Recommendations for Warmoth Gecko 6

[RMosack]

I'm building a project six string Warmoth Gecko bass for my son. They rout the bass for a pair of Duncan ASB2-6 / EMG 45 pickups. I assume the Duncan and EMG are both soap bars with the same shape. I admit to knowing way, way more about guitar pickups and almost nothing about bass pickups. I know J bass and P bass, but all the crazy soap bars and such are outside my knowledge bass.

So I'm looking for recommendations. My son plays all genres of music. He's kind of a bass fanatic after just a year. He plays the big upright double bass at school. He has a four string P bass and he often plays my five string jazz bass. His favorite bass player is probably Les Claypool. He plays a lot of that Primus stuff. He also plays John Paul Jones and Geddy Lee stuff too. He plays lots of rock. But he definitely likes to slap and pop.

As I THINK I understand it, the Duncan ASB and EMG 45 are 4.5" soap bars. But I have no idea what the differences are among the various Duncan soap bar offering for six string. I found these two on the website:
- Active Soap Bar Phase I
- Active Soap Bar Phase II
Can anyone explain how they differ? Are these the only pickups of this shape/form factor offered by Duncan?

Sorry for all the questions, but I have to start somewhere. If I was building him a Strat, I'd have no problems!


While we are at it, with four controls, I assume there are control options. Volume, blend and some sort of EQ. Any Seymour Duncan recommendations?

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.​

 

[jeremy]

the size is the only real difference, you want the phase II for this application

 

[RMosack]

the size is the only real difference, you want the phase II for this application

I called Warmoth yesterday. FWIW, they said that Phase I is the better fit.

Phase I matches Bartolini with the bigger corner radii. Phase II matches EMG with the smaller, sharper radii. Even thought their sight says that the pickup routs are ASB / EMG 45, they are actually programmed to better match the Bartolini shape. An EMG "might" be a tighter fit in the corners, requiring a little filing, routing or sanding. The guy said that an EMG 45 or Phase II Duncan might fit just fine, but it might be snug.

 

[jeremy]

gotcha, good to know. i was only going off what you posted at the top where they said they routed it for duncan ASB2-6 / EMG 45. never hurts to go to the source!

 

[PFDarkside]

Is there only one Duncan active soap bar design? One nice thing about EMG is the soap bars are available in P, J, JCS, DC and CS, both with standard and X preamp.