Changing pickups - actual improvement or hooey?

[Gothic]

I've seen many, MANY posts about people buying a new bass and wanting to change the pickup before even playing it. And while I will defend everyone's right to do whatever the hell they want with their money, I find it... well, I'll be polite and say, rash.

There are many people also that swear by their pickup change. Example:
"I got a p-bass and putting in the GZR made it a dream"
And I've also seen other people change pickups and get jack. Sure, it may sound different but is it really better*?
(*totally subjective, yes, hence this thread)

Personally, I honestly can't decide whether this is all just us convincing ourselves that we made the right choice or if there's a significant enough difference to really warrant the money spent.

Not saying there isn't a difference, mind you. BUT, with many of us sending the signal through a lot of tone shaping tech before it actually becomes sound, does the pickup really matter that much or does it just become a marginally significant part of the whole equation?

I've always advocated that, on an electric instrument, the pickups/electronics are the major factors that shape the tone (as opposed to body/neck/fretboard woods as well as hardware). So I'm not saying they're nothing.
What I'm asking is, have you seen that big of a difference between different pickups, AFTER going through preamps and EQ's and all that? Would you be able to effectively change something in your sound through the aforementioned (amp, EQ etc.) without changing the pickup?
I mean, how much can you screw up a pickup in a precision, for example?

And by the way, I'm mainly talking about the pickups themselves, presently. Not the circuitry involved. Which is my next point. Perhaps a change in that area (say 500k pots instead of 250k) would be enough?

Discuss.

 

[Gorn]

The conventional wisdom is new part = upgrade. A lot of conventional wisdom is wrong.

 

[Clank Plank]

Changing the pickups is about the most significant thing you can do to change the tone, sound and character of a bass.

I have done it many times myself, but don't do so for the sake of it. Basses that sound just-so get left alone.

I've also discovered little correlation between the price of a pickup and its sound. I've found some crap and weedy premium pups, and some cheap ones that punched massively above their weight. And vice versa.

 

[stingray69]

I've had mixed results - sometimes there is a great improvement & sometimes I honestly cannot hear much at all that has changed.

This is why I always take my current pickup-to-string height measurements & leave on the exact same set of strings to record a simple "Before & After" bassline or two (completely dry) into a digital tracking device to give me an honest as possible A/B.

Often times, the differences are subtle - maybe the new pickups have a <little> more top end, or mids, or this-or-that. Other times there is a dramatic improvement in overall gain, tone, etc.

Because of such - I've learned never to be in a rush to change stock pickups until I've had their tone instilled in my ears long enough to know what would be an "improvement". Change, just for the sake of change, is not an improvement. During A/B comparisons, it turns out a lot of stock pickups aren't too shabby most of the time & in some cases I even went back to the stock pickups after trying some name brand aftermarket pickups.

 

[Geri O]

I read through the original post, shaking my head at all the points brought up and questioned. The questioning (out loud, anyway) of the motives, hearing, and purposes of people that one doesn’t even know has always baffled me

The only response I can come up with is, it’s like Jazz. If you have to ask the question, you ain’t gonna understand the answer.

 

[Slater]

Just plug whatever instrument you have into a Quad Cortex, then tone wood, strings, pickups, or anything else won’t matter.

 

[wvbass]

Changing the pickupsstrings is about the most significant thing you can do to change the tone, sound and character of a bass.

Fixed it.

Pickups can change a lot, but I think they can also sometimes change almost nothing. If you buy a decent quality '62 reissue P pickup, it will sound about like the vintage reissue pickup you already have. If you swap it out for a quarter pounder, that sound it still in there, but you'll by default have more low end, resulting in less perceived midrange. If you swap it out for active EMG's, you'll have something very different, but familiar. If the same geometry pickup goes into the same location, it will have a lot in common with the previous pickup.

 

[Ric5]

I've seen many, MANY posts about people buying a new bass and wanting to change the pickup before even playing it. And while I will defend everyone's right to do whatever the hell they want with their money, I find it... well, I'll be polite and say, rash.

There are many people also that swear by their pickup change. Example:
"I got a p-bass and putting in the GZR made it a dream"
And I've also seen other people change pickups and get jack. Sure, it may sound different but is it really better*?
(*totally subjective, yes, hence this thread)

Personally, I honestly can't decide whether this is all just us convincing ourselves that we made the right choice or if there's a significant enough difference to really warrant the money spent.

Not saying there isn't a difference, mind you. BUT, with many of us sending the signal through a lot of tone shaping tech before it actually becomes sound, does the pickup really matter that much or does it just become a marginally significant part of the whole equation?

I've always advocated that, on an electric instrument, the pickups/electronics are the major factors that shape the tone (as opposed to body/neck/fretboard woods as well as hardware). So I'm not saying they're nothing.
What I'm asking is, have you seen that big of a difference between different pickups, AFTER going through preamps and EQ's and all that? Would you be able to effectively change something in your sound through the aforementioned (amp, EQ etc.) without changing the pickup?
I mean, how much can you screw up a pickup in a precision, for example?

And by the way, I'm mainly talking about the pickups themselves, presently. Not the circuitry involved. Which is my next point. Perhaps a change in that area (say 500k pots instead of 250k) would be enough?

Discuss.

different pickups sound different from each other

 

[bearhart74]

Fixed it.

Pickups can change a lot, but I think they can also sometimes change almost nothing. If you buy a decent quality '62 reissue P pickup, it will sound about like the vintage reissue pickup you already have. If you swap it out for a quarter pounder, that sound it still in there, but you'll by default have more low end, resulting in less perceived midrange. If you swap it out for active EMG's, you'll have something very different, but familiar. If the same geometry pickup goes into the same location, it will have a lot in common with the previous pickup.

Doesnt the cheese in a quarter pounder negatively affect the tone?

 

[Gustopher]

In the relatively cheap basses I have swapped pickups in, I have seen massive improvements in sound quality and balance. A Delano in my Ray4 and a Geezer in my MIM pbass. The improvements were very very noticeable and improved the sounds from those basses. If I purchased a more expensive bass I wouldn’t even consider changing anything on it because I would want to buy it with nice stuff already in it. A Ray4 has a cheap crap factory pickup (preamp too) but the rest of the bass is really well made, so it makes logical sense to toss a little love in there and see how it turned out. Worst that could have happened would have been no change and then I could have just resold the pickup. On a second note, some people like to tinker. It’s fun.

 

[Dave Leighton]

Just swapped out the pickups in my MIM 70'S Reissue Jazz. Put in 70'S Lollars with 1 meg. volume pots and 250 tone.

Far more bark and growl than the standard pup's.

 

[Bruiser Stone]

I have a MIM Vintera P bass that I’ve finally reconciled myself to keeping after an adjustment period with the neck. The stock pickups seemed a bit muddy and blah compared to my ‘78 P. Yesterday morning, I swapped them out with Lindy Fralin stockwound set that was in my ‘78 for a few months while I had a rewind performed on the originals. It’s like breathing new life into the Vintera. Meaty and articulate. I’m sure results vary between instruments, but this was a definite net gain.

 

[NOVAX]

I used to think pickups are pickups until I tried a vintage voiced Nordstrand. Dynamics.
Purity. Precisely balanced.
Clarity. Definition. Authentic lazy growling attack character.

What more do I want?
A 30 minute neck massage?

 

[ThingsAbove]

IMO different strings make a bigger difference than pickup swaps unless you're changing between passive and active. Then the pre is making the difference.

OTOH if you buy a crap bass with fridge magnet pickups, new ones may be a big step up.

 

[stingray69]

Regarding the second part of the question - will pickups matter that much after going through scores of outboard preamps & EQ...there's no one-size-fits-all answer. There are so many types of pres, tone shaping devices, distortions, etc., Encompassing a massive range of coloration from transparent to heavily colored - and how you set them individually.

IDK, I just prefer to keep it as simple as possible - getting my clean tone sounding what I think sounds the best at the core (the pickup/instrument level) and I'll work in other devices downstream if I need them & tweak their parameters to sound good with my pickups. But I'd rather judge an instrument's tone by its raw tone first & foremost. IME, if it sucks there, it sucks everywhere downstream.

 

[arbiterusa]

Not hooey but not always a change for the better. I find it insane to pick out pickups for a bass you haven’t even played yet.

 

[C Stone]

I only change them when I can't get the tone I want out of that particular bass AFTER P/U adjustments and string changes.

I have 2004 Squier P and a 1999 Standard Special that sound amazing 'as is' no need to mess with em, another newer Squier was not getting me exited so I replaced pick ups with a set of Classic Vibe P/U's I had lying around and it fixed it right up.

All but one of my CV's are stock, I wanted vintage P thump tone in that one and went with Fender Original 62's and they got it done

 

[Bonafide]

If you have to ask the question, you ain’t gonna understand the answer.

^^ Yep ^^ The fact that the question of whether pickups are not merely a 'psycho-somatic' impulse or even a relevant tonal upgrade is even being asked, in 2021...is surprising at best and unfortunate at worst. To the OP, enjoy the journey. Developing your ears in regard to magnet types, coil wire, bobbin shape, pickup design etc is an enjoyable process as a musician.

 

[fhm555]

IMO different strings make a bigger difference than pickup swaps unless you're changing between passive and active. Then the pre is making the difference.

OTOH if you buy a crap bass with fridge magnet pickups, new ones may be a big step up.

IME, swapping single coils for humbuckers made a huge positive improvement to the output of any MIM J bass i’ve done it to, but not just any humbucker. Dimarzio Model J and Ultra J gave me more of what I was after than any other aftermarket J pickup set I tried. My second best swap was a set of $27 dollar J blades I got off ebay, and last but not least, was a set of single coil Fender CS 60’s pickups. None of the other aftermarket replacement pickups I tried really blew my dress up like those three did.
As for passive to active swaps, i’ve never tried active pickups, but I’ve tried plenty of aftermarket preamps, and to date have not found one worth keeping. They are either too harsh or try to do much, and succeed. It took endless twiddling of knobs to find a pleasing tone and once i moved off that tone it became another session of endless twiddling to find something else, but rarely did I manage to get back to the happy place I originally found, and lost. A Kubicki preamp was the only preamp I ever found that was both good sounding and easy to navigate.

 

[Mustang Surly]

I've put DiMarzios in inexpensive, Asian P & J basses and the improvement was "night & day" in a positive sense.
Replaced the stockers in an MIJ Fender Mustang with Nordstrand NM4s and the improvement was more nuanced, but definitely noticeable.

Especially in inexpensive basses, it's advisable to also replace the pots and output jack if you bother to upgrade the pups. In my experience, the cheaper the bass, the cheesier the electronics. Scrimping on pups and pots is about the first thing they do to keep the price down.