Changing pickups - actual improvement or hooey?

[J-Bass RMR]

Wood, strings, pickups, & electronics, and how they interact with each other, all affect the sound of the bass.

To what degree changing one, (or any combination) of these, depends on the bass.

Whether it's an upgrade / whether is matters, depends on the individual.

 

[dkelley]

pickups are scientifically designed.. they follow the rules of electronics, and depending on the winding, magnetic properties, wire used, number of coils, positions of coils, and wiring between the coils, they can and should sound very very different from one another.

Two similar pickups will likely sound similar, but you can't always tell what is similar by the appearance or casing of the pickup design.

 

[WillyW]

Most peeples don’t know how to adjust pickups.

Sometimes it’s easier to spend money than learn something.

 

[kmon]

just us convincing ourselves that we made the right choice

This NEVER happens here ^^

 

[Staccato]

OP, like so many items in the Bass gear world, it depends.

I've seen countless threads in the last 10 years or so, where someone has ordered a new set of $25 pickups (U.S. dollars). Yikes!

If you can't find a set of pickups that came out of a $500-600 instrument, they are constantly popping up, and selling very quickly.

Buy used pickups, and SCOUR the web for what's available. If you choose wisely, you can resell a set days later for about the same about as you paid, if they disappoint you.

Have fun on your quest!

 

[Joe Nerve]

I'm right there with ya. I "upgraded" the pickups on 3 basses. They sounded a little bit different, but still maintained a lot of the character of the bass. In all 3 situations I felt I pretty much threw my time and money away.

I much prefer buying basses I like the sound of right from the start.

 

[Durham52]

With pickups or strings the degree of change is what will make the difference. move from TI flats to a bright set of chrome rounds and you'll see a lot of change, not so much moving from TI flats, to La Bella flats. Same with pickups, as others have said swapping a stock vintage type wind alnico V P pickup, for another brands vintage type wind alnico V P pickup, not much difference, swapping a vintage alnico single coil J for a high output ceramic humbucking soapbar, potentially a big difference.

Whether swapping strings or pickups gives a "better" sound/tone, is in the ears and mind of the beholder.

But why go to the expense of swapping either without trying all the possible adjustments available on an instrument first?

 

[JW56789]

I've only changed out pickups a few times: Twice from whatever was in it going to a full EMG's + EMG network changeout (and oh my yes, QUITE the difference), and then I changed the pickups out on my Squier James Johnston strictly as a part of 'hot rodding a Squier fever'.

In the EMG cases, I could have left well enough alone, but I really wanted EMG's. The Squier was entirely un-necessary, but I got a great deal on some 'takeout' brand-new Fender Yosemites from a guy that, you guessed it, bought a brand-new Jazz and just HAD to update his pickups to something new.

I've never owned a bass that it was an out and out necessity to change them, so I did it only on the occasions above. For me there are SO many aftermarket pickups out there for Fender Bass-Shaped Objects, that honestly I would not know where to begin, aside from changing from passive to EMG's. TOO many choices for old JW !

Plus honestly, I always think a new amp was the quickest way to a different tone.

Other guys thinks it's a must-do and good for them if it works for 'em.

 

[Nuage420]

I put together my first P bass. It came with a vintera pickup that is freaking amazing. I love Nordstrands so I bought a Nordstrand P. HATED IT. put the vintera back in. Got curious about quarter pounders, don't hate it. It's really hot and sounds brutal... but I like the vintera more.
I bought an ibanez headless with Bartolini bh2s... HATE THEM. Put in Nordstrands LOVE IT my favorite bass tones.
I recommend swapping pickups and pres. Find a bass that has the right feel and then give it the right tone.

 

[Zoffy]

I have a Spector Legend that came with mediocre sounding active pickups. I swapped them out for EMG Geezer Butlers and it made a HUGE difference to me. The bass went from "meh" to being my main gigging bass. I generally don't make changes to an instrument just for the sake of making changes - if I liked the sound of the original pickups I would have kept them (and I probably would have if it was a higher end bass - the Legend series is one of Spector's lower end models and came with low-end electronics). Yeah... it makes a difference to me.

 

[Willie5String]

I have a Jazz Bass Plus that was everything I’d ever hoped for, except the tone was crap. Replaced the Lace pickups with DiMarzio Area pickups…tone heaven for me.

Some instruments sound absolutely fine with stock pickups, others have duds.

I do think generally any good quality Alnico pickup sounds good in almost any P or J, but to my ears I’m not a fan of ceramics…I’d like to believe it’s not cork sniffing, but, who knows.

 

[Shanannigan]

I have an Ibanez BTB686SC. A while back I switched the preamp for an Aguilar OBP-3 and noticed a big improvement. A year ago I replaced the stock pickups with Bartolini classics and noticed a massive improvement.

The change in pickups was by far the biggest improvement I've made to my bass, it was like it came to life, like I was playing a new bass.

 

[Dominic D]

I've replaced pickups not for a better tone, but for a different tone. I don't buy basses that don't sound good stock.

 

[Element Zero]

When I see someone change out the pickups on a bass like Ric or a Modulus, something high-end that shouldn't need improvement, I get the impression they have a specific need or insight.

That was partially why I did it to mine. The YY5S came stock with the EMG PJ in soap bar format. It sounded good and I enjoyed it. However, I like the slightly smoother top end of humbuckers compared to singles. Had it wired up with a coil tap too so if I wanna get that J sound (which I love) I can and man is it convincing. However, most of the time I run it in humbucker and slightly favoring the bridge pup. Had no reason to fork out $7-8k for a custom build when I did it for less than $400.

 

[Element Zero]

I've replaced pickups not for a better tone, but for a different tone. I don't buy basses that don't sound good stock.

Interesting. I’m not knocking you. At all. That’s quite smart. However, pickups can nearly always be changed to fit the sound your looking for. The way an instrument plays is an entirely different story… IMO. I’d MUCH rather have a killer playing bass that didn’t sound as great as it could vs a great sounding bass that I absolutely despised playing. Case in point… the Pedulla Pentabuzz I had Mike make me a few years ago.

 

[StatesideRambler]

I assert that the great majority of mods are done to instruments played by people who don’t play well enough for even a skilled listener to distinguish the change. If you want to sound better, leave the instrument as it is and hit the woodshed. JM[not very]HO

 

[coy garcia]

A couple times it's been a improvement. A few times
hooey

 

[logdrum]

If it is not an improvement there is definitely a change. I have been using Bartolini since 1987. I put the old Schaller back about a year ago and put the Bartolinis back in about 2 months on my first bass - A Kramer P-bass. I bought a bass here with the much revered Nordstrand Fat Stacks. I went back to Bartolini soapbars. I think they are the same league but Bartolini is my tone. However the Nordstrand Big Splits are the best fat J pickups I ever had.

It could be a rabbit hole, but many of these pickup companies are in business because they do have an impact on tone. I think if you buy from the established companies, it is hard to go wrong.

 

[Destroyer661]

I recently bought a Peavey Grind and I thought I'd be happy with the passive stock pickups, but I was not...

So I had a set of Fishman Fluence Mike Inez pickups installed and uh, I never need anything else. This bass does it all now and I couldn't be happier. I have 2 other Peaveys that I wouldn't dream of swapping out though so I guess it's all subjective as towhat an "upgrade" means to you.

 

[Bassic_desires]

'Change' and 'Improvement' are two different words with two different meanings.