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Are there only 3 sounds with 2 pick ups or am I missing something?

N

Nickthebass

May 22, 2010
277
65
Scotland, UK
#1
I've got a variety of J type basses and the more I listen to them the more I find that there are only 3 pick up settings

1) Bridge solo

2) Neck solo

3) 50:50 split

There seems to be almost no tonal difference between a slight bias and soloing one pickup or the other.

I noticed this with both the pan pot on my Sadowsky and the dual volume controls on my Squire J.

Am I missing something or do I just need to invest in better pots?
 
#2
no, this is more or less the way it works. I've often thought a simple 3 way switch would ba about as good as a pan pot...

Now, what I *HAVE* seen that makes a difference is a bridge p'up that is a multi-coil MM type with a coil tap - ala Lakland 4-94. I can get several tones out of it just using that switch...
 
#4
My favorite is to slightly roll off the neck pickup with the p/up pan knob..I notice quite a bit of difference in this setting compared to both p/ups full on. So that would make 4 sounds for me..and that doesn't factor in what can be done with an active preamp.
 
#6
Don't forget the tone knob(s), they can make a significant difference. I prefer stack-knob controls (V/V/T/T) so I can roll some treble off the bridge pup.
 
#7
Nickthebass said:
There seems to be almost no tonal difference between a slight bias and soloing one pickup or the other.

I noticed this with both the pan pot on my Sadowsky and the dual volume controls on my Squire J.

Am I missing something or do I just need to invest in better pots?
Click to expand...



I often pan a little to the bridge if my bass sounds muddy in the mix in a particular room. The amount varies. At last nights gig I panned about halfway toward the bridge. I hear this difference in every two pickup bass I have, whether a Jazz or with two humbuckers. I can tell a difference in panning different amounts.
 
#9
Your missing a lot. With every two pup bass and guitar Ive owned a lot of extra sound variety is obtained by variously blending the pups. So if you roll off one pup a little you get a distinct new voice not duplicatable via tone control use for solo pup. That gives minimum of five choices. 1.neck solo, 2.neck full with bridge rolled off some, 3.both pups full, 4.bridge pup full with neck rolled off some, 5.bridge solo. Normally other voice tweaks can be had by how much you roll off one pup while leaving the other full on. So there are variations of number 2 and 4. Add various tone control useage for each of the five positions and theres min of 10 voice tweaks to be had with two pup basses and guitars.
 
#10
I think there's more than three. I notice a distinct difference when I'm partway between 50:50 and neck or bridge. I like being about halfway between half and bridge. Takes a little of the brashness/brightness off and fattens it up a bit without having that scooped sound of 50:50.
 
#11
I'm with DarkStorm on this for sure. The most useable sounds for me, usually, are the "ever so slightly off centre" settings with both pickups contributing but one allowed to slightly dominate.

Some blend pots work too fast to get these sounds without overshooting and effectively getting a solo'd sound.
 
#13
No, there are more than 3 sounds...especially if you have V/V/T and know how to use hands and hand location to affect sound that comes out.

My current MAIN basses are 3 pickup and only have V/V/V. The neck and bridge pickups get used mostly with the middle pickup found to be useful in compensating for dead/dying strings or a boomy room(roll off neck pickup, crank middle pickup). Not sure why that works for dead strings but it does according to my ears and Zoom H4 recordings.
 
#14
GregC said:
Don't forget the tone knob(s), they can make a significant difference. I prefer stack-knob controls (V/V/T/T) so I can roll some treble off the bridge pup.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree with this. Neck pickup, bridge pickup, or both are the basic sounds, but variation in the tone knob will yield all kinds of results. So now you have neck pickup, bridge pickup, or both, AND neck pickup with varying tone, bridge pickup with varying tone, and both with varying tone. This uncovers a multitude of sounds.
 
#16
Are you using extreme eq settings or have something else in your signal chain that has a very dominating effect. IDK I would guess its just a personal thing. I have 2 humbuckers and dual series/sing/parall switches and I can get a butt load of tone combinations from just the blend and switches before even getting to the eq section of my preamp.
 
#18
There's the whole pick issue of whether or not to use one and where on the strings you use it. Then there's harmonics, slapping, palm muting, etc... no matter which p'ups are being used. Now do the math.
Technique is a factor isn't it?
 
#19
Often, I use 50%/100%, going both ways so I get 5 sounds from adjusting only the pup volume knobs. Then I can mess with the tone knob, change my picks, palm mute etc, giving me dozens, before it even gets to the amp, which is the biggest factor of my tone. And I'm getting an active bass soon... I think I'll have enough sounds.

So to answer the question, yes I think you are missing something... but it's not a big deal.
 

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