Newbie question about pickups

[Moon Goddess]

Do you like the way it sounds? Then leave the stock pickups. Ben Shepherd from Soundgarden plays stock MiM P basses. I do too. Some of the cheaper Fenders have pickups with steel poles and ceramic magnets, but they don't sound bad. Just different. Like a DiMarzio Model P.

 

[TonyP-]

Saying all pickups are the same is like saying all mikes are the same...

Sure they will all work but is that what you want???

 

[mcnach]

Pick-ups do not make any difference at all. They are all exactly the same.

yeah, if you have old strings, with the tone control rolled off, and the amplifier is unplugged

 

[Bassamatic]

Pickups DO make a difference, but not as much as you might think. I went through a dozen different P Bass pickups and went back to the stock ones. Some sounded much worse. Others were just not worth the money.
The difference you will hear is in the "Bedroom Tone" what you hear while playing alone. With the band - the difference is usually negligible.
The strings make a MUCH greater difference than the pickups.
Play it for a while - get to know the sound and hear it with the band. You'll see.
Also- don't judge the sound of your bass compared to recordings. In the studio the bass can be compressed, limited, equalized and otherwise modified like crazy for a recording.

 

[CharlyG]

I practice WAY more than I play live, so I want THAT bedroom tone. I just up the mids(Ampegy) live.

 

[TUEP]

Simple answer. Depends on your taste in tone. Understand pickups before changing them. A bassist might want that R&B sound out of his MIM Pbass, but if he drops a hot pup like a SPB-2 in it, then he might now be happy. The pup will be hotter but the tone won't suit what he is doing.

 

[CharlyG]

But the Quarter Pounder would do it.... There is something about a big pole piece that does it for me on bass. Heck I even use the GFS single coils(big pole pieces) on guitar

 

[orange joe]

I think first you need to identify what you don't want from your sound and what you do.that particular pickup wont make as much of a difference as say a DiMarzio,Bartolini or Delano.different types of p bass pickups can sound vastly different.you may want to look into a preamp either on board or in pedal form.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

Depends on pickups but from my experience where they are located determines the sound more

 

[Michael B]

@bogie1519 If you become a sponsored member of TB and you don't like the pickup, I'll buy it off you if it's unharmed (I don't expect it would be).

Assumption is that this is the pickup:

Invalid Link Removed

I need a second one for a project.

 

[fretter]

Pickups don't make a big difference, if...

1) the bass is a purely acoustic bass
2) you can fit everything in a sedan
2) you want to remain single

 

[jallenbass]

Pickups DO make a difference, but not as much as you might think. I went through a dozen different P Bass pickups and went back to the stock ones. Some sounded much worse. Others were just not worth the money.
The difference you will hear is in the "Bedroom Tone" what you hear while playing alone. With the band - the difference is usually negligible.
The strings make a MUCH greater difference than the pickups.
Play it for a while - get to know the sound and hear it with the band. You'll see.
Also- don't judge the sound of your bass compared to recordings. In the studio the bass can be compressed, limited, equalized and otherwise modified like crazy for a recording.

I agree that strings make as much of a difference and will be a less expensive way to move toward the sound you need to hear and I've settled on which ones work for me. That said, some pickups make it easier and some make it more difficult for me to hear my pitch, rhythm and articulation in a band setting. We have different criteria depending on whether we are looking for a particular "at home" tone versus what works in a band. At home I look for all of the cork sniffing nuances whereas in a band I gladly sacrifice all of that to hear my pitch, rhythm and articulation as clear as possible. Right now I'm looking for one pickup to be my "at home" sound and one to be my "works in the band" sound. If I find one pickup to do both that will be great but I'm not banking on it.

 

[Stinsok]

I had a Peavey BXP bass that I swapped the pickups for American Standard J units. I think it actually hurt instead of help!

 

[PeaveyPlayer]

 

[REV]

I'm a curious person so I have spent a lot of time and money on this very subject. The short answer is Yes, pickups can make a difference, but it's not like just changing pickups is going to transform your instrument. As an example I have a P bass and I felt that this particular bass was lacking in the highs. I happen to have a set of Sadowsky P bass pickups that I knew enhanced the highs. The Sadowsky pickups made a big difference in the sound of that bass. I have a couple of Geddy Lee jazz basses. One of them has Custom Shop pickups in it and came stock with those pickups. The other one had some other type of pickups but both basses sounded bassically the same. I thought the other bass might sound better with a set of custom shop pickups but there was actually no difference in the sound.

 

[gt96g]

I have always had a philosophy when it comes to this and it is just my opinion. I look at every instrument as having it's own acoustic voice. The voice of the bass guitar comes from the combination of the woods used, their density, and the construction methods used, not the elctronics. In contrast, I look at pickups as the microphone being used to carry that voice. You can change pickups as many times as you want on the same instrument but if you don't like the acoustic properties inherent to that instrument chances are no degree of changing electronics is going to change that. As an example, I had 2 modulus basses at different points in time, the tone never worked for my ear which let me to conclude graphite necks are just not for me.

Think about it, if a singer is trying out for your band even if that singer is capable and has good technique, that does not mean the timbre of their voice is going to work with the music being played, and a new microphone is not going to change that.

Now, on the other side of that argument, if you have a bass and generally like the acoustic properties of the bass but feel it may be "slightly" lacking in a particular area, mids, bass etc. You can get a set of pickups that are more tuned to a particular range that can compliment and work in concert with the instruments natural voice, but no electronics are going to change the basses acoustic voice.

As others have said, consider looking into some different strings, new strings can have a surprisingly significant impact on tone. Steel v Nickle, Round v Flatwound, difference in gauge can all be very effective in tonal tweaks that might spare you the time and expense of changing pickups that in the end might not even achieve the desired result.

You need to ask yourself, is the sound of your bass almost there or way off, if you answered the latter, consider selling the instrument and looking for a new axe. Also if you're using a p bass, don't let this one turn you away from all of them, MIM P basses vary significantly in their acoustic properties and if you try 3 - 5 of them in a store chances are you will find one that works for you. Also if you do decide a new bass is the way to go, play the basses acoustically before plugging in. If it sounds good acoustically with no amp, chances are you will like what you hear through the amp.

Hope this helped.

 

[petrus61]

I have always had a philosophy when it comes to this and it is just my opinion. I look at every instrument as having it's own acoustic voice. The voice of the bass guitar comes from the combination of the woods used, their density, and the construction methods used, not the electronics.

 

[hsech]

If you just bought the MIM P, why change anything until you have had it a while? Try amp settings, different strings and playing with others to see how your stock pickup sounds in different scenarios. Changing pickups should not be at the top of the list of things to try, it should be at the bottom of the list. IMO.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

gt96g ^^^ That's the right answer.

 

[Eilif]

Pickups make a big difference.

However perhaps follow these steps first.
1) If it's simply a matter of the bass being too bright or not bright enough, that can easily modified with strings. Stainless strings will be brighter, Pure nickel or flatwound strings will be warmer.
2) Play your bass through a few different rigs at the guitar store to see if it's really your amp.
3) Play some higher quality P-basses (Fender MIA, Lakland, etc) and see if a good P-bass tone is really the tone you're after
4)I it's not strings or amp, and a P-bass tone is your thing then a new pickup may be in order. The Fender option you mention and the EMG Geezer Buttler pickups are two solid choices for affordable jack-of-all-trades pickups that will improve the sound of most any P-bass under $800. If you have a specific tone in mind, post over at the pickups forum for recommendations.

I put the Geezer Buttler P/J in an LTD 214 (Precision clone) and it's now one of my favorite instruments.