Favorite "Weird" P Pickup?

CatDaddyOTB

CatDaddyOTB

International rockstar who's also part cat
Mar 20, 2018
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Philadelphia, PA
#1
Hey TB - I have a P bass with a Fred Hammon Darkstar in it, and it punches like no other. High output, huge mids, fat & round nirvana. It would be cool to capture that type of vibe in a traditional P-shaped pickup.

What are some of your favorites? A few examples:

DiMarzio: Relentless Middle, Split P
Lollar: Precision 90
Curtis Novak: PB-CC, PB-90

Would love to hear people's experience with any of the above, or your experience with other pickups with a similar concept.
 
#3
kodiakblair said:
I've a T-Bird humbucker in one P-bass and a Peavey Super Ferrite single coil in another. In the workpile there's a P-bass waiting on me installing a Guild BS-1 , P-bass due a Warman Drive train Quad coil humbucker
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Sounds rad! To be clear I'm asking about somewhat unusual pickup types in a traditional P Pickup size.
 
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#9
sunbeast said:
Yeah its one of my favorites, the only downside being that the output is so high that it tends to slam alot of my favorite pedals too hard (I had a similar problem with Darkstar pickups too back when I had a pair in a bass many years back)
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My workaround is a Radial Bigshot I/O - I play synth bass a lot and I use the Radial to switch back and forth, but I put the bass into the second input with the trim. That way I can use my compressor and the level of the synth to match the outputs of my various basses!
 
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#10
CatDaddyOTB said:
My workaround is a Radial Bigshot I/O - I play synth bass a lot and I use the Radial to switch back and forth, but I put the bass into the second input with the trim. That way I can use my compressor and the level of the synth to match the outputs of my various basses!
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Smart move- I probably should do the same so I could set up another bass with an MFD again! These days I play with a few active basses with similarly high output, but the beauty of an active bass is being able to actually use the volume control on the bass to cut output without killing the tone.
 
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#11
sunbeast said:
Smart move- I probably should do the same so I could set up another bass with an MFD again! These days I play with a few active basses with similarly high output, but the beauty of an active bass is being able to actually use the volume control on the bass to cut output without killing the tone.
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This is true - I just like to keep volume all the way up for simplicity's sake!
 
#13
sunbeast said:
I think you'd probably dig the Delano options too based on your tone description. I found the FE/M2 to be in the same general fat but articulate and growly tonal universe as I recall my Darkstar'd Jazz sounding (and would expect the alnico version to be even more articulate)
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I actually have that pickup in the bridge position of another bass... Might be cool to pop it into a more traditional P bass and see how it sounds! Delanos rule, I just ordered a set of JC4 AL's for another project : )
 
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#14
CatDaddyOTB said:
I actually have that pickup in the bridge position of another bass... Might be cool to pop it into a more traditional P bass and see how it sounds! Delanos rule, I just ordered a set of JC4 AL's for another project : )
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You have the J version in bridge position or the P version? The P version is definitely fatter than the J (though the J version is pretty fat for a J as well- I used to have a set of the J FE/M2 pickups too)
 
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#15
sunbeast said:
You have the J version in bridge position or the P version? The P version is definitely fatter than the J (though the J version is pretty fat for a J as well- I used to have a set of the J FE/M2 pickups too)
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P version... It has an MM in the neck and a P in the bridge, and it's tuned to BEAD. Weird but sounds awesome!!! Snarls like a tiger, people can't believe it's passive.
 
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#18
My favorite 'weird' pickup in a P-position is the one in my Peavey T-45 (left)

My favorite normal P is the growly stock Reverse-P monster in my '89 MIJ Fender Power Jazz Bass Special (right)

tbpic.jpg
 
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