Loud pick ups ?

[dmccombe7]

I have a passive Godin PJ bass which is very loud matching my active basses in volume. I have to select the active button on some amps to stop distortion. 

It was a lot worse when I got it as pick ups were too close to strings and I lowered them to prevent string slap.

Question I have is what makes them so much louder than my jazz basses. 

Does the precision pick up generally produce a higher output ?

Just curious.

Dave

[Baloney Balderdash]

8 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I have a passive Godin PJ bass which is very loud matching my active basses in volume. I have to select the active button on some amps to stop distortion. 

It was a lot worse when I got it as pick ups were too close to strings and I lowered them to prevent string slap.

Question I have is what makes them so much louder than my jazz basses. 

Does the precision pick up generally produce a higher output ?

Just curious.

Dave

P pickups generally have more wounds on the coils, increasing DC resistance, which increases output, the two halves are also connected in series, which again, among other things, increases the output.

 

The J pickups only got on coil, and usually with fewer wounds on the coil than your typical P pickup.

 

Finally the strings vibrate more nearer the neck, and less towards the bridge, which effects the strength of the "input" signal to the pickups.

 

The signal the J pickup picks up is simply weaker to begin with than the signal the P pickup picks up.

 

Other than that it is possible that the P pickups got stronger magnets installed, increasing the strength of the magnetic field, which again increases output.

 

It's pretty common by the way that the P in a P/J Bass is louder than the J pickup.

 

But they can be balanced, if one uses a weaker P pickup and a stronger J pickup.

 

Often though in a P/J you just use the J pickup for adding extra upper range flavor to the P pickup, and usually won't solo the J pickup.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Baloney Balderdash

[LewisK1975]

Yep - On PJ Basses, I've always raised the J pickup to be a little closer to the strings than the P pickup for this very reason.

[dmccombe7]

I may have given the wrong impression.

I have adjusted the Godin bass pick up heights to balance volumes to my preference.

My query was more about how some passive basses are a lot louder than others.

What @Baloney Balderdash said about windings is probably the reason this Godin is louder.

Taking away the position on the bass it seems that a precision pick up is generally louder 

Dave

was just curious.

[LewisK1975]

Yeah indeed - All of the Yamaha Attitude Basses I've had, whilst passive are so much louder than other passive Basses.

 

Generally down to more windings / higher DC resistance like BB said. 

[Baloney Balderdash]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I may have given the wrong impression.

I have adjusted the Godin bass pick up heights to balance volumes to my preference.

My query was more about how some passive basses are a lot louder than others.

What @Baloney Balderdash said about windings is probably the reason this Godin is louder.

Taking away the position on the bass it seems that a precision pick up is generally louder 

Dave

was just curious.

As I also mentioned it could be that the magnets are stronger too.

 

To give an example the DiMarzio Model P and the EMG Geezer Butler P, both passive pickups, and while they both have just about the same DC resistance, which would indicate similar amount of coil wounds, the magnetic field of the Model P is much stronger than that of the Geezer, which results in the Model P having a considerably louder, hotter output than the Geezer.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Baloney Balderdash