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A Poll - Stock Pickups vs. Replacement Pickups....
- Thread starter BassHappy
- Start date
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- pickups replacement stock vs
- Jan 1, 2014
- 1,016
- 3,480
- Disclosures
- Decendant from the Clovis culture. "Emitting that wonderful bass effect since 1970".
All my basses have the stock PUP's on them, I would not have bought them if I didn't like the way they sounded.
Shouldn't that be "couldn't care less" at the bottom of the poll?
Shouldn't that be "couldn't care less" at the bottom of the poll?
Why? Tone is only one aspect of a bass' construction. Pickup swapping has no effect on playability, fretwork, fret size/material, string spacing, neck contour, wood choice/quality, acoustic characteristics, hardware quality, weight, appearance, cost, or any number of other things that influence a decision to buy a bass, or be satisfied with its features.
wmhill
Inactive
- Aug 20, 2012
- 4,054
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- MTD basses endorsed artist Bartolini pickups emerging artist TECAMP bass players gear endorsed
Nah, he's got a valid point. "Could care less" implies that it is possible to care less. We need a "militantly apathetic" option!
If you have an instrument that you like the feel of and it stays in tune, but doesn't sound the way you want, need or imagine, then try changing the pickups.
If you love the sound of the bass as is, then don't change the pickups.
The only bass I have "changed" pickups in is my Fender PJBS, it is a very well made instrument with a great neck. I really didn't like the sound, so I dropped in Barts and an EMG preamp, and that's the way it has stayed for almost twenty years.
If you love the sound of the bass as is, then don't change the pickups.
The only bass I have "changed" pickups in is my Fender PJBS, it is a very well made instrument with a great neck. I really didn't like the sound, so I dropped in Barts and an EMG preamp, and that's the way it has stayed for almost twenty years.
I don't normally change pickups but I have picked up a couple of Super 55s to replace the single coils in my fretless Jazz because I don't like single coil hum. While I was at it I got a third to potentially replace the noiseless dual coil pickup in my Reggie Hamilton. I confess that the my reason for replacing the dual coil is driven more by the common TB opinion of them than by any personal dissatisfaction with them. But the Super 55s have been discontinued by Fender so if I were going to have the option of using one in the Reggie it made sense to pick one up while they were still available. I do have a Jazz V that has Bart split coils that a previous owner put in so I know that I am happy with those split coils, we'll see about the Super 55s and whether they would be an upgrade for the dual coil.
Of the 5 store bought basses I own, I have changed the pickups on 3, and am considering the 4rth. My latest swap was putting big pole Delanos in a USA Jag. To my ear, this added a fairly significant wow factor. I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade any P/J setup to these.
I bought my Rickenbacker, because it sounds and plays like a Rickenbacker (with an awesome neck). A well-respected Luthier tried to convince me to replace my 1980 4003's pickups with Bartolinis, but I just couldn't do it.
No...if you rave about a Fender P then you rave about the way it came stock......if you swap the pups out then you aren't raving about a Fender P...you are raving about some other pups with a Fender surrounding them.
That's like saying you're raving about a Corvette with it's Ford engine.
That is absurd. It should be clear from the context of the rave, whether the owner of the bass is commenting about tone, or something else.
A Corvette with a Ford engine is still a Corvette, if you are talking about anything other than the engine. Would a review of the sound system, or the leather trim be any less valid with a different engine in the car?
True....I replace pickups in Fenders all of the time because there are SO many great ones in the aftermarket...Strats, Teles P & J basses.Ask me if I care if anyone else thinks it counts or not.
Probably would never do a vintage Fender pickup change though...anything 70's & newer......a big YES I would at least consider a change.
My 80's USA Peavey basses w/ Super Ferrites I would NEVER change even if there were a bunch of great aftermarket pickups out there...which there aren't btw!
A Corvette with a Ford engine is a Corvette with a Ford engine. You can't go gloating about how good your Corvette is performancewise if it's powered by another maker's engine.
One could easily say that the pups are the engine of a bass.....
And on this site the tone of the Fender P is exalted to the heavens....
Too bad , it seems, that in a lot of cases we're not talking about the sound of a stock Fender P.....we're being told the legendary tone is ...wait for it...an aftermarket pickup.
So the legendary Fender P sound ain't so legendary after all?
If it was , you wouldn't be buying new pups for it.......
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I really don't see the need personally. But, I understand why others do this.
I can do it if I want, it's easy enough. I have considered putting Steve Harris pickups or Geezers in my MIM Precision, but the cost doesn't seem justifiable. That's 1/6 of the original cost. So until something fries out I'm ok.
I can do it if I want, it's easy enough. I have considered putting Steve Harris pickups or Geezers in my MIM Precision, but the cost doesn't seem justifiable. That's 1/6 of the original cost. So until something fries out I'm ok.
Mine are stock, but thats just because I dont have one particular sound that I'm looking for, I've played a fare number of different bass's through the years and to me no two sounded the same, vintage, expensive or cheap, they pretty well all sounded like bass's to me, I'm not saying they all sounded good, some had no tone or couldn't stay in tune for 2 songs in a row, but most sounded like bass guitars, with the exception of 2 that come to mind that when the first few notes were struck I stopped playing and looked at the bass and said `what the hell is this ? I think that what sounds good to one person may not to another, and that's ok, we certainely dont all have the same ear, I just allway's liked the sound of any thing that sounded remotely like a bass ever since I was very Young, and I dont hear all the small little differences, ( I still do hear the big ones ), I guess I should just accept the fact that after 45 years of elevated decible levels that my hearing has been altered some what, nice way of saying I'm slowly going deaf !
I sometimes see guys post that they haven't even received the bass yet, but are already planning to put new pickups in it. I think "What!?!".
