Magna Bass iv replacement

Having found a knackered pickup in a GT bass and the chances of getting a replacement not to good, I decided to try out a few things.





Glue it in.



A touch of satin black on the poles, Bobs your uncle?
This replacement fits perfectly and is a 4 wired humbucker, so many configurations are possible.
The original being wired parallel out of phase so seems quite.

Good job Westbone! and good to know something else will fit if I ever need a replacement for my GT Bass. Everybody seems to have problems with these magnabass pickups... where is the replacement pickup from?

Well, who's a clever boy then?!
Yet another tidbit to put up on the FixMe section of the new web site!
But first...like bowenjaybee asked, what pup did ya find works in there?

where is the replacement pickup from?[/quote]

Now that'll be telling.
I'll try it out in the guitar, let you all know how it sounds.

Looks like This One to me

It cetainly is that very one, don't know how it sounds as yet, probably ok, can't be any bloody worse than what was in there. A piece of crap, untill you get inside it and rewire it.

Barry wrote:Well, who's a clever boy then?!
Yet another tidbit to put up on the FixMe section of the new web site!
But first...like bowenjaybee asked, what pup did ya find works in there?

Barry, you sound like my Grandad

I may be old but, sheesh!

Westbone wrote:It cetainly is that very one, don't know how it sounds as yet, probably ok, can't be any bloody worse than what was in there. A piece of crap, untill you get inside it and rewire it.

I've recently begun working at my local guitar shop and I can tell you from first hand experience that the Music Man line is just amazing! (Full disclosure: Dunno about the basses since I don't really play 'em, but the guitars just freakin' rock!!!)

Only joking Barry,
I am one a grandad that is

Here's hoping that:

• I live long enough to be a grand daddy, and
  
• It's less stressful than daddy-dom at 66

Barry wrote:

Westbone wrote:It cetainly is that very one, don't know how it sounds as yet, probably ok, can't be any bloody worse than what was in there. A piece of crap, untill you get inside it and rewire it.

I've recently begun working at my local guitar shop and I can tell you from first hand experience that the Music Man line is just amazing! (Full disclosure: Dunno about the basses since I don't really play 'em, but the guitars just freakin' rock!!!)

I can speak for the guitar amps as my wife has a compact 25 watt practice model and it is amazing. Do you know Barry if the tubes are still available anywhere? I need to get another and have had long experience in not finding one.

Of course the tubes are available, almost anywhere.

Tubes? Amp?
Are you talking about a Music Man amp??
As Damian says , shouldn't be an issue finding a replacement tube.

I found an ST bass last year were the previous owner also changed the pickup. He used an EMG active bass pickup, fits perfectly. The only problem is that he decided to carve out the pickup ring doing a bad job of it, would have been best to leave alone....

Yeah, looks like they attacked it with a kitchen knife.

Here's the pup that came out of the GT.


No wonder it didn't work!

Thought I'd try the mod mentioned on the GT bass wiring diagram.
Seeing as I had the spare slugs from the knackered pickup.







With the replacement humbucker and this thing I hope to shake a few foundations.

Was that you I felt earlier in the afternoon ?.... my walls shook a bit... :joker:

Put it all back together. Wired the 'new' bridge pup series/parallel switching on the push/pull knob.
Sounds ok but due to it's location is still not all that powerful. Had to place extra foam underneath to bring up to the strings.
Can get some nice sounds when bridge and neck pups are on together.
The neck pup with the extra slugs is HUGE. I recommend that mod any day, sounds massive
The guitar is now in the hands of some lucky punter.

I thought about dropping a Kent Armstrong musicman in mine. Its 13.6 ohms or thereabouts and a pretty decent pickup from what i hear. Anyone have any experience with these? I'm gonna try the extra slugs too Westbone, sounds fun!

hobster wrote:I thought about dropping a Kent Armstrong musicman in mine. Its 13.6 ohms or thereabouts and a pretty decent pickup from what i hear. Anyone have any experience with these?

I grabbed a second GT bass to use the neck pup as a donor for the dead one in my main GT bass. Someone had installed a Kent Armstrong soapbar in the bridge position. I briefly tested it before dismantling the bass and I was very impressed with the Kent, very nice bright sound and worked well with the original booming magnabass. It looked a bit odd but fitted in the pickup cavity ok.

Thanks for the input! It does look a little funky but hopefully the musicman fits better. It has the 4 wires for coil tap etc.. so it should work well. I really hope the cover fits, and not like the picture of that EMG!

Hi there guys,

I recently bought myself an ST Bass -and loving it- but from what I've been reading, a pup upgrade will do wonders for the tone. I was wondering if anyone knew what sort of EMG active would fit in the cavity perfectly? Would it be the 35 range at Length = 3.5 Inches (88.9mm); Width = 1.5 Inches (38.1mm), or the MMCS at Length = 3.5 Inches (88.9mm); Width = 1.9 Inches (48.3mm)? And would not hacking up the pup cover have an effect on tone at all as opposed to having the pup exposed as pictured? And is the ST cavity the same as the GT? The Kent Armstrong Musicman looks like an interesting option, too. Seems like it fits ok without the cover, too? I'm just a little bit lost here as this is my first bass pup mod.

And a little off topic, but would you guys also recommend a bridge upgrade? Mine's looking a little tired and I'm considering possibly a Gotoh, does anyone know if these fit, or recommend a bridge?

Thanks in advance!

Anth

Am I the only person who doesn't like EMGs in basses? The stock Magnabass pickups sound far nicer to me. If anything, I'd do the additional pole pieces mod (the stock pickup is set up to look like and somewhat act like a P-bass split coil, but is in fact a full size humbucker) and leave the stock pickup. The bridge is up to you, since the ST was very basically equipped.