Novak Mudbucker or Darkstar or Thunderbird

which pickup should i replace the stock epi PUs with?

  • novak darkstar

    Votes: 12 60.0%

  • novak mudbucker

    Votes: 1 5.0%

  • keep it stock for resale value ;)

    Votes: 2 10.0%

  • some boutique thunderbird PUs, like thunderbuckers?

    Votes: 5 25.0%
  • Total voters
    20
[CRTL+ALT+DEL]

[CRTL+ALT+DEL]

mad scientist
May 25, 2008
201
23
4,551
Brooklyn
#1
so i have a sweet $150 epi goth thunderbird. i'm a bit of a noob when it comes to little details to do with vintage sounding bass. I'm looking to replace the stock pickups, like all my other "cheap" (expensive in the end) project guitars. and i'm more a guitar guy doing bass for my bedroom recording project so please forgive me for not knowing this stuff. i'm more trying to get a stable of very different sounding basses for recording. not aiming for the most versatile sound but more having very distinctly different voices from each bass. the equivalent of having a broadcaster stye tele and a sg for recording.

i've been watching various demoes and i can't make up my mind. i think i also have not developed my vintage bass sound palette like my guitar palatte. so all the descriptions you have would be great.

can someone make some convincing arguments towards which ones i should replace with?

thanks
 
#2
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#6
but i like the bass, it's looks and it feels solid. i just wanna put in some very distinct and great sounding PUs. my eventual plans are to get a few others and have them all sound very different. a 4003, and this epi bird, a cheapo iceman, and a eastwood hi flyer. the 4003 will be kept stock. the pickups in this epi, the iceman, and possibly the hi flyer will all be switched out. not sure which pick ups to put in which.
 
#8
hey, wiley thought. would it be too much string pull to put darkstars where the original PUs were at and add a mudbucker right at the edge of the fretboard... for a total of 3 big a$$ hummers? at first glance i love the idea, but will it puul to much? would i notice if it did?
 
#9
[CRTL+ALT+DEL] said:
if you could elaborate why they are awesome to you or how they compare to anything else, i would appreciate it. i'm like an aspiring wino but i finally have some cash to get something better than mad dog 20/20. that's basically why i am here, to bask in the knowledge of the talkbassers
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I'll see if I can dig up some sample videos, there are a bunch of great ones out there. I haven't actually installed mine yet though. :banghead:
 
#11
If the bass feels and plays great, who cares what its worth! A good playing bass deserves great pickups.

Lollar thunderbird pickups. I cannot say enough good about them. Similar to the Thunderbuckers or Duncan custom shop: They are reproductions of vintage thunderbird pickups.

Here is a comparison video. The first bass played is a real deal, all original, vintage bass. The white Kaminari Yardbird bass, has Lollars in it.


Lollar nailed it. Thunderbucker (not heard in this video) makes very good pickups which seem to sound great and are much loved in the thunderbird club. I would also recommend them. However, when I was buying, Lollars seemed to nail the tone I was after, based on sound samples available at the time. They are fantastic. A high price, for sure.
Mike Lull's thunderbird pickups are in the blue bass. They also sound good. But certainly different. Less depth. More of a midrange focus. That holds true in other videos with his TB pickups.

Here is another neat video. No lollars in it, but you get to hear another real deal thunderbird:

That metallic grey epiphone has some oretty great sounding stock pickups in it!
 
Last edited:
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#13
A Darkstar" Bisonic pickup and a mudbucker are totally opposite pickups. The former is a single coil with quite a low output and the latter is a side-winder configured humbucker that has a high output and very restricted treble response. There was a fad for sticking Bisonics/Darkstars in any bass that sat still long enough, a few years back, but this seems to have passed.
 
#15
ctmullins said:
Um, no.
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Oooh! An important person checking in!

ctmullins said:
Single-coil yes, but plenty of output.
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Depends on your frame of reference. Way lower output than a mudbucker or Fender's original Wide Range bass humbuckers. Lower than a Dimarzio Model One. Lower than the Guild bassbucker that replaced the Bisonics (I've played a bass with one of each fitted).
 
#17
[CRTL+ALT+DEL] said:
a set of novak PUs will only make the bass more valuable.
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You'd think, but it doesn't really work that way in my experience. If you're worried about getting your money back, I'd keep the original pickups and swap them back in when you're ready to sell everything off. I've found that selling a bass with upgrades usually means losing a bunch of the extra money you've sunk into the instrument.

I guess it's like, the people out there who'll give you good money for an aftermarket pickup aren't necessarily the same people who want a budget bass attached to the pickup, and vice versa...
 
#19
If you want to mod the bass, and are fine with the bass haveing virtually no resale value, I'd say that the Novak Bisonic or are the way to go. I love my dual darkstar bass, though mine are the Fred Hammon Darkstars. I can't state enough that the pickups will NOT increase the over all value of your bass much. The problem is that no one is going to want to pay the price of your bass plus the cost of the pickups for your bass with the new pickups in them. Further since the Epi goth pickup sizes do not match the options you're looking at, you're going to have to change the route sizes which will render your bass virually worthless.

Thus, my final suggestion would be that you forget the options you've listed in your post. Measure the size of the pickups in your bass and then head to bestbassgear and find something that matches that route. I can almost guarantee that there's some Bartolini, Nordstrand or EMG's that will fit. You might even be able to find a set on the

Save the original pickups, then when you want to upgrade someday, you can put the originals back in. With the price you paid, you might actually come close to breaking even reselling the better pickups and the bass (in original condition) separately.
 
#20
[CRTL+ALT+DEL] said:
if you could elaborate why they are awesome to you or how they compare to anything else, i would appreciate it. i'm like an aspiring wino but i finally have some cash to get something better than mad dog 20/20. that's basically why i am here, to bask in the knowledge of the talkbassers
Click to expand...

This is a great video that shows what the BS-DS sounds like. The bassist from this video is active on here, but I can't remember his user name.

 
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