Guitar pickups in a bass

H

harmonix1234

New member
Ok, so I have this old $200 Yamaha bass that I got just for putting down rough tracks for demo's, but the pickups are cheap microphonic junk.
I have a bunch of spare guitar pickups floating about and thought I'd route out the bass and chuck one in it for giggles and curiosity. I have all the tools and routing templates from my guitar tinkering already.
The tone can't possibly turn out worse than it currently is.

Firstly, my thinking is that pickups aren't necessarily respondent to frequency input, they just pickup the amount of mass that's moving and translate that movement into an electric signal, so it should in theory work just fine.

I have:
- 2X EMG S2 passive single coils - pole prices
- 1X EMG 89 Active Humbucker (coil tappable) blade magnet
- 1X EMG 85 Humbucker Active, blade magnet
- 1X Bill Lawrence Passive Humbucker, bladed magnets
- Duncan distortion Humbucker passive, pole pieces

I am leaning towards any of the bladed pickups so I don't have string alignment problems.

If I don't get too many "go home bass guy, you're drunk" comments I will mod it, post some pics and soundbytes here.

anyone with a big brain and white lab coat, please chime-in with your science for or against.
 
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Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

Welcome to the forum.

Some well known bass guitar designs always had "guitar" pickups onboard. e.g. Fender Musicmaster Bass, Squier Bronco.

The Chapman Stick in my avatar image employs EMG FT pickups. No shortage of low end there.

It would help to know exactly which model of Yamaha bass guitar you have. Many employ the well-known P and J pickup formats. Some use rectangular dual coil pickups. A few have bespoke, Yamaha only, pickup casings - like Billy Sheehan's metallic pink BB that became the testbed for the Attitude series.

Be aware that any conventional humbucker baseplate with vintage length screw lugs will require considerable deepening of part of the pickup cavity in order to fit.
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

Thanks funkfingers. That's good to hear.
It's a Yamaha RBX 170.
It's only one step up from a toy really. But, it stays in tune, has a good action and intonates very well (surprisingly) which is the only reason I haven't binned it. The pickups as far as I know are factory installed with no branding on the covers, but may have some revealing markings on the underside. I've never looked.

All my other instruments have always been of reasonable quality, but this one I am happy to frankenbass in the name of experimentation.

78771e276f7888ee284deac57b42c448.jpg
 
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Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

Go home, bass guy... you're DRUNK! :alcoholic

Sorry, couldn't resist! Actually, I have nothing to offer except to say that the blades pickup concept makes sense to me too, and that I'd be very curious to hear how it works for you... sounds like a fun project!

Good luck!
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

The pickups in the RBX 170 and 270 are one of the corners that had to be cut to keep the retail prices down to acceptable levels for the target market sector.

The good news is that the woodwork is rather better than you give it credit for being. With a few hardware upgrades, you could turn the RBX into a keeper.

In your position, I would begin by experimenting with the EMG-HZ S2 pickups. These will match neatly with the stock 250k control pots. More importantly, they should fit within the existing pickup cavities.

In the longer term, there is a bunch of upgrade suggestions that I could make. These can wait until a more appropriate time.
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

harmonix1234 said:
Firstly, my thinking is that pickups aren't necessarily respondent to frequency input, they just pickup the amount of mass that's moving and translate that movement into an electric signal, so it should in theory work just fine.
Click to expand...

Guitar pickups mostly emphasize mid range, for a thicker tone, while bass pickups generally emphasize more treble, to get a better "slap bass" sound. A guitar pickup will work, but this a big reason why it wouldn't be considered the ideal.
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

Ok, cool. That's good to know. After hearing that I'm anticipating scooping out some mids at the end of the signal chain. At least I can remove frequencies that are present rather than trying to boost frequencies that aren't there, which was my main concern. Unless what you're saying means it will be lacking highs. Might go with some 500k pots then if that will make a difference...
Alrighty then, time to get the router out!
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

^
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This is why the '51 P Bass single coil pickup was superseded by the split coil design.

H1234. If you like the way that your bass plays but dislike the sound, sell/trade some of your "surplus" pickups to fund bass pickups. One P type would be enough to begin with.
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

harmonix1234 said:
At least I can remove frequencies that are present rather than trying to boost frequencies that aren't there, which was my main concern. Unless what you're saying means it will be lacking highs. Might go with some 500k pots then if that will make a difference...
Click to expand...

You still have some cause for concern, because beyond that mid peak in a guitar pickup, the treble drops off really fast. You can bring them up with an EQ, but that substantially increases the noise in doing so. If you're going to get a new pot, go 1 mega-ohm to preserve all the high end you can, then roll back on the tone to taste.

If the pickups are just microphinic, you might try covering the coils with candle wax and see if that improves things.
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

Gentlemen. The stock pickups in the entry level Yamaha bass guitars are crud. Gutless. Toneless. Save yo' paraffin wax.
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

Thanks for all the help.
As mentioned above, I really should just get some proper bass pickups. And, I tend to agree. But where's the fun in that!?
I don't mind making mistakes as long as I have an experience and some knowledge as a byproduct.
Also, what you say about the lack of treble, you're right. The last thing I want to do is be pushing up the hiss and the noise in search for treble that isn't there. So, I'm going with the EMG89.
It's silent, well, nearly, so less noise being magnified when I add push the highs, and the coil tap in bridge position has a real spank to it (on a guitar). I have a spare EXG and SPC pot as well so I can filter and boost a bit more in the circuitry at the beginning of the signal chain.
It's gonna be ugly, but in havin' fun!
Worst comes to worst, I'll pull it put and buy some proper pickups.
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

Ok, she's routed... Time to wire it up and see how it sounds.
2d4b719513635eecbed9e37458039c3b.jpg


Here's the stock pups.
No branding, extremely light to hold, and they have this thick firm foam on the bottom which I have never seen before.
In the bin!
aa8f83c4e9d23251afee660299eb385c.jpg
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

I honestly dont know much, but you can put the 85 in... ik the bassist in sevenfold actually has an 81 in his bass... the 85 will be probably be mud tho, but im not sure...
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

Sure, I can try the 85 and do a comparison.
Just tried the 89 through the boss bass effects processor and it sounds great. Really chunky and crisp. Sounds round and compressed with a bit of a mid hump.
There a few mids that were easily scooped out on the behringer desk and surprisingly bright. Thought it might be dull in the top end but it's glassy without being brittle. I installed it with no tone pot, just the volume. That's it. Keep the signal chain as raw as possible.
Single coil mode sounds best to my ears but will try it with some more gain before I conclude. Based on the single coil mode sounding so good I'm almost regretting not taking the prior first advice and putting the S2 single coil in it.
That's the good thing about solderless gear, I can go and try the 85 now.
Will report back.
I'm so surprised, it sounds fantastic! 18v mod might be called for, but didn't need to put in the active tone controls EXG and SPC. Just sounds so good straight up!
Will do a few recordings too and post them up when I get the chance.
Thanks for all the help and input everyone.
 
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Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

If you try the passive pickups, wire them in parallel. I have one bass with 2 Dimebuckers, both in parallel with coil splits. Like you, I only used them out of necessity because they had blades. The bass had "guitar humbucker" pickup routes. Even worse, it had guitar humbuckers underneath the original pickup covers. The string balance issues were very noticeable. So yes, don't try the Distortion or any guitar pole piece pickup.
 
Re: Guitar pickups in a bass

Interesting choice of pickup location. (I would have enlarged the J pickup cavity.)

Worst case scenario, a HB-sized cavity could have been enlarged a second time to bass "soapbar" pickup proportions. Since you have routing equipment, there is always the option to make your own pickguard.
 
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