SeriesDiMarzio Bass Pickups

I was building a P-bass project and needed a pickup. I had heard DiMarzio made good pickups and well everything I heard was true! This is a black, split-coil Precision bass pickup. Model: P DP122. I bought this at my local music shop. Right around $50 or $60. I also bought a CTS wiring kit to compliment the already great pickup. It fit just as it should with no mods. The tone is fierce! It is loud and mean. The mids growl. Everything you want and more from a P-bass pickup. There is no unwanted noise from the pickup. It wired up no problem. None at all, I am very pleased with this pickup. I've gigged with my project P-bass for close to 8 years. Knock on wood, no problems whatsoever with the pickup. The screws have began to rust, but hey, I PLAY this bass. If it gets out of hand I will replace the screws, but it looks cooler as is. If you want more growl and low mids coming from your P-bass I suggest picking up this pickup. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

$90 from Daddy's Junky Music. I bought them to get rid of the hum that occurs with stock Fender PUs when the pair is set other than at nearly equal levels. They really cleaned up the hum problem, described above, in my Fender Jazz Std. I had to very slightly enlarge the rout for the bridge PU. This IS mentioned in the instruction sheet, which says that the PU housing size is true to vintage Fender J-bass dimensions but that newer Fenders need very minor routing. Well, it was so minor that I could do it with my Dremel hand power tool. But what if you don't have such a tool? Why is it so important to be "vintage accurate" if the PU being installed is not a Fender OEM part anyway? The size difference is so minor that I'm sure Dimarzio could have built the same PU with a slightly smaller housing . Even if you have a tool for the job, the need to carefully enlarge the rout turns what ought to be an easy job into a pain in the ass. Even if you let a shop do the installation, it turns a low price labor charge to a mid-price labor charge. Has no moving parts, looks OK. Dimarzio has a very good reputation. Instruction sheet was reasonably clear. Didn't smell bad or anything. What can you say about a pickup? It's black with exposed pole pieces and each PU has 4 wires. New PU mounting screws and bottom pads included, but no springs. I wound up shimming to get some extra height. Cuts hum drastically, especially when you solo either pickup. Tone is very similar to original PUs on my MIJ passive J-Bass of approx 1999 manufacture. I happen to like that tone, but my bass is fretless, and has a BadAss bridge, so YMMV. I did NOT replace the pots. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com