Recommend neck pup replacement 5 string bass

[BlueTalon]

Re: Recommend neck pup replacement 5 string bass

The resonance peak matters a lot less for bass. It also matters a lot less when the coils of vintage style single coil pickups are in parallel, because now the peak is so high that it doesn't really matter whether it has a decent amplitude.

But in this thread we are discussing mixed pickups, pickups other than just vintage Jazz.

Agreed, but we're talking about mixed bass pickups. If the resonance peak phenomenon you describe matters a lot less for bass, then bass players can effectively operate under a different set of rules.

I'm glad you mentioned that. I always like getting some confirmation that I'm not nuts.

[uOpt]

Re: Recommend neck pup replacement 5 string bass

Agreed, but we're talking about mixed bass pickups. If the resonance peak phenomenon you describe matters a lot less for bass, then bass players can effectively operate under a different set of rules.

I'm glad you mentioned that. I always like getting some confirmation that I'm not nuts.

I think the rule of thumb is that you need to look at the frequency of the resonance peak and the cutoff frequency of the low pass filter that the pickup is (same frequency).

If you push the frequency of the cutoff/resonance peak high enough then the amplitude of the peak doesn't matter that much. Strat pickups in notch position or Jazz bass pickups mixed or blended (aka parallel) have the frequency very high, so a low amplitude is OKish.

But if you start blending pickups with much lower resonance peak frequency such as hot thunderbird pickups or whatever you can make things sound lifeless. Now you don't have any treble (LPF cutoff frequency low) but you don't have a resonance peak at the cutoff frequency either (which normally gives the kick to low cutoff pickups).