SoapBar pickups- what's the big deal?

tetsu83

hope globalmaa reads this. i got a washburn xb120 with soapbar pickups and i like the big sound it makes. one day my friend lent me his squier pbass and the sound made me think- how come the pbass has a more 'punchy'-ier sound than the washburn? that's when i realised my washburn is not suitable for slapping because it lacks that 'punch', as compared to the squier pbass.
hope you guys don't mind me talking about low-end basses here, but i appreciate all your opinions.
is it with the pickups? like what's the big deal with having soapbar pickups?

Ankhanu · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:27 am Post subject:

I have no issues with low end basses being discussed... a lot of us play them :P

The lack of punch could be a combination of factors from pickup quality to its location along the string and the quality and types of wood in the bass. I'm not all that familiar with soapbars in basses, I haven't really used them, but pickups like p90s in guitars tend to have a bit of punch to them. It could be the specific pickups in your washburn, but I think in general bass soapbars tend to give rounder, thicker tones with less punch than single coils and split Ps.
I'm sure that there are soapbars out there with more punch if they're wired a bit hotter.

gibson_thunder · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 5:45 am Post subject:

It really depends on the pickup... The soapbar on a musicman is a punchy SOB, while the soapbar on a vintage Gibson EB oozes 30hz thunder mud. Soapbars are big humbuckers with the capability to be wound hotter than a box in a forest fire if theyre made that way.
_________________
--==Warum tut es weh, wenn ich pinkele?==--