Neck pickups

[thisnameistaken]

I'm wondering if anyone here with experience of neck-position pickups can tell me how they sound? I've never even picked up a bass with a neck pup before.

Basically I've got a Jazz here strung with flats and I only use the front pup, never the bridge, so I was thinking of taking the bridge out and sticking a pup up by the neck instead. I figure this might give me a nice, bloomy, natural sound.

Would it? Or would it just be tonnes of woofy bottom end and nothing else?

I appreciate this will depend on the pickup and so on, but generally how do the pups on basses like EB0s and Rics (and anything else with a neck pup) sound compared to a P or J setup?

FWIW I'm using this bass for a '60s soul and ska/rocksteady vibe and I've got foam wedged under the strings, to give an idea of the sort of sound I'm going for. But my cab is 12s and I don't really want a ton of bottom anyway, just a more open sound.

[Mr. Foxen]

I put a jazz put against the neck on a p bass, is bottomy and thumpy, but combined with the P it cancels out some low mids. I like on its own.

[geoffbyrne]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='696841' date='Dec 30 2009, 11:11 PM']I put a jazz put against the neck on a p bass, is bottomy and thumpy, but combined with the P it cancels out some low mids. I like on its own.[/quote]

Sounds like it might be out of phase.

G.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='696836' date='Dec 30 2009, 11:08 PM']I'm wondering if anyone here with experience of neck-position pickups can tell me how they sound? I've never even picked up a bass with a neck pup before.[/quote]
Lakland Decade and Hollow Body both have true neck pickups and you can hear sound samples [url="http://www.lakland.com/audio.htm"]here[/url].

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='696967' date='Dec 31 2009, 09:31 AM']Sounds like it might be out of phase.

G.[/quote]

Yep, you can switch phase but it just cancels somewhere else, think its like that with any widely spaced pickups.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='697044' date='Dec 31 2009, 11:11 AM']Lakland Decade and Hollow Body both have true neck pickups and you can hear sound samples [url="http://www.lakland.com/audio.htm"]here[/url].[/quote]

Thanks! I'll check it out when I get my computer back up and running (gfx card keeled over on NYE - great timing).

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='699633' date='Jan 3 2010, 03:52 PM']Thanks! I'll check it out when I get my computer back up and running (gfx card keeled over on NYE - great timing).[/quote]
On the same page there's also a sound sample of a Joe Osborn Jazz with the same pickup as the Decade and the Hollow Body in the normal Jazz neck pickup position for a good comparison.