bottom and growl

[tronbass]

what pick ups are the best for 4 string when it comes to deep bottom and growl?

 

[Kilian.]

I really like my Dimarzio model J pickups (jazz bass). The only thing I'm not too fond of is the neck pickup. It lacks a little bit of clarity when you play solo. But in a band situation: they growl and have bottom.

One extra trick: you can switch them from parallel to series. They're actually humbuckers. There are reviews of them (and others) in the FAQ section of the Pickups And Electronics section.

 

[tronbass]

what about bartolini's. i heard they were amazing for growl, but i don't know about low end.

 

[Niskamies]

what about bartolini's. i heard they were amazing for growl, but i don't know about low end.

I have played numerous basses with Bartolini electronics, and one really stuck in my mindn: a pre-gibson tobias. It had two bartolini soapbars and a tct preamp. The bottom was huge! Very solid and tight.

 

[luknfur]

FWIW:

To me growl is a wiered thing that I've never been able to put a finger on the source so I'm guessing it's a combination of factors that becomes more pronounced when they are aligned, or just something that results from something I don't do - like phase switching/whatever. There's definetly a growl that comes from strings/setup. The growl I experience the majority of the time comes from the strings grazing the frets on slides. Some pups will pickup that sound better than others. Some pups seem to have a bit of growl otherwise.

I don't recall any pup I had that had any significant growl other than slide. I had a pup that was so burpy once that was basically the only sound it had. Never had that in a growl form.

To me growl is a lot easier to recognize when it's present than it is to generate.

 

[jamesblue]

Srings really help, try DR Fat Beams. Lots of good growl.