why do you like dual coil pickups?

[knarleybass]

Ok,
I have questions on dual coil pickups,

what do you like about them?

when do you find the dual coil done to be most effective?

can you note a good recorded example of a dual coil bass tone?


perhaps I am over thinking, I just want to understand the nature of what a good dual coil pickup is supposed to sound like

thanks

Howard

 

[tylerwylie]

Some people like em bright and sparkly but with no single coil noise, some people like em for being thick and meaty. From EMG to Bartolini to Music Man.. this really is a tough question. On fretted bass guitars I love the Bongo tone the most. On my fretless I love Bartolinis. I know you from TheBassHang's videos and if you're coming up with new pickup designs I'd say come up with a dual coil pickup that sounds like 2 jazz bass pickups wired up full in parallel. Come up with something that does thick and meaty and is meant to be wired in series.

 

[Hobobob]

I usually gravitate towards dual coils for the noise-cancelling, the generally fatter low mids than single coils, and because in a lot of cases you can split them for a single coil tone anyways.

 

[line6man]

Ok,
can you note a good recorded example of a dual coil bass tone?


perhaps I am over thinking, I just want to understand the nature of what a good dual coil pickup is supposed to sound like

It's not one design, or one tone. There are hundreds of types of pickups. Dual coil just means that there are two coils. They could be next to each other, split, stacked vertically, sidewound on a single set of pole pieces, tall and narrow, short and fat, somewhere in between, or any number of other things.

You have to narrow it down further to a particular type of pickup, otherwise it's just like asking what a bass is supposed to sound like.

FWIW, the main reason that dual coil pickups of any type are chosen over single coil pickups is to allow humcancellation.

 

[knarleybass]

dual coil, as in Side by side coils
I have been experimenting with them for some time now, and to be honest I keep wishing they sounded like single coils, so, that is why I am asking, what is the epitome of a side by side dual could bass pickup sound

 

[mmbongo]

dual coil, as in Side by side coils
I have been experimenting with them for some time now, and to be honest I keep wishing they sounded like single coils, so, that is why I am asking, what is the epitome of a side by side dual could bass pickup sound

I like dual coils because they can do just about anything. They can be single coils by cutting one coil off, they can do the bright Stingray parallel thing, and they can do the thick middy 'Wal' sound like Geddy/Flea/Tool.

 

[ctmullins]

Well, technically a sidewinder is a dual coil that sounds (mostly) like a single coil...