Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

[Artie]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

I'd really like to go with the AJJ-1 set, paired with the STC-3A preamp. I bet that would be a sweet combo, but it would cost more than the bass. Part of the reason for going with the AJJ-1 set is that it's one of the few Duncan sets with hidden pole pieces. That's what my Tobias has now, and I'd like to retain that look.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

^^^ Me too. Are you going active or passive?

It's already active, so I'm looking for something that's just a direct swap.

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[mojosman]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

My buddies that play bass don’t talk about upgrades in terms of pickups and stuff, unless a specific instrument just has a really bad tone. Then absolutely they will upgrade. For some reason lots of them seem to upgrade hardware at the drop of a hat though. Those Bad-Ass Bridges, and saddles, tuners and stuff seem to be big preference choices.


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[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

For some reason lots of them seem to upgrade hardware at the drop of a hat though. Those Bad-Ass Bridges, and saddles, tuners and stuff seem to be big preference choices.

Some think a really heavy bridge sounds better. Some think that’s crap. The tuner thing is always getting really light ones. With that long of a neck, any weight reduction on the headstock is great, even if the bass balances well to begin with. I put Sperzels on my Warwick. I don’t remember the exact weight, but 4 Sperzels weighed the same as 3 of the stock tuners. It’s a heavy bass, but even that little change made it feel a lot lighter.

 

[chadd]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

I have a Squier J Bass that I'd love to put Apollos in. I think it uses 2 neck pickups, though- the sizes of these are exact, unlike USA models.

My old Epi Toby bass was like that, but I think they were both bridge units, I forget exactly. I just routed it for a P and threw QPs in there.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

Yes. Case in point, me in 1976 with my ‘73 Rickenbacker 4001. I changed the bridge pickup for a Hi-A mini humbucker. Hi-A was the original name of Bartolini. I changed the neck pickup for a Carvin APH-4N humbucker. I also had series parallel switches for each pickup. A switch to put both pickups in series. A phase switch. A 6-position Varitone midrange filter, and a Hi-A “Chip” preamp with active bass and treble controls. Oh, and a master volume. lol

Later I installed a DiMarzio Model P between the two pickups.

This continued with every instrument I owned. I had a ‘74 P bass with an added P pickup at the bridge. I replaced the stock pickups with a DiMarzio.

I replaced the stock J pickups in my ‘87 Ibanez SR-885LE with EMG Js.

The list is longer than this. lol. I also did a lot of crazy wiring and modified pickups.

This eventually lead to me designing my own pickups and bases.

Now all my guitars and basses have my own pickups.

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[Artie]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

That Ric has a heckuva lot of knobs on it for a bass. My kinda wiring. :headbang:

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

That Ric has a heckuva lot of knobs on it for a bass. My kinda wiring. :headbang:

My band mates called it the “Space Bass”

I’ve gotten simpler with wiring these days.



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[dg27]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

That Ric has a heckuva lot of knobs on it for a bass. My kinda wiring. :headbang:

I don't like a lot of knobs and absolutely hate switches on basses, so on two of my basses I went the other way.

For my '76 Rick 4001S I replaced the pickups with SDs for Rick and had a blend knob installed to replace the switch. Maricela had them make a custom chrome cover for the bridge pickup. Tony Dudzik (Pickguardian) created the new pickguard and a plate to go around the bridge pickup.



For my '84 MIJ Fender Jazz Bass Special, I replaced the stock pickups with Hot for Neck and Hot for bridge, got rid of the (IMO) useless TBX switch and had that replaced with a blend. Those basses had no pickguard at all, which I grew to dislike. I drew what I wanted on Kraft paper, sent it to Tony and he made a pickguard and matching backplate. (The body isn't a standard size; no stock pickguards would fit.)



It was only after that that I learned about S-P switches; that's become my default.

 

[Artie]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

Is that a mini-hum in that Ric? Which one?

 

[dg27]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

Is that a mini-hum in that Ric? Which one?

My notes say it was the srb-1 neck and srb-1 bridge. It was whatever was standard SD for Ricks at that time (2003).

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

The color combo on that PJ is awesome!

 

[dg27]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

Thanks. I used that bass heavily for several years and had it basically rebuilt. The no-pickguard look seemed really dated after the 80s, which is why I talked Tony Dudzik into doing this one. Shell tort seemed too obvious, which is why I went with the black.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

I don't like a lot of knobs and absolutely hate switches on basses, so on two of my basses I went the other way.

For my '76 Rick 4001S I replaced the pickups with SDs for Rick and had a blend knob installed to replace the switch. Maricela had them make a custom chrome cover for the bridge pickup. Tony Dudzik (Pickguardian) created the new pickguard and a plate to go around the bridge pickup.

View attachment 103575

Man, thats super cool, 4001/4003 are my favorite basses -but I've never Duncaned one up.... sound so damn good as is usually

Curious now, you jerk.

 

[dg27]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

Man, thats super cool, 4001/4003 are my favorite basses -but I've never Duncaned one up.... sound so damn good as is usually

Curious now, you jerk.

My tastes changed somewhat and I was on a Duncanize everything spree at the time. But mainly I hated the four knobs and especially the switch, which I'd often accidentally hit during the chaos of playing live at the time. All of a sudden I'd have no low end (because I'd thrown it into the treble position).

It's still my least favorite ergonomically (I need the forearm cut: used to have to duct tape my wrist).

I remember posting pictures of this on a Rick forum at the time, where I got absolutely skewered for modding a Rick. I never went back there.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

But mainly I hated the four knobs and especially the switch, which I'd often accidentally hit during the chaos of playing live at the time. All of a sudden I'd have no low end (because I'd thrown it into the treble position).

My ‘73 4001 had the older lower wind pickups. The neck was a toaster and the bridge went through the strangle capacitor which removed all the low end. That pickup was useless on its own. So yeah, you didn’t want to switch to that by chance. Then one day I bypassed the cap. Holy crap, now it sounded like a bright P bass! lol. So I wired up the treble tone control to blend that cap in.

Pickup switches are kind of out-of-place on a bass. But there were no blend pots back then. If you ignore the switch, the bass is wired like a Jazz Bass. I added a master volume so I could blend the pickups and still lower the volume.

The other reason they have four knobs though is it’s a stereo bass. So if you’re using two amps, or two channels on an amp, you need two tone controls.

I did a stereo master volume, but I rarely used the stereo out. But it was cool for running the bridge pickup through a fuzz or something, while keeping the neck pickup clean. Or vice versa. I had a Maestro Bass Brassmaster.

All my other switches were for altering the tone of the pickups.


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[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

More pickup shenanigans... I decided one day to add a third pickup to a bass I made. It’s the one on the left.

Then I kept swapping out the two bridge pickups. I was using EMGs back then. I just wasn’t getting the tone I wanted.

That lead me to design my own pickups and figure out to make them!

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[Artie]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

. . . and the bridge went through the strangle capacitor which removed all the low end.

That's somewhat bizarre. Do you have any idea of the reason they'd remove the bass from the bass?

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

That's somewhat bizarre. Do you have any idea of the reason they'd remove the bass from the bass?

I really don’t. But they do the same thing on the treble pickups on the guitars. Gives them that bright Rickenbacker jangle.

My Rick came with flatwounds. So the strings weren’t as bright. And when you use both pickups together you get that classic Rick bass tone. So the treble pickup is really just adding to the treble bite. The neck pickups are more mellow sounding.

Rickenbacker were the very first electric guitars. They invented the first pickup which was the horseshoe pickup. That’s why they still have that dumb cover over the pickup. That was the horseshoe magnet. I think on those pickups they used the caps because it was a loud pickups. But only on the stereo basses.

On the ones they exported to the UK, like Chris Squire used, they were mono and I don’t think they used the cap.

But I’m just speculating. The current owners probably don’t even know why it was done.


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[Artie]

Re: Do bass guys do pup swaps / wiring changes like the guitar guys/gals?

That sounds logical. I'll buy it.