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Pickups for electric basses at session
Without a pickup, an electric bass wouldn't transmit any sound. For that reason pickups play a key role in shaping a bass's sound. Of course, the tone you ultimately hear in a band results from many different factors, but the various pickup designs give the bass sound a clear direction.
Single-coil pickups for basses - The precision of tone
The single-coil variant, also called a single-coil, usually delivers a very open, honest and clear tone. The single-coil pickup is most commonly associated with the Fender Jazz Bass, which is why it is colloquially referred to as a Jazz Bass pickup. However, the main drawback of this single-coil construction is that it is very susceptible to interference, so typically two of these pickups are fitted and wired to cancel each other's hum. The first attempt to eliminate a pickup's susceptibility to interference was the split-coil pickup, in which the coil is split in the middle, mounted offset side by side and then wired in series. This type of pickup was first found on the Fender Precision, which is why it is (after the abbreviation for Precision) also called a Preci-Pickup. The split coil delivers a very distinctive, throaty tone, with well-defined mids and a rich bass foundation.
Humbucker pickups for basses - Powerful bass without hum
Another way to eliminate interference is to wire two coils in series or parallel. The humbucker, which is much more common than the split coil, is based on this principle. Humbuckers — aptly translated as "noise-cancelling coils" — generally have a relatively high output and deliver a very assertive tone that can present different sonic characters depending on the construction. The very large humbucker found, for example, on basses by Musicman is very rich in highs and delivers a powerful low end. On the other hand, the soapbar humbucker, which is built by companies such as Musicman and used on premium German basses like Marleaux and Sandberg, sounds more emphasised in the low-mids and warm.