Pickups?

[vwproject]

Hi Adam - I am learning to play bass. I chose to ask you this question because I was on youTube looking for intel on how to change my strings. I think you were the only one of the 4 or 5 videos I looked at that pointed out that changing 1 string at a time is good because you don't have to think about getting the trust rod adjusted do to 0 tension on the neck.
- What does the pickup do? What is it's function?
- How different is the first from the second?
- I have 2 EMG pickups on my bass (Stuart Spector). How are they different from other types of pickups? What makes them so great?

 

[adamnitti]

hi vwproject!

thanks for checking out my videos online!

the pickups are what "pick up" the vibrations from the strings on the bass and essentially convert them to a signal that travels out of your bass and into your amplifier. as you have probably already noticed, pickups come in many different shapes and sizes and provide players with different choices for tones. basses that require a battery have 'active' pickups, which means they have a built-in preamp giving you more control over eq. 'passive' basses do not utilize a preamp and subsequently don't need a battery to power them. on many basses with 2 pickups, the 2 individual pickups are identical, but just placed in different locations; one closer to the neck, and the other closer to the bridge. generally speaking, you gain a good bit of tonal versatility from 2 pickup basses because you have the ability to blend different proportions of each pickup. usually when you favor the neck pickup the sound becomes more 'round', or a little 'bassier'... (purely subjective generalizations, but you get the idea). conversely, when you favor the neck pickup, you will get a 'pointier' or more 'trebley' type of sound. EMGs are nice pickups, and they have their own tonal character. most experienced players have a preference for certain types or certain brands of pickups based on their tonal characteristics. hope that helps-