EMG P

Pros:
- balanced and even sound
- thick bass and bright highs
- sounds amazing in almost any mix
- installation is a breeze
- works great with active electronics or without

Cons:
- you'll need a battery, as these are active
- not you vintage P pickup

Now this is the pickup I was looking for a long time. I get why people who love vintage stuff don't like this, and those are the same reasons I love it. It sounds more like a modern soapbard pickup on P position than vintage P; it's balanced, a bit compressed, sits great in the mix, doesn't have harsh mids and is 100% without any hum (as most P pickups are). Now the idea that EMGs are for HEAVY/METAL music is IMHO not true. While this pickup cuts through mix like hot knife trough butter, even with passive tone controls (Volume+Tone), you have a lot of options. It sounds great in almost anything, vintage rock, modern metal, r'n'b, pop, heck it sounds great even when I play top50 songs on it. all in all, EMGs aren't sterile, dull or "metal", IMHO this pickup has more life and character than any other P pickup I've tried but at the same time it's easy to control in the mix; and sits great. playing solo it does sound a bit too scooped or "bland" but in the mix is where this beast shines.

also it's a bit lighter in weight than standard P pickups and there is almost no pull on the strings so you can set it really close to strings and get more pronounced highs/mids

So these are not a high profile pickup set (by that I mean that people are not discussing these at the forums), they are cheap and they come with all things needed (besides the battery).

My parts bass was seriously lacking mojo and tone, so I thought what the hell, let's see what some active pickups can do to the bass and I am more than impressed. Blown away actually. The sound is so full, so clear, so nice. These pickups don't make a small difference like you can expect when you change from SD SPB-1's to GZR pickups. These pickups make a huge difference.

the installation is super easy, granted that you have some room for a battery in the control cavity. I did'nt so I had to make room (yes I hacked out a battery sized hole in my control cavity). After that it took me less than 10 minutes to wire the bass.

I really like these and think they'd be great for recording.

Fitted to a 70s Ibanez precision (law suit) strung with flatwounds.
I needed to remove a bit of wood inside the control cavity for the 9v battery to fit.
As stated in another review here, EMGs are a little bit out of vogue compared to Aguilar, Lollar, Nordstrand etc, and lots of players can be put off by active pickups, especially on P-basses.
Suprised at the sound of this pickup, it can sound modern and vintage with just a twist of the volume and tone controls. The pickup is capable of more bass and treble extension, but roll the tone halfway and it sounds like a typical passive p-bass.
The pickup has no background noise at all, so great for recording.

I bought this kit to replace the electronics on a cheap kit bass.

There were some issues with fitting everything into the existing routes cut into the bass. This is not the fault of the pickups though, just be aware that with the battery and everything, if you're switching from passive to active pickups, you're going to need some room.

The assembly of the electronics themselves were fairly easy, although the included instructions were more confusing than helpful. The internet came through though, and helped clear up any confusion!

They do sound brilliant - by far the best sounding bass i have now.

It is an active pickup so it sounds a little bit compressed and tamed in comparison to a passive P pickup. At first I had a bit of buyer's remorse because of that, but I realized that I would have eventually compressed my recording either way, this means that I get more finished tone out of it straight away.
The timbre is great, full and the pickup feels responsive, and ajoy to play. Build quality is top-notch. Contolls are very responsive and versatile too.
Apart from few errors on their website concerning the installation instructions the installation was a breeze.
I can recommend this pickup to anyone who needs a great bass tone straight away, without too much hassle.