Are you a 1, 2 or 3+ pickup person?

[blastoff]

one pickup for me. definitely. i just never use anything else and when im playing my basses with more than one i find myself fiddling with the controls more trying to find the right sound. P bass always has the right sound for me. thanks very much Leo.

 

[lowendrachel]

Right now I like one pickup basses. I like the simplicity.

 

[iriegnome]

I very much prefer 2 pickups. I hate blend knobs.

 

[ctmullins]

All of the above!

 

[GreyBeard]

Never played anything with more than 2 pickups

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Ive had a Newport, an EB0, a Grabber, a Stingray, a couple of Pbasses.
All 1 pickup basses.
My first ever 2 pickup bass was a Dano longhorn. It didn't help me dig it.
I'm not against multiple pickup basses. I just haven't had alot of experience with one. I do like toggling between pups on my Tele. Its my first 2 pickup guitar!

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

Dos

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

1 & 2 .

 

[rickdog]

View attachment 5478128



View attachment 5478127

Now that's my kind of bass!

I have 1, 2, and 3-pickup basses, and they all work well for me.

 

[cdef]

For many years I was trying to get more "versatility" out of Precisions by adding pickups back and front. By now I' conclude it was all to no avail. My playing only needs the one pickup in the right spot. In the end your authentic tone will reveal itself just by playing, regardless of what you change out.

But having said that, my Magnum I has two quite different pickups as well as a stereo output, and has worked very well in another, experimental and strictly ambient, live context. With two differently processed signal paths, it's almost like two basses in one.

 

[Derek Kay]

My fretless is an active Pbass type - easy to get right.

My fretted basses are passive with 2 PUs. I need the extra tone of the bridge PU - not as easy but equally potent.

 

[sikamikanico]

I'm a one pickup kinda guy. I like something in the middle, like a P bass. With some tone and technique adjustment, I can do everything I need to do.

If I have more pickups, I usually use one at a time, or maybe go for the J bass sound. But all of those sounds are inferior to the middle "P"-type sound.

 

[2cooltoolz]

I like PJs. If the TB purists got their way, and PJs were outlawed, I'd be a single (split) P voter.

 

[HowieD72]

1 and 2.

Warwick has 1
Jazz Basses have 2

 

[primussucks9126]

I like em all. 2 is the most convenient, 1 gets the job done in most situations, and 3 is the most fun to play around with.

Most of my basses have 2. I think I've got 7 with 1, and 1 with 3.

 

[N4860]

1,2, and 3 for me.

 

[Dust2Dust]

I prefer the simplicity of one, but a Jazz bass is smoother and not as unruly as a P bass,
so I have to go with 2 , but like I said, I like simplicity so I keep both knobs at full throttle . . .

to keep things simple

 

[hooky_marr]

I used to have a PRS Bass IV that had three singles plus a dummy coil in back for noise cancellation. (not my photo, just for illustration)

Apparently a few reggae players liked this one for the lows.

I think today I'd go for an MM and a single near the neck (positioned to avoid phasing) with a blend control.

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

I prefer the simplicity of a single passive P pickup. However, I do enjoy PJ and JJ on occasion.

 

[Nev375]

Ideally, one.

I can get more than enough variation in tone by how and where I use my fingers.
And I like the consistency of knowing the exact voice of the bass and how to modify it from there with technique.

I'm not opposed to more complex pickup situations though.

The only dealbreaker for me is batteries being involved. No active electronics for me, thanks.