Bass Pickup Positions, and Combinations - Bass With 5 Pickups
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 жов 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
Dude this is seriously so awesome! Hahaha
Hi dude, love your content btw.
No one asked, everybody waited. Thank you!
Hey man. Would be cool if you could show us a wiring schematic for this.
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: ua-cam.com/video/d-yygyrbAOE/v-deo.html
It’s absolutely shocking how few basses with wild pickup configs like this there are.
There’s definitely a market for this kind of thing.
Ask your local guitar guy.
In this bass, there are precision, jazz, and stingray basses in one
And clavinet 03:44
And Rickenbacker, and Warwick's, and some Dingwalls, and B.C. Rich's. Most of them out there in fact.
@@gingerjam2192 the clav thing is so cool. Thst alone makes me want a bass with that position
@@Ampher03Some Alembics have that pickup position. The Stanley Clarke signature model definitely does, and Zach Smith uses it a lot in his stuff with Pinback and Three Mile Pilot. It can sound super guitar-like because Alembic pickups can get so clear with the filter turned up. "Good To Sea" is a good example.
Also Alembic and Warwick
Bootsy Collins wants to know your location.
Boy you were killing that liquid sunshine Parliament 🤘🏿🤘🏿🤘🏿 keeping it funky
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.)
I like the Streamer position. Just aggressive enough but still some fullness. I’m about to do something similar with a double Musicman pickup setting.
Sounds awesome, good luck with the build!
now put in 5 output jacks to 5 inputs on your interface and you can blend them at will
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
Must have been a nightmare to wire!
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
the "streamer" position sounded awesome to me
I'd just have MM with bass and treble boots, J both, and J front pickup.....
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.
why did you stop at 5 pickups? why not go pickups from bridge all the way to the neck?
Rick placement is best for one single. Like my P Bass sounds best and MM.
hey good work man - this is worth a PhD in bassology
Ha, thanks!!
This video will be really helpful for all the bassists in the coming years. The double inverted split coil sounds really good!
Wow that's a lot of tone I like what I'm hearing👍🏿
🎸🎵🔊👍🏿
Great comparison - Thumbs up for taking the time to do this!
Guitar pickup should plug & play like computer.
Thanks for this. Seems like you just did what Leo previously did, which is good for us as we hear those combinations for ourselves.
This video is gonna blow up
Nice tones. It sucks all that magnet pull messes with the tone of the strings
Thanks for this video. I have two PJazz style basses with the reverse P configuration so I wish you had have recorded that one as well as I swear by that setup and don’t play any others anymore. Great comparison video and I wouldn’t mind borrowing that bass for a few experiments myself.
Thanks!!
I agree, I wish I had done that configuration, as well as some others. Unfortunately I just ran out of time - too many combinations to try! You're totally right, "J / reverse P" sounds great on a lot of basses, thanks for the suggestion! Cheers
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.
very interesting and love the animation showing the positions. now you just need like 2-5 more starting at the neck and meeting the others in the middle.
Thanks!! Ha, yes, I kind of regret not doing that now. Just 5 pickups seemed crazy to me when I built it, but now I kind of wish I had gone all the way to the neck!
@@mikedeeez boosty collins style i would love that
@@mikedeeez slap would’ve been a pain tho
Great "one-stop" video that helped with pick-up placement for a bass mod project I've got coming up.
Thanks!! Best of luck!
Thank you for all the work you put into this and for sharing.
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
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: ua-cam.com/video/d-yygyrbAOE/v-deo.html
You can easily fit four more up to the neck! Or maybe a Gibson EB pickup+one more singlecoil. That would be something!
This is awesome! I like to mess with pickup wirings in my guitars, but I have never moded their location due to obvious difficulties. And the pickup placing is very important for basses
Big respect for your hard work....
👍👍👍👍👍👍
Many thanks!
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.
I really want to see the modification vid
This would actually make for a good session bass. Having that much versatility in one instrument would be really practical for session musicians
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 is great. Glad someone finally did something like this!
i feel that you could make it sound like a gibson g3
I thought thus guy was nuts but he recorded a very intelligent video with great playing and graphics...CONGRATS!
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
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
Definitely a cool and well constructed video.
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!
Thank you very much, now I know which position I need...
Maybe cow girl...
Oops...
😂😂😂😂
Thanks a lot anyway
Seriously instructive, the 5 pickups at the same time sound so massive !!! Love that.
Thanks!!
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!😅
In 7:36 it sounded like dingwall bases! I love that! That can save me so muucchhhh by modding my current basses that is jazz bass. I wonder. I much you spend to that all mod?
Too little combinations! You can make MORE !!! :)))))))))))))))))))))
To be a serious, it's a great exprrience! My favorite feature in your bass is a making half from the standard single-coil JB pickup. But... Whay about the combination of 1+2 - 4+5 (2 humbuckers approx.) or 1 - 3+4 (if 1 is the neck pickup)? Or 2 - 4+5? Or 2 - 3 - 4? Or 1 - 3 - 5? And I think, the combination 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 is too fat, of course.
In an any case, thank you a lot!
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.
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. :)
Great video! I sugested put one pickup at neck (like Epiphone SG EB-03) and middle like Rickenbacker
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
Hay bro will help fix my 1958 mark vi magnatone bass. I'm learing disable please help it means the would to me
What an mazing experiment! Was it difficult to separate bass and treble sides of the pickups? Those neck splits sound exactly like P bass!
All pickups on sounded like a bucket of mud to me. Series configurations were interesting. Hearing the reverse P pup configuration/s, I think it's no wonder to me why Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order/Monaco/Revenge/Freebass/The Light/etc) likes those Yamaha basses with that type of reversed P pup configuration. Everything else didn't leave much of an impression; mostly predictable. I have a P bass and J bass, what I have/use, pretty well covers the tonal territory as far as good Fender type bass pickup sounds.
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).
Great video! I've been interested in this for a long time, but you actually did it! Is the pickup pan knob still in the circuit - can you pan between different pairs of pickups? Understand you can't do every combo of pickups in one video, but pickups 1 3 & 5 would be interesting to hear, like a MM Big Al. I think pickup magnet material, aperture and winding are factors too.
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...
All 5 in series - sounds like the Peavey T-40 monster humbuckers, which is equivalent to like four of those pickups plus some ;)
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.
Reminds me how much I love reverse Ps lol-.. Mine has two rev Ps, but both pups are closer to the neck than your config (like the double rev Ps you have but move them half an inch or so towards the neck)
Also reminds me how much I dislike MM tone (yea, I said it.. sue me)
Wow, that's amazing. I bet some studio musicians would kill for a bass like this one
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.
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!
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.
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.
5? Those are rookie numbers, you’ve gotta pump those numbers up! I see room for at least 4 more there 😉
Remember the old Twilight Zone episode where the woman has her facial bandages removed by doctors and nurses who gasp at the horrific failure or her reconstruction procedure even though she is beautiful, then in seeing the doctors and nurses it is revealed that in this alternate world beauty is ugly and ugly is beauty. The calibration of our appetites and senses is indiscriminate, so there is no good or bad, just what we are habituated to. Remember also that Rickenbacker was making electric basses (that it intended to sound like guitars but an octave lower, rather than upright basses which was Fender's goal), so Fender is neither right nor first, just better marketed.
I don't know which tone I prefer the most. I like a bunch of tones for different styles but only have one working crappy squier. I should've gotten a short scale I'm not ready for these massive things ak.slfkjahsldiguls dhkfjhn
Cool video! Is it possible to try reverse-P by changing only the bass half to Rickenbacker position? So treble side "as original p-bass" and bass side two pickups towards bridge.
The 'reverse P' sound was consistently my favorite, and I've had a positive reaction every time I've played a bass with a reverse P.
So right now I'm in the middle of modding my P bass to a reverse P...
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.
And here I am figuring out how to simplify things. If anyone cares, I think I'm going to take a P bass and stick a G&L MFD humbucker into it.
How do you think it would sound with two fender jazz pups in the music man position? Wired in parallel. Do you think it could get in the ballpark?
hello mike,how about put 3 mm pickup ,and every mm has a,b,ab parallel, ab series ,and i feel sandberg basic4 has a sweet spot ,
best video to watch for those that will make a custom bass
Thanks!!
Thank you so much for this... I really digged the streamer config with mics 2 and 4.
Thank you very much. 🙏 I would like to build a bass someday. Very helpful.
They are all in the wrong position in my opinion. I would have a proper neck end choice. Like an EB or a Ricky.
All I’m getting here is treble rattle and buzz.
Because SCIENCE! ✊
Well played, my good Sir.
Kudos ❤
Speaking of pickup position am I correct in assuming that in a set designated "front" and "rear" that "front means bridge? You're a good player and have provided some great sound ideas.
This is great, but you missed the opportunity to get a rickenbacker-like sound with a pickup close to the neck!
The show steeler was the switch array that was hardly mentioned. I didn't know that I liked the sound of 5 jazz pickups!
That much magnetic pull on bass strings really does choke the shit of its tone. I was wondering. That's a good thing to know never to do.
I really want to know what a J bass pick up sounds like on the actual neck position. Like where a strat neck pick up would be.
A wiring diagram would be awesome.
Thanks! I'm working on a video where I'll show the diagram.
Just posted it: ua-cam.com/video/d-yygyrbAOE/v-deo.html
As far as I can see from the video, none of the tones appeal to me. I think I will play tuba for the rest of my life.
This is a cool video man....thanks very much....very inspirational
No love for neck pickups? 😊 on second thought on a bass that top one might be a jazz bass neck
Super interesting vid.
Other than cost, is there a reason why you couldnt add more closer to the neck?
Ive always been interested in basses with pickups close to the neck.
it's cool as hell yes, sounds.. good? but IMO it doesn't sound like any tones you can't get with one or two pups.. would like to hear it with neck pups though..
Wich of these pickups are neck pickups and bridge? It sounds as if only bridge pickups are used in that proyect. The construction is not the same.
This just proves that flatwounds are the only acceptable bass string...
If only you could put the split style in the middle and the end ones both on the single coil to make it sound like a fender urge, or have the first middle and last ones on (doesn't matter from which side ha) to get the reverend triad but with all of them on at once sounds like the mud buckers with more clarity, but it sounds so warm and full!