The pick ups you choose for your bass guitar can make a big difference in the way your instrument sounds. In fact, when you really think about it, if it weren’t for the work done by your pickups no one would even be able to hear your bass!
There are a lot of different bass pickup options out there, so it can be tough to know where to start. The best pick up for your bass guitar will depend on the sound and tone that you are aiming for, along with your playing style.
As I explain below, I hate to tell you but there is no single answer for what is the best bass guitar pickup. It’s like asking what is the best type of car – it all depends on the performance, style, and budget tradeoffs that are most important to you.
Before you start investing in a new bass guitar or upgrading the pickups in your current bass, let’s recap some key things you should know about the different types of pickups.
The Most Common Types of Bass Guitar Pickups
The most common types of bass guitar pickups you should be aware of are:
1. Single coil pickups for bass guitars
Single coil bass pickups use a single coil of wire, wound in one direction, to capture the magnetic signal from the vibrating bass strings.
2. Split coil pickups for bass guitars (also known as humbucker pickups)
Split coil pickups, often called humbucking pickups, use two coils of wire with each wound in the opposite direction. Both coils capture the bass guitar string’s magnetic signal, and the two signals are then combined together. Using this technique helps a bass humbucker pickup to minimize the noise or hum that naturally occurs with a single coil pickup. The humbucking pickup takes its name from this feature of canceling, or ‘bucking’ the hum side effect from a single coil pickup.
We have a lot more information below on how bass pickups work, so feel free to jump down if you want a more detailed explanation.
The Best Bass Pickups
With the caveat above that it all depends on the bass sounds and tone that you are aiming for, here are some recommendations on the best bass guitar pickups for some specific use cases.
Best Bass Guitar Pickups for Jazz and Funk
Both jazz and funk music really tend to benefit from the brighter tone of a setup like the Fender jazz bass that uses multiple single coil pickups in different positions to capture the range of tones that bass guitar offers. With this in mind, here are my picks for the best jazz bass pickups.
Top picks for jazz and funk bassists:
- Nordstrand NJ4
- DiMarzio DP149 Ultra J
- EMG J Active
Best Bass Guitar Pickups for Metal
Metal is often at its best when the bass tone is still fat but comes through clear and bright. To achieve this, many metal players use a J pickup in the bridge position (feel free to read below in case you aren’t sure what this means!).
Top picks for metal bassists:
- EMG PX Pickup
- Delanos (JMVC for J bass or PMVC for P bass)
- DiMarzio Model P (DP122)
Best Bass Guitar Pickups for Rock Music (Classic Rock to Hard Rock)
P-bass style split coil pickups have been the ‘bass’ underneath rock music for decades, and many bass players agree with me that there is no good reason to change that.
Best P bass pickups for rock bassists:
- Seymour Duncan Quarter-Pound P-Bass Pickup
- EMG Geezer Butler Signature P Bass Guitar Pickup
- DiMarzio DP123 BK Bass Pickup
Specialty Bass Guitar Pickup Types
Electric bass guitars come with pre-installed stock pickups that are either single coil or humbucker pickups. While single coils and humbuckers are the two main categories of bass pickups, there are other variations with special properties that set them apart from traditional magnetic pickups.
Piezo pickups
A piezo pickup is a type of electric bass guitar pickup that uses vibration to capture sound. These bass pickups are often used in addition to standard magnetic pickups, giving the player more options when it comes to their sound.
Synth pickups for bass (a.k.a. divided bass pickups)
Divided bass pickups are constructed in a way that they can capture different individual outputs from each string of the bass guitar. These are especially useful for converting the signal from a bass guitar into a midi signal that can then be used with a synthesizer to create unique sound variations. This enables sound output that is modified by software or electronics, yet still triggered by the vibrations of the bass guitar strings. It can be really fun to play around with this if it makes sense for your style of music.
P-bass pickups vs. Jazz bass pickups (or J-bass pickups)
Probably the biggest difference between a Precision bass (p-bass style) and Jazz bass (j-bass style) is the number of pickups used.
Precision bass pickups
A precision bass, or p-bass, uses a single pickup. The Fender Precision Bass was the first type of bass guitar ever introduced, and many basses use this pickup configuration today because so many bassists love the sound. The P bass uses a hum-canceling split coil pickup, and is very common among rock music players for its deep, solid bass guitar sound. P-pickups are so well loved that many players even go out of their way to track down a vintage p bass pickup like the kind used in older Fender basses.
Jazz bass pickups
Basses inspired by the Fender Jazz bass, or J-bass, use two pickups. One close to the neck of the bass guitar (neck position, or neck pickup) and one closer to the bass’s bridge (bridge position, or bridge pickup). A J-bass features dials that you can use to adjust the mix of sound between the two pickups to achieve different tones. Both of the J bass stock pickups are single coil pickups, but the pickups are wound with reverse polarity to cancel noise and hum.
You can use the control knobs on your J bass to switch between sounds captured by the pickups in neck and bridge position, or create your own blend between the two. This makes it a versatile pickup configuration.
Having one J bass pickup located closer to the bridge allows for a unique punchy sound that has more treble. Many often also describe this as a vintage tone, and as the name would imply it works especially great for jazz music. If you’re a jazz bass player, make sure to try out a jazz bass pickup set to see how you like it.
The PJ bass pickup configuration
For those that love the beefy sound of a P-pickup, but still want the brighter mids of a J-bass pickup, there is another option. There’s more than one way to do it, but basically the idea is that you keep a single coil pickup in the bridge position, but swap out the neck pickup for a p-bass split coil pickup. When you want to lean toward the p-bass sound, you just dial your control knobs to use the p-pickup in the neck position. If you need a little more brightness you can blend in the signal from your single coil in the bridge position.
How Bass Guitar Pickups Work
Bass guitar pickups essentially have two main components:
1) A magnet that create an electromagnetic field: The magnetic field created by the magnet in the pickup magnetizes the strings on a bass guitar. Often they use one magnet per string.
2) A ring of tightly coiled wire: Similar to an old telephone or microphone, this coiled wire helps convert the signal from the vibrating magnetic string into an electrical signal that can then be amplified to project the sound of the vibrating bass guitar string.
If you want to know even more about the science of how bass pickups work, check out my separate article here. But for now, here are a few key things to keep in mind that can make a difference in the sound qualities of a bass pickup:
How a pickup coil is wound:
The number of times the wire is wrapped around the coil, as well as the space between the wraps can impact the sound including the amount of bass vs. treble, and the clarity or muddiness of the sound. Coils with too many winds are described as overwound, while coils with not enough winds are described as underwound. Winding can also be done by hand (hand wound) or machine (machine wound), and in perfectly aligned rows or with variations in spacing introduced (random wound). None of these winding techniques is necessarily ‘better’ than another, as each technique when combined with the individual instrument and pickup electronics can have positive or negative effects on the bass tone captured by the pickup.
Pickup potting:
Pickup potting means that the coil is dipped in a wax or resin material. This helps to protect the coil and prevent unwanted noise that is picked up. Since the goal is to capture just the sound of the strings and not other noise, the type and amount of potting that is used can affect the sound.
The type of magnet used:
The most common types of magnets used in bass pickups are Alnico (an alloy of aluminum, nickel and cobalt) and ceramic magnets. The choice of magnet can impact the overall sound including the level of output, definition and character.
Approaches to manage noise and hum:
Single coil bass pickups only use one coil of wire to capture the signal from the bass guitar string. One consequence of this approach is that when you amplify the sound sometimes a small amount of noise or hum can be introduced along with the signal from the vibrating bass string.
One way to minimize this hum effect is to use split coil pickups, which feature an additional coil that can wound in the opposite way of the first coil (creating opposite electrical polarity), which helps to cancel out the noise. This type of split coil pickup is also called a humbucker because it helps to stop the hum that naturally comes from a single coil pickup.
Electronics: Active vs. Passive Pickup for Bass Guitar
Besides differences in how pickups are wired to capture the sound of your strings, another factor to consider is whether your pickups are passive or active.
Passive bass pickups
Originally, all bass guitars used passive pickups meaning that they do not have their own power source, and the only amplification of the electrical signal containing the sound of your bass guitar strings happens outside your guitar when the signal reaches your bass amp. Many bass guitars still use this type of pickup.
A passive bass guitar pickup has simpler electronics so fewer things can go wrong. Passive pickups don’t require batteries, and they have a natural, fat bass sound with a good punch. They are also great for playing music with a lot of touch and dynamics, and are popular with many rock, blues, and jazz bass players.
Active bass pickups
Active pickups are different because they use a battery-powered preamp to boost the signal from your bass before it leaves your instrument. Typically this works by inserting a 9 volt battery into your bass, where there is a connection from the battery to the active pickups. Because active pickups boost the signal from your bass at the source, this can result in a stronger signal between your guitar output jack and bass amp.
Active electronics also allow control over the EQ of your bass tone. For example, you can boost a particular range of higher or lower frequencies if you feel they aren’t coming through the mix like you want them to. In music with more aggressive bass styles like slap bass for funk, or progressive metal the active electronics can help push through some subtle aspects of tone that might be lost with a passive pickup.
Active pickups can also be really helpful if you are switching between musical styles frequently and need to make significant adjustments to your bass tone characteristics between sets or recording sessions.
However, the fact active pickups require batteries can also be a downside. You will need to remember to change them out every so often or risk your bass sounding faint or weak.
Buying Individual Pickups vs. Pickup Sets
When you buy an individual pickup, it may come with just the magnets and coils in an enclosure. If you just need to swap out for an existing pickup, that may work.
What is a bass pickup set?
A pickup set usually includes not just the pickup itself, but also the wiring, connectors and control knobs that are used to control the pickups. Basically, it should be the full set of electronics that you need to wire the pickups into your guitar. Often bass pickup sets include multiple pickups that are intended to work together and complement each other to capture your ideal bass sound.
Some bass pickup sets require you to use solder and a soldering iron to connect the electrical wiring to your pickup. Others come with solderless connectors so you can swap out a bass pickup more easily without dealing with the soldering process. That can be helpful because soldering has a learning curve and can be a bit messy and time-intensive.
What Are Bass Guitar Pups?
You might hear a serious bass player talking about their “pups” or “pu’ups” – they probably aren’t talking about their small dogs. Pups is just a shorter word that bass players use to talk about bass pickups. So if you want to sound like a bass guitar pro, feel free to chop it up with your fellow bass players about your fancy new pups.
The Best Bass Pickup Brands
There are quite a few brands that are well-known for their quality bass guitar pickups. On one hand, these brands tend to offer consistency and reliability and many offer solid options for an affordable bass pickup.
On the other hand, the very best bass pick ups may not always be made by a major name brand. There are also custom pickup makers that create handcrafted bass pickups with particular characteristics. Some of these pickup makers are listed below and will be covered in more detail in individual articles.
It can be really fun to explore all these different craftspeople, making these bass pickups is an art form that involves a lot of attention to detail.
Some popular and widely sold bass pickup brands include:
• Seymour Duncan pickups (very popular)
• EMG pickups (very popular)
• Aguilar pickups (very popular)
• Bartolini pickups (very popular)
• Fishman pickups
• Fender pickups (related: Fender Custom Shop)
• DiMarzio pickups
• Nordstrand pickups
• Realist pickups
• Roland pickups
• Darkglass pickup
Other pickup makers and bass pickup brands include:
• Aero
• Bare Knuckle
• Burns
• Classic Amplification
• Creamery
• Crel
• Curtis Novak
• Danelectro
• DeArmond
• Delano
• Dingwall/Fury
• Entwistle
• G&L
• Gibson
• GraphTech
• Ironstone
• Joe Barden
• Kent Armstrong
• Kinman
• Klein
• Lace Sensor
• Lakland
• Lase Alumitone
• Lauzon
• Lindy Fralin
• Lollar
• Razor
• Reed James
• Rickenbacker
• Rio Grande
• Status Graphite
• Tonerider
• TV Jones
• Wilde
• Wilkinson
Some of these pickup brands and craftspeople have great reputations, and can sometimes customize a perfect pickup based on your bass guitar and bass sound preferences. I highly recommend checking them out if you have time to go down an interesting rabbit hole.
Bottom line (the bass line?)
Just like there’s no best car for everyone, there is no single best bass pickup. Some people need pickup trucks, and some prefer a Ferrari. The good news is, with a little research you can find a great pickup that can give your bass a new and improved sound.
Plus, after playing for a while if you don’t feel great about your sound or your bass playing evolves, you can always swap out for a new bass pickup in the future. Or, like me, just buy another new bass guitar with a different pickup configuration, but I digress…
Best of luck in your search, and feel free to reach out if you have questions!
