Mini-Humbucker sized pickups for Hollowbody

[lstelie]

Hello

I gig with an Ibanez AFB200, I love this bass, the way it feels, the look, the scale.. every thing... but the sound is a little bit muddy. This sound is ok for live, but for recording it lacks precision, definition.



The AFB200 has two mini-humbucker sized pickups







The classic solution to this is "just change the electronic".. but apparently nobody provides replacement mini-humbucker sized pick ups (except TV Jones but they are shorter)

Browsing SD website I found this : http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/sd-mini-humbuckers-and-the-hofner-beatle-bass/

The guy explains he used two Guitar mini-humbucker, a SM1 and SM3 on a Hofner violin bass and apparently it works

Do someone else have the same kind of experience or heard someone who tried to use guitar mini-humbucker on a hollowbody bass ?

Thanks in advance

Luc

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Mini-Humbucker sized pickups for Hollowbody

The instrument is hollow, with a wooden bridge and flat- or tape-wound strings. It is bound to lack high frequency content. I would go so far as to say that it supposed to lack high frequency content.

If you are content with the live sound, leave the instrument exactly as it is. When recording, you should have access to multi-band compression and equalisation processors.

Since the stock pickups appear to be a non-standard size, the easiest routes to a brighter sound are roundwound strings or pedals - either an Equaliser or an Aural Exciter.

SD used to manufacture an EQ pedal for bass named the Paranormal. This amounted to the STC-3 in a box with a balanced line level output.

 

[One Bad Monkey]

Re: Mini-Humbucker sized pickups for Hollowbody

Browsing SD website I found this : http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/sd-mini-humbuckers-and-the-hofner-beatle-bass/

The guy explains he used two Guitar mini-humbucker, a SM1 and SM3 on a Hofner violin bass and apparently it works

Do someone else have the same kind of experience or heard someone who tried to use guitar mini-humbucker on a hollowbody bass ?

It does work. I talked with Scott Marceau (before he left for Yamaha) at length about putting mini humbuckers in the Hofner, and it works really, really well. I use the Hofner quite a bit now on gigs, and everyone loves the sound of it. I would recommend giving it a shot, as it did tighten up the muddiness of the instrument without losing that warmth and low end.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Mini-Humbucker sized pickups for Hollowbody

It does work. I talked with Scott Marceau (before he left for Yamaha) at length about putting mini humbuckers in the Hofner, and it works really, really well. I use the Hofner quite a bit now on gigs, and everyone loves the sound of it. I would recommend giving it a shot, as it did tighten up the muddiness of the instrument without losing that warmth and low end.

OP, this is the guy who wrote it and I don't think you can get better advice from someone.

 

[daan]

Re: Mini-Humbucker sized pickups for Hollowbody

OK I know this is kinda old, but I just saw this thread... THis is a subject I struggled with for EVER until I found a couple options on the Bay. Here goes:
I used to have a Hofner 500/4,

it was supposed to have all the electronics that a Beatle bass has. Someone before me pulled it all out and tried to stuff in active Bartolini Jazz Bass pups, and screwed it all up.

I pulled it all out and replaced it with the pups from my old Gretsch Electromatic (the crappy late 90's Korean ones, not the newer Chinese ones that are MUCH better)

It sounded great! THe pups weren't exactly the same size as the Hofners were, but I was able to make pup rings out of pickguard material.

After a lot of research, I found out that the pups were PROBABLY (not 100% sure, but most likely) Artec "Firebird style" (no polepiece cover) guitar mini-humbuckers. I liked them so much I got a set for my Hondo project

They did sound pretty good, I had to make sure they were very well centered under the strings or the E or the G would get quieter than the others. After more mucking about, I ended up getting THESE
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MINGS-Mini-Humbucker-BASS-Pickup-Set-Chrome-PMS-/371349970045?
THey APPEAR to be the same as what I had, other than the 4 polepiece covers (they don't sound all that different, they're the exact same size as the plain cover ones, but these don't have the quiet string issue )
My Hofner had a pretty narrow string spread, so it didn't matter much how centered the pups were under the strings. My Hondo has the usual Jazz spread though and the Mings' don't seem to have any issue with dropping the one or other string.
THere's also THESE
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gibson-Bass...005&rk=2&rkt=6&mehot=ag&sd=371349970045&rt=nc
which are like the bridge pups on EB-3 type basses, or THESE
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Artec-Mini-...b&pid=100005&rk=2&rkt=6&sd=281044912476&rt=nc
which are supposed to be more like the MIJ pups my Hondo was SUPPOSED to come with. (both wider and longer, if the string spacing on your bass is an issue)
All these are Artec pups, which is most likely what's in your Ibanez already, along with 99% of all the import basses out there.

Hope this helps!

 

[daan]

Re: Mini-Humbucker sized pickups for Hollowbody

I guess the point I was meaning to get across (but forgot to add while looking up all the links) was the instrument doesn't care if you put "guitar" or "bass" pickups into it, either one will work. I WANTED real SD minis in my Hofner, I just couldn't afford them at the time and had to seek out minis I could afford. I was gonna get GFS ones, until I found out they were actually made by Artec, then I had to go look for those. I've heard about people putting bent nails or Allen wrenches under the pickup covers to help with the string loudness issues, too (supposed to help focus the magnetic field or something)

 

[One Bad Monkey]

Re: Mini-Humbucker sized pickups for Hollowbody

As long as the magnets used aren't pole pieces (like the Hofner) but rail magnets (like the Seymour Duncan), you won't have an issue. It's only when there ARE pole pieces that you're going to start to have issues.