Alright, so I've made the installation and here is my first reflection after a few days.
1: The wood of the body of my Black Eagle is actually Black Mohagany, through and through! I didn't know that existed! BROOOOTAL.
2: It's really, really close to a real Ric sound. Considering it's an market humbucker, that's frankly amazing to me. I was taken back, taken in... Utterly captivated. I wouldn't have known the difference... And I listen to a lot of Rickenbacker bassed bands. (Bad pun). Obviously, without a dual amp test with OD I can't compare it to Squire or Geddy Lee, but Paul's Ric tones are easy to nail, along with Roger Glover. Low notes are mighty and rich with loads of growl and sustain, while higher notes can chime away.
3. I'd always noticed that Lou Barlow from Dinosaur Jr likes playing over the neck to get a deeper sound on his Ric, which is a technique which simply doesn't work on standard jazzes. They don't have enough output, or maybe there's another cause... The notes become completely lost after the 18th fret or so. No definition or sustain. Maybe if I'd experimented with flats, I would have found a different result. With the Seymour Duncan, I can cop this technique successfully! It suddenly works. I don't know what the science is behind it but it made that hour very interesting.
4. Digital audio Interfaces sound like absolute garbage when you DI into them as opposed to recording an amp, or simply playing through an amp and eschewing recording altogether. I'm happier to focus on playing and less on recording, at least for now.
5. Fret buzz defeats the purpose of the pickup entirely. When I first had it installed, I was using heavy gauge EB strings for C# standard tuning, only tuned to E. The setup was immaculate. The pickup threw out delicious Ricky goodness. I then threw on a lighter set of GHS rounds, which were more of a medium gauge. At first it was fine, but as the neck set, all I could get was fret buzz. That fret buzz was the same buzz I'd get from the jazz pups; trebly and jazz bass all the way. The only difference was that the hot SD pup picked up a TON of fret buzz. So, overlaid on the delicious output of this new pickup is the same jazzy buzz I'm sick of, and to me it just defeats the purpose. Geddy Lee said in an interview was that one reason he stopped playing the Ric was that he had to set his action high to get his best tone on the Ric, which made it less comfortable to play... I see a parallel here. So, naturally, when a set of XL rotosound strings comes in next week (same ones Cliff Burton played!), I'm getting my Eagle set up for E standard with the action a little bit higher than the margin of fret buzz.
6: The pickup is HOOOT! I played a quick Neil Young cover gig last night for pay and the 50 watt Peavey that was sitting there overdrove when I tried playing through the Ric pup. All I could get at a decent volume was Fuzz! (Admittedly, the band was loud and the room was small.) I had to use the Jazz pups, which was unfortunate but made a good case for me when even they drove the amp a bit at a good volume. The point is, this pickup is powerful and you need to mind your headroom if you're going to deign to install it! When I get back to my ampeg rig out of town in September, there won't be any such issue... Plenty of headroom.
7. The pickup IS a humbucker. I don't have a tone knob installed at the moment for the Ric pup (will update when I get around to it in September.). I get the feeling, none the less, that I could get close to a Pbass sound with the tone down. Honestly, though, I 've heard the comparison between this pickup and a Pbass sound before and It comes much closer to the sound of the bridge pickup on the Gibson Thunderbird I used to play. It's got more treble and mids, obviously, but it reminds me more of that than a P. However, I was pretty easily able to make that Thunderbird sound similar to a P. Point is, this Seymour Duncan Srb1b sounds a lot like a Ric, reminds me of a Third, and could probably cop a Pbass.
8. The install was totally worth it! I don't even want a Ric anymore. (For now). I've never been so satisfied with a bass. If only that stupid fret buzz would spontaneously disappear. I'm thinking of throwing a decent Fuzz box or OD on the jazz side through a random amp and the Ric SD through my ampeg to see if I can get close to Roundabout. I'll be back with more reflections eventually.
Oh, last notes, the pickup does have more low end that can be a touch overwhelming and even muddy, which contributes to the Tbird comparison. A quick Eq adjustment on the amp and it was no issue. It wasn't even a big adjustment; only a small cut to the bass frequencies.
I hope this helps anybody who's vaguely curious about a mod like this. Here's a picture.
