Stingray HH question (preamp/pickup selections)

[eyeballkid]

Ive got a Stingray HH, its my second one. I had one before and had to sell it and bought another as soon as I had the funds. Anyway, both of them have had the same peculiarity and I assume they all do so here is my question:
Why is the center position (both pickups/all coils) NOT an amalgamation of both pickups tone? What I mean is that the bridge pickup has the expected Stingray tone, and the neck pickup has more of a Pbass tone, but both together have this kinda mid-scooped tone. I would expect, and I would guess alot of folks would expect as well that the two together would have the punch of the bridge pickup with the warmth of the neck and just be massive massiveness!

So did EBMM add in some kinda circuit that changed the voicing somehow to a mid-scoop? or is this some strange function of the sum of two pickups together that creates a tone with no discernable attributes of the parts making the whole? Jazz basses with both pickups sound like 'both pickups'..so what gives?

is this changeable somehow? anyone got an idea?
thanks.
for the record... I LOVE my HH... just wish the center position was GIGANTOR setting.

[RaginRog]

I've owned a couple of HH SR4s in the past as well, and thought the same. I always found myself favoring the bridge pickup, and the setting with the the two inner coils (one coil from each pickup), so I always treated the neck pickup as more of a "thumbrest." However, the Bongo was a different story because it had a blend knob, and so I always wished the Stingray HH had the same electronics as the Bongo.

[eastcoasteddie]

I think that...When you have the 2 pickups in the same circuit, the parallel wiring does affect tone due to both pickups' resistances being in parallel and things like that. Just like how the resistance of any one pickup (number of coil windings) has an affect on tone, so does adding a number of pickups to a single circuit. Just like your standard Jazz bass, you lose that mid-range honk of the bridge pickup alone when you add the neck pickup into the passive circuit. Both pickups together have a bit of a mid-scoop.
In order to get a true amalgamation of 2 different pickups, you'd probably have to have 2 separate circuits...but I'm wondering if when the 2 circuits come together at the input jack, it all goes to hell because of having one jack and not 2, with 2 separate amps as well...

but if all that what I wrote is not true, then forgive me, I'm a dumba$$.

[timbledum]

Its true! I was attracted to the HH (originally attracted to warwick $$) from a young age, and when I finally got it I was a little surprised that it was not as aggressive as I imagined. It's still useful though, I think of it as my "gospel tone". The reason is exactly the same as why a jazz bass usually has a mid scoop with both PUs full on: the pickups destructively interfere in the mids. There was a really cool website that I think I've lost that shows you how the frequency of the output varies as you move/add PUs, and it is definitely a strong and usual effect.