There are a variety of factors to keep in mind when selecting bass guitar pickups, such as:
Pickups are electromagnets which convert the vibrations from bass string vibrations into an electrical signal that can be sent directly to a bass amp for playback. Varying combinations of magnet and coil produce different tonalities.
P, J and humbucker bass pickups are some of the most widely-used pickup types, so let’s examine their differences and provide general guidelines as to which styles each works well with.
Single Coil
Single coil pickups use one magnet to detect vibrations from your bass strings, producing a clean, clear tone that cuts through a band mix well and excels at expressive playing styles like Tele, Jazzmaster and P-90 styles. Unfortunately, single coil pickups can become susceptible to 60 cycle hum and feedback issues when overdriven with too much gain.
These issues can be reduced with a humbucking-style pickup featuring two coils of wire wound in opposite directions to cancel out any hum, while also permitting individual coils to be tapped, giving players pure single-coil sound with reduced noise and interference.
The J bass pickup offers a twist on single-coil technology by using two magnetic polepieces instead of just one for each string, creating an edgier tone than its single coil predecessors. Alnico V pickups typically provide focused high-end clarity while staying warm and focused across low and mid frequencies – an appealing combination.
P bass pickups represent a variation on the single-coil theme; adding an extra polepiece and increasing winding count significantly adds harmonic overtones that give depth and richness to tone. They’re often seen on iconic bassists who made Motown and surf rock famous, indie rock tracks as well as many other genres like funk, pop or other forms.
Active pickups utilize a preamp to amplify and filter electromagnetically induced signals from your bass guitar’s strings, expanding your tonal options while eliminating noise and hum. Furthermore, this processing stage gives active pickups much hotter output that allows them to handle more gain without losing clarity.
Passive pickups do not require power and simply output the electromagnetically-induced signal from your bass strings directly, while active pickups require energy for their pre-amps – these components allow you to boost or cut frequencies to create a wide range of tonal possibilities that span from big and booming to tight and smooth tones.
Split Coil
Split coil basses use two independent coils wired in series to eliminate hum and produce more focused tones, often used in applications requiring high output such as rock or funk music, while their versatility make them suitable for virtually all musical genres.
Split-coil pickups, located beneath each string’s main node (where energy from each string transfers directly to the pickup), are designed to deliver full, rich tones with exceptional clarity. Their exact construction, position and other factors may impact their sound; however, split-coil bass guitars offer strong low-end response as well as crisp tones that cut through any mix with ease.
Split-coil pickups are often preferred by bassists because of their flexibility in customization; changes to coil wire length, magnet type/size and pole pieces can all alter its characteristics and tone – for instance overwound split-coils have more open, rich tones while underwound ones provide more focus and midrange growl.
Split-coil pickups can be quickly identified by both their physical appearance and sound characteristics. You can usually tell whether a bass has split-coil pickups by looking for two coils separated by metal or by noting a ring of copper wire around its magnet – these features help cancel out hum and produce much clearer sounds than single-coil basses do.
Although split coils do not eliminate all hum, when properly designed they can significantly decrease it. By separating the coils they can cancel out interference caused by their opposing magnetic fields; creating an effect called phase cancellation that significantly decreases hum.
Although “split coil” usually refers to dual-coil pickups, quad-coil humbuckers can also be split. Doing this requires disabling one of their four coils completely and turning your pickup into a dual-coil model; either through adding a push/pull switch or tone control that blends the other coil in (to give your humbucker more of an inducing sound), but both methods should work equally well in creating this effect.
Humbucker
No matter whether you want your bass to subtly ride with the kick drum or unleash an epic 4-string solo like Jaco Pastorius’, choosing the appropriate pickup can have an enormous impact on its tone. Luckily, bassists have many choices available including single coil, split coil and humbucker varieties available to them.
For powerful sound, humbuckers are your answer. As one of the most versatile bass pickups available today, this model allows for any style of music and tone variation thanks to two separate pickup coils wired in opposite directions that create a hum-cancelling effect that reduces external noise interference while giving a much cleaner signal with increased power and clarity.
Humbuckers offer more mids and highs than single-coil pickups, giving a fuller sound overall. Furthermore, they’re resistant to 60 cycle hum caused by fluorescent light ballasts and other electronic equipment; you’ll often find them on bass guitars from Fender, DiMarzio, EMG and Seymour Duncan brands.
Humbucker-style basses can also be combined with other pickups to further broaden your tonal palette, such as pairing it with another pickup from different basses – for instance combining P-bass with J-bass in the bridge gives a variety of sounds from clear and fat to powerful and aggressive.
Piezoelectric pickups are another common bass pickup type, used both on acoustic basses and some electric basses. They use crystals that generate energy when subjected to mechanical stress from string vibration and this energy is then transmitted through the strings to an amplifier. Piezoelectrics react more sensibly by reacting more closely with pressure than magnetic field changes allowing for wider tones while being considerably quieter than other pickup types – this feature may appeal to those wanting to keep volume low; you’ll often find these pickups built into their bridge on acoustic basses while electric basses might feature them installed alongside these pickup types as well.
Optical
Optic pickups differ significantly from its predecessors by using light sensors to detect string vibration and convert that information into electrical signals, which are then amplified through standard guitar amplifiers.
This allows you to hear the strings without the ambient noise that would normally drown them out with conventional bass pickups, and eliminates mechanical adjustments for accentuating certain frequencies or shaping tone.
As their name implies, optical pickups use light sensors to detect changing shadows caused by string vibration. A microprocessor then converts this frequency-specific electrical signal into audio that can then be translated into musical notes by means of frequency-specific tones. Sensors are mounted into bridges while microprocessors reside within small enclosures on bodies allowing an incredible degree of customization and customization using mobile apps on smartphones.
Change output parameters such as low and high pass filters for each string, amplitude compensation and tone shaping for an individual note or group of notes, saving your settings to quickly access them later. You can even store your settings so you can recall them quickly on demand.
While piezoelectric pickups are usually associated with acoustic-electric guitars, it’s also becoming increasingly prevalent on basses. They can often be found inside the bridge and consist of piezoelectric crystals which generate energy when pressure changes are applied – creating a bright and often harsh sound which can be difficult to control.
Piezoelectric pickups suffer from limited frequency range, only being suitable for picking up low frequencies. Their sound isn’t well balanced either; some strings may seem much louder than others and the overall tone can become thin and overly bright.
Piezoelectric pickups differ from magnetic ones in that they do not rely on metal polepiece screws; rather they respond to string vibration by shifting the magnetic field around magnet and coil, producing an open and clear sound while being more susceptible to ambient noise than traditional pickups and often costing more money than them.