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WHEN GIGGING, DO YOU PREFER NECK P/U, BRIDGE P/U or MIDDLE?

WHEN GIGGING, DO YOU PREFER NECK P/U, BRIDGE P/U or MIDDLE?

  • Mostly Neck Pickup

    Votes: 42 28.4%

  • Mostly Bridge Pickup

    Votes: 26 17.6%

  • Close To Middle

    Votes: 59 39.9%

  • I switch drastically depending on the song.

    Votes: 21 14.2%
  • Total voters
    148
jnammy

jnammy

Sep 23, 2000
993
253
Orange County, CA
#1
I know that there are many variables at play, but in an actual band setting, how many of you prefer the neck p/u, bridge, or somewhere close to the middle?

I personally love the bridge pickup when playing along with songs at home, but I'm forced to being pretty much in the middle in an actual band setting since I'm the only one providing the low end and there's not enough meat if I try to stay with that growly mid-aggressive bridge p/u tone. What are some of your thoughts? Do you j bass enthusiasts actually prefer the bridge pickup at non-jazz gigs?
 
#2
john nam said:
I know that there are many variables at play, but in an actual band setting, how many of you prefer the neck p/u, bridge, or somewhere close to the middle?

I personally love the bridge pickup when playing along with songs at home, but I'm forced to being pretty much in the middle in an actual band setting since I'm the only one providing the low end and there's not enough meat if I try to stay with that growly mid-aggressive bridge p/u tone. What are some of your thoughts? Do you j bass enthusiasts actually prefer the bridge pickup at non-jazz gigs?
Click to expand...

When playing fingerstyle on a jazz, I ALWAYS roll back the neck PU a bit. Then I use my eq to fix the bass, cut some awful mids. I end up getting a well defined, thumpy tone that cuts through. With both pickups up all the way on the jazz, the tone is too nasal and muddy. Gets lost.

For slap, both pickups up all the way.
 
#3
For the most part, I use both pickups, on all the time. The only time I use the neck pickup exclusively is when playing with a pick, and I don't use the bridge pickup only on any of my basses when performing, there's just not enough low end output from them for what I do.
 
#4
i always roll to the neck pickup. cut the bass, add in tons of high mid. i cant stand the song of the pickup close to the end of the strings. no matter what sort of bass i add to that, it always sounds wrong. so i roll to the neck and EQ it to sound more like a bridge.

i guess i want to approximate a P bass at all times.. only with a jazz/MM bass.
 
#5
depends on the bass...but since, now I only own a single 2-pickup bass (other 3 are single pup basses), I'll say that I run generally in the middle (Jazz bass)...I like the tone there and besides it's noiseless...I do run from the neck (fatter to the bridge, more defined)...but I stick to the middle 90% of the time...

I like to set and forget, generally, and then just concentrate on the music.
 
#6
WalterBush said:
For the most part, I use both pickups, on all the time. The only time I use the neck pickup exclusively is when playing with a pick, and I don't use the bridge pickup only on any of my basses when performing, there's just not enough low end output from them for what I do.
Click to expand...

This is what I do also, although my reason is to minimize hum you get with bridge only or neck only. As it turns out that isn't really a problem with my Fender J 5er with noiseless pickups but it is a problem with my other J's (SX). Old habits die hard.

Generally I control tone switching between series (lots of deep bass and punch) and parallel (more of the bridge comes through). For even greater control instead of switching to bridge PU, instead I like to use the mid knob on the Fender to control the overall tone. The clones don't have that so there I have to consider switching to bridge only, but rarely do as it's too thin and too much hum. Maybe for a solo with a pick.

Of course all of these considerations don't matter with humbucker bars (like say my G&Ls) But I have to say that I pretty much use the both PU settings there too and use the EQ to change the tone. For the G&L I especially like the purity of the single coil setting, but then you get right back with the hum problems again. So it tends to stay with both.
 
#7
It all depends on the needs of the tune. I use any pickup combination (bridge, neck, b&n parallel, b&n series; my Dingwall Z3 allows for far many more pickup switching schemes) and string "attack" (fingerstyle, fingerstyle with nail a la Geddy Lee, pick, slap, closer to the neck, middle or brigde) that suits the song. If needed, I'll even pull out another bass too for the song
 
#8
quite an interesting result actually. I would have thought more folks would be bridge users considering there are more threads about mid-range growl than I can count without taking my shoes and socks off. I have my selector mostly in the middle but tweaked a bit towards the bridge end
 
#11
For me, it depends on the music I play. I used to think my main bass's bridge pickup was too thin-sounding on its own but recently figured out that it sounds just right in a band without distorted guitars and with a drummer who's not too loud. When I rehearse and gig with my alternative band, I need more bottom, though and usually use both pickups or the neck pickup soloed.
 
#15
I'm the one who posted the question and like most of you, in an actual band setting, I keep in the middle, just slightly towards the bridge (at home, I heavily prefer the bridge).

The poll so far for gigging is #1 Close To Middle, #2 Mostly Neck, # Mostly Bridge. Not to sound like a know-it-all, but this is what I expected. If this is true, shouldn't there be more p bass aficionados rather than j bass? Maybe this is why a few of the "high end" bass collectors that I've seen around TB end up looking for a PJ? In my case, I found my ultimate tone (in a live band setting) in a pair of humbuckers even though I had been looking at high end jazz basses for a long time. I sorta' came full circle.
 
#16
My default setting on the Laklands is the blend set to the middle, but it varies a lot depending on the song, and even in some cases parts of a song. On the fretless P/J it tends to favor the neck (P) PUP, or the bridge soloed, again depending on the song. But the Guild Pilot with the EMG P/J tends to be both PUPs wide open.

Of course the Precision doesn't have those issues. Both knobs all the way open all the time.

John
 
#17
95% of the time I use both pickups on full, on a Squier Affinity Jazz V. I find that soloing either pickup and using the B-string is not a good sound. For bluesier tunes, I solo the neck pickup and roll down the tone, trying to emulate a P-Bass. I never solo the bridge pickup, unless I'm jammin at home and just feel like messin around. I love my Jazz Bass :D
 
#18
john nam said:
I know that there are many variables at play, but in an actual band setting, how many of you prefer the neck p/u, bridge, or somewhere close to the middle?

I personally love the bridge pickup when playing along with songs at home, but I'm forced to being pretty much in the middle in an actual band setting since I'm the only one providing the low end and there's not enough meat if I try to stay with that growly mid-aggressive bridge p/u tone. What are some of your thoughts? Do you j bass enthusiasts actually prefer the bridge pickup at non-jazz gigs?
Click to expand...

My preference has always been whatever tone I can use that allows me to be as quiet in the mix as possible but still be heard. That's virtually always the bridge PU by itself with the lows and highs rolled off, midbass boosted.

When I was gigging years ago I only had a rickenbacker and a couple of these horrible Sunn amps going into my homemade cab (2 JBL 15's). With that setup it hardly made any difference which PU's I used, it was a wall of mud no matter which knobs I turned where....

I wouldn't mind trying my bunny FL and GK rig in a live setting nowadays, I'd imagine I could keep the volume nice and low.

Only time I can think of I'd want to run both PU's or the neck only would be at a C&W or blues gig where a deeper tone is preferred....

LS
 

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