Bass pickups

[Isaac]

I have a 1970's 4000 bass with several modifications. The original nut has been replaced with a brass nut, the bridge with a Badass. A neck pickup has been added. The electronics were active, but stopped working a while back. I recently gutted those.

All that is fine, except for the pickups. Originally, it had the Ric bridge pickup and a Hi-A (predecessor to Bartolini) in the neck position. I replaced those with the Seymour Duncan Basslines set. The SDs just don't have a sound I like. I find them thick, too much midbass. Not enough of the high mids that make Rics shine. Not much on the low end.

I have several other Rics. A MG 4001 with original pups, BG 4001 with Bartolinis, MB 4003 with an Alembic setup, a stock 3001 and 4004Cii. The 4000 is the only one that doesn't have a sound that appeals to me.

I still have the original bridge pickup. I suppose I could put that back in and get a high gain or even a toaster for the neck, but I already have the MG for that sound. I also like the lack of noise that the humbuckers give me, though there's no denying the sound of the stock high gains. Any suggestions as to what I might do? Replace the SDs? If so, with what? Any mods that might make the SDs sound better? Maybe running them in parallel instead of series? Anybody tried that?

I'm willing to at least consider pretty much any suggestions. I really like the sound of the stock pups and the Barts, but, of course, I already have those. What I'm looking for is something that keeps some of that Ric vibe, but adds something to it, as the Barts do. So, waddaya got?

[Isaac]

Oh, yeah, I'm new here. I was looking for info on neck widths and got caught up in a thread from ten years ago.

[Badanovski]

I have a set of Joe Barden pickups in my 4004cii that I really like. They are humbucking & still get great highs. I have Bartolinis in my 4003 but the Barden's are a bit brighter.

[Isaac]

Worth considering. I think I'm going to try wiring the pups parallel first. Won't cost me anything and it's easy to reverse.

[woodyng]

Getting rid of the SD's is your first step toward getting a better sound. How about making it back into a one pickup 4000 with a Lollar Horseshoe? That should be a totally unique sound from the rest of your menagerie. Lollar makes great classic sounding pickups.

[jps]

Getting rid of the SD's is your first step toward getting a better sound.

Yes, get rid of those shi-t pickups.