What would be the best pickups?

Conzo93 · #1 10-09-2011, 11:22 AM

Ive owned 17 basses of a great variety (from rock n roll to straight up Heavy Metal over time (with another one on the way) and, as you can imagine, they all have had different pickups. let me know which one you would think is the best kind.

My first bass that I got on my 16th birthday. For a cheapo it sounded and played amazingly.

Second bass I owned. The pickups had more of a raw tone from them which I loved. I liked the simple body shape and colour too.

I liked the look of this one and it was very reliable but I wasnt a big fan of the baseball-bat neck... also the pickup was kind of too muddy for my liking.

This bad boy (or should I say, 'Bird') really rocked the socks off me. I kind of miss it now, bar the neck dive problem I had at that start (which I fixed). The pickups were awesome, great clarity

Very cool bass but not something i would go for again. Had a rather small body and a long scale neck with big heavy headstock that made way for lots of neck dive. Pickups were kind of muddy too.

This was a real tone machine. I got it after I wanted to emulate the Megadeth sound. Sold it after a while as it was kind of too one-sided and suited just for metal. I needed something more versatile.

This by far the best sounding bass Ive owned, and I'll owe that to the double P-pickup configuration by BC Rich. It was too bulky to hold though so I ended up selling it.

Still have this bass, my dad owns it now though. It sounds really great on recordings but is brutally heavy to hold. The neck once cracked on it but this has been properly fixed and kind of sounds better than it did before!

The 1990 Charvel. The EMG pickups really enhanced the sound of this and it was great. Ended selling it earlier this year. I miss it a lot *tear*

My current baby. I love it so much even though it does me injustice sometimes by having its battery die. the pickups are Peavey VFL's

Its like a jazz bass on steroids. not my type of body shape though so Im selling it on.

This is pretty cool, pickups (made by Ibanez) are very versatile but Im after something a bit less flashy

Ok thats not all my basses but its most of them! Tell me your opinions

MarTONEbass · #2 10-09-2011, 12:01 PM

Completely subjective question. What is the best: bass? cab? amp?

The best pickups are the ones YOU like the best and make you play your bass till it screams for mercy.

mmbongo · #3 10-09-2011, 12:01 PM

What's with all the broken pictures?

**line6man** · #4 10-09-2011, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarTONEbass

Completely subjective question. What is the best: bass? cab? amp?

The best pickups are the ones YOU like the best and make you play your bass till it screams for mercy.

Not only is it subjective because it all depends on tonal preferences, there are too many variables to even begin to answer such a question. One set of pickups may sound amazing in one bass, but terrible in another. One set may sound great through one rig, yet terrible through another. And so on.

The only way to answer such a question is to ask "Which pickups sound best for X tone, given Y variables?"

The OP seems to be comparing the pickups and many different types of basses, without accounting for the differences between those basses, such as woods, scale length, construction, etc., or the differences between the pickups, such as single coils, split coils, humbuckers, wide or narrow apertures, etc. You cannot make any sort of judgement based on such diverse (And unknown.) variables. It's pointless.

Muzoid · #5 10-09-2011, 12:39 PM

Fix the pics please.

**line6man** · #6 10-09-2011, 02:50 PM

Facebook pages are not linkable as image URLs.
You have to use the URL for each image.

For example.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...0_298039_n.jpg

Conzo93 · #7 10-09-2011, 02:50 PM

I'll try and fix the pics, I linked them from my facebook.

**line6man** · #8 10-09-2011, 03:14 PM

Here.

Conzo93 · #9 10-09-2011, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muzoid

Fix the pics please.

pics have been fixed!

vin*tone · #10 10-09-2011, 06:37 PM

The 51p SC pup is categorically, undeniably the single best pickup possible for everything. Ever.

bassbenj · #11 10-09-2011, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vin*tone

The 51p SC pup is categorically, undeniably the single best pickup possible for everything. Ever.

I can deny it. The G&L MFD pickup is categorically undeniably the single BEST pickup for ANY bass any place, anytime! And unlike the 51P pup, does not need flats and a tort guard to be "best".

Silver9692 · #12 10-09-2011, 11:02 PM

The bigger question is "Which one is best for metal?"

FaithNoMan · #13 10-09-2011, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassbenj

I can deny it. The G&L MFD pickup is categorically undeniably the single BEST pickup for ANY bass any place, anytime! And unlike the 51P pup, does not need flats and a tort guard to be "best".

Nope.

I had an MFD in my Ripper bass.

The regular singlecoil in my Ric is the best...it plain kills the MFD.

And uh... yeah, this is sorta a silly thread. And although I like my Ric's sound better than any other bass I've played, there is no "best" pickup.

Some good ones, though:
Dimarzio
G&L
Rickenbacker(all sorts)
Seymour Duncan
Linda Fralin
Q-Tuners
SGD
Peavey

And so on....

Conzo93 · #14 10-10-2011, 07:03 AM

aye it might be stupid but its my frist thread so I'll just wing it. I liked those BC Rich bass pickups though, they sounded piano-like.