Upgrading Mexican P-Bass Pickups

magritte · Post by **magritte** » Fri May 23, 2014 6:06 pm

Guys, what pickup would you suggest for this bass if I want a vintage and mellow sound?

Thanks

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Fri May 23, 2014 9:55 pm

Hi.

I own a lefty mexican Squire bass with the three pickups.
Have never messed with them at all.
I DO EQ and compress the bass a little. I usually add a little pick (3-5K) and reduce the very low end (40Hz) with a hipass filter. I use an LA2a compressor doing about 3dB max compression.

That said, if your pickups suck, then try some of Seymour Duncan's:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/b ... ups/pbass/

Cheers

magritte · Post by **magritte** » Fri May 23, 2014 10:11 pm

Thanks, Nick. I am going to try the Antiquity 2, since they claim it's best for the 60s tone.

Does anyone recommend upgrading the pots or any other components on these?

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Sat May 24, 2014 8:39 am

On passive guitars/basses the Bourns conductive plastic pots are the best. They run about $25 each for the best versions. Consider using a Fender "no-load" 250k tone pot as it's clearer sounding when the tone cap is disconnected.

Most Mexican P-bass pickups are nearly identical to the American versions, #42 wire and alnico 5 magnets. That IS the classic sound. Body wood and the the bridge may make more difference.

I wrapped the inside of my plastic pickup covers with adhesive copper foil tape, that removes all the buzz when fingers are removed from the strings. A piece of black electric tape across the magnet poles stops buzzing when your fingers touch them. Lining the cavity with copper foil tape removes all residual noise.

Another great mod is installing a series/parallel toggle switch for the two coils. Series wiring gets the traditional tone, in parallel it's more hi-fi and acoustic sounding, a great option to have.

LowG · Post by **LowG** » Sat May 24, 2014 11:11 am

What type/brand of strings are you currently using?

magritte · Post by **magritte** » Sat May 24, 2014 11:54 am

LowG wrote:What type/brand of strings are you currently using?

I'm not sure because I just bought this from a local college kid who didn't know what strings he put on (said he hadn't played it for years and couldn't remember). What would you recommend putting on it?

Also, is $225 a good price for a MIM p-bass? It looks barely used.

Jim, thanks--I will look into all that, too. It actually sounds pretty good as is; I was just wondering if I could make it more vintage sounding.

LowG · Post by **LowG** » Sat May 24, 2014 12:58 pm

For vintage sound you must use flatwound strings. Round wound bass strings didn't get common till 70s and 80s.
That will be the single best thing you can change if the current strings are not flat wound (if you want vintage sound).

Brand: I don't have strong feelings about the brand and or model. Go to talkbass.com and there will be more info than you thought possible.

If it's a general use studio bass and the people playing it are not full time bassists, I'd just suggest a set that is medium to low tension. Also FYI even if you end up wanting a set that seems expensive remember that these strings will stay on the bass forever - it's not like on guitar where they lose brightness and you must change them - you want these to be dark. Older the better.

magritte · Post by **magritte** » Sat May 24, 2014 1:06 pm

LowG wrote:For vintage sound you must use flatwound strings. Round wound bass strings didn't get common till 70s and 80s.
That will be the single best thing you can change if the current strings are not flat wound (if you want vintage sound).

Brand: I don't have strong feelings about the brand and or model. Go to talkbass.com and there will be more info than you thought possible.

If it's a general use studio bass and the people playing it are not full time bassists, I'd just suggest a set that is medium to low tension. Also FYI even if you end up wanting a set that seems expensive remember that these strings will stay on the bass forever - it's not like on guitar where they lose brightness and you must change them - you want these to be dark. Older the better.

Great info, thanks. I am a guitar player, so I do not know much at all about bass strings. This will require some research.

eh91311 · Post by **eh91311** » Tue May 27, 2014 5:58 pm

Tons of good advice about P-basses and the choice of flatwound strings for a vintage, Motown-like tone. My suggestions include to try regular light-gauge flatwound strings, no fancy "chrome" or alloy types. The best thing that you can do for the bass is to have it professionally set up with your choice of strings, and get the string height and pickup height adjusted so it can sound its best. You might want to look online for bass set-ups used by Carol Kaye (famous 60's studio bassist), including the use and gauge of picks she used and the foam pad damper in front of the bridge to kill off overtones. Remember that in most cases, where you position your picking hand determines the sound of the bass. Fender Precision basses are capable of many different types of tones depending on where you pick or pluck the strings: near the bridge for more articulated sounds, over the pickup for the traditional P-bass tone, up near the junction of the neck and body for lower, bassier sounds.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Wed May 28, 2014 4:29 am

Do let me add, recording-wise, I love the DI tones I can get with various equip (dbx163x straight in, or The Brick or other pre's,add a dbx 160XT or VLA2, 1176 as pre, Eden WTDI, etc.), but adding a mic'd small combo?

Heaven, for this bassist!

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Wed May 28, 2014 7:53 am

If you combine amp miced and DI feeds, you will need to adjust the DI as the amped signal will have some delay in it. 1.3ms per foot is the delay time for sound to travel, a quality digital delay can line those up.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Wed May 28, 2014 12:46 pm

May I say, "if you want/need".

I mean, I kinda been digging it as follows:

Bass on 10' cord to Brick on 6' cord to dbx160XT on 3' cord to soundcard; amp to ic 4" off by 10' cord to UA710 to 3' cord to soundcard (Delta 44).

I haven't felt any need to try and line it up, and love how the bass is "biggened". Maybe because of the compressor? I also limit each track ITB.

(BTW, JW, didja ever notice my PM to you?

)

lyman · Post by **lyman** » Thu May 29, 2014 9:06 am

A fast and cheap mod to get a more mellow sound is to turn the volume and tone knobs down a tiny bit.

CraigS63 · Post by **CraigS63** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 7:33 am

The delay is only the "air" part (speaker to mic distance), about 1 millisecond per foot. The delay going through the cables is about 1 nanosecond per foot (i.e. the speed of light). Harder to hear IMO.

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Sun Jun 01, 2014 10:01 am

Audio cables will not get close to the speed of light. The spec is called 'propagation delay'. My best high speed data cables work at 70% propagation delay, not too shabby. The best fiber optics work much faster.

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Upgrading Mexican P-Bass Pickups

Upgrading Mexican P-Bass Pickups

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