# Do bass pickups matter?



## zipline7020 (May 31, 2015)

So I just bought my first bass, and I am a guitar player of 10 years, and needed a bass for self studio work. Its a guitar fetish music man style bass tuned to drop C

DLX Bass Active Preamp, Carved Body, See-Through White, 24 Fret



Guitar fetish offers an alnico and a ceramic set of these MM style pickups seen here:

GFS MM Pro Music Man size pickup- MAXIMUM string response!


GFS MM Pro Music Man size pickup- MAXIMUM string response!


My question is, with bass being largely a DI instrument, will upgrading these pickups help me achieve a versatile modern rock/metal sound with lots of low end, like Alter bridge or Breaking benjamin, and a tighter bass sound seen in todays metal ? Or will it only result in a very small margin of improvement? 

And are there other pickup options than the ones listed? theres so many different styles of bass pickups that I get confused. my mind is still stuck in guitar land.


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## Promit (May 31, 2015)

Upgraded bass pickups definitely make a difference. But I wouldn't be in a huge hurry to pull out GFS pickups either. Yes the hype on the site is silly, but they are generally competent pickups.


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## Lemons (May 31, 2015)

I'm not too well versed in bass pickups but you might be able to find some used stingray pickups, they definitely nail that tight and gritty bass tone.


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## Demiurge (May 31, 2015)

Unless the link content has changed, the bass shown has soapbar-style pickups so those MM-style humbuckers would not be a drop-in replacement. If you're gung-ho about doing the routing, that's fine, but it might be worth it to hang-in and see if you can get a good sound out of the stock pickups. I'm not immediately aware of any mid-level soapbar pickups out there.


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## zipline7020 (May 31, 2015)

I can get a decent sound out of the stock, but, a lot of the guys doing recording demos on youtube and whatnot talk about how bass sounds good going DI and just adding compression. But this one is so mid heavy right now that i have to run it through an ampeg SVT sim and crank the bass knob. 

and ohh ok, like I said, didnt know there was a difference. how is a soap bar different than a MM style? and apparently the one I have is active, though the EQ controls are limited. just a peak sweep tone knob sort of thing. 

i guess if I upgrade I really need to use the ones on the Guitar fetish site then.


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## Demiurge (May 31, 2015)

zipline7020 said:


> and ohh ok, like I said, didnt know there was a difference. how is a soap bar different than a MM style?



I'm sure that both styles have passive and active variants- so you don't have to worry about overhauling electronics to accommodate necessarily, but the issue is size. The "usual" dimension for a 4-string soapbar is 3.5" X 1.5" (going by EMG 35DC specs) and the MM is 4" (the body is 3.5" but the mounting tabs make its footprint wider) X 1.895".


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## giantchris (May 31, 2015)

If you're going to upgrade the pickups I'd probably upgrade the preamp too. For soapbar style pickups the EMG and Bartolini pickups are probably best. For Preamps the Bartolini/Sadowsky/Aguilar seems to be what most people do.

But yes pickups matter as much in bass as in guitar.


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## FretSpider (Jun 1, 2015)

If it sounds good, don't worry! 

At one point in time, I had an Ibanez Gio SR with Ibanez's own pickups...a MM type like what you have. For a cheap bass, those pickups were some of the beefiest I'd ever heard! If I could go back and buy it again, I would in half a heartbeat. Had to sell it though. Sometimes needing money is worth more than having an extra instrument lying around.


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## hairychris (Jun 1, 2015)

Pickups and the preamp do make a difference, but tbh I'd give what's stock a go before changing anything. 

And those pickups are not direct replacements, the ones in the bass are a different size to the Stingray-sized humbuckers.


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## HaMMerHeD (Jun 1, 2015)

Try changing strings before you change the pickups or pre-amp. The different strings make on bass can hardly be overstated. I really like Kalium strings for a deep bass growl. If you want something more snappy and bright, D'Addario Prosteels and DR Hi-Beams are great.

If you still aren't happy, change the pre-amp first. I'd look at the Nordstrand 3b, the Aguilar OBP-3, and the Glockenklang 3-band. Darkglass also makes one now: Darkglass Tone Capsule - Best Bass Gear


MM and Soapbar pickups are shaped differently. MM won't fit in a soapbar route, and soapbar won't fit in an MM route. Think EMG 707 vs Standard Humbucker.

If you do need to replace the pickup, you'll need to find something that fits as a drop-in (or get something bigger and route to fit, if you are good with a router).


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## Low Baller (Jun 1, 2015)

I am not familiar with gls pick ups but if your getting good sound then I wouldn't rush. If you don't want to do any routing or really want that musicman sound it may be wise a you said to wait for some used musicman pick ups. The beauty of going DI is you can really work some magic. I am sure the pick ups aren't as good as a music man but with some editing you could get that musicman tone you want. 

At the end of the day instruments and parts are just tools. If one person builds a great house using a rock and nails and another guy uses top of the line high tech tools to build a house just as great does it really matter what they use. Top of the line equipment just make it easier at least IMO. I mean sabbath recorded paranoid with broken equipment, literally geezers bass speaker was blown.

Nice find the bass looks nice and that's a good price. I never heard of that site.


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## zipline7020 (Jun 1, 2015)

https://soundcloud.com/zipline7020/sets/bass-test

This is the DI, as well as me running it through a clean setting and a dirty setting. 

I'm new to bass, I just got it to be able to record my own songs, 
so maybe the present sound is good and I just don't know it because Im new

and I know about the new strings. these are about 2 months old. How often should I change them?


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## HaMMerHeD (Jun 1, 2015)

You'll want to change the strings when they need to be changed...when the sound is flat and dead, or you give you can't get a good sound out of them anymore.

How long that takes varies cconsiderably between different types of strings. I have a bass that's had the same strings for 3 years (DR Legend flats).


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## cGoEcYk (Jun 1, 2015)

IMO pickups are less proportionately significant in bass compared to guitar. With a bass you want to look at the sum of the parts. Get a generally good bass (higher end Ibanez, Spector Euro, Peavey Cirrus USA, MM Stingray, etc) and you will have an awesome sounding instrument because attention has been given to every component and the sum of the parts starts adding up significantly after a point. In basses the electronics (onboard preamp) are nearly as important as the pickups. Put $200 pickups in your Squire bass and you still have a Squire bass. The pickups would just be picking up the inherent tone of a crappy instrument in more hifi or with higher output. 



zipline7020 said:


> with bass being largely a DI instrument


If you have a sick sounding rig that provides a lot of "signature" tone or playing feel then it would be foolish go to only DI. I wouldnt attempt any metal without my Mesa rig in the equation (at least take a line from the head, although I prefer blend of head-DI and an SM57 on the cab). DI is a popular traditional old-school approach for recording bass but I fight it every time and have always (over course of 10 years) ended up with a way better tone going through my head/cab than whatever "sims" these dudes think they got. Why use an emulator when u got tha real thing. 

There are lots of great and widely-used outboard peamps available these days. Darkglass B7K, Sansamp VT, Sansamp BDDI, etc. If you want the modern sound without having to invest into an actual br00tal bass amp I would highly recommend the B7K and VT (with both you'd be all set and you can run them into each other too). I would get a solid preamp (BDDI can be found for $100 used, worth it) over pickups on a value bass.


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## Der JD (Jun 2, 2015)

In my experience, simply swapping one set of pickups for another set, assuming they're going to be the same type (MM, J, P, Soapbar dual-coil, etc.), wired the same (series, parallel, single coil, HB), and will have the same placement on the body will just lead to subtle differences in tone. These differences will be even less noticeable if you use distortion/overdrive/effects. There are, of course, some models of pickups out there that have very unique EQ curves, but they're rare exceptions. 

What matters most in defining the tone of a bass is pickup placement, type of pickup, and how the pickups are wired.


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