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Most soapbar-like sound in a jazz PU shell?

#3
Well supposing that a soapbar is often a dual coil humbucker, then any Jazz pickup with two coils sensing the strings at the same time will do it.

Like this:

neojazzbuckerlayout.png


As far as I know, the only Jazz pickups on the market like that are Joe Bardens and my Neo Jazzbuckers.

I think Joe developed his to sound like single coils. Mine were voiced to sound close to my full size soapbars.
 
#8
kaiuk said:
A soapbar is a shape of pickup, not a sound
Click to expand...

That's what I was going to say, but the OP mentioned a specific pickup. (Sort of. He never gave a model, just the brand.)

"Soapbar" is a pretty useless term, because it describes neither the coil configuration, nor the shape! It is a general term that applies to any pickup of a general geometric form, which can vary. Not all soapbars are the same dimensions, but there are a handful of common shapes. As far as the coil configurations, a soapbar pickup can be anything. Single coils, humbuckers, quad coils, split coils, narrow apertures, wide apertures, Jazz bass style pole pieces, rail style pole pieces, etc.
 
#9
OK. Lemme try again. I have a bass with two single-coil pickups that are 95mm x 19mm. For brevity, let's call this a "jazz" bass, even though it is not always used to play jazz. I find the sound of these pickups with round wound strings too "bright" or shrill for certain types of music.

I have another bass with Bartolini P46CBC "Classic Bass" CB series pickups. For brevity, let's call these "soapbar" pickups, even though I do not use them in the shower. According to the manufacturer, "CB series pickups bass pickups feature an extended and more resonant frequency range. They have far more "air" and definition at the top without sacrificing lows and low mids. They are cast in epoxy to remove unwanted feedback and microphonics. Dual coil Humbucker, powerful lows and low-mids, bright treble."

I like the way the above-referenced "soapbar" pickups sound. I would like to install a pair of them in my "jazz" bass, but they don't fit. I could have the bass routed, but I would rather not do that if I don't have to, as it is likely to reduce the resale value of the instrument. I would like to get a similar sound in a 19mm x 95mm pickup.
 
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#10
line6man said:
"Soapbar" is a pretty useless term, because it describes neither the coil configuration, nor the shape!
Click to expand...

True, but as I said, many soapbar pickups tend to be humbuckers, or at least have a wider aperture. Jazz pickups sound the way they in part because of the shape. A wider pickup, like a P bass, sounds different.

To take that further, look at a Strat pickup, and then a Jazzmaster or P-90, the original "soapbar". The wider pickup sounds different, even though they are both single coils.

My neo Jazzbuckers were intended to imitate my full size neo soapbars, just in case someone wanted that tone from a Jazz size pickup.

So rather than be pedantic about it, the guy wants a warmer humbucker tone from a Jazz shaped pickup. That's also something I wanted to get when I made those, so to me, they were soapbar sounding Jazz pickups.

Link Removed
 
#13
Jim Nazium said:
... let's call this a "jazz" bass, even though it is not always used to play jazz....
...For brevity, let's call these "soapbar" pickups, even though I do not use them in the shower.
Click to expand...

Giggles!! ;)

"CB series pickups bass pickups feature an extended and more resonant frequency range. They have far more "air" and definition at the top without sacrificing lows and low mids.
Click to expand...

At least from that particular description you can grasp "bright". But in general, don't these tonal descriptions drive you bananas, when you're researching p.u.'s on manufacturers' sites?? Just about every different model is cited as having good lows, mids and highs. They're scared to simply state the p.u.'s differentiating quality, for fear that people will assume that they're deficient in other parts of the freq. spectrum.

I for one would really appreciate some kind of freq./amp plots, so at least that manufacturer's p.u.s models could be contrasted with each other.
 

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