Guild B301 Pickups

[sarlscharisma]

Just received a Guild B301 from 78. I'm comparing it to a 70s p bass and a new Ric 4003 and think the pickups are a bit on the low volume side of things. Are the pickups fairly low output on these things?

 

[sarlscharisma]

Just to update. The pickup resistance is 9.36.

Is that acceptable?

 

[fronobulax]

Dunno. But didn't want you to feel you were being ignored.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Looks like we'll have to get GAD into Basses so he can answer stuff like this.

Most Bassist don't really care about all that technical stuff. They just like grooving and making bodies move!

 

[sarlscharisma]

I don’t normally get bogged down in technical. The low output surprised me given the talk around how good these Guild pickups sound.

 

[fronobulax]

I don’t normally get bogged down in technical. The low output surprised me given the talk around how good these Guild pickups sound.

I don't think I'd notice low output. I've got three different Bisonic family PUs and they don't all respond the same way when I roll off the volume. So I tweak the bass volume for the sound I want and then set up the amp for the room and circumstances. I don't really think about whether the difference in amp settings is a reflection of a hotter PU, or not.

What I do notice is when I switch from a passive to active PU and forget to adjust the amp accordingly

I can't recall anyone ever having bad things to say about a B-30x series bass but there aren't a lot of owners posting.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

I can't recall anyone ever having bad things to say about a B-30x series bass but there aren't a lot of owners posting.

Love the tone, hate the deck-dive!

 

[fronobulax]

I can't recall anyone ever having bad things to say about a B-30x series bass but there aren't a lot of owners posting.

Love the tone, hate the deck-dive!

That I do recall. I probably need to have my meds adjusted

 

[hieronymous]

I don’t normally get bogged down in technical. The low output surprised me given the talk around how good these Guild pickups sound.

Low output isn't necessarily a bad thing. I have a 1976 Rickenbacker 4001 with quite low output pickups, but they have a more even frequency response than the later "high gains" - high output can affect frequency response, like less highs, etc. I also use a tube compressor so I adjust that according to the output of each bass, plus a preamp can be useful too. If you're just going straight from bass into amp then I can see how it might be a problem, but you might just need to turn up the amp or adjust the eq.

 

[sarlscharisma]

It’s the lowest output of my 6 basses straight into amp without any dialling in any eq. That includes a Fender Jazz. Of course I can eq and tweak with my preamp. As I’m getting more familiar with the bass The E and G string sound great but the A and E are sounding a bit dull. I think that’s where I’m getting frustrated with the output. The A and D are raised following the neck curve I guess but that seems to be correlating with lower output in relation to string height.

 

[hieronymous]

Yeah, different outputs for different strings can be frustrating. Sorry I don't have experience with those basses.

 

[SFIV1967]

Just to update. The pickup resistance is 9.36. Is that acceptable?

I have seen some claiming 10.4 kohms, somebody claimed 11.0, Ken Nash has some where he just said 10k. So 9.36 seems to be in the ballpark at least, maybe a bit on the lower side. But could it be that maybe a pot is not good anymore and hence the lower output in general?
Ralf

 

[mellowgerman]

Yeah 9.36k is not a particularly low resistance for a vintage pickup, but will often be quieter than a lot of modern pickups. Did you try raising it closer to the strings? Also I've seen people use magnets under certain strings to compensate for output inconsistencies, both on top and/or on bottom