Why 2 Coils? What are P-Bass Pickups? | Too Afraid To Ask
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- The split coil pickup in a P-Bass have been around since 1957 and has been responsible for many of the greatest bass lines in recording history, but what makes the design so successful?
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Timecodes :
Introduction & sponsor - 0:00
P-Bass history - 1:12
P Pickup Science - 2:22
Sound Samples - 7:10
Tone Analysis - 11:00
Conclusion - 12:25
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Видеоклипы
The split coil pickup in a P-Bass have been around since 1957 and has been responsible for many of the greatest bass lines in recording history, but what makes the design so successful?
Get your own Donner DPB-510S -
UK: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B081SRT85C/?tag=donnerdeal00-20
FR: www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B081SRT85C/?tag=donnerdeal00-20
DE: www.amazon.de/gp/product/B081SRT85C/?tag=donnerdeal00-20
IT: www.amazon.it/gp/product/B081SRT85C/?tag=donnerdeal00-20
ES: www.amazon.es/gp/product/B081SRT85C/?tag=donnerdeal00-20
Buy on Donner Website: bit.ly/3uXRc1r
Timecodes :
Introduction & sponsor - 0:00
P-Bass history - 1:12
P Pickup Science - 2:22
Sound Samples - 7:10
Tone Analysis - 11:00
Conclusion - 12:25
This video contains paid product promotion from Donner
#sponsor #donner #pbass
More from CSGuitars:
Gain access to exclusive content at: www.patreon.com/csguitars
Join CSGuitars Discord - discord.gg/d7b6MY8
Buy CSGuitars Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store
Website - www.csguitars.co.uk
Contact - colin@csguitars.co.uk
Definitely replace the pickups and bridge, more bass videos are always fun 👍
When will more pickups be in stock on you website?
Playing my '83 Fender American P-Bass through my Ampeg SVT 4 PRO, into two cabsf rom Sonic, in Cudahy, WI, one with 4 x 10" Celestions, and a horn, the bottom cab with an 18" ElectroVoice, particularly when using the onboard crossover to run it in Bi-Amp mode, with lows and highs split into appropriate cabs, I got compliment after compliment on my bass tone. From country, to jazz, to blues, to Hip Hop, Rock and lots of Metal fans and fellow musicians. Ernie Ball Cobalt strings improved it further.
30, years of playing guitar and bass, and when I loaded an EMG GEEZER BUTLER P BASS pickup into a stock Squire for a neighbor and he and his whole band were completely blown away by the sound, and I've never seen something that drastic changed that quickly. Solderless wiring set, plug and play within minutes, and it's a passive pickup, so no 9 volts for you to worry about
Other mods to improve a cheap bass, replacing the nut with TUSQ, and a high quality set of tuners.
@@Metalbass10000 that sounds like an alien language to me...even though I play guitar
A P-Bass is a P-Bass. Usually, three types of players may find it useful: the beginners, the inermadiates and the pros. Surprisingly good can be any split coil PU, regardless of the price tag. What I've found to be way more important is the neck and the balance of the instrument itself.
My advice for better bass sound is, in order of priority are: a good setup, a set of good strings, a decent amp. And let any upgrade in hardware or electronics come just later. I'd start with the tuners, and maybe later the PU and the nut, and definitely not the bridge.
in short - yes, Leo Fender was a fucking genius.
And the man couldn't even play the instruments he made! What a legend
Right. Geniusing is hard work, too.
Yes!!
"yes" answers what question? Mr. my IQ begins with a decimal point
@@SqueezyLemon "yes" as in "Yes, he indeed was a genius!". Yes is not just for answering questions, it can also be used as an affirmation, Einstein. Duh! Talk about decimal point IQs!
Just to clarify: The "precision" part alluded to the fact that the PB actually had frets, thus you could play with "precision". Anyone who has tried to play a double bass or any other fretless instrument can attest to the fact that it takes a lot of practice to hit clean notes.
The Fender Jazz Bass preceded the Precision Bass -- and it was also fretted.
@ P Bass was introduced in 1951, Jazz Bass was introduced in 1960. So, no, the Precision came before the J.
I was forced to play the violin as a child. You have no idea
That makes sense considering the P-Bass was the first widely available and mass-produced bass guitar.
thanks man, i don't know if you'll come back after a year to see this, but thanks anyway. i don't remember ever hearing that in all the stuff i've watched/read about the p bass. quite possibly zoned out when it was mentioned, since i can only pay attention to every word for so long, and oh squirrel... or just forgot which happens a lot as well, i've forgotten more than most people will ever know, but even so.
Not too bad of a bassist. I’d let you stand at the back of the stage and not be noticed in my band any day. That’s if I had a band. Or friends.
I'd talk over his solo any day.
69th like
Never heard of Lemmy?
@@alexcorona or Jean-Jacques Burnel, or Bruce Foxton, or Paul Simonon...
Rock and Roll
Fun fact: the bass for Good Vibrations was played by Carol Kaye (who's dope as hell and if you don't know who she is you absolutely should) who always plays with picks!
also interesting is that she used flatwound strings, as round wound strings didn't become a thing until John entwistle
@@musicman243 I tried flatwounds on my first (and until recently, only) bass decades ago. As I recall, I couldn't WAIT to get them off! The reduction in string noise did encourage me to try half-round strings, though. Those, I liked. Only slightly less bright than roundwounds, MUCH less fingersqueak!😎❤️️🎸‼️
Carol disrespected EVH. No thx
@@YourWifesBoyfriend if anyone on earth could "disrespect" anyone on the music industry and get away with it, should be Carol Kaye, without her the electric bass would be a 50's trend, and most modern music would rely on upright bass and synth bass, so no heavy rock or metal without her basically
@@Jacksabbath44 Nah. Carol Kaye is a bitter old hack.
The instrument sounds pretty damn good, the playing was solid, and the SCIENCE! portion of the video was the clearest and most approachable I've seen yet on this subject.
The more i watch guitar videos you realise its the player, amp and instrument in that order thats important to the sound
G&L makes a strat style guitar loaded with split coils. It’s pretty strange when you see one, which just goes to show how iconic the splits are for the P-bass.
The G&L Comanche right? It looks interesting but that’s a commitment to those pickups
The Comanche! I had one for a year. Great pedal guitar and just one hell of a “make your own tone” guitar. I miss it’s sound but couldn’t gel with the neck at all (too glossy and wide for me) that being said loved the multitude of tones! +1
Fender has a weird 12 string with those pickups.
@ yes that was what I was talking about. I also have a mij 12 string with single coils. That's a good guitar.
A guy I sometimes jam with has a Tele style G&L with split coils. Sounds pretty cool.
Let’s just take a moment to appreciate how pairfect his guitar skills are.
And his hair...
@@thatellipsisguy8984 RIP his haired 😭😭😭
"P-bass to mess arooond with"
you mean "pack-up"?
Y'all are in here destroying this man's accent. 🤣😂😭
3/2023: Excellent. I've been a drummer since 1964 and I thoroughly enjoyed the playing and detail of this video. Thanks
Brilliant video as always. This makes me want to try the G&L Z-coil pickups for guitar.
I was JUST thinking that!
My father uses a G&L Comanche (a strat with Z coils) and they’re really nice! The American models are wonderful. No hum with the great tones that we’re used to in a strat.
Yeah man, me too!! I forgot those were a think until I got a recent g&l ad...
It makes you wonder why you don’t see more guitars using that set up.
Great choice with The Prisoner and Fall Back Down to show case the P bass.
Can’t have a p-bass discussion without Steve Harris and Matt Freeman!
I mostly use a Jazz bass (mostly for punk and metal). After watching this I've just realised why it was a weird number of pole pieces.
These are not questions i´m afraid to ask. These are question i never knew i should ask.
I have never heard this explanation before. Sure I knew it was 2 coils in series, but this explains why it has more definition than most humbuckers and more volume and bass end than single coils.
Colin: "I'm a garbage bassist."
Also Colin: [proceeds to play far better than I do]
He does play it like a guitarist though. Just watch his left hand -- that's not bass technique, that's guitar technique.
The only blatant issue in his technique is his right hand not playing over the pickups and his use of only one finger. Keep at it with better form than him and you'll be a better bass player in no time!
@@Noodle-Segootal Nah. His entire left-hand technique is wrong as well. You don't play bass with the thumb over, and you want way less angle in the fretting hand. As well he's not using his pinky at all, which is a shame. Also, no real feel in the right-hand technique, just straight playing.
Don't get me wrong, it works for simple songs. But he isn't a bassist, by his own admission.
@@Vykk_Draygo It's been a while since I've played a 4 string bass (6 string is just cooler imo) and it's literally impossible to play with the thumb over so I thought that was just a 6 string tech
@@Noodle-Segootal You can get away with thumb over on 4 string, it just leads to issues when you want to play more complex and fast songs. I did for years, and my left hand started cramping. My playing advanced miles once I made the transition. I started as a guitarist, and have slowly transitioned to the dark side. Love bass.
I'm actually looking to get a 6 string, but I also need to downsize weight (shoulder problems). So I'm looking at the Ibanez EHB1506MS. Shedding 3lbs while gaining 2 strings seems like a good trade. 😂
This is the best explanation of humbucking I have ever heard! Thank you!
The bass in Jailhouse Rock is the original single coil precision. Not the split coil one. And by the way, the Precision was the first instrument to introduce the "double cut" body, that then was used by Leo Fender for the stratocaster.
I agree that the bass sounds good as is. Perhaps as an academic exercise you could change out the bridge and pickup to ascertain if there is any improvement to the tone of the bass.
It's insane that this is free. Insight like this was hard to come by 10+ years ago unless you personally knew a good bass player. Thank you!
Steve Harris has actually been playing his one P-bass for close to 50 years. It has gone through some changes. First it was red, then black, then blue, then checkered black and white, and for the last 25 years or so, it's been the famous white with the West Ham sticker. It can be heard on every single Maiden album. (I think on Powerslave played different basses, but I'm pretty sure he also recorded some of it with the P-bass.)
Interesting... I never knew this. Fender was really far ahead of his time. So many features of his original designs have stood the test of time, not needing any major overhauls. Impressive.
And Leo didn't even play guitar!
Your bass playing ain't half bad. It's a different beast and requires a different kind of finesse than guitar, keep it up.
Great explanation!
Been playing for almost 30 years and never heard anyone explain the p bass pickup this well! Technical and entertaining!
Thank you! I just got my kid a bass and this told me everything I needed and wanted to know about the pickups.
I personally think a bridge swap would be a worthwhile choice. Brass saddles vs die-cast? I'd do it.
I rescued a Johnson by AXL Pbass clone from someone on eBay for £35. Replaced the pickup with an EMG and the crap bridge with Fender’s HiMass Badass clone. It’s killer.....the bridge change really improved the sustain and most importantly it looks cool
I agree... I cant use vintage style bent plate and crappy saddles any more.
I use cast bridges on he majority of my basses (have a look at a sandberg).
Big solid cast base, chunky saddles adjusted with locking screws and with adjustable thin saddles (for better break angle). Can be had for like £20 on ebay for a decent cheapo.
My first bass was a cheap P-Bass copy. One of those ones you buy with a combo practice amp. I remember putting green tape around the marked frets because i was obsessed with Type O Negative at the time.
Cheers Colin, just wanted to say, ever since I saw your video on the tone knob, I’m with you 100% “tone knob rules”. I think I use it more than I do pedals now... but I have switched to bass since, so that may not mean as much. Thank you for your awesomeness.
this has to be the most informational video on P bass and I got to give you credit on that
The prisoner! One of my favorite iron maiden songs. It sounds great!
I love this channel. I'm 58 and have been played on and off since I was 14. I never bothered much with the technical aspects of guitars and amps. I just plugged in and let her rip. I feel somewhat embarrassed when I have to ask these guys half my age in the music stores totally basic questions. With this channel you answer a lot of questions I have without having going through the embarrassment. On the other side of the coin an acquaintance of mine of many years sits there and wraps off reams off all kinds of technical specs to impress and doesn't have a clue as to what any of it means and after decades of playing still only plays the intro to Wish You Were Here and the same basic major chord progression while I'm playing everything from Zep and Sabbath to Satch and Maiden.
This video has actually really helped me with my choice of studio bass! Thank you Colin!
What a great video ! Very well done as usual . Hey Collin buddy , great bass playing too !
Thank you for this. I love videos that explain these kinds of things. Buying a P Bass is still on the list.
This is a great explanation. Nice job! Thanks for educating me.
Thanks for throwing some Maiden in there! I'm a crap bassist myself, but I put Rotosound Flatwounds on my J bass (because I love Geddy Lee too) because I learned that Steve Harris plays Roto Flats. I've found that the Flatwounds are a HUGE part of Steve Harris' sound (specifically that percussiveness in his bass tracks)
The concept of this channel is great. I've learned a lot.
Leo used this split humbucker pup so he didn't have to pay royalties to Gibson as they had patented it.
Everything about the Fender P bass was built with cost savings in mind, yet it still worked so very well.
As a luthier I've had access to many early unmolested Fenders and, the elephant in the room is the poor build quality of them, the romance factor is immense though....tather like a classic car, they are dreadful cars in the modern sense but, lovely to look at😎👍
Yes, the Pbass! It's so good, that's why I own two of them! Thank you Colin for the very interesting and informative video.
I get it, now that you pointed out how it fits into the mix. Even thru iPad speakers I hear what you’re saying. Thanx for the explanation.
An interesting and entertaining presentation, as usual. Keep them coming.
You keep saying you do not have BASS skills and yet you play some Iron Maiden............. You'll always amaze me ;)
Great explanation and demo. Thank you so very much!
Again a fantastic explanation on pickups! Thanks Colin! 😄🤘
Wow, that is so nifty! I never realised the pickups had inversed polarities. Very interesting, thanks for explaining!
I didn’t even know I needed this. Turns out, I did. Great video!
When I first started playing bass, I bought a modern humbucker-loaded guitar. Played it and played it, and then decided I wanted a 5-string. I ended up buying a P/J style bass, and once I heard how it sounded, I rarely pick up the humbucker bass anymore. My 5-string (Yamaha BB735a) has AlNiCo pickups, and sounds a bit beefier than this Donner.
Good video! Great explanation and your bass playing is great as well!
RANCID!!!! Yes Colin!
I bought a Squier Jazz bass myself as a guitarist looking to put down some bass tracks. Works a treat for me but I have pretty small hands so the Jazz neck fit me better.
Great breakdown of p Bass. Perfect explanation
aww man your hard rock bass tone was so good with that clangy high end but full sound so good.
I was NOT prepared for that scream at the end. 😂
You're not a garbage bass player. You're actually good.
I was surprised at how great that bass sounded.
The P-Bass is my go to bass. Have played those since I started playing bass in 2005 and almost exclusively played them since.
This was a really good video explaining the P-Bass. 👍🏻
P basses to me were always the "to go choise". Now i know why. Thank you Colin.
Awesome. Thanks for the continued education!
Love the channel. I’ve learned a great deal from you. Thank you.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention Leo Fender!
Thank you for explaining the polarity of the pick ups. I searched YT for the info. Finally after no satisfactory info, lots of click bait, but little info. I need to re-gauss my pick ups on my El Cheapo $85 bass. (I've got an old AX3B by Korg/ToneWorks that makes it sound great 40 different kinds of great. I didn't bother messing with setting up my own,again 40 ways). Now I can re-gauss those pups. (I didn't know if both pick ups were the same polarity or not.) Thanks so much, oh btw Congats on winning the GGBO 2021.
Wow, I am shocked at how correctly you explained the hum cancellation effect of the P-pickups! Well done, sir.
Excellent content as always! I personally would love to see how it sounded with some new hardware, but I'm also in love with modifying inexpensive instruments for science.
Nice! Thanks. Always start to the end...
Excellent breakdown! You really made good sense of all that... Thanks for that. Stay healthy man, lockdown soon be over here in the UK... we can gig again
3:51 perfect explanation of how humbuckers work! (how rwrp doesn't cancel the phase but cancels the noise) I always wanted to understand this but couldn't find any YT videos that explain this
thanks dude! excellent job! as always!
Learned that 2 magnets per string allows bending and maintaining volume at same level. Thanks for eplaining how each coil is opposite fields one facing south one facing north.
Fall Back Down is always one of my go-to noodles on bass! Sounding great!
Excellent video and great explanation thanks.👍
As always your explanations of the science behind the sounds manages to balance being technical enough to answer why it works and simple enough for non-geniuses like me to get it!
Finally a nice video on basses! Thanks Collin
Thanks for the video. Never fully understood how th e split coil works!
I've always wondered this. great video
That explains so much. I have played some P-Basses which have a Precision pickup AND a Jazz pickup. The Jazz pickup is always noisy, but the Precision pickup is always silent. I never knew why. I thought Precision pickups were just a split single.
This video makes me proud to be a bassist. Thanks, Collin
While I wouldn’t say the you have Steve Harris Fingers of Steel, but I was impressed with how you sounded in the mix on the Maiden track. Informative as always.
Another great video Colin! Just throwing out a few ideas here, but I'd really like to see some episodes on:
Low Fidelity vs. Studio Quality recording setups for Black Metal
Short Scale Guitar setups for various uses (smaller hands, crazy power chord stretches, higher tunings like F Standard or Open A)
Why 440 Hz tuning and alternative frequencies ( I personally never use 440 Hz, always tuning lower or higher but to what frequency exactly I am unsure )
Amazing vid man, I learned a ton.
I prefer J basses personally (I like the added brightness from blending in the bridge pickup, and they're a bit more comfortable for me), but a good P bass tone is just *killer*.
Excellent songs choices!
I can recommend the dimazio relentless for any p-bass. Those will give you tons of that " clonk and lots of almost treble free yet destinctive boom when the treble is rolled off. Really good pick up replacement. If you want to go active EMG has a few p-bas and p&j setups that sound great too.
Learned alot from your channel! 👍♥️
An excellent explanation of how noise canceling coils work - well done! BTW the 2nd coil need not be under the strings at all, just near the first coil. Ken Parker archtops hide the second coil in the pickguard next to the single coil neck pickup.
P-Bass rules! I own an Ibanez Roadstar II from 1985 and it never let me down soundwise! And your Donner Bass sounds great, I don't see any reason to change the Pickups or the bridge. Keep it as it is and play it! Though nowadays I play mainly guitar, bass is still such a wonderful and inspiring instrument!
10:19 "if I fall back down, your gonna help me back up again...if I fall back down, your gonna my friend."
Thanks again, you're a great teacher
One of the best of my stable is a tobacco burst '62 reissue P-Bass I got back in 1992. The bass itself is actually a 1989 vintage. The only upgrade I've made to it is installing the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickup set. I've used that bass for everything from blues to classic rock to thrash and doom metal. It's a beast. I see you're a man with good taste, as exhibited by that Laphroaig sitting behind you :^)
Currently building a '51 P-Bass. Installing a dummy coil (generic P90 with the screws out) under the pickguard. I'm mocking it up today. It should smooth the sharp edges off the single coil a wee bit but maintain clarity.
Humbucking schemes: Split coil, Humbucking pair, stacked coils, dummy coil.
The maiden part sounded pretty darn good! I would just like to say that if you want to get a darker sound, just play with the side of your finger near the end of the fretboard. You don't even have to touch your tone control in some cases ^^ anyway, thanks again, amazing video!
You have to stop saying that you are a bad bass player~ your playing is fantastic & you quest for great tone puts you ahead of the game. Greetings from Las Vegas!
My friend is building a p-bass like that for me but with some twists. I am so stoked. Pickups will be EMG Geezer Butler signature. Classic body with the best parts we could find and a brass saddle. Black finish of course.
The first tata I didn't know myself, awesome !
Dig the bottle of Laphroig in the background. One of my wife's favorites.
Great video! I learned a little something today. 😎👍🏻
Good stuff. Was wondering about these pick ups some time ago how exactly they work but being a guitarist didn't give it much thought.
Excellent video, as always :)
Always love your videos. It would be cool for you to do a series of building a guitar soup to nuts from scratch.
Hi Colin, P-bass using rock/metal bassist here. Let me go through the mods I've done to my two P-basses to give you some ideas about what mods you could do.
___Potentiometers___
I replaced both stock 250k pots. I took a 500k pot for the volume control and have done a simple treble bleed mod with just a 1nF capacitor. For the tone pot I chose a no-load tone pot.
These give you an overall clearer sound with more treble and attack without losing the tone pot. imo this helps to add rhythmic accents to the track and what I like to do is to turn down the volume pot to emphasize the treble when playing more quiet bass intros and interludes with chords and occasionally some tapping on the higher frets. If there is too much treble there is still a tone pot available to counteract this.
___Bridge___
I can highly recommend a high mass bridge (which don't just have more mass, but a bigger contact area to the body) to get more attack and sustain. Fender sells their own model, similar to the Badass Bridges, which aren't being produced anymore. But I think even better is to make the strings go through the body.
___Pickup Coil Positioning___
What kind of bothered me for a while was the eq-discrepancy across the strings. The E-string sounded too boomy and muddy while the G-string sounded too bright and harsh. What I've done is move the E&A-string coil closer to the bridge and the D&G-string awas from the bridge and this evens out the eq of the four strings a bit (Some manufacturers also do this on their basses). You need to make the pickup cavity bigger and make a custom pickguard but for me it worked out very well. A note played on different strings still sound different of course, but not as much as before. Especially when I play octaves it sounds a lot better to me.
___Replacement Pickup Choice___
I think I'm totally biased about this topic but fµk it :D. I'm in love with the Seymour Duncan SPB-3 Quarter Pound Split Coil Pickup. It has a very unique sound and is (I believe) the most popular Seymour Duncan P-bass replacement pickup. Many bassists of well known Bands use this pickup. I'd say there is no better pickup for pick playing rock/metal bassists.
Thanks for the info! Love the post credit Steve impression 😆
Great P bass split coil pickup explanation.
Thanks for the cool graphics
Thanks for explaining this. I was always too afraid to ask... really.
route out a second pickup pocket right next to the bridge and put a strat single coil there; allows you to get a "fresh strings" sound on old strings. I haven't changed the strings on mine for two years!
Wow! that prison tracking caught me off guard, one of my favorites bass lines of all time, great choice!!!
Damn Collin. It’s getting hard to get a comment in these days, the channel is getting big. That bass sound was awesome. But, damn, this is CS Guitars, don’t you kinda have to put the upgrades in and see what happens?!?! I thought your playing was epic and I really dug this. I just joined a band to play bass. I’ve never done it and I don’t have one, but after Covid, I’ll take anything. I’m definitely gonna get a P-Bass just based on this video alone. I really liked that little bass amp you were using as well.
Much love from Tulsa, and new bassist,
Eric