P Bass Pickups

[TheBMC]

If you were to recommend an average set of P Bass Pickups... meaning - Decent sound not to expensive... sort of a balance of the two..
What would you recommend?

I'm seeing a lot of BC Rich, Duncans and EMG's out there for a relativly decent price. But i really don't know much about the quality of each nor would I be able to compare them to something top of the line so I'm just looking for a little advise and maybe some reasoning why you would pick a particular pickup.

[MeYatch]

Used Fender USA on ebay. If you don't want to go that route, I like Seymour Duncan stuff. Other manufacturers like Dimarzio, etc seem to get farther away from the "classic" tone.

I hear GFS guitar pickups are good, but I've never tried their bass pickups, if you want to go super cheap.

[TheBMC]

Ok, I may go with the fender pickups. seem to be around 40-65 bucks on ebay. I just didn't want to end up around 200 bucks for pickups or something for my first project bass... lol.

maybe down the road when I know a lil more about what I'm doing. Thanks for the info!

Ryan

[kayla]

Ok, I may go with the fender pickups. seem to be around 40-65 bucks on ebay.

i'd snag those up. i dont recommend GFS, i have two sets of their guitar pickups and never was satisfied with them. installing new pickups is pretty simple, as long as you can solder and read directions, your golden!

- kayla.

[TheBMC]

Ok, I may go with the fender pickups. seem to be around 40-65 bucks on ebay.

i'd snag those up. i dont recommend GFS, i have two sets of their guitar pickups and never was satisfied with them. installing new pickups is pretty simple, as long as you can solder and read directions, your golden!

- kayla.

Kayla - I'm a guy.. i'm hoping for good pictures .. lol.

haha.. Actually i have a couple vintage fender pickups i'm watching... cost a hair more but I think the tone will be better.

[StumbleFingers]

Pickups are kind of a crapshoot anyway. A set that sounds great in one guitar might be meh in another guitar. If you buy used you should at least be able to sell them without much of a loss if they don't work out.

[TheBMC]

I read something about needing to be aware of the volume/tone pots that you use... some being 250k, 500k or 1m. From what I understand if you have the wrong volume/tone pot it can make a good set of pickups sound like complete ass.

Anyone able to expand on that or tell me if that's a true statement....

[lonewolf]

I read something about needing to be aware of the volume/tone pots that you use... some being 250k, 500k or 1m. From what I understand if you have the wrong volume/tone pot it can make a good set of pickups sound like complete ass.

Anyone able to expand on that or tell me if that's a true statement....

The lower you go with resistance on pots, the more the highs are bled off to ground. 250K is generally used on single-coils to tame the brightness and 500K & up are used on humbuckers. If you want maximum brightness, use 1M.

[MeYatch]

Its not really a mind blowing difference on bass. Almost all basses use 250K pots.

[TheBMC]

Thanks for the help everyone!

Hopefully be posting a pic of a finished product in the next month.... i'm sure i'll have more questions in the meantime. lol

[bassist_25]

Seymour Duncan Quarter-Pounder should get you where you need to be if you can't find used Fender. Barts are a very dark-sounding pickup, so don't go that route if that's not what you're after (I personally like the dark sound, so I'm a Bartolini fan).

[MeYatch]

I just noticed these Quarter Pounders for sale:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f129/fs-f ... -a-918694/

I don't know if I would say that the Quarter Pounders are an "average" pickup, but they do sound badass. I have a Mark Hoppus sig bass with this pickup.