suggest you don't go for the maximum of winds, so have a thicker coil gauge but less winds. That suggests more character in a sound, IMV...but then I am not a fan of humbuckers anyway. Any custom winder like Armstrong should be able to get close to what you want if you give the that sound reference...IMO. Wizard or Armstrong would be my first calls and a chat to see what they can do for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameltoe Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 Cheers for the help guys, I think I'll end up giving wizard a call. The series/parallel thing is definitely something I'm gonna look into though. I thought twin humbuckers would give me all the punch and depth I needed, but it hasn't worked out like that. With my precision, I need to EQ to make it sound clearer and less 'big' at gigs- this I need to EQ to make it sound fuller and more 'big', if that makes sense. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameltoe Posted February 23, 2010 Author Share Posted February 23, 2010 (edited) This is what it says on the Cort website about the C4H pickups: MBA4( B )-Alnico (F/R) No idea whether that means series or parallel. I'm also a bit chuffed off to realise both humbuckers are exactly the same. I had an inkling they were, seeing as I got the same sound but 'twangier' when I switched to the bridge pickup. Edited February 23, 2010 by cameltoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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