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Post subject: best funky sound pickups?
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:51 pm
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hey all,

i have 89 jazz bass with bass lines pickups but i want it's sound a little bit funkier. so what you reckon ? what kind / brand of pickups that i need?

thanks for helping.


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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:47 am
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actually your pickups are good. I think what you need to do is just play or "mess around" with the tone of the bass, or with the amplifier. Just experiment with different sound combinations possible, and i'm pretty sure there's a lot. No need to change pickups in my opinion, just adjust stuff.

by the way, do u happen to know how to post pics here in the forums? i'm new here, and i suck at technology.

Jaxon from the philippines.


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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 7:29 am
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First of all, define "funky" sounding. That could mean a lot of things...

Second, what model basslines do you have?

Also, as stated above, often the solution to getting a new kind of tone is not replacing the pickups. Try adjusting the EQ, gain, and other settings to tailor the tone you want. If you can describe the "funky" sound I could help you choose amp/eq settings.


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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 7:41 am
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deadstar, i think anubis16 can help a lot if u describe what kind of "funkier" tone you want. I think you can put the Low Mid setting at a higher value than the others. Also try to research on Pastorius or Geddy Lee's settings, they play funk (although i'm not sure if that's the kind of funk u want) and also Les Claypool and Flea.


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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 12:39 pm
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I think for funky tones he meant maybe like warm, fat tube tones...

a little EQ would nail the sound or maybe the pickup combinations and tone controls.. try to fiddle with your midrange voicing

but if you would really consider pickups it depends on what kind of funk, like if its more on slapping or fingerstyle funk

Anyways about the artists
For Jaco, he uses more volume on bridge pickups than the neck, thats how he gets that biting treble tone..

For Flea, he does have a Stingray/Modulus with high treble to nail that ringing slap tone.. also strings affects the tone.. Flea i think uses GHS Boomers
If we're talking about Flea's jazz bass, i think it has stock vintage pickups but the sound is based on his Gallien Kreuger amp and a little clean booster

For Geddy Lee, his bass has the specs of a 70's jazz, but with an alder body, probably thats how he got the slightly trebly bite.. and I think he uses Sansamps PSA.. (I'm not quite sure)


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Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:31 am
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eyecandy wrote:

For Geddy Lee, his bass has the specs of a 70's jazz, but with an alder body, probably thats how he got the slightly trebly bite.. and I think he uses Sansamps PSA.. (I'm not quite sure)


Geddy also uses steal strings (rotosound 66) and digs into the strings like crazy when he plays fingerstyle. He's changed his rig a lot over the years, but he boosts the midrange a lot and gets a little SS drive on all his rigs.


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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 9:43 am
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the solution doesn't always have to be the pickups, well considering the bridges, strings, caps ... etcs

for strings roundwounds would give a lot of bite and thinner the strings the better for funk.. (pref medium light strings)

but for pickups
lets say for slap I'd say
DiMarzio Ultra Jazz, these babies begs to be thumped
Basslines Quarter Pound, though I don't really like the idea of a scooped and rounded mids

Some good pickups are Aeros Type 1, heard they have present bottoms and rounded top, Nordstrand NJ4 as well does have good balance


but for vintage guys
Fender Original Vintage works although people complain that they lack balance,
Fender Noiseless on the other hand lacks the midrange bite that everybody craves on a jazz
Fender Custom Shop 60's are great esp on the midrange part..


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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:42 pm
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eyecandy wrote:
the solution doesn't always have to be the pickups, well considering the bridges, strings, caps ... etcs

for strings roundwounds would give a lot of bite and thinner the strings the better for funk.. (pref medium light strings)

but for pickups
lets say for slap I'd say
DiMarzio Ultra Jazz, these babies begs to be thumped
Basslines Quarter Pound, though I don't really like the idea of a scooped and rounded mids

Some good pickups are Aeros Type 1, heard they have present bottoms and rounded top, Nordstrand NJ4 as well does have good balance


but for vintage guys
Fender Original Vintage works although people complain that they lack balance,
Fender Noiseless on the other hand lacks the midrange bite that everybody craves on a jazz
Fender Custom Shop 60's are great esp on the midrange part..


Couldn't have said it better myself :)

In order to chose pickups you really need to think about what you want to get out of your sound. That requires 2 things: knowing what tone you want, and knowing how to change your current setup to get that tone. Pickups are not always the best rout to go. Depending on your rig, you may never get the tone you're looking for. Strings can also play a big role in tone. If you can explain your current setup a bit better and what you want with a "funky" sound, then we can help :D


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Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:47 pm
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You might want to try out a Sansamp DI. They can bring your sound to a killer funk. I primarily slap with my Geddy and even without the DI my sound is pretty cool. Crank both pick ups and keep the tone up all the way to treble. I just put some Rotosound swing strings (45 G) and sounds pretty good to me. Only had them a week so far so I don't know how long it will last. Try different strings before you change pick ups.


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Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 9:33 pm
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EYECANDY said a mouthful. AND YES, you have to define FUNK. That could mean different things to different people.

Strings make a lot of difference. For a sound like BOOTSY COLLINS funk use lighter gauge strings, or lower tension strings like TI EB344's or the Ernie Ball EXTRA Slinky set.

Actually the Fender LIGHT flat 9050L sound very Bootsyish when fresh too.

Seymour Duncan makes SO MANY different pickups that if you know what sound you want and can define it by maybe a song or a bassist in general we can help you figure out the right pups, caps, strings, amp settings, etc.


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Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:07 am
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jrovello wrote:
You might want to try out a Sansamp DI. They can bring your sound to a killer funk. I primarily slap with my Geddy and even without the DI my sound is pretty cool. Crank both pick ups and keep the tone up all the way to treble. I just put some Rotosound swing strings (45 G) and sounds pretty good to me. Only had them a week so far so I don't know how long it will last. Try different strings before you change pick ups.


to my ears slapping geddy's make sound close to primus dunno if its just me, I just heard a demo at the aguilar's site using tone hammer..


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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:46 pm
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eyecandy wrote:
jrovello wrote:
You might want to try out a Sansamp DI. They can bring your sound to a killer funk. I primarily slap with my Geddy and even without the DI my sound is pretty cool. Crank both pick ups and keep the tone up all the way to treble. I just put some Rotosound swing strings (45 G) and sounds pretty good to me. Only had them a week so far so I don't know how long it will last. Try different strings before you change pick ups.


to my ears slapping geddy's make sound close to primus dunno if its just me, I just heard a demo at the aguilar's site using tone hammer..


Heh, I know what soundbite you're talking about.

The Geddy has the 62 RI pickups which are very midrange heavy, and Les Claypool has tons of midrange in his slap tone. He boosts the mids rather than scooping them.


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Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 11:38 pm
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exactly he does a lot more honky slap that that favorite marcus miller percussive sound which err well gives him his "sound"



and about that sansamp, well like my new favorites the behringer bdi21 brings that growl out however I'd like to that aguilar for midrange controls... :roll:


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Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:37 am
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anubis16 wrote:
First of all, define "funky" sounding. That could mean a lot of things...

Second, what model basslines do you have?

Also, as stated above, often the solution to getting a new kind of tone is not replacing the pickups. Try adjusting the EQ, gain, and other settings to tailor the tone you want. If you can describe the "funky" sound I could help you choose amp/eq settings.



Yeah... +1 Just mess with the gain and eq. I can make my (very hot) qp pbass pups sound funky...

my 2 cents

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Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 7:11 am
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tommygunn wrote:
anubis16 wrote:
First of all, define "funky" sounding. That could mean a lot of things...

Second, what model basslines do you have?

Also, as stated above, often the solution to getting a new kind of tone is not replacing the pickups. Try adjusting the EQ, gain, and other settings to tailor the tone you want. If you can describe the "funky" sound I could help you choose amp/eq settings.



Yeah... +1 Just mess with the gain and eq. I can make my (very hot) qp pbass pups sound funky...

my 2 cents



IMO Quarter Pounds can give a boomy rock tone, when well EQ'd can also bring out a good slap tone, and some punchy blues tone however they kinda sound like modern ++ not really vintage stuff if thats your bag... there's still a bit of difference in clarity and warmth compare to vintage stuff..

also a little plus... dead roundwound strings = funkier.. :lol:


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