Changing pickups - actual improvement or hooey?

[macmanlou]

The most significant difference in pickup swaps in my experience has been to change out the single-coil bridge pickup in several different P/J basses for hum-canceling ones (DiMarzio Ultra or Area J). Especially significant when one wants to solo the bridge pickup.

 

[Gothic]

OK< all good. Well that makes for a varied conversation. To answer the first question, yes of course. Pickups contribute what pickups contribute. In simple terms, you cannot get the tone or response of Alnico from Ceramic, no matter what potentiometers you change. Coil wire thickness, pole piece shape, bobbin height, # of turns etc... cannot be duplicated with strings, effect, amp settings or technique. Period. That said... in today's industry 'mods' in general are on a bass by bass basis. Most mods are 'sideways' movement. Not better, not worse, but different. But the most important reality to understand, is that when you are 'in that subtle world of mods and change' you are only looking for the last 5%. The last 'inch of the mile' as I call it. Most of us can get what we need from stock gear. We can get 95% of the tone we want, particularly with nicer instruments right off the shelf and believe it most players don't care past that. But that last 5% is where many of us live and that is what many of the 'over hyped' mod posts come from. The change is not subtle to the owner, the shift may have been 1%, 2% closer to home, but again that is where alot the conversation lives.

YES! THANK YOU!

That's pretty much 98% of what I had in mind when I started this thread. Hats off man.

 

[2112]

I just fired a GZR and EXL170s onto a Gamma P. It's much better than it was, but it's not the same as the other Ps I have with the same config.

I also swapped out the tort guard. That was definitely the biggest improvement to the bass overall.

 

[dabbler]

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.

Did you try Audere?

 

[groovaholic]

Buying a bass is like buying a house; you have to love the things you can’t change, and be willing to either change the things you don’t like, or just deal with them.

Put it this way; if you were on the lookout for a vintage P-Bass and walked into a shop that had one, but it had roundwound strings on it (and you want flats on your P-Bass) would you walk away from it?

If something about the bass speaks to you; why not do what it takes to make it into a home run?

 

[groooooove]

depends on what the stock pickup is.

I upgraded the pups in my carvin from stock to nordstrand. you'd have to be deaf not to hear the improvement in sound.

considering some really high-grade pickups can be had for under $200, it's often a huge upgrade.

not always, and everything is subjective. but it's a very reasonable mod to do as it's not permanent, and affordable considering the potential result.

other people are insane and just do insane stuff - im not talkin' about that here, folks.

 

[Jefenator]

I would at least try a new purchase as-is before making any decision; my gut reaction gets the final word.
When I feel the wood is worthy but the electronic signal chain may be lacking from the source, that's when the hunt begins.
After much trial & error I've settled on a couple of favorite makers. Hard to beat the right pickup swap for sheer bang for the buck (especially when you buy used & sell your old unit).
Definitely not an automatic "yes", though. IME a "good" pickup will not resuscitate an instrument that doesn't quite have the mojo to begin with. And when the shape is non-standard and/or needs a preamp upgrade too, it might be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Gothic]

other people are insane and just do insane stuff - im not talkin' about that here, folks.

I really wanna get a '51 P and put thunderbird humbuckers and a high mass bridge on it. Seriously.
If only I weren't afraid of the dreaded router...

 

[Kelly robinson]

I've swapped four pickups into a project bass and they do make a significant difference to my ears . I ended up with an original Hammon Darkstar as the final choice . It cost more than the bass did and is the sweetest sounding one I've tried - very responsive to picking hand attack and position too . I also have a p bass with a cheap but wonderful Wilde [ by the Bill Lawrence family ] that is similarly great . I have two jazz bases with various pickups including a Fender noiseless and a Lollar - a Dusenberg and a Vintage Vibe custom single coil . Those were all nice but didn't make as much difference going into the jazz configuration as I had hoped . That may well have been due to my install though so I hesitate to disparage any of them . Suffice to say as far as I'm concerned "pickups do make a difference " ..... Kelly

 

[groovaholic]

I really wanna get a '51 P and put thunderbird humbuckers and a high mass bridge on it. Seriously.
If only I weren't afraid of the dreaded router...

You jest, but I took a router to my $(multiple thousand) Dingwall to add a 3rd pickup…

 

[Gothic]

You jest, but I took a router to my $(multiple thousand) Dingwall to add a 3rd pickup…

I assure you Sir, I do not jest. Dead serious. On both counts. I'm seriously terrified of those things.

 

[bikeplate]

It seems you are implying that all pickups are the same. Simply not the case

 

[fhm555]

Did you try Audere?

it was the first aftermarket unit I tried. It was very well done, actually over done, four knobs and way too many choices. After the third time having to hunt a workable tone after finding and losing two I liked better, i wound up leaving the settings alone so i could spend more time playing than I was spending chasing a useable tone. With a standard VVT i dial up my volume on the neck, add a bit of twang with the bridge, roll on the low until mud, then back it off an RCH and i’m GTG. A few seconds and i’m ready.

 

[jnewmark]

I have replaced, and /or bought basses that had pickup replacements, and, yes, I did notice a difference, but wasn't enamored of the tones I was getting. In most cases, it was a more, strident or exaggerated result of what I already had ( Fender Jazz basses ). The one exception was a used MIM Jazz that I bought where the pickups were almost dead. I had my luthier replace them with Golden Age Pickups from Stew Mac, only because he got such a great deal on them. Pretty close sounding to stock Fender pickups, and I was happy with the result.

 

[carsbybigd]

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.

In my case , huge difference . I dont use any pedals .

 

[BasEd]

Whatever pickups I use I tend to cut at 300Hz (removes some mud) and boost at 2000Hz (adds some sparkle).

 

[darwin-bass]

Changing string type (flats, rounds, nickel, stainless) probably has the biggest impact.
Changing pickup types (humbucker, single coil) is probably the next.

I built my bases and have changed many things but pickups have had the biggest impact since my string choices are pretty stable. My Jazz started with UltraJazz pickups. Didn't like the mid scoop tone so switched to Fender split coil (Super 55s?) and it was better.

I swapped the OEM single coil pickups in my Carvin for Norstrand split coils. Didn't like the tone as much and swapped back.

My fretless started with DiMarzio Model J's. They were too dark. Swapped to Area J's and the tone opened up.

With my MM 'ray build I chose a pickup and preamp and have not changed it. It works fine. No need to "upgrade".

I also don't swap unless there is a reason. Too much hum or tone that just isn't working. I'm not chasing some perfect sound. After all, it's just bass.

 

[BadSanta1281]

The real question is whether anyone in the audience can hear any difference in your new tone.

 

[BasEd]

Adding foam under the strings at the bridge also has a big (and good) impact.

 

[Guitalia]

I upgrade my basses with Confirmation Bias brand pickups exclusively. You can hear the difference!

I once installed an original DiMarzio Super Distortion guitar pickup in a mid-'60s bottom-of-the-barrel Japanese bass. Sounded like a bass before, sounded like a bass after.