Body woods + SD Single Coil P-Bass Pups for Punk

[whyachi]

I'm in love with the Precision sound and feel, but I can't get into the Fender styling and the fact that everyone has one. I'm picking up a body blank and making my own style, but I'm not sure if I'll get more of that fat classic bass tone out of an Alder or Ash body. Or, maybe mahogany like the old Thunderbirds? I play mainly punk, a little blues on the side, usually with a pick and some flatwounds.

Also, I was looking into a true single-coil P-bass pickup for it and came to Seymour Duncan as I'm on a budget and I've heard good things about the brand. I've used the split-coil P pickups, but have no experience with the single-coil ones. How much buzz am I going to get out of this? I assume there's going to be some hum, I'm just wondering how bad it will be. I was looking at the quarter-pounder, but I'm open to suggestions.

Also also, can I get the sound I'm looking for with active electronics? Due to the single pup configuration I'm going for, I was thinking about putting a 3-band Stingray preamp on it so I at least have the option to change things up, but I didn't know if that would affect my sound much. I've never used active electronics, and if I had my way I'd just wire the pickup straight to the jack and say forget it, but I don't know how well that would work.



Thanks for any and all answers.

 

[AprioriMark]

It's important to figure out exactly what your needs are.  You mentioned a pretty wide range of ideas there.  I've played punk (and, this is one are where you need to be clear... what does "punk" mean to you?) on a fretless P-bass, a fretless J-bass, and all myriad of fretted basses.  Flat wound strings are an odd (but cool) choice. 

As far as body woods, Alder is a favorite of mine, actually, and Ash is pretty damn good too.  Mahogany is also nice if you're going for a fat/round sound, but it's heavy as all fook.

In my experience, a P-bass pickup alone is less "tight" harmonically, with more of the string "metallic" noise than other pickups.  It's sloppy, it's "rock" sounding, and it's classic.
J-bass pickups are a lot smoother and more compressed sounding, and I feel that they're "punchier" than a P-bass.  I always have at least one of these in a bass, because it makes it a lot more versatile.
Music Man or Gibson humbucker pickups are sorta like a louder mix of J and P pickups.  I love the complex harmonics, personally.  My main bass has a MM with a J-bass pickup in the bridge position, and while it's the least "punk" sounding bass I have, I'll still use it for that, and it smokes for all other styles of music.

Others will disagree, but I HATE active pickups on a bass.  Absolutely despise them.  Once you get into some really nice sets with really nice electronics, they become decent, but I simply don't care for the feel.  Like I said though, people will disagree, and I encourage you to listen for yourself.

-Mark

 

[whyachi]

I left punk vague as it varies from Rise Against to Greenday or Blink182, song by song.

I am definitely going for frets here. I can make some cool sounds on a fretless, but few of them are actual notes.


What would be my best bet for a single pickup layout? You mentioned active pickups, and I was going to use passive pickups with active electronics, if that makes a difference.

 

[AprioriMark]

So American Socal punk.  Yeah, I imagine you'd want something grittier like a P or MM pickup. 

Batteries are annoying as fook, just as a rule, and the tone was never what I enjoyed.  If I were going single pickup, I'd go for a Music Man style (Ducan makes a good one).  Those also seem to work the best with active electronics (to my ears).  If you can get away with 2 pickups, a P with a J in the bridge position will eat faces.

In my opinion, if I were building a single pickup bass for that style of music, I'd go maple neck with maple fretboard, a light alder body and a Music Man-style pickup.  I used P-basses, J-basses, a Stu Hamm Urge bass (stolen, grr), and a Gibson Gripper (the bass Mike from Green Day used a lot).  You can't really go wrong, unless you're afraid.

-Mark