Passive pickup "clipping"

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thisismusicinc
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Re: Passive pickup "clipping"

Post by thisismusicinc »

Does it happens on both pickups?

My solution back in the days when my playing caused the strings to hit the neck poles was to get a humbucker (ended up with a seymour duncan, cause that's what was I could get hold on). For a while I even mounted it in the body, to get it low enough. This was while tuned down to C and playing very aggressively.

Nowadays, though, a regular mounted rick humbucker works fine for me.
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cassius987
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Re: Passive pickup "clipping"

Post by cassius987 »

thisismusicinc wrote:Does it happens on both pickups?
Far, far more so on the neck pickup.

I updated my "tone journal" tonight with new recordings of the same bass, but with the strings replaced by bigger gauges (went from Hi-Beams 40-95 to Hi-Beams 45-100, gaining .005'' on each string). To get the same setup (which I gauge mostly off of the height from the 12th fret, since I never mess with the bridge once I like it), I had to turn the truss rods from "finger-loose" to about 1/3 turn past "finger-tight" (each).

The bigger strings feel just fine but the tone is audibly punchier and more focused when I listen back to the old and new recordings (otherwise same input and input volume). So putting a bit more tension into the equation seems to have helped out. (The song I am using to make comparisons is "Backslider" by Toadies. Kind of forces you to hit hard to get the right tone, so it makes for a good stress test.)

However, the improvement was more obvious for the bridge pickup. The neck pickup is also improved, but still suffering a little from the "pickup clipping" sound. It is most obvious in the treble range. If I roll the tone knob back, on one on my other "stress test" songs ("Back In The Day" by Erykah Badu), the improvement is more noticeable than for the Toadies song (which I run with the tone pot open).

Short version: I'm happy with heavier strings. I think my next move is going to be to try a different neck pickup out.
thisismusicinc wrote:My solution back in the days when my playing caused the strings to hit the neck poles was to get a humbucker...
As stated above, I think something akin to this will be my next move for the neck pickup. The bridge pickup is pretty much fine at this point.
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cassius987
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Re: Passive pickup "clipping"

Post by cassius987 »

Update: I tried out a Nordenbocker in the neck position, as these pickups have intrigued me. Seems to have made quite a positive improvement - possibly the way the pole pieces are arranged? (With the normal pole positions right under the strings, maybe they're more vulnerable to string noise. My Hi Beams are probably on the slinkier side, too.) This pickup's tone is also very nice. I think it has a P Bass meets Rickenbacker vibe, but its mostly Rickenbacker.
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iiipopes
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Re: Passive pickup "clipping"

Post by iiipopes »

cassius987 wrote:Update: I tried out a Nordenbocker in the neck position, as these pickups have intrigued me. Seems to have made quite a positive improvement - possibly the way the pole pieces are arranged? (With the normal pole positions right under the strings, maybe they're more vulnerable to string noise. My Hi Beams are probably on the slinkier side, too.) This pickup's tone is also very nice. I think it has a P Bass meets Rickenbacker vibe, but its mostly Rickenbacker.
This is exactly why Leo Fender went to double pole pieces on the P-bass and later J-bass pickups: to smooth out the response, especially so as not to send articulation peaks to the 4X10 Bassman amplifiers and cause too much paper cone speaker excursion and damage from the limited compliance of the speakers.
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cassius987
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Re: Passive pickup "clipping"

Post by cassius987 »

iiipopes wrote:This is exactly why Leo Fender went to double pole pieces on the P-bass and later J-bass pickups: to smooth out the response, especially so as not to send articulation peaks to the 4X10 Bassman amplifiers and cause too much paper cone speaker excursion and damage from the limited compliance of the speakers.
That's exactly why I wanted to try it. Besides being a little less shielded apparently, it's great.
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