I am no expert in P bass pick ups, or anything other then an MM Stingray Pick up (and I still would not qualify as an expert, probably not even an assistant to an expert), however, based on my limited research, and the desire to get and mod a P bass sometime soon, my choice would be the EMG Geezer Buttler pick ups. I love the sound of them when compared to quarter pounders, and other P pups (although, I have not listened to them all, or the Steve Harris one next to the Geezer pup).
I may be biased, because although I do love and appreciate Steve Harris, I would say Geezer is much more influential on me.
I am sure that your pup choice will sound great and of course, it should be a big improvement over the stock pup. If not, then you might ask the question if it is worth the upgrade.
for instance, I upgraded my Ray4, and this was a long time before I had even watched a LOBSTER video with all the Ray4 pick up and pre-amp mods, I had just talked to some people that told me how happy they were with their pick up upgrades.
I plugged in my Ray4, and noodled a little Sublime “Date Rape” with the old pick up, and then unplugged and did the pup swap, with the Aguilar. When I plugged in, I was only one note into the same song, and I can only imagine the look on my face when I heard that sweet sweet gold to my ears. I must have looked like a cartoon with my jaw dropped to the floor.
I expected a difference, but not a completely different bass.
At the time, I did not have any EBMM Stingrays, and had not played any thru an amp. I had only played my Ray4, and my Ray34 a little bit.
Now I have EBMM Stingray with original pup and preamp, and my Ray4 with the stock preamp and Aguilar pick up.
If there was not a couple differences between the two basses, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference in a blind sound test.
My Ray4 is a 2 band EQ with stock Ernie Ball Slinky strings (my preference, so why change them"
My EBMM Stingray SLO Special is 3 band EQ with DR Neon Orange Coated Strings.
So, yeah, I can tell the difference from the strings and possibly a difference if they are both flat and I boost the mids, or if they are both boosted and I kill the mids, but otherwise, my Ray4 is as good as an EBMM IMHO
That is why the Sterling (SBMM) Stingray Ray4, for $300 US dollars, is one of the best, if not the best bass buy in the $350-$400 and under range. They are so well constructed, they look awesome, and sound (well, er…) really cool.
Unfortunately, they made the Pick Up on it a bust. i am positive it is a marketing thing, because if they did not make it this way, they would have a very hard time explaining the mark up on the Ray24 which is $499
The pick up on the Ray 4 sucks, and it is wired and potted as such that you can’t just switch the wires to being in parallel instead of in Series.
The Ray24 has a very similar pick up, with a similar problem, in the fact it is wired in series instead of in parallel, however, you have access to the wires, and if you are capable, you can change it in about 5 minutes with a screwdriver and soldering iron.
So, with the Ray24, you can still just swap out the pick up, but if you don’t want to have to spend the money doing so, you can just change it and get a better, more classic Stingray sound. That does NOT mean the pick up is very good, it still is pretty hot and begs to be replaced, but you can live with it for a while and not have to resort to putting flatwounds on it, or play it with the bass and treble cut all the time.
The Preamp in both basses is identical, even tho the website kind of words it as tho the Ray24 is upgraded from the Ray4.
I personally do not have a problem with the Preamp in the Ray4, it is adequate and meets my needs, but others rather turn it into a 3 band, and match the EQ to the Preamp when replacing them as a kit or combo.
There is a video with Lobster when he put the same Aguilar pick up I have, in a Ray4, using the stock preamp.
He then did a later video where he added the Aguilar Preamp to the bass, so it was a combo Pick up and Preamp.
I personally don’t hear much difference, and the difference that I hear, ever so slight, is not better or worse, just a little different, mostly with the addition of the Mid cut / boost to the preamp.
The Pick Up cost me $119. The Pre-amp is around $159, so together is it roughly $280. I would have to think LONG and HARD about putting $280 into a $300 Bass.
But to add $120 to it, was way worth it. It really is SOOOOO MUCH BETTER with the upgraded pick up, it is night and day.
However, to put another $160 into the bass that you now have $420 invested (bass cost plus pick up cost), and just get a little difference in tone adjustment with the 3 band pre-amp, to me is not worth it. YMMV, to others, that 3 band might make a huge difference to their recordings or sound on stage, or just if they like the idea of having more tonal possibilities. To me, it is not.
I can use my Behringer BDI-21 Bass Driver Pre-amp if I want to play with mids, or many of my pedals, and even on the amp itself, so it is not worth it for me.
The exception to that rule might be the Darkglass Tone Capsule pre-amp. It is actually not much more then the Aguilar, if not the same price, and that sucker adds a WHOLE RANGE OF TONAL POSSIBILITIES. Geared more towards the hard rock, punk, metal, death metal, etc… then classic tones, but it sure is fantastic if that is what you want to turn your bass into.
This video is after Lobster did a complete upgrade on a Ray4, with a $500 budget (I think, it might have been the Mold Smoothie that was $500 budget instead of Mint-0-Ray). Then he added the tone capsule and demoed it. It is freaking incredible, however it is much less like a stingray and more like and ESP LTD or Schecter in sound.
That is another awesome thing about the Ray4. They are so CHEAP, yet SO FLEXIBLE with so many possibilities for upgrade, you can have a couple adn they can all be completely different sounding instruments, with that same classic Stingray look that I love so much.
Here is the Mint-O-Ray after it was completed with the Darkglass Tone Capsule pre-amp (Delano pick up).
There are 4 other videos from the start to finish of the project before this one, if you are interested, they are pretty cool to watch, as are all his Ray 4 pup and preamp modification videos / reviews.
, sort of like an HH arrangement. I love the feel of a J-bass (when we had the bit of COVID reprieve last year I went and noodled with one in the store), but I don’t love the tone OF THE pups.
and I have seen PJ sets on eBay