Pickups and Strings - find your bass' tone

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Modern, Dingwall + Darkglass

Vintage, P-bass+Ampeg and punk (like peanut butter and chocolate)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvfhgH3RbzM

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Jaco was Jaco. He could do magic with a broomstick glued to a shoebox strung with rubber bands. :grin:

I have 24-fret basses and one 22-fretter.

Personally, I prefer 24 frets. That style of neck feels roomy and comfortable to me. No problem reaching lower frets. The 22-fretter is fine, too, but it feels kinda cramped in comparison to its longer-necked brethren.

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I like them both. They definitely feel different though, even though the frets are the same width.

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Yep, I like them both as well. But they do feel different, despite the scale being identical. It feels like a body thing to me: different shapes and sizes from one to the next.

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I kind of like the bridge position better on 24-fret and the neck position better on 21. As a huge generalization.

Another thing to keep in mind, @jhchason81 is that number of frets and scale length don’t necessarily correlate - I have, e.g., a 34 inch with 24 frets and a 35 inch with 21 frets. If you are (very) worried about muscle memory and “knowing where things are” and how far away frets are etc, then perhaps stick to one “layout” for the time being.

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I’ll add that every bass feels a little different and your reach will vary. I wouldn’t get too wrapped up in it and just focus more on getting a bass you like the sound and look of. You’ll adapt

So true! When we practice all of us use IEMs but at sound check it’s off as we need to hear how all come together in the mix and adjust accordingly. The nasally tone I usually avoid turns out well in the mix on certain songs and I’d stick with that.

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So I have this new bass coming in.

with really cheap pickups. I know money does not a pickup make, but I am basically buying for the body and if the pickups are good that’s a win.

But at $17.99 retail I am not counting on it.

So what pickups would you put in if you had to pick? The bass is fretless. My mind right now is DiMarzio, either the DP-122 Model P or possibly the Duncan SCPB3.

Would a more modern tone sound okay on a fretless? Really interested in your opinions

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My initial thought was warm not modern but really depends on your taste.

My initial thought was warm too; which is my preference actually. My FGN Mighty Power has two Fender PV63 pickups, my FGN Jazz has two Nordy 51J4s pickups.

I cannot lie, I like warm better. But my Charvel has a Relentless set so I have modern covered.

So if I go with my preference, what’s the best route? DiMarzio has the Sixties P, that’s a possibility. In an exchange with Fralin (when I was swapping pups on the MP) they advised me to do a 5% overwind on the bridge and regular wind on the neck. Might be time to see what that’s got

I love DiMarzio to death but if you want warm and not bright a ceramic monster like the Model P is a bad plan, despite it being my favorite P pickup.

Maybe a pair of Fender '60s CS P? Those really impressed me for the price. Not quite a Fralin but much much cheaper, definitely a nice pickup.

Fender CS 60s P are $149.99, Fralin is $150.00.

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Whoa. For some reason I thought the Fenders were $100. My bad.

Both are really nice. TBH I preferred the Bareknuckle '58 to both for the warm vintagey sound.

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I have. It’s and love them both equally. You can’t go wrong with either for sure

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Let me ask a question, what’s the difference between a Fender CS 62 P pickup and a Fender PV 62 pickup?

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Sonically I am not sure, but one is the Pure Vintage line and one is the Custom Shop line.

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Looking on the Fender site and the specs look identical down to the resistance and inductance. Hazard a guess it’s new packaging

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