Highly recommended!Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
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Highly recommended!Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
ok then,
after playing this bass non stop for several months now, I have decided to proceed with the pick up upgrade. I report here in case someone else is considering doing the same on their PitBull Precision bass.
About the pickup itself, after some research I settled on DiMarzio Model P. While I was there I decided also to upgrade all the electronics as well.
Here the set arrived today
Attachment 43491
Pickups, one 500k pot for the volume, a 250k for the tone, and a .033 cap
I have never done an upgrade like this before and I must confess that I was bit nervous!
It took me a while but following the diagrams step by step I managed to wire the whole thing up using the classic cardboard trick.
Attachment 43492
.
Attachment 43493
I thought I measured the wires very well, using the kit electronics as reference, but somehow I ended up with a liitle bit more wire than I wanted.
This is the bit where you unsolder one end of the wire, cut, and resolder to the right length.
I took the old electronics out of the pick guard, and installed the upgraded ones.
So far so good, except that when I tried to put the pick guard back the screw holes on the body wouldn't align anymore with the pick guard!
After a quick inspection, I realised that DiMarzio pots are a fair bit larger that the kit ones, and both pots where touching the inside of the cavity, especially the tone pot.
I took my Dremel and dug a little bit on the side of the cavity to make some space.
This is the cavity before the mod
Attachment 43494
.
and this is the cavity when I was sort of half the way the job with the Dremel.
The copper tape at the bottom is still there, it's just completely covered by the ash dust.
Attachment 43496
after that I vacuumed all the dust off, and put back some copper tape just where I had to dig some space for the pots.
The pick guard now is well aligned.
After that I pre-drilled the holes for the new pick ups.
The DiMarzio pickups are slightly smaller, so I had first to patch the existing holes that I drilled for the kit pickups, and then I finally drilled the holes for the new ones.
This is a photo when I was half way adjusting the pickup height. I wanted these pickup to be at the same height of the old ones, for a fair comparison. Notice the pickup slightly smaller then the pick guard slots
Attachment 43497
Here for reference the pick guard with the kit pickups
Attachment 43498
It was a slightly bigger job than I anticipated!
Especially the unexpected part when I had to make the cavity larger to account for the larger pots.
I've read of people saying that this upgrade took them 20mins.. no way! at least for me & my current skills... it was a good hour and a half at least.
In any case, put the strings back on, tuned, plugged in the instrument and it worked first go!!!
I am definitely pleased with the sound and I am so happy I did this upgrade.
I think the kit pickups were pretty decent, to be honest I could have kept them no problem, but for sure these new pickups definitely bring new life into this instrument!
I agree with the many reviews out there saying that this pickups are "loud"... for sure I agree they are. But I don't think it's just matter of loudness (that after all can be achieved by turning up the amp a bit), I think it's more about having more presence, control, and dynamic, particularly when playing things like muted notes, ghost notes, harmonics etc... It's like all these tones & subtle things are more upfront, and easier to get out of the instrument.
On top of that I found the playing experience generally more enjoyable, and a sort of fuller and more complete sound coming out of the instrument.
I have also found that (for my style of playing at least) I have more usable and interesting range when I move the plucking hand way closer to the bridge or closer to the fretboard, even when above the fretboard.
I just played non stop for about 2 hours and I am very satisfied with the tone knob control as well. All the way anticlockwise it's a touch too dark for my taste, but everything else, let's say between 1 and 10 is very inspiring and real fun to play.
Can't wait to test this with a drummer or in a jam situation!
Good point Simon, thank you for the suggestion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
I didn't think of that; I've managed to fit it all in the cavity, wires and everything because I was so keen to test this upgrade; but for sure will do as you suggest, likely over the weekend.
It was indeed a bit messy and annoying having to deal with all those wires when putting the pick guard back.