Is there a difference in tone between...

[ErebusBass]

Blade pole pickups and regular pickups?

Regular = a fender-style p/j set, like on this http://www.rondomusic.com/product828.html

[stoopidcooper]

Sure there is a difference. My experience is primarily with alnico 5 rods, but blades, pole pieces, bar magnets and the like all have different sounds. First off, you need to seperate things that direct (I'm sure there's a better term for this) magnetic energy, from things that are magnets.

Most (I'm pretty sure there are a couple of exceptions) blade style pickups are using the blade to direct a magnetic field thats provided by a seperate magnet, (once again other guys might be more savvy about this than me) where as the "regular" pick-ups you alluded to (p+J) use rod shapped magnets. These are generalizations, as there are some notable exceptions here too. Some manufacturers use bar magnets and what appear to be rod style magnets are actually just slugs, that like the blade style pick-ups you mentioned direct the magnetic field.

so... without going too much deeper into this, they all sound different because the way they sense your strings is different. Considering that even different types of alnico 2,3,5 and 8 can sound different with all other variables the same, you can expect that differnt types of pick-ups with dramatically different magnets, pole pieces, bobbin construction, wind and wiring are going to be very different.

If you are looking for a better comparison, it might be cool to limit this to a comparison between some specific types of pick-ups.

[ErebusBass]

Alright we'll limit it further, I'm fixin' to put these pickups: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electron...s_Pickups.html into the bass in the original post.

[62bass]

I'd say that there might not be enough of an improvement or worse still, not as good a sound, with those pickups specifically. I think you're going to have to spend a bit more money to get a significant improvement. Nothing to do with being a blade pickup.

[stoopidcooper]

okay doke, this is a good example of not only subjectivity but also how deceptive (not in a bad way, just that looks can be decieving) pick-ups can be.

Anyone know whats under the hood in your current p+j set? Sometimes those poles are just pole pieces with bar magnets underneath. The sound is quite different than when they are themselves the magnets. Its easy to uninstall the pickups by loosening the stings and pulling them out. If you like, send a pic.

Anyways, I used the emg jay before and enjoyed it. I'm an aggressive player in a progmetal group, and I used a squier jazz, emg pick-ups and flatwounds. This would not normally work, but I liked it.

I would consider some things before I spent any money mod'ing my axe?

What is it about the sound you want to change? What attracted you to the bass in the first place? How aggressive is your attack? Etc.

BTW, not really disagreeing neccesarily with 62bass, there is some truth to the $ side of upgradeing pick-ups.

[ErebusBass]

Well... The main reason I'm switching the pickups is because I like to dig in, and sometimes I bump the exposed poles with the strings. As we all know well, this makes a nasty little pop that makes my speakers look like they want to jump out of my cabs.

I love the bass, I just got it a month or so ago to work on my fingerstyle playing. For years I've strictly been a pick player, and whenever I've tried to get back into fingerstyle the tight string spacing on my fivers was quite detrimental to making any real progress.

I'm not quite sure what exactly I'm looking for in terms of tone, the pickup change is mainly to protect my speakers. I'm switching the pots out at the same time as the pickups, and that will probably make a big difference as well.

The pickups are already in the mail, so I guess I'll find out for myself what the tonal differences are in a couple days.

[John Wentzien]

I installed the EMG's in a build I did for my bass hero 'Ted Brooks'.
He is a very agressive player, and these pickups worked out great.
The bass was built about 10 years ago with all Stewmac parts (jazz-bass).
I use alnico vintage style pickups in my own jazz-bass, but have covers on them that don't have the holes for the magnets.
This greatly reduces the "clack" without altering the sound.
The EMG's are quite a bit hotter than the vintage Fenders---with more of a FLAT sound,
The Fenders have more mids (wich I prefer)..
The EMG's sound better for Ted's agressive playing for sure..

[John Wentzien]

You can get the pickup covers without holes here.
I highly reccomend them for getting rid of that annoying click.
http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/bpickup_covers.htm

[ga_edwards]

Originally Posted by John Wentzien

You can get the pickup covers without holes here.
I highly reccomend them for getting rid of that annoying click.
http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/bpickup_covers.htm

Or do what I did on my RBX4-A2 with has an exposed blade. Stick a strip of insulation tape over the pickup. No-one will notice if you get a matching colour and do it neatly.

[stoopidcooper]

Well, there also is a few other methods. One, install a grounding strip under the pole pieces and attach a ground wire, leading to your main ground on your tone pot. Make sure the copper foil is solidly contacting all the poles.
#2 I've heard of folks placing superglue in a light coat over the poles and letting it dry. (I've used laquer as well to prevent any wierd humidity issues on the poles, make sure to keep it away from the coils though.)

If you are an aggresive player the emgs may round out your attack a bit, which yields less variation in volume between strong and lighter strokes. My playing is slighlty inconsistant in this regard the flats and emgs. YMMV, of course again, this is all my 2 cents.

Hmmm... gc has a return policy for 30 days still no? Not sure, check first, but I think you can return pick-ups, if so, this would give you a trial period...?