Author Topic: I?d like your 2 cents on a P/AE-1 auction (Read 148 times)

ed_too · « **on:** November 30, 2014, 06:10:58 PM »

I?m looking at a P/AE-1 auction on ebay and I?d like to get your 2 cents since I?m not all that familiar with them.

P/AE-1 aucton

I have a Landing bass with EMT P-bass PUs. I?m thinking of biding on this (or another P/AE-1) to swap out for the EMTs. So?
1. How do these look? They look a little cruddy, but I thought a little DeoxIT would take care of that.
2. The back of one has a divot of some kind near where the wire goes into the housing. What do you think?
3. They?re 30 years old, any concerns with age?
Thanks for your thoughts.

Ed

ed_too · « **Reply #1 on:** November 30, 2014, 06:36:10 PM »

oops... EMG PU (I believe EMT pick-ups are made from old defibrillator parts)

hieronymous · « **Reply #2 on:** November 30, 2014, 10:58:47 PM »

They look good to me - I can't really comment on the wires, but re: the age issue - Alembic pickups seem to age well, with many instruments from the '70s going strong!

I love my Activator equipped Fenders, though I found the Q-switch to be a great addition. I've never used EMG pickups before, but in a way they're not comparable since part of the magic of the Activator system (to me anyway) is the low-pass filter.

Hope you get them!

terryc · « **Reply #3 on:** December 01, 2014, 03:40:05 AM »

Don't use switch/pot cleaner on the controls though, I guess the rest will clean up with the aforementioned cleaner. I have a PJ set in A P bass which I installed 20 years ago and they are still working fine

gtrguy · « **Reply #4 on:** December 01, 2014, 12:16:02 PM »

For some reason I remember The Dead endorsing those EMT pickups!!! ;^)

I would ask for an ohm reading on the pickup, just to be sure.

I have had a set or two of these in a P Bass and a Jazz bass & they did increase the tonal range a lot of the bass. They also get a nice funk tone. They required some routing for the battery and the battery was accessible only by taking off the pick guard after that. You also need to remember to take the guitar cord out when not playing so as to not run down the battery.

They come up for sale on EBay a lot.

edwin · « **Reply #5 on:** December 02, 2014, 04:35:12 PM »

Alembic pickups age very well. The Series II set in my Starfire are very early ones (caramel colored with trapezoidal magnets. 1973?) and still sound amazing. I'm finally swapping out the volume pots.