First off fantastic demo! Excellent back to back comparison over a variety of styles. The SPB-3 has a way more 'bedroom friendly tone' which is why I think at first glance it seems to sound more usable and full but I'd take the Nordstrand. You can boost treble and bass and scoop mids to get it to sound similar to the SPB-3 tone but you cannot boost mids that aren't there to begin with in the SPB-3, and it gets totally lost in a lot of mixes as a result. People on here be deliberating as if EQ'ing doesn't exist!
I haven't had the chance to try them in a mix unfortunately. But they sound pretty "clean" and balanced, meaning you can have quite some fun with the EQ in achieving different sounds and probably won't have any issues in getting them to cut through a mix
Do you happen to know whether you have 250k or 500k volume/tone pots installed? I know the SPB3 can be pretty boomy and dark with 250k. I wonder if you opened them up a bit with a 500k volume pot. They sure do sound wide open and beautiful here! No lack of highs and not extra boomy, to my ears.
They were all 250k pots if I'm not mistaken. I feel the SPB3 to be actually quite bright, especially with new stainless steel strings as I had in this video. Other pickups like Di Marzio Model P on the other hand do tend to be a bit darker and require a 500k volume pot
Nordstrand sounds weaker than the Duncan but both seem to be similar in frequency range. Sure wish the SPB-1(one of my favs) would have been thrown in for comparison.
I thought I liked the Nordstrand at first, but ewwww, it sounds so compressed and scooped-out. The Duncan sounds glorious. Nordstrand might sound better in a Jazz Bass, but I need a P Bass pup to sound big and punchy and open and woody and snarling. And and and and.
I feel like the Nordstrand has clearer dynamics. Like, you can probably just plug and play the SPB3, but if you take the time to tailor your sound you can potentially get more out of it, but utlimately yeah, it does seem a bit compressed and scooped. I'm curious to try out the Jazz pickups!
@@OliverTobyn do you think adjusting the nordstrand up closer to the strings would have helped? I feel as though the difference in pole piece size would still outweigh things in the Seymour Duncan's favor...
@@OliverTobyn unfortunately the current Ltd version comes with passive pickups and not his real signature series. They changed the ltd model a few years back and it is cheaper, passive pickups, and I think downgraded hardware. I am on the constant lookout for his original signature series with the mirror pickguard and block inlays. Hope to see a demo of these pickups some day though!
Hah, hard to answer! There are so many I haven't tried yet but would love to. So far my favourite PJ set is definitely the EMG GZR, great P pickup, great J pickup, and together are just awesome!
NP4A sounds to me like it'd take eq really well, and has a very clear mid range, Seymour Duncan sounds like a P bass, neither are really better per say, depends on the player
Bear in mind that this is the raw, unprocessed sound of the pickups. Of course one might prefer the fullness and boominess of the SPB3s, or the clearer dynamics of the NP4a, but both provide different sounds you can fine-tune (or even dramatically change) with your eq, preamp, and pedals
This is only my humble opinion but there isn't even contest in my mind. The Seymour Duncan PJ SPB-3 set takes it hands down. Fuller, fatter, higher output and more definition.
