I hate the terms "back" and "front" pickup.

[Robscott]

I get where you and the OP are coming from but….All kick drums are bass drums, not all bass drums are kick drums. Check the history of the drum set, the drum set contraption was a very unique adaptation.

Plus, you don't actually kick a bass drum - well, Keith Moon probably did but he also drove his car through swimming pools, so....

 

[Robscott]

I'm struggling to imagine a scenario in which I would need to decipher which pickup someone else was referring to. I know where mine are, and I know which knob works which one. What else do I need to know?

 

[Afc70]

Ive always favored my front pickup on all my basses

 

[gln1955]

If all of this is so confusing and makes you so irritable, how do you get through the day?

 

[GregT]

Most professions have their own lexicon. You either learn it or you don't. Your choice!

 

[BucketOfFish]

The OP is merely irritated by the confusing terminology. By now we should all be IRATE with the world for allowing these conditions to exist!

 

[john_g]

Its not hard to figure out but I dont like it either.


Now. Get off my lawn.

 

[Liam Wald]

The one that annoys me is people calling a kick drum a bass drum.

It's hard to play a kick drum in a marching band.

 

[Nephilymbass]

It's hard to play a kick drum in a marching band.

Imagine that lol

 

[4stringsjack]

Ive always favored my front pickup on all my basses

Same. I usually dial down the back pickup to about 50%.

Except for G&L, where I have to choose front, back, or both.

 

[Nephilymbass]

I’ve been playing since 1967 and I have never seen a drummer kick a drum. I’ve seen them step on a pedal that in turn causes a mallet to hit a drum.

Perhaps a more accurate name would be a “pedal drum”.

Of course if we name drums based on the way they are struck wouldn’t we have ride stick drums and floor stick drums? Then what about snare drums? That name doesn’t describe how they are struck. Rather, the name describes an added component that changes the sound of what ostensively is a floor stick drum.

BTW, is it a drum set, a drum kit, a trap set, or something else?

This is starting to sound like Computer Science. That is, there are only two difficult things in CS - maintaining cache coherency and naming things.

I get what you’re saying. It’s just that to me concert bass drums and a kick drum are very different instruments because they are played so differently requiring a pretty different technique. It’s even more drastic of a difference than bass guitar and upright to me. I can play a bass drum. I don’t have the foot coordination to play kick drum very well.

 

[themarshall]

I hate the term “pickup”. So coarse and boorish. Are we taking our turnips to market? Please, let us use transducer. So much more refined.

 

[Jason Bonilla]

I hate the term “pickup”. So coarse and boorish. Are we taking our turnips to market? Please, let us use transducer. So much more refined.

Personally I'm a big advocate for using Magnetic String Vibration Receptacle or MSVRs and Foremost and/or Rearmost MSVR rather than front/back pickup.

 

[LUpton]

OMG! Stop the torture! I’ll tell everything I know!!!

 

[Slade N]

Plus, you don't actually kick a bass drum - well, Keith Moon probably did but he also drove his car through swimming pools, so....

It was kicked before the pedal wasinvented

 

[Dynacord]

First. World. Problems.

When I travel somewhere on a plane, the first thing I do when I get off is orient myself. I do not like not knowing cardinal directions.

Yes, but do you prefer neck, middle or bridge seats?

 

[tpaul]

How do you feel about Fore & Aft?

Looking down from the player's perspective, we have "left" and "right" pickups. We can borrow from theater jargon and call it "player's left" and "player's right" to avoid confusion, or PL and PR for short.

Personally I am inclined to use terminology that reflects the different tonal characteristics of the two pickups. For example, we could call them Ren and Stimpy.

"I'm not getting a good volume balance. Should I raise my Ren, or lower my Stimpy?"

 

[micguy]

The OP is merely irritated by the confusing terminology. By now we should all be IRATE with the world for allowing these conditions to exist!

Talkbass is, [pretty much by definition, a land of "First World Problems" - anyone who's big issue is that their bass isn't ideal...is doing OK. We allow whining here, all the while (hopefully) realizing we're a bunch of spoiled brats.

 

[E2942]

In developing countries their basses only have one pickup?

we have "left" and "right" pickups. We can borrow from theater jargon and call it "player's left" and "player's right" to avoid confusion, or PL and PR for short.

That goes right out the proverbial window with a left-handed player.

 

[Jason Bonilla]

Starboard pickup and Port pickup was always the standard lingo back when I was playing in the big leagues