AXYs vs FatBoy

[edwardofhuncote]

Reviving a zombie thread...

One of my Alembics is a Mark King Signature Deluxe 5. When I first got it (used),  I swapped out the 2 stock AXYs for 2 Fat Boys. Lately, I've been thinking that, as compared to my Series basses, the sound was a bit too thick in the low mids, and not as punchy or clear as I'm used to hearing from my Alembics. So, I swapped out the Fat Boy in the neck for the stock AXY, adjusted the trim pots to precisely balance the out out of each pickup - and there it was! All of the clarity and depth of tone I am used to hearing! So, put me down as another Alembician who thinks that an AXY in the neck position and and Fat Boy in the bridge is the way to go. For my tastes, the Fat Boy in the neck is just too much - but I love it for the bridge pickup. YMMV, of course

This was highly recommended on my Custom fretless. The only direct comparison available is my older Distillate, and it's remarkable to me how much alike they are, but you're absolutely right, that FatBoy definitely has more attitude... it's a perfect mate for the bridge position, but would probably be overkill for the neck.

If memory serves, Joey had two FatBoys on his Big Red Spoiler, and liked it.

[hammer]

I have two Signature Basses, a Custom with a FatBoy in the Bridge position (highly recommended by Mica) and an SC Standard that has two AXYs.  If my Custom is any gauge, one FatBoy will do the trick.  It provides a "fuller" sound without being overbearing.  Although similar in construction, the Standard with the two AXYs sounds a little thin to me.

[bigredbass]

I indeed had two Fatboys in the BRB, replacing both AXY's, on the premise I did not want to 'mix and match', made more sense for me to have the same thing both places.  For my ears, I was right.  As always, your results may vary . . . . . . There was nothing wrong with the AXY's, but I preferred the FatBoys.   I liken the difference that the AXY's were like exceptional studio monitors, very honest in their presentation, but they sounded like that in that it seemed a 'flat' response.  FatBoys sounded like really good high-end stereo speakers, a few dips and humps put in by someone that knew where to put them, and I just liked that better.  Not a night+day difference, subtle really,  but enough of a tweak on Alembic's sound that I just liked them better.

[jazzyvee]

Reviving an old thread. because at last after having a set of new pickups from Mica I have  got round to installing both into my SC Signature deluxe.

In the bridge I have a fatboy and the neck i have an axy with the pickup set closer to the pickup cavity inside the casing.
I've done a bit of playing this evening and not really sure what I think.

For certain the neck pickup on it's own is a little heavier on the bottom end and warmer in tone which is generally how I prefer my sound to be. It is also seems to be less crisp with the filter fully open and Q on or off, but still a sound i like.

The Fatboy in the bridge...... hmm my thoughts are that it still seems less hifi sounding and does not have the sweetness in the sound compared to the AXY that it replaces.
I haven't yet adjusted pickup height as i wanted to try to do a like for like comparison first.
Once i have played if for a while I may try putting the fatboy in the neck and put the original axy in the bridge and try that for a while.

[rv_bass]

I find AXY/MXY pickups to be thinner and crisper sounding than Fatboys, but both have that nice classic Alembic sound.

[edwardofhuncote]

I've had this discussion a few times with Joey, who first turned me onto the FatBoys. And therefore my opinion is somewhat biased by what transpired after that initial discussion. AXY pickups are somewhat like very good studio monitors... think; high-end Genelecs or something. Fatboys are more akin to a really big stage rig. Still clean, but more of the good parts. Too much for some folks. They are just accepting sooo much more information. I love 'em... they aren't for everybody, but give me two anyday, neck and bridge, I'll do the rest.

But wait, there's more...

Personally, I could hear differences in AXY pickups from different eras. That '81 Distillate I had... it had the glossy finished plain ones, and they were a totally different voice than the ones that came in the '85 fretless, which had the classic shell with ALEMBIC branding pressed in. (not gold embossed yet). Recognizing that there were some other factors in play; placement, wood, setup, even stuff that I couldn't think of, I got a gleam in my eye and swapped them out one time. What I heard from each pickup mostly followed it to the other bass. It was a better education for what pickup placement and wood did that the pickups, themselves. All things being equal, they were darn close, but those older ones still sounder warmer, even when in the newer bass, with more modern placement closer to the bridge.

Later on, a tangentially related set of circumstances left me with a homeless set of FatBoys. (I had them in an '80 Series I, if you're curious... and they were uh-MAZING) After that bass got shipped home for new Series pickups, I put the surrogate FatBoys in the '85 fretless, and WOW, was it a different thing. I kept them in there until I sold that bass last Fall, ultimately reinstalling its originals. (those Fatboy pickups now live in RV's Alembicized Starfire)

My Custom fretless 5-string has a FatBoy at the bridge, and a standard AXY in the neck slot. The vintage routing shoved those things all the way to each extreme, so the neck pickup is plenty warm, but I can still hear the difference between them. That bridge pickup is audibly glowing red-pink. You can solo it out, push the lows, roll off the filter to about 30%, and... there is nothing on this Earth that sounds like it. Boost the Q at your own risk. Weirdly, it sounds more like my PJ activator-equipped Persuader 5-string than either of the AXY-equipped Distillates. Maybe from all that maple and purpleheart.

However they do it Alembic really lands it with people like us. It's a little bit nutty taking things quite this far for generating a dadgum magnetic field... but... if you get it, then you just do, and you can't un-get it. The pickups are just the beginning... then the signal gets routed through some other pretty cool stuff nobody else can do like they do. Yeah, they do sound a bit different, and depending on how dialed-in you are, you'll get a preference for one or the other, or a combination.

I kinda' learned to celebrate/enjoy the difference.

[FlyingV73]

I guess I am in the minority, but i get my sound from my Amps & Speakers, fingers and pick, combo'ed with AXY's.. They are a full range pickup. If you are playing on a big stage the AXY will deliver. That pickup is the most flexible next to a series bass (dragging a multi pin cable) not realistic in this day and age.
 If your going through some serious sound reinforcement (L- Acoustics full-range PA's), your stage volume/Monitor (or what you have on stage) those AXY pickups shine.

If you are playing in your bedroom or lower volume gigs then probably go fatboy. Good pickups both. Milage may vary.

[jazzyvee]

Don't get  me wrong i am completely happy with the sound of AXY/MXY's but since I have other options I want to try them for size before deciding if I want to offload them.
My strategy when I was playing a lot of guitar was, if I wanted a different sound from a guitar, i would buy a new one that already had the sound I wanted rather than buy pickups etc that were unpredictable as once you install them you can't return them just because you don't  like the sound unless they are faulty. (well in the UK anyway).
However that strategy is a bit expensive to do with alembics :-).

[rraymond]

My preference for the AXY/Fatboy combination goes back to my decades as a Rickenbacker freak. I realized that the sound I heard as “me,” was a clean neck/bass pickup and a not-so-clean, maybe even distorted bridge/treble pickup. I had two Excels, an Elan and a Mark King Deluxe with the AXY/Fatboy setup. Pure sonic bliss. 

[gearhed289]

My preference for the AXY/Fatboy combination goes back to my decades as a Rickenbacker freak. I realized that the sound I heard as “me,” was a clean neck/bass pickup and a not-so-clean, maybe even distorted bridge/treble pickup. I had two Excels, an Elan and a Mark King Deluxe with the AXY/Fatboy setup. Pure sonic bliss. 

Which pickup is where (neck/bridge)?

You guys are making me want to try a Fatboy in the bridge position, but I'm afraid I might lose the "Stanley tone" that I like to use sometimes. Also not sure I'd like the way it would look since my bass has the old smooth top pickups with no logo.

[rraymond]

In Rickenbacker-land I was used to thinking of the pickups as neck and bridge. In Alembic-land it was bass and treble. I installed Fatboys by the bridge. Sorry for any confusion.

[rv_bass]

I think it also depends on how you EQ it and what speaker cab you run it through. 

[gearhed289]

In Rickenbacker-land I was used to thinking of the pickups as neck and bridge. In Alembic-land it was bass and treble. I installed Fatboys by the bridge. Sorry for any confusion.

Funny you should say that because Ric control knobs are labeled bass volume/ bass tone, and treble volume/ treble tone.    Thanks for clarifying!

[jazzyvee]

Well what a difference a rig makes. I tried the bass out this afternoon with the Fatboy bridge and offfset on the neck in my main gigging rig with barefaced speakers and alembic preamps and it sounds great, yes a little less sweet than the standard axy's. Love the bottom end of the neck pickup and the fatboy seems to be more responsive to the filter movements than the standard axy, not as sweet but not harsh like it sounded in my practice amp. With both pickups set to the same internal trim pot setting and volume on the bass, the fatboy is the more dominant. I do love that nasally sound from it when the filter is towards closed and within in the last 1/4 of the range and the q is on. it has a series bass kind of characteristic.  i will keep them on the bass now for a while to get used to the sound. 👍🏾😁🎵🎶🎸🤓🔊