Pickups and tone

Mazinger · #1 02-14-2008, 01:19 PM

How important is the pickup when creating the overall sound of the bass?

More important than the timber used? Obviously it's a combination of many parts and pieces.

How much does a pickup contribute to the overall sound?

Chriso21 · #2 02-14-2008, 01:32 PM

how sensitive is your ear? How much money do you have to try out different combinations? I put emg's on my warwick corvette and noticed a really nice difference in bass response. I guess search the forums for combinations of your bass and pickup combinations mate.

spade2you · #3 02-14-2008, 01:38 PM

Pickups are pretty important if you want the bass to be heard.

whitedk57 · #4 02-14-2008, 01:45 PM

I put some new Nordstrands on my Sterling. The Sterling already sounded good - the Nordys made it better.

grace & groove · #5 02-14-2008, 01:48 PM

Depends on the bass, but many basses the tone is 85% or so electronics. Science-wise anyway.

fullrangebass · #6 02-14-2008, 02:12 PM

IMHO I think that pickups are 50% of what comes out

meev992 · #7 02-14-2008, 02:21 PM

Some pups give a very distinct sound and have certain design features. I only go for pups if I'm positive that it will give me something special versus other pups in the price range.

tycobb73 · #8 02-14-2008, 02:23 PM

My freind's bassist records with an MIM P that he put a Bartolini in. It sounds great. If it felt great I'd do the same thing. As far as tone, I think the PU is by far the most important single feature on the bass.

Rumblin' Man · #9 02-14-2008, 02:34 PM

In spite of my sig, as far as the bass as a physical instrument goes, I see 4 basic categories (in no particular order):

1) Strings (rounds/flats/steel/nickel/nylon/whatever)
2) Pickups and electronics (passive/active/whatever)
3) Structural material (wood/graphite/aluminum/concrete/whatever)
4) Hardware (steel/brass/zinc/unobtainium/whatever)

And they're all tumbled into one since they all interact. Changing one could easily compensate for a perceived deficiency for any or all of the others...or make things worse.

Then there's amps, cabinets, drivers, FOH systems, recording interfaces, recording techniques, effects, etc. all puttng in their 2 pfennigs worth.

Still, if I give the same bass and rig to 5 people to play it sounds different for each one of them.

meev992 · #10 02-14-2008, 02:39 PM

I agree with the above list. I didn't think much of strings until I encountered a really cruddy, dead set.

grace & groove · #11 02-14-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fullrangebass

IMHO I think that pickups are 50% of what comes out

Idk, sound is vibrations. Lets work backwards here.

The electronic signal coming out of the bass is coming out of the jack. Wiring to the jack is either active or passive. Either way the things there affect the tone a lot. A switch of the knob changes it noticeably. These knobs are the only thing in between the jack and the only other electronic thing in the bass; the pickups. The magnets of the pickups pick up the vibrations of the strings. The vibrations are affected most by the type of string so obviously that is integral. Yet once the vibrations are picked up by the pickups THAT is your sound.

I guess the resonance of the wood and the hardware and such affect the vibrations of the string but I'm not sure it is very drastic considering most strings seem to react a very similar way on every single bass.

If the only sound coming out of your bass is electric then the only thing affecting the sound of your bass must be electrical. Your tone = vibrations picked up by electricity. The wood and hardware does not affect the electricity. They can only sightly affect the vibrations which are then still very manipulated by the electronics.

It's hard for me to believe that your electronics are only 50% of the tone of the signal coming out of your bass when the signal coming out of your bass is 100% electrical. I give 15% because of the resonance of the vibrations are affected by the resonance of the bass.

I'm a little contradictory here but the last paragraph is my true view. I was simply trying to get points across so I could draw them to there.

dlmarquez · #12 02-14-2008, 08:19 PM

There's one other thing about tone: 2 bassists can play thru the same rig, and they may not sound identical, in fact they might not even sound close to the same.
Different attack, hand geometry, technique, touch, the acidity of your perspiration, the texture of your skin, the condition of your fingernails, etc. There are many aspects of each player that will affect your tone. Thats why there is no single "right" combination of pickups, strings, wood, fingerboard, fret type, etc.
You have the choice of either spending endless amounts of time and money to find the perfect combination for you, or really concentration on being as creative as possible and exploring all of the possibilities once you have settled on an "acceptable" tool, your bass!

GreyBeard · #13 02-14-2008, 11:16 PM

How much difference would a microphone choice make for a singers voice?

Mr_Sore_Fingerz · #14 02-15-2008, 12:10 AM

Strings are a quick-fix that you can notice a lotta difference from, but pickups can determine a lot of what you can get out of the strings and other parts. But yeah, gotta take amps, cabs, even pots into consideration as well =/

DavidRavenMoon · #15 02-15-2008, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mazinger

How much does a pickup contribute to the overall sound?

The pickups are the sound... you will get no sound without a pickup.

The real question is does the pickup accurately reproduce the tone of the bass? If it doesn't, then all the wood choices, etc, won't matter much.

Some pickups impart a lot of their own tone on the bass, while others are more neutral.

fullrangebass · #16 02-15-2008, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grace & groove

Idk, sound is vibrations. Lets work backwards here.

The electronic signal coming out of the bass is coming out of the jack. Wiring to the jack is either active or passive. Either way the things there affect the tone a lot. A switch of the knob changes it noticeably. These knobs are the only thing in between the jack and the only other electronic thing in the bass; the pickups. The magnets of the pickups pick up the vibrations of the strings. The vibrations are affected most by the type of string so obviously that is integral. Yet once the vibrations are picked up by the pickups THAT is your sound.

I guess the resonance of the wood and the hardware and such affect the vibrations of the string but I'm not sure it is very drastic considering most strings seem to react a very similar way on every single bass.

If the only sound coming out of your bass is electric then the only thing affecting the sound of your bass must be electrical. Your tone = vibrations picked up by electricity. The wood and hardware does not affect the electricity. They can only sightly affect the vibrations which are then still very manipulated by the electronics.

It's hard for me to believe that your electronics are only 50% of the tone of the signal coming out of your bass when the signal coming out of your bass is 100% electrical. I give 15% because of the resonance of the vibrations are affected by the resonance of the bass.

I'm a little contradictory here but the last paragraph is my true view. I was simply trying to get points across so I could draw them to there.

I am more than aware of the electromagnetic phenomena that take place in order to have a signal coming out of the jack.

Just to clarify, I was trying to say that half of the sonic character of an electric bass lies on the character of the pickups (imposing their character or being "neutral"). The 50% that I mentioned was not meant in a quantitative way but rather as stating that the pickups may be the most important link of all, without disregarding the other "half" of the tone (woods, design, construction, strings, hardware and preamp )

Ric5 · #17 02-16-2008, 08:11 AM

The sound of an electric bass is total package. It is a result of the construction and electronics. Different woods sound different. No 2 pieces of wood are identical. Fretboard material. Maple is brighter than rosewood. Weight and weight distribution. Neck connection. Bolt on, neck thru, or set neck. Finish type and thickness. Oil finish or varnish. Bridge mass and material. Strings. pots and electronics, and of course pickups.

And don't forget playing style. and amplification, and effects.

glwanabe · #18 02-16-2008, 12:20 PM

Here's my opinion for what it's worth.

The pickups have their own character so that part is variable. The pickups only take input from the string vibrating in the magnetic field. So whatever timbre the string sounds like is what will be reproduced.

The string is what is affected by the overall character of the bass. The string is attached to a sound transmission piece that has a great affect on the tone that is reproduced.

Your bridge is what transmits your bass's character to the string. Remember tying string between two cans and using them as phones, when you were little? Well I do, showing my age here. The string conducts sound from your bass very well, and this is where the variables of each bass come in.

Different strings have there own personality as well. So you can, with enough knowlege of strings, voice your instrument a bit different based on string choice.

If you take your favorite pickups out of one bass and put them in another, they will sound a bit different. Depending on how far apart the two basses are to begin with.

There are lots of fractions that add up to your basses final sound. Change enough of those fractions and you can get a different sounding bass. It will still exhibit some familier qualities though.

Metal Mitch · #19 02-17-2008, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mazinger

How important is the pickup when creating the overall sound of the bass?

Very.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mazinger

More important than the timber used?

No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mazinger

Obviously it's a combination of many parts and pieces.

Yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mazinger

How much does a pickup contribute to the overall sound?

A lot.

BobXboB · #20 02-17-2008, 04:07 PM

It's funny how often people talk about how the wood will change the sound of a bass but completely discount how the pickups will change the acoustic sound of a bass. I mean if wood can have such a huge perceived affect on tone how come the mass and composition of the pickup is never touted as having any affect on this?

I think we need a new myth to cover this.