It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 6:39 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 22 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Go to page Previous  1, 2
Author Message
Post subject: Re: Mexican Puppys
Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:52 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:27 pm
Posts: 326
Location: Swanage, UK
Lovely :D That's a very nice red, after all... Let us know how the gig went, won't you?


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Mexican Puppys
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 3:23 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:12 pm
Posts: 6355
Location: Albemarle, NC
Nice refinish! Overall I am VERY impressed.

Funny, but pickups are such a subjective thing. What one person likes, another won't. Many don't notice much difference in reality, but if their current star idol uses Brand X pickup then they think they will sound better with a Brand X too and they must have one as well. And you know what? There is a placebo effect and they do actually PLAY better because they have more confidence in the instrument! Others just follow the crowd.

I suggest instead that you do what I do which is listen to the voices inside your own head. Often my voices say, "if you spent more time practicing your instrument instead of modding it or plundering around bass forums, you would sound better for free." But if you must mod, read on.

The Quarter-Pounder is the nickname given the Seymour Duncan SPB-3 pickup. It makes a P-Bass more versatile but it sounds to me less like a P-Bass, yet not quite like a J-Bass. It isn't a bad thing, just different. In addition to more upper mids and lows it also adds a ton of sensitivity and just a tad more output than a stock Fender pickup. In short it is a great pickup with it's own voice, which is why it is possibly the number 1 mod to stock passive P-Basses. However it does not do a classic P-Bass sound very well at all. Frankly it stinks at that. So, if you want a classic P-Bass tone it isn't really a choice I'd recommend. An excellent extended range pickup? Yes! A vintage sounding one? No.

The Fender Original Vintage P-Bass pickup, Fender part# 0992046000, sounds like a '62 P-Bass and in fact is the stock part for the Fender USA 62 RI P-bass. It sells for between about $54 and $80 online and at local dealers in the USA This pickup is also used in some Custom Shop instruments as there actually is no Custom Shop P-Bass pickup marketed. The winding impedance on this pickup set is an average of 10.5k Ohms which is not that much out of the ordinary, but the inductance is an average of a whopping 6.4 Henries which is. Most other P-Bass aftermarket pickups will spec out between 3 and 5 Henries. The lower the inductance the brighter and more airy the tone.

HOWEVER! It is crucial to think of the pickup as just one link in the tone chain on a passive bass. Did you know that using a high capacitance cable can alter your basic tone? Did you know that both tone capacitor value and cap type can impact your tone? Ceramic capacitors, frequently used in Fender basses have a well known inherent piezo effect that is actually desirable in some genres like hard rock, but not so deisrable in smooth jazz. What capacitor type is best for you and any one particular instrument takes some experimentation. Also there can be a huge variance from the stated value (usually called "tolerance factor") in both pots and caps and yes...even in pickups. This tolerance factor can be a range of up to 20% plus or minus from stated value, so it is no wonder that otherwise identical basses can sound very different! 10% variance here, 5% variance there, a really off component with a 15% variance elsewhere and we are up to 30% from stated value in the tone circuit. When modding a tone/control circuit it is always a good idea to put every component on a meter to check that it is close to stated value! If a single component is off by more than 5% I would reject it and get another. I say 5% because, yes even test gear can be off a bit so I'm giving a component a 5% margin of error It could be that the component is dead on spec value and your meter is off spec.

One of my favorite tone gurus is Bill Lawrence. He wrote, "Tone and output mainly depend on the relation between inductance, magnetic strength and the efficiency of the pickup, as well as the relation between the inductance of the pickup and the capacitance of the cable."

So when I say that on a passive bass, "it isn't JUST the pickup," I am in some good company. An individual instrument's basic tone should be thought of as not depending entirely upon any one component. The final basic tone is the result of a big chain made up of numerous links. Each little link has the power to alter the tone a bit. Playing style (and I think the actual player), setup (like string height from pickup), strings, body wood, neck wood, nut material type, fretboard type, bridge mass, bridge materials, pickup magnet type, number of pickup winding turns, the actual magnet wire used, pole magnet type-shape-size-casting method, pot values, capacitor type, cap value, shielding, wiring type, connectivity of the solder joints and even how much dust accumulated on the pickup poles are all little links that can all impact the basic tone of the instrument's output. Every little detail matters. Some details of course matter more than others. But my point is not to dump everything good or bad about an instrument's basic tone on the pickup.

As an example of this, it is said that part of the "secret" to the Jimi Hendrix tone actually turned out to be the high capacitance curly cords he used most of the time that are generally unavailable in the modern era. Try a real '68 Strat into a Marshall Stack identical to his and you won't get his exact tone. Without using a similar cable, you just won't get that tone with an otherwise stock era correct Stratocaster and identical amp. Unbeknownst to him or anyone else at the time, these cords rolled off highs and lows causing the mids to be unnaturally accentuated making his stock guitars sound barkier than they actually were.

So try different cables too! I have 2 cables I really like and about 10 I like less. I have also found that cable selection matters hardly any at all with my active bass, but has a lot to do with the tone of a passive one.

That's just one idiot's opinion.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Mexican Puppys
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:29 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:27 pm
Posts: 326
Location: Swanage, UK
+1 on the cables. Very little effect on my modern active bass, but on my '70 RI P-Bass (Fender US Vintage pup set) a huge difference between a modern low-capacitance Horizon cable and the more vintage-style (higher capacitance) Stagg Professional and (much cheaper) Lindy Oxygen Free cables, which actually sound very similar, and give a far more "old-school" tone, less bright and open, but far more growl and mid-range weight. For me, this is a perfect combination - I don't want a P-Bass to sound like a Status or an Ibanez Soundgear. If I did, I'd buy a Status Stealth or an SR600 - lovely basses, but not for the sound I want!


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Mexican Puppys
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:02 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:44 am
Posts: 78
Location: malaga Spain
thankyou PVtele for reply, the gig was very good, and we have been rebooked to appear again ! I think the Spanish expected some flamenco etc....well they didn´t get it !!, they got R&Roll Blues and R/Stones Jazz and some good Pop songs Kinks, Spencer Davis etc, they started dancing 15 mins in to the set and we did not let them sit down for another 2hours God bless em !, thanks Brother Dave you can always be relied upon for your articulate and intelligent replies... you are already a legend in Spain...Pete Bass


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Mexican Puppys
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:13 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:27 pm
Posts: 326
Location: Swanage, UK
That's good news, Pete :D Sounds like a good gig - very much one of our own pub set-lists, by the sound of it...


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Mexican Puppys
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:37 am
Offline
Roadie
Roadie

Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2009 1:20 pm
Posts: 263
Location: Rhode Island
I have a set of Bass Lines pickups in one of my Mexi Basses. I think these are Di Marzio made. They sound better than my other mexican with stock pickups. My 2 Mexican basses are 2002 & 2006. What wood did they use then? I thought they just started using basswood.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Mexican Puppys
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:06 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician

Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:01 am
Posts: 2842
basslines is Duncans. The old 90's as far as the basses and gweetarst made in mehico were basswood (poo poo) at least the 4 or 9 I chucked were but I are not sure about 2002 and 2006. Fender changes like a tree bending with the wind or like a 16 year old girl going thru alot of friends. I care but people don't but I wuz not all that excited about them Basslines pickupses. The ones I had was purdy week. Threw them in that campfire known as the storage cabinet. Quarter Pounders are good in my Sting but I'm still not over happy with the ear content I'm getting from that either or not. I have found I preach no badass and I like Dimarzio. Who cares? I don't. Sorry just felt like butting in a typing for awhile. I need a sandwich. bye.

OH BTW to the OP-- IMHO I like Fiesta Red on a bass and that one there what you painted look nice. Sweet. Can I have it? Okay nevermind. Sandwich time.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 22 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Go to page Previous  1, 2

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: