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What's the differences between pickups?

B

billybassist

Sep 11, 2010
49
0
#1
Hey guys, I was sitting here pondering wiring for my bass I'm building when the idea occurred to me to add a J pickup right next to the fretboard [It was going to be a P/J] then I considered another J or a soapbar, and I realized that I really don't know what the differences between them are.

So, my question to you, What does each kind of pickup sound like in each position? [bridge, middle, right up with the fretboard, or in the soapbar positions]

I realize that in order to answer my question you'll need to make HUGE generalizations, but that's really all I want, is the general idea of what each pickup type sounds like and where.
 
#2
This is a big can of worms, but I'll give the huge generalization answers, as you said. ;)

The closer to the center of the string length (the 12th fret on an open string) you put the pickup, the "bassier" the sound will be. The closer the pickup is to the bridge, the more "trebly" the sound.

In terms of different pickups types, it's nearly impossible to generalize without just being wildly inaccurate because of the variety that different pickup makers put into their pickup construction. I'll let people more knowledgeable than me chime in on the particulars there.
 
#3
I will be happy to try to make sweeping generalizations without any significant qualification. :D

Jazz: Country/ Motown
Precision: Rock/ Hard Rock
Soapbars/ MM: Like just kind of whatever

Jazz type single coils are brighter
Precision and other side-by-side humbuckers are darker and a little punchier
bigger poles are a little deeper and articulate than small
+1 on location compared to 12th fret or bridge

This is again fairly unqualified. I'm just going from what I have personally heard with my own ears.
 
#4
Firstly, I would like to thank you both for just going with my sweeping generalizations.

@kb9wyz: I don't understand your genre listing, could you describe the different sounds of the pup's? I.E. warmer, thuddier, brighter, tinnier, etc.
 
#6
kb9wyz said:
Jazz: Country/ Motown
Precision: Rock/ Hard Rock
Soapbars/ MM: Like just kind of whatever
Click to expand...

Motown was never played on a Jazz bass. The Precision Bass was the king back then. It was also used for country. Even Jazz if you think about Monk Montgomery, who introduced the Precision Bass to jazz. The most widely used electric bass was always the P bass.

When it comes to soapbars... anything can be in a soapbar. I make soapbars that are humbuckers and some that sound like single coils. Soapbar is just a shape.

So, Jazz pickups are usually bright sounding. Precision pickups are not as bright, and have more mids. They are not thumpy at all; that's a myth. The bass line from the song Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen is a P bass. Soapbars can be brighter or thicker than either one, depending on what kind of pickup is in them.
 
#7
If you are going to add a traditional Jazz Bass style pickup in the front position, close to the fret board. You will need to keep the pole spacing in consideration. A soap bar hum bucking pickup could be a bit hot for that application. If you are going to go that way Bartolini pickups make many different shape pickups. And have been in the business for a long time. And also I think they make real good sounding Jazz pickups, that is universal when taking pole spacing in consideration. You can also chose to go the more expensive way and have a custom pickup made .there are a few company's that will do that type of work as well. the sound of the pickup if it JAZZ style are soap bar etc Will sound much different in the front and you may want to consider an under wound pickup, due to the increased vibration of the stings in that position. really it is all about your taste and sky is the limit. Good luck with your project
Peace
 
#8
Reed James Eng said:
A soap bar hum bucking pickup could be a bit hot for that application.
Click to expand...

Right, the trick is to use a soapbar pickup specifically wound for the neck position. For example, I wind my neck pickups to sound less muddy, and the bridge to sound fuller when soloed.

Bartolini does that with many of their models too, where the neck is bright and the bridge is darker sounding.
 
#9
Motown was never played on a Jazz bass. The Precision Bass was the king back then. It was also used for country. Even Jazz if you think about Monk Montgomery, who introduced the Precision Bass to jazz. The most widely used electric bass was always the P bass.

Was not the first P-bass form 50s-62 are so what thy call the telecaster bass ? And thy used a huge single coil pickup? .And the split style P-bass was introduced in the early to mid sixty's? I am not up on my Bass history Much, but that bass had a cool tone.
 
#10
Reed James Eng said:
Was not the first P-bass form 50s-62 are so what thy call the telecaster bass ? And thy used a huge single coil pickup? .And the split style P-bass was introduced in the early to mid sixty's? I am not up on my Bass history Much, but that bass had a cool tone.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the original P bass had a single coil and slab body, and was later called the Telecaster bass.

It wasn't a huge single coil.. same size as a Strat. A later version of the Tele bass had a big humbucker though.

51P-BassSurfGreen003.jpg


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#12
SGD Lutherie said:
Motown was never played on a Jazz bass. The Precision Bass was the king back then. It was also used for country. Even Jazz if you think about Monk Montgomery, who introduced the Precision Bass to jazz. The most widely used electric bass was always the P bass.

When it comes to soapbars... anything can be in a soapbar. I make soapbars that are humbuckers and some that sound like single coils. Soapbar is just a shape.

So, Jazz pickups are usually bright sounding. Precision pickups are not as bright, and have more mids. They are not thumpy at all; that's a myth. The bass line from the song Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen is a P bass. Soapbars can be brighter or thicker than either one, depending on what kind of pickup is in them.
Click to expand...

Could have sworn I've seen some Motown guys toting around J's. Maybe I'm just confused. Probably that. But I can at least say that I have seen, in recent times, every kind of music played on every kind of bass. Except for Metal on a Tele bass. That might be some kind of unwritten law.

I say just play whatever and fix it in the mixing process. :D
 
#14
billybassist said:
So, my question to you, What does each kind of pickup sound like in each position? [bridge, middle, right up with the fretboard, or in the soapbar positions].
Click to expand...

You might want to rig up a bracket that will hold the pickup upside down facing the strings from the non-body side of the strings. Make it you you can move it between the bridge and fretboard and tape it to the body for testing. Pay attention to the distance between the pickup poles and the strings because the reversed radius will counteract some of that, but pickup height is critical to making judgements on tone.

I'm pretty sure someone here did that, maybe Clint.
 
#16
kb9wyz said:
Could have sworn I've seen some Motown guys toting around J's. Maybe I'm just confused. Probably that. But I can at least say that I have seen, in recent times, every kind of music played on every kind of bass. Except for Metal on a Tele bass. That might be some kind of unwritten law.

I say just play whatever and fix it in the mixing process. :D
Click to expand...

What you have to remember was that the P bass was the first successful commercial electric bass. So that's what people used. The generic name for an electric bass was a "Fender bass". So when you heard an electric bass, it was a P bass. Some studios wouldn't let you walk in with anything else.

In 1960 Fender introduced the "Deluxe Bass" to accompany the Jazzmaster guitar, and later changed the name of the bass to match as the Jazz Bass. It was designed to be brighter like the Rickenbacker bass. But they weren't as widely used as the P bass, as that wasn't the tone that was popular at the time. Now you see more Jazz basses than Precisions.

I played a Rick back then and got so tired of people asking me if I had a P bass in the case that I painted the Rickenbacker logo across the side of the case! :D

I agree you can play any kind of music on any bass, but for a while the most popular bass was the P bass.
 
#17
Sketchy said:
I hope I'm not hijacking the thread too much here, but what's the difference in tone between a Jazz single coil and a Telebass/early-precision single coil?
Click to expand...

To answerer your question about the way the two different pickups sound. please under stand this is subject to the way my ears perceive it and there is no standard terminology to explain tone. But I want to give it a try, hope you can understand and not 100% quote me on this.The jazz bass pickup is more mid heavy and is not quite as bright as the tele bass pickup; both pickups have a clear tone. But the tele has a cool quack on the low end. and is much brighter on the highs also seams to have scooped mellow mids. And the jazz has much more output with more present mids bigger lows with mellower highs. This is just a generalization but I think it some what gives an idea of the two different tones of the Tele bass comparing it to the Jazz bass.
 

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