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110 thoughts on “What’s Your Favorite Bass Pickup?”

    • Joe bardens on a jbass and tbass and they’re the best I’ve tried. 2nd is lollars on a jbass that as good or better than the bardens and much more vintage correct. Emgs on an old steiny they’re good. Tv jones on a tbass kicks ass and for that sound hard to beat. But all up joe bardens are the gold standard

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    • I like the older vintage Fender PUPs, also the new Custom Shop 60s but I just upgraded a MIM Jazz Bass with DiMarzio Area Js and they are sweet!

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  1. My fave right now is the Aguilar 5 hum canceling pup. Paired with the obp3 pre its a dream on my custom Sutherland dragon fly 5. I also have allot of love for the sub 3 quarter pound p bass pups, allot of output on my squire jag bass.. And that signature p bass tone with alot of edge!!

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  2. Wow! That’s a tough one for me, personally. Right now I have to say Nordstrands big singles, delano Xtender for 6 string bass, and Aero Pickups for passive tones. But the new fender modern pickups are pretty hot right now.

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  3. Jerzy Drozd’s, although you’d have to buy one of his basses to get them.
    Nordstrands or EMG, though, depending on the intended purpose

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  4. IMO, it depends on the bass. I put Barts in Maple bodies to smooth out the Maple highs. I have Nordtys in a Walnut 5 string to brighten it up. But I love the pups in my 62 jazz. With active electronics, I’m not sure it really matters as you can always compensate.

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  5. My fave was the Biax bass pickup, but there was only one prototype AFAIK installed on a Music Man Stingray. The Biax patent was for two bent pole pieces and two coils per string for true 3D stereo. It is the bass of the Gods. I also loved using a FRAP on my J-Bass through a Countryman 85.

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  6. Duncan Antiquity II for me right now in my old vintage P they sound dark and woody and very close to the originals they replaced. My 08 AM Std P has the Duncan SPB-1 in it right now and kicks real good with that one.

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    • SGD? Just a cheap clone of the original neodymium sidewinder Q-tuner pickup which was invented in 1989. Wake up people.

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    • I had a set of SPB -3s installed in my 96 precision and have taken it back 5 times to try and get rid of the hum that they are producing. Don’t let guitar center work on your bass it has been a nightmare.

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  7. I’ve tried tons over the last 20 plus years of playing, including all the winners here. The Delano that I just put in are by FAR the best I’ve ever used

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  8. The only real and true pickups out there are Delano. They are the only true pickups that give you the full bass, mid, and treble..

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  9. The only true bass pickup and pre-amp are from Delano. They are the only pickups that I have found that give you the full range of bass, mid, and treble.

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    • I am a huge Spector fan. That’s all I will play after test driving other basses. I’m about to replace my Spector emg hz pj set with the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pj set. I’m also replacing the preamp with the STC-3P made by Seymour Duncan as well. I’ve never strayed from EMG’s but I never really found the right tone I was looking for. Maybe this will help….

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  10. “Bartolini”…when you don’t want to pack several axes for different styles…Gibson factory loaded Thunderbird-ceramics…for in your face classic rock tone…Q-Tuners for modern tones…uncolored sound.

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  11. My fav is seymore duncan quarter pounders.and antique 60 ds right now.l would like to check out the delano pickups maybe on my next prodject.

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  12. Honestly I like all of the ones mentioned in the post. It just depends on the environment of the gig or how my ears are receiving at the time. Since I can’t afford them all I am lucky to have a Music Man Stingray with it’s great pickup, active of course and I built a custom with a MM at the bridge and a Basslines P at the neck thru Bartolini active circuitry. For a very unique sound and versitility.

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  13. There’s a guy name Pete Biltoft whose company is Vintage Vibe Guitars & Pickups located in the Pacific NW that makes some great P, J & Tele Bass drop-in models. Also does rewinds; – check him out . . .

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  14. Baselines in for sure. Quartet pounders in my mexi jazz……makes it get sort of a Stingray sound without the 2k price tag! SPB-2’s in my 84 Squire P-bass..nice and fat with minel flat wounds!

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  15. I was partial to EMGs but I recently installed a Basslines and was pleasantly surprised. Like different Basses, different pickups for the job at hand!

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  16. With DELANO JMVC 5 FE (in P-bass position) together with DELANO MC 5 FE/J (in J-Bass postion) you get an ultra hifi sound without preamp and hence without noise because of their low impedance and hum free design. In addition with a passive tone pot linked to a variable capacitor switch you can get sweet vintage sounds. (In mentioned position you can dial in convincing P-bass, J-bass, MM-bass sounds and much more). More you can not want from pickups !

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  17. I made a 7 string from scratch so I needed that kind of pickup. I couldn’t get a Bartolini set so I got a Delano instead. Since It’s hard to tell the difference in written word I thought I would give it a shot. Bartolini’s are in the pocket as far a tone is concerned. I found the Delano’s to be almost too hot so you need modifiers to tame them. They are both excellent pickups but Delano’s give you a little more headroom.

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  18. Overall I like Nordstrands best, but I have used Aguilar AG J4 HC,a dn like how they reproduced the natural tone of the bass I built. at a test, I swapped them out for the Nordstand counterpart It seem Nordstand has more volume and sound a little thicker. On a good amp either sounds great and produce a fairly true tone.

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  19. I have a 1985 G&L L-1000 with single passive MFD pickup. It is perhaps the most even, clear and punchy pickup I have used (and used a lot of them). Very even through all frequencies. I have a Stingray and am toying with putting a Delano in it – they seem to share the G&L pickup characteristics in an updated form.

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  20. Surprised nobody mentioned Villex. They blow the doors off of most other pickups with an exceptional range of tones and sound amazing passive.

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  21. lindy fralins 10%overwound for my p bass american special ,removed the greasbucket circuit and installed a .05 cap,in original 60s circuit config,kick ass sound,

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  22. Definately EMGs all the i like barts too…but ive played EMG in all 3 of my spector basses for years now and the sound has never let me down….sound engineers love how effective EMGs are in studio recordings..very user friendly pups to record with…T.H.

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