Bass Pickup Positions, and Combinations - Bass With 5 Pickups
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Here's a demo of a bass I modded with 5 pickups, to test how different pickup positions and combinations (series / parallel) affect tone.
In each of the sound demos, I play the same 21 example pickup combinations, in the same order.
Timestamps:
Fingerstyle, roundwound: 1:43
Slap, roundwound: 3:20
Pick, roundwound: 5:09
Fingerstyle, flatwound: 7:46
Discussion / conclusions: 9:38
String isolation test: 11:57
Sympathetic resonance: 12:29
Special thanks to my daughter's LOL Dolls, who photobombed half the shots. :)
More info:
Pickups are all Dimarzio Area Js side-by-side humbuckers, with separate wiring to the "E-A" and "D-G" coils. The 3 pickups on the bridge side are the bridge-spaced version, and the remaining 2 are the neck-spaced version, to best follow the string spacing.
In all demos, volume and tone are completely open (100%). If more than one pickup is on, they're equally mixed.
Controls and electronics are the same as a Jazz (or Precision) bass, all passive.
The extra switch between the knobs is a tone capacitor selector switch, but for all of the demos it's set to the same value as a stock Jazz (or Precision) bass.
Bass is direct into a Focusrite Scarlett interface. Only "effect" is some light compression.
Strings on roundwound demos: DR FAT-BEAM (FB-40)
Strings on flatwound demos: Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats (TI JF344)
If you're interested in the demo basslines, they're based on:
Intro: Original (my band's track).
Fingerstyle, roundwound: One Nation Under A Groove (Funkadelic), live 1981-04-17 Landover, MD show. Bassist: Rodney "Skeet" Curtis.
Slap, roundwound: Motor-Booty Affair (Parliament). Bassist: Rodney "Skeet" Curtis.
Pick, roundwound: Original (my band's track).
Fingerstyle, flatwound: Help Is On The Way (The Whatnauts). Bassist: Rodney "Skeet" Curtis.
You guessed it, I'm a huge Skeet fan. Thank you Skeet for some of the best basslines ever recorded!
Musicman Stingray photo credit and licensing information: Catfish Jim and the soapdish / CC BY-SA (creativecommon...)
Warwick Streamer photo credit and licensing information: Warwick hq / CC BY-SA (creativecommon...)
Background music: Original (mine).
5 pickups = 5 places to put my thumb.
Floating thumb gang disagrees
Pick gang
@@Skelterbane69 pickups as ramps gang agrees with Carpe
5 string = a thumbrest on B string anywhere you want
@@jwajI wish I could play with a pick
This is one of the most unique, informative and well-executed bass videos I've ever seen. Thank you.
Many thanks!!
You bet! 👌
@@mikedeeez SUCH a valuable video. Many thanks. I love the full punchiness of the second-from-neck pickup. Is there any way you could measure the distance from the nut to the center of that pickup?
@@BunchyMutt Thanks! Sure thing. From the EDGE of the nut (i.e. the side closest to the 1st fret), the distance to the centerline of that pickup is 29-1/8".
@@mikedeeez awesome, many thanks! Can't wait to translate that to a few different builds and scale lengths
No one asked, everybody waited. Thank you!
Instantly one of my favourite bass videos. Every luthier should watch this. Funny, but the classic split coil is still my favourite. I know it was mentioned but I do wish the pickups continued up closer to the neck. (Fingers crossed for a sequel.)
It’s amazing to hear a Precision, Jazz, Stingray, Rick, PJ in one bass. Leo definitely knew that not all pickup placements are desirable. I think I could get sounds anyone would want with 2 quad coil MM at the bridge and neck with only a few switches. Great video Man!
Thanks!! Completely agree; even after trying dozens of settings on this bass, the "classic" Leo pickup setups are often still the best ones for most cases. (2) quad-coil MMs is a great idea - you could get lots of flexibility. Nice.
Yes! like the Peavey T-40, I'm just starting to learn bass on a PJ, but I already want to build a P bass with the Peavey T-40 configuration or similar, I will call it the P40
Boy you were killing that liquid sunshine Parliament 🤘🏿🤘🏿🤘🏿 keeping it funky
This video will be really helpful for all the bassists in the coming years. The double inverted split coil sounds really good!
Great "one-stop" video that helped with pick-up placement for a bass mod project I've got coming up.
Thanks!! Best of luck!
This would actually make for a good session bass. Having that much versatility in one instrument would be really practical for session musicians
Haha, man , when all 5 are on, there's a clear reason why you don't just throw pickups in any old position. Phase issues like crazy, almost no high end coming out at all. This is a great experiment. I appreciate the effort!
I think you've just answered every begginers first big question, you know the one that keeps you awake when you start learning to play 😂
Brilliantly done sir 👏
I thought thus guy was nuts but he recorded a very intelligent video with great playing and graphics...CONGRATS!
This is excellent - and sounds like I expect, which is reassuring! I’ve always felt that pickup position was bizarrely overlooked considering what a fuss people make about pickup type, and had long been planning to make some videos explaining/demoing this. Great work!
Wow, thank you!! Very much appreciate the comment; it's seriously an honor. I think I have watched/liked every single one of your videos, and Barefaced are literally my only bass and guitar cabs (I'm up to 5 BF cabs, and counting!). Nothing but respect for you and your products! 🙏
I totally agree about pickup position. It seems like this really forms the vast majority of the basic "character" of the sound. Yes, many other factors like pickup construction do modify the sound to greater or lesser degrees, but (for example) a pickup right near the neck will simply never sound the same as a pickup near the bridge because the basic harmonic content is so different.
My theory as to why there are tons of video comparisons of pickup types is just that there are tons of PRODUCTS available to compare. Manufacturers can offer lots of different pickup variations as aftermarket mods because it's sell-able - which is fine, and yes, pickup construction definitely makes some difference.
But you can't really "sell" pickup positions, other than saying your instrument gets the pickups right where "classic guitar X" has them - and that's really not very sexy marketing. 😄 And modding the position in an existing instrument is obviously quite a bit more difficult than just dropping in a replacement pickup.
But it sure makes way more difference, at least in my experience!
@@mikedeeez well there’s a surprise, I wasn’t expecting you to know who we are let alone be such a well-equipped Barefaced owner! 🙌 Would you be up for me borrowing some of this video to make my own video talking about what you’ve done and what you’re showing, obviously directing viewers back to you for the full version?
@@BarefacedAudio Thanks for asking! Absolutely yes - please feel free to! Just happy to share the knowledge, and having anything in a Barefaced video would be a complete honor.
And many thanks again for all your help via emails guiding me to the right BF cabs over the last couple of years! 👍 Cheers
At some point I'd like to do a video featuring the BF cabs - it's in the queue of planned videos. It'll be a complimentary plug for BF for sure.
This was awesome! But man I recognized the sound of the jazz bass configuration without looking at the screen! Same for the Precision! Iconic placement/sound!😅
The amount of work you had to put in to this video is amazing
Well done on the vid very impressed
Will watch with again with headphones later
Thanks for the time you spent doing this
Such an underrated video, I feel like especially on bass, pickup positioning makes such a huge difference. Thank you for this, great video!
Would love to hear the 2nd and 3rd pickups from the neck together, as well as reverse p/j. Also, this bass needs a pickup in the rice neck position, since we're going this far anyway.
Great experiment, great video, great work all around.
Wow, that's amazing. I bet some studio musicians would kill for a bass like this one
One of the best video i've seen. Interesting, useful and well made.
I'm mainly interested in the "rick" and "mm" sound, which we don't normally hear on a jazz bass.
you should make more of these basses and sell them!
Check out Fender's signature Flea bass.
Thanks for this. Seems like you just did what Leo previously did, which is good for us as we hear those combinations for ourselves.
Without a doubt, this is one of the best ideas and well executed demonstrations I've ever seen on the entire Tube of Yous, and you Sir are truly a Scholar and a Gentleman.
In the immortal words of Skinny Pete: "Yo, church bro!!"
Complete, utter and pure respect (with a healthy dose of I'm-not-worthy full two hand bowing).
Killer idea, killer demo!!! Thank you!!!
You are very welcome!! My pleasure.
Because SCIENCE! ✊
Well played, my good Sir.
Kudos ❤
When I hear any two pickups that are next to each other I can't help but think abt nolly
Love it!
Thank you so much for this, you've saved much time and expense to help me realize that I am, after all, a precision pup man.
Awesome experiment.
Thanks for the comment!! It's an honor, I have been a huge fan of your Stingray magnet/EQ and Stingray vs. Sterling videos for years! Great videos - cheers.
This is about the coolest bass I've ever seen with reference to electronics. Holy cow.
Thank you so much for this... I really digged the streamer config with mics 2 and 4.
BASS player here, WHAT A MANIAC!!!!! And I thought I was coucou !!! All 5 sounds monstrous !!!
Not only do I love basses with multiple pickups but I also love that you played some Parliament and some Whatnauts in the demo!
Thanks!! YES!! Funk on! 🤘🤘
This was a really cool video, great experiment. One other thing to mention though is that the same model pickup in the bridge and neck positions aren't actually the exact same for most companies; the bridge pickup is usually overwound to compensate for the tighter vibration at the bridge end of the strings, i.e. smaller wave amplitude which leads to a weaker signal, to keep the bridge and neck outputs balanced. So that's another factor if you bought all pickups for 1 position.
Thanks!!
You are absolutely right; that is a great point. I was actually surprised to find out that according to Dimarzio's website, both the neck and bridge Area J models supposedly have the same resistance (7.80 Kohm), although I'm not sure if that's true; I should have tested them. I agree it seems much more common to have the bridge pickup overwound. And even if they do have the same resistance, I'm not sure that this literally means they have the same output. So yes, I totally agree that there may be a slight difference.
I wish I could have gone with all 5 the same, but the string spacing wouldn't have matched. :(
This is priceless info for builders and those looking for "their" sound.
Time for the Bass With 10 pickups.
(to approx basses with humbuckers close to the neck and double HB basses)
That second pickup (from the neck) sounded hotter than the rest. U noticed that?
What a gem of a video! ♥ The only thing I miss are these combinations (from left (bridge) to right (neck))
1: off, 2: J, 3: off, 4+5: Reverse PJ
1: off, 2: off, 3: off, 4: J, 5: J (parallel)
1: off, 2: off, 3: J, 4: off, 5: J (parallel)
You could also do even more of a crazy mode by putting in 3 pickups and putting them on rails! 🤩♥
I like the sound of all 5 pickups. It looks like you have room for 3 more. Do it!
6:18 the best tone ever, that warwick-ish tone
We need moooooooooore pickups even close to the neck.
Seriously, great video and some sound combinations were really crazy. The bridge pickup alone is uselss as a bass pickup but in a combo with the neck one it gave the sound an interesting tone.
That pickup closest to the bridge is such a cool sound and I think it would be a cool mod for a Passive or Jazz bass to blend in for more twang.
Thanks! Totally agreed.
Slap with that pickup kinda gets close to a clavinet sound
This video is gonna blow up
beautiful experiment! thanks! my quick conclusion is 2 pickups combinations provide the best sounds, and any of those combinations are great.
I mean all of those combinations are great
Big respect for your hard work....
👍👍👍👍👍👍
Many thanks!
Thank you for all the work you put into this and for sharing.
When the leftmost and rightmost pickups are on together it almost sounds like a Danelectro 58/59-- the wide space between the pickups gives it that same hollowness. Love this idea!
This is something I’ve always wanted to see. Thank you
The man, the legend. Hats off, my dude
Wow, what a great post. Likes like you put some serious time into making the bass then editing the video. Thanks.
This is nuts!! Fantastic video and resource.
I definitely prefer the PJ and J-bass sounds, all the classic tones seem to be classics for a reason.
The reverse P was not great to my ears, and anything with a pickup right by the bridge is my worst nightmare, lol.
👍🏻👍🏻thanks man I’ve search a lot for a demo like that and it’s really well done. The only question that remain now is what the section toward the neck would sound like
Very cool experiment. I've had an idea for a long time of putting 4 pickups on a jazz bass. I was thinking of putting 2 in the normal positions and the other 2 in the Ric positions (basically at the nonexistent 24th and 36th fret positions).
that's great, thanks! The difference is HUGE even for few cms
Interesting approach, although everything quite like I expected it to be. Only surprise to me is, that the 5 PUs in series actually sound really good.
What's your impression concerning the influence of the magnetic field of all those PUs on the tone?
I heard some discussion about the cons of having more than one PU in a bass or guitar because it keeps the strings from oscillating free...
I had some ideas of building a custom bass with two Nordstrand Big Split Mans (that's a combination of 2x 2 split single coils in a MM style housing with lots of wiring options) that comes pretty close to your 'Monster bass'. But I'm actually afraid of that magnetic field effect on the tone.
I don't think it would affect the tone particularly much, however it would definitely reduce the sustain to (at least) some extent.
There's a bunch of of basses around with two MM-style humbuckers and I'd hope that no serious manufacturer would let an instrument that doesn't meet a certain standard of sustain go into production.
Good luck
Hold up a strong magnet to your strings while you play to find out the effect for yourself.
@@ts4gv Nice idea. Maybe I will give that one a try. Thanks!
@@wilhelmtheconquerer6214 You're probably right. But It's especially the Musicman Stingray HH models, that have this reputation of generally sounding not as good as the original one PU Stingrays. Maybe I just have to find out by myself...
@@bones2532 don't they have the pickups in different positions compared to the one pickup iteration, though?
I know for sure that if you want a single MM humbucker rout in a warmoth body they will put it in the "sweet spot" which is a bit farther away from the bridge than the standard bridge position-option (most likely because that's were MM place theirs would be my guess) and, as we know from vintage Les Pauls and Stratocasters, the pickup placement greatly affects the tone, even though the pickups are identical in every way
I'm a dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant I believe it has made life much easier for a lot of people And especially for me Thank you so much for the hard work I really appreciate it🙏🙏🙏🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
You're welcome, my pleasure!!
Great project!
Great video; thank you for taking the time to make the mod and the video!
Closest to bridge almost sounds like a Rhodes at times. Super cool!
Fascinating...and very enlightening...thanks!😀
Beautiful experiment👍
Bootsy Collins wants to know your location.
I want to build a bass, and this was the most informative video so far. Thanks! Watching the wiring video next.
Great demo. Thank you.
Awesome work! Taking the mystery out of pickup technobabble.
NICE DUDE! Parliament-Funkadelic great choice of bassline. 👍🏽
Thinking about pickups and placement for a possible build -- will be going back and re-listening to this lots! Thank you!
Great video! Double P for the win!
Great wiring job! I myself would like still to know the sounds with some pickups closer to the neck, like on the old Ovation Magnums!
One of the greatest bass video on YT. Thx!
Many thanks!! 🙏
Great vid! I had a bass that was a Sixer set up Anthony Jackson style; NO controls, 1 Bartolini, I found I had to move my fingering hand a LOT to get the tone I wanted, love how it made me more sensitive to what I wanted the sound to be. Now I find that I play at a bit of a diagonal (It's a Music Man Humbucker type of PU set up) One the treble strings I tend to play closer to the neck (warmth and mids) and with the bass strings closer to the bridge (treble and clarity vs heavier tones). It tends to emphasize the tone and give me clarity. The end result is similar to this vid in terms of tonal variety.
Thank you very much. 🙏 I would like to build a bass someday. Very helpful.
I’ve subscribed for your hard work!
I really want to see the modification vid
hey good work man - this is worth a PhD in bassology
Ha, thanks!!
That was a totally cool video , enjoyed hearing what the reverse P bass sounded like ,compared to normal P bass
Thanks! I was looking forward to that too - I've always wondered how much difference there is between them.
Jeez weez! Interesting video! Nice. Happy Holidays!
What's interesting is how little difference there is comparatively between the two "neck" pickups but the Rick pickup position sounds very different to either pickup next to it. also the one really need the bridge(70s jazz bass style?) sounds so much like a funky clav. almost useless as a "true" Bass sound but really unique and interesting when split too
The best comparison of different pickups' positions I ever watched. Thanks for uploading this :) The question is: which setting do you like best?
Thanks!!
Great question. It's tough to pick, but I have a few favorites.
For a "boring" answer: The classic J-bass pickups (pickup 2, pickup 5, and 2+5 in parallel) are extremely useful. Leo Fender really got it right.
But some "new" combinations surprised me:
- Pickup 1 is so "thin" that I would rarely use it by itself, but when it's combined with another pickup, it sounds GREAT with a pick. For example, see 5:57 for pickups 1+5.
- For slap, I really liked the "double P" setting.
- For fingerstyle, pickups 1+3 turned out really cool 8:31. And also the "all 5 pickups in series" setting 3:11! I thought it was too muddy at first, but I changed my mind later - it has a super-thick, solid tone. In person, it's LOUD too! A friend of mine suggested recording a 2nd bass track with the "all 5" setting, and then mixing that with the "normal" bassline for extra thickness. Sounds awesome; I might try that sometime.
Which did you like? :)
@@mikedeeez I have to say, that after years of struggling with setting an Ibanez ATK in a band context, the classic Fender timbres grew on me lately. Now I listen to sound samples differently, expecting to get strong, interesting mids, without too much hi end twang. The Jazz Bass settings seems optimal for me. I also started to appreciate single coils - they tend to be clearer, with less muddy bass.
I wonder if the 70' Jazz bridge position is between your 1st and 2nd pickups?
It was interesting to hear the Warwick Thumb setting. It was quite close! Unusable for a rock band, but cool enough for playing Mudvayne ;)
Musicman positions were also close, but I see my problems with the ATK before my eyes, when I hear a sound like that.
It is also interesting, that the P pickup is actually a single coil, that is cut in half and wired in series - exactly what you have here.
@@maciejbrusio8321 Thanks for the reply! Gotcha. I also like the sound of the ATK basses (similar to Stingrays), at least when it is by itself. But I agree - when I have tried different types of basses to get some new sounds, sometimes they don't fit into a band just right, and I end up coming back to Fender basses. They just seem to work well in a typical mix.
Yes! You're right, the "70s" Jazz bridge pickup position is between pickups 1 and 2 on my bass.
You're also right about the P pickup! in fact, it's funny, the "Precision" setting sounds almost identical to the P pickup that this bass originally had in it. I think it's because each of these Dimarzio Area J pickups is basically just a P pickup, but with both "halves" in a straight line (instead of offset). So they're actually more like a P pickup than a J pickup, even though they look like Js.
Happy playing.
@k halliday My pleasure, thanks for checking it out! Yep, it's a rat's nest of wires inside the control cavity, but it was a fun project.
That is a really good point about the "all 5" setting; I love the idea of the G&L PTB controls. That would give you the ability to trim out some of the bass if it's too "boomy", but keep the thick tone. Maybe I'll try something like that - cheers!
It's a really interesting experiment. Great job!
Phenomenal! A great demonstration. Thanks for your hard work!
You can easily fit four more up to the neck! Or maybe a Gibson EB pickup+one more singlecoil. That would be something!
The tone at 4:51, omg so good
Awesome !!! really cool video !! thanks for share
All 5 in series - sounds like the Peavey T-40 monster humbuckers, which is equivalent to like four of those pickups plus some ;)
wonderfull ! A dream ! Can't wait to see another video of this bass guitar !
Thanks!
Thanks so much! I‘ll definitely have to consider a bass with Streamer placement in the future. And contrary to my previous line of thinking, P/J is just not my sound. That being said, within the positions, the actual pickup still makes a huge difference. I‘ve gone through a lot of models and as passive Js go, there really wasn’t that drastic of a difference between brands of the same quality bracket, with the sole exception of G&L. The G&L JB pickups somehow sound like post processing from the get go. No need to touch any eq anymore.
This is a cool video man....thanks very much....very inspirational
Really good video man. Was exactly what I was looking for.
The show steeler was the switch array that was hardly mentioned. I didn't know that I liked the sound of 5 jazz pickups!
Confirms the infinite wisdom of Saint Leo.
Woww. Awesome bass and video. Very helpful. Thank you.
awesome video man!, tank you so much 😊😊
Thanks, that was super Interesting. I am building a fretless p bass and the scale length is 850mm (34.45'') as opposed to 34''(863mm) and I have trying to figure out where to locate the pick ups. Your demo is going to be helpful. Thanks
some interesting sounds. specially the p-configurations. and the reverse one reminds me of a sandberg-bass. one configuration with splitted coils at the bridge for the high strings and the neck position for the two low strings I liked the most. All the pickups together is to much for me. it sounds "compressed" for me. And the other instruments need a little bit room:-)
Thanks! I liked those too. The "all 5" setting is a bit "in your face", true. :)
Do you have a wiring diagram of how you made this bass? Very cool, BTW!
Thanks! At the moment the wiring diagram is kind of in bits and pieces, but I'm going to try to put it all together, I'll let you know if I do. I may even make a video of it if I can get time.
Just posted it: th-cam.com/video/d-yygyrbAOE/w-d-xo.html
Must have been a nightmare to wire!
Always wondered about doing something like this, even though I never fart with pickup selection past All On and Up so I won't forget my recording settings.
I like the sound you have with all on. Hmm...
Finger:
2:06 2nd + 5th
2:23 2nd + 4th
2:28 2nd + 3rd
Slap:
3:49 2nd + 5th
4:08 2nd + 4th
4:13 2nd + 3rd
Pick:
5:49 2nd + 5th
6:18 2nd + 4th
6:25 2nd + 3rd
Nice idea, but I'm positive I'd get a better understanding of the difference in the pick positions if you played exactly the same measures with each setting, and keep it simple. Every time you shift around to a different cord you lose the frame of reference. You add things like different harmonics, quiet spots on the neck, etc.
If I asked you to summarize the differences, could you?
A very interesting instrument. Cudos to the designer and builder.
I've always wanted a bass that controls like an aircraft's instrument panel. Though this isn't quite there yet, it could use more switches.
Thank you so much! This is very educational!
Well done, thorough experiment, but I would have liked if there were more neck-ward positions. For my old school-tastes, anything on a bass closer to the bridge than the middle (P Bass) position is unusable.
And I thought my S H S bass was versatile...
I already noticed that the different basses get a lot of their specific tonal characteristics with position with the Humbucker on my bass being where split coils are usually, it sounds close to a p bass with only that active.
This video confirmed it. It makes sense. The swinging and vibration of the strings are different on different positions.
But hearing it all side by side in direct comparison was great!
Thanks!! Totally agreed.
Great video 👌 Thank you 🙏
Curious to hear both neck pickups+closest bridge pickup