Recently, we posted an open question on Facebook asking what your favorite pickup is. Feel free to check that out.
Do you agree with the comments on that discussion? There were a lot of EMG and Seymour Duncan fans out there.
What’s your favorite brand of bass pickup (even if it’s one we don’t carry)?
EMG’s all the way!
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
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!
Q-Tuners all the way! WAITING for 2.0 version for my fretless bass project!!!!
Neodymium Q-tuner pickups already are back in production.
Q-Tuners are great, I have them in my custom 7-string bass. Very nice.
DEFINATLY BARTOLINI
S Duncan Basslines of course.
Bill Lawrence Wilde Pickups
Reed James pickups- Chris “Tiger” Ellis
Nordstrand
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!!
Bartolini’s and EMG but mostly Bartolini!
Joe Barden’s. Love ’em. Hot, transparent, and incredibly hi-fi. Quiet too.
Lollarpickups are by fare the best I’ve ever heard.
In general, Nordstrands.
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.
MEC Active Jazz
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
Bassculture
Double that!
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.
Gotta go with the Lindy Fralin’s I have in my jazz bass!
Old Fender PUP’s and using old original Bill Lawrence Black Label and one awesome Duncan
Hmm. Lollar single coil, reed James neo dual coil, Bartolini for fretless
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.
Rautia Jazz bass pickups!
I’ve been using EMGs for over 20 years now…
Bartolini is my choice.
Bartolini
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.
Nordstrand MM5.2 on a 5 String OLP MusicMan Stingray Clone. Awesome.
SGD!
SGD? Just a cheap clone of the original neodymium sidewinder Q-tuner pickup which was invented in 1989. Wake up people.
SGD Lutherie
Seymour Duncans are my personal favourite. Greets from Finland.
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.
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
Reed James Engineering Neo humbucker and Vintage Vibe Jazz
Reed James Neo HB’s and Vintage Vibe neos
Nordstrand/Sadowsky
Bartolinis on jbass….more punch then mike tyson !
Bartolini for soap bars and Duncans for single coils
Basslines
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..
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.
Bartolini. Smooth round and defined.
EMGs on all three of my Spectors. No comparison to many others including Barts and Warwicks.
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….
Wilde by Bill Lawrence, especially when low noise is essential.
Nordstrands are amaizing. I have big splits in my custom warmoth build and I have custom dual coils in my schecter 004.
Delano’s for almost all my basses, such a consistent tone live and in the studio.
Bartolini’s
emg 45 dc’s on my 6 strings and lj 5’s on my jazz bass hands down pick up of choice!!!!
EMG Select PJ passives
I put Delanos in my Modulus with a Audere preamp and they sound great together
Delano quad coil with OBP-3 through a Avalon U5. After 40 years my quest for perfect tone is over!
“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.
Nordys with Nordy preamp. It keeps my pencil sharp. Um Hmmm.
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.
I have yet to find a bass pickup I like more than Carvin’s J99 single coil.
Fralin
bartolini jazz on my mtd and warrior, and EMG P/J on my ibanez
DiMarzio DP122, I just dig the sound!!
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.
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 . . .
The Delanos that I got from you guys (your recommendation was right on) are the finest pickups I have used…
Basslines Seymour Duncan without any doubt
DiMarzio P &J Bass Pickups.
DiMarzio P&J and also EMG HZ.
Joe Barden jazz, luv ’em!
seymour duncan antiquity II
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!
Delano for the modern vibe, Nordstrand’s for the vintage inspired tone. Delano’s typically are my first choice.
What guys. No Darkstar fans out there? I love mine. There are newer companies reproducing the original design these days.
Lauzon pickups !
this guy is a genius!
Lauzon Pickups
For my bass builds, I have a few favorites. Delano, Reed James, Aguilar and Nordstrand.
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!
As soon as you guy’s have a sale on Nordstrand Big Splits I can give you an honest answer.
Barts through & through. Love the clarity & warmth.
Delano and Bartolini is amazing for studio and life performance. I’ll never use anything else
Seymour Duncan NYC-5
Wizard Thumper on a p bass.
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 !
The EMGs on my Spectors too…. 🙂
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.
I just love the Bare Knuckle PB 56 that I installed on my P-Bass.
Marceau Pickups ;)!
Delano SBC so far; I have a custom Kent Armstrong and a Nordstrand Big Single that I’m anxious to install.
Bartonlini, they are the best, affordable, and they sound great
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.
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.
Passive,Frailen’s. Period.
Active. EMGs.
Surprised nobody mentioned Villex. They blow the doors off of most other pickups with an exceptional range of tones and sound amazing passive.
Bartolini and nordstrand
Q-tuner neodymium bass pickups. Nothing compares.
Depends on the application…I love the stock Lakland pickups, also Duncan Antiquity, DiMarzio and Fralin.
DiMarzio BC2 for short scales
Sadowsky single coil
carvin j99 single coil….!!the best!!!!!!!
carvin j99 real single coil !!!the best!!!!!
Bill Lawrence Black Label PB1, plenty of bass for this typical precision pickup
Fender Custom Shop 60’s (jazzbass)
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,
The new neodymium Q-tuner Q2.0 bass pickups are the most powerful and clean sounding pups in the business.
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.
Active EMG 40DC Double Humbuckers with Active EMG BQS 18v 3-Band EQ with mid freq select knob.
Nordstrand big singles, more balls than a shelter dumpster
Nordstrand forever!