9 Best Bass Pickups of 2024

1. EMG JH James Hetfield Signature Humbucker Set

Probably the best pickups available as of now, James Hetfield teamed up to build this amazing product, with sounds which are both passive and active.

This product is especially for fans of Metallica, and EMG already has, over the years, become an inseparable part of the metal genre, with their pickups widely famous for their clarity, their rich response, tightness, be it a studio or on stage.

These JH pickups fit easily to your guitar, thanks to EMG’s solderless connections, which makes the installation process easier.

Be it the component quality, or the metal craftsmanship, everything is of premium level. It has an amazing appearance, thanks to its cool, vintage looks, which is due to the classic pickup shielding.

It is great for down-tuned grinding rhythms, has an enhanced picking attack, and gives a tight response in mids. You still get that 81’s “punchy” feel, but with more overtones, which means a richer texture, and which makes the guitar sound a lot more wider.

Compared to other double pickup sets, it has a distinct sound, mainly because of the combination of passive and active technology, combining the clarity and tightness of active circuitry, along with the rich tone and the warmth of passives.

The bass lacks in the bridge position, especially for clean sounds, you will appreciate it at higher gains. The neck pickup is great for soaring leads, and it delivers very clean and transparent tones, and the overall output is really creamy.

Specifications:

• Passive or Active: Active
• Type of Pickup: Humbucker
• Positions in Pickup: Bridge, Neck
• Material of Magnet: Alnico
• Number of Strings: Six
• Covering: Covered

The music produced after you use it is really great: warm, with amazing sustain, versatility, balance, with nice punch, and cuts through the densest of mixes. You get a combination of active as well as passive technology, resulting in a clear, and warm sound. It is the result of James Hetfield and EMG coming together, and the result is obviously going to be perfect! 

2. Gibson ’57 Classic Plus

This pickup, introduced back in the 1990s, gives a balanced response along with full warm tones. Overall, the sound is great, not very aggressive, but has character.

This set, even after so many years, is still the go-to choice for most jazz and blues players, and this set is very often used as an after-market upgrade to guitars. Though it is not very suited for the metal genre.

It gives relatively higher output, thanks to the special alnico II magnet, which is slightly overwound with vintage enamel-coated wire. When played cleanly, or with high gain, it remains smooth, and produces a saturated crunch.

It has simply amazing cleans, rock tones, and vintage tone in spades. The lows are juicy, and the mid end has a velvety, smooth, high end. It is a very versatile set, can really neck, has the vintage Gibson sound, and can mimic the original 50s PAFs.

This “plus” set is almost the same as the ’57 classic, only with some extra wire coil turns, which increases its output. The set has maple spacers, nickel slugs, braided wiring, and nickel plated pole pieces.

The bridge pickup has a great sound, and has a bit of gain because of some amount of overdrive, which is fantastic. The neck is balanced in volume, has quite a dark sound, and gives full, round, vintage sounding.

Specifications:

• Passive or Active: Passive
• Type of Pickup: Humbucker
• Position: Bridge
• Material of Magnet: Alnico
• Number of Strings: Six
• Number of Conductors: Two
• Covering: Covered

It has great sounding: warm, dark, detailed, smooth. This set is great for especially blues and jazz players, and has a really vintage sound, perfect for even more distorted or saturated tones.

3. Fender Vintage Noiseless Tele Pickup Set

If you want noiseless pickups, and are looking to upgrade the quality of your pickups, these are a great choice. It’s amazing noise cancellation is because of the special enamel-coated Alnico V magnets, and it is even quieter than your regular humbuckers.

For tele players, overcoming the excess noise and hum is a major struggle. These single coils, having 60s tone featuring brilliant vibration and sting, act very much like humbuckers when it comes to hum elimination. They are as close to proper humbuckers as you can get, and hence are perfect for those who want a humbucker, but with the snap, bite and snarl of a ’60s tele pickup.

For heavier sounds, it is a great choice, as you get to increase gain without getting any hum. Though it does not have a vintage sound to it, you will get an underlying growl-like feeling, along with more power and bite, when you drive them hard.

Because of the nickel-silver cover, the neck pickup has extra clarity, while the bridge pickup is very versatile, great for heavier styles, and has a classic vibrating Tele tone.

Specifications:

• Passive or Active: Passive
• Type of Pickup: Humbucker
• Position: Bridge, Neck
• Material of Magnet: Alnico
• Number of Strings: Six
• Covering: Covered

You get a premium noise reduction, and a set which is even quieter than standard humbuckers, with also the sound of classic ’60s tele pickups. The sound is great, quite versatile: works great with distortions as well as clean sounds.

4. Fishman Rare Earth Humbucking Pickup

The name “rare” in its name, is used because of the use of powerful neodymium magnets, which is a rare earth element. These cutting edge magnets are responsible for its string to string balance and amazing sound quality: warmer, more naturally acoustic tones.

This is an active, double coiled magnetic soundhole pickup, with a 300 hour rated battery life, and is re-voiced, fine tuned, and ameliorated for a smoother treble response.

The mounting design is newly designed and the ergonomic body shape ensures it fits in a small soundhole. The miniature batteries which are included mount easily on the underside of pickup. The output jack which is pre-wired, can also be endpin mounted. The installation is very easy, with no alteration plug, meaning you can play it right out of the box.

This set is perfect for musicians who want warm, full humbucker acoustic tones. It is excellent for both strumming and fingerpicking styles. The build and construction is sturdy, with discreet, top quality, low current, low noise circuitry which maintains a more pure and accurate signal.

The volume wheel located on board ensures you get to conveniently access volume control. The active electronics means you get cleaner, quieter sound with natural tones, and lesser degradation than a passive alternative.

Plus, Fishman is a reputed brand, especially for its acoustic pickup technology.

Specifications:

• Passive or Active: Active {One 3V Lithium/ Two 1.5V silver oxide}
• Type of Pickup: Humbucker
• Instrument: Acoustic Guitar
• Position: Soundhole

Fishman is reputed for its acoustic pickup technology. This active acoustic guitar pickup is refined with amazing accuracy. Thanks to its ergonomic design, it can fit in smaller holes. The installation process is quite easier, and can be played right out of the box.

5. Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot

The name here only pretty much suggests what to expect of the product: an open sound, having sizzle at higher ends, all of which is perfect for the lead players who are looking to shine in their career.

The set gives a clean, bright tone with the lows and highs balanced. The overall output is a bit fatter sounding, but not very dark. There’s a very nice amount of balance between the fat and bright. The overall sound is very smooth, balanced, and beautiful.

You get “modified vintage fender” specifications, with a modern output. It features Alnico 5 magnets, made in the US, for optimal output and tonal balance. On positions 2 & 4, it has RW/RP Middle, for Hum-cancelling.

For unmatched quality control, it has hand-built fiberboard Bobbins. It is wound with 42 gauge heavy Formvar wire, and has cloth leads and beveled magnets. Two magnet staggers, for different fingerboard radius, are available. It is hand-wound using “Sectioning” technique for unique, dynamic tones.

The Vintage Hot results in the highlighting of upper frequencies as more chimney harmonics are allowed. It produces a very sweet growl which is great to listen to, when it is paired with a classic tube amplifier. The neck and middle pickups have average ’50s specs, while the bridge pickup is as hot as possible.

This single coil set is Strat’s best selling set! It is perfect for musicians who are looking for a sound that is open, bright, sparkling. It comes with a 10 year warranty on manufacturing defects. And, to avoid any pickup polarity issues, it should be bought as a full set.

Specifications:

• Position: Bridge, Middle, Neck
• Model: Vintage hot ST standard
• Wire: 42-Gauge Heavy Formvar
• Material of Magnet: Alnico

If you are a lead player looking for pickups with open, sizzling, and bright sound, these pickups would be perfect for you. The overall sound is smooth, balanced and beautiful. It very finely balances bright and fat tones. And there’s a reason why it is Strat’s best selling set!

6. Bare Knuckle Juggernaut

Perfect for today’s multi-genre artists, these hand-wound Juggernaut humbuckers by Bare Knuckle, infuse power, without any compromise in refinement, making them perfect for delivering complex mid-ranges and uncompressed pick attacks.

The traditional high-gain pickups, with overwintering coils around heavy ceramic magnets, significantly decrease pick clarity, dynamics, and clarity, which means sacrificing quality sound for the sake of volume and intensity. These pickups use traditional, symmetrically wounded coils, so as to remove all hum, which makes it an excellent high-gain pickup.

There is a lot of “vintage mojo” used in all Bare Knuckle Pickups. Here, you see celluloid butyrate bobbins, tapped pole screw holes and maple spacers, and in-house nickel silver humbucker bases.

The bridge pickup’s characters are due to the combination of Ceramic VIII and Alnico V magnets, while the neck positioned Juggernaut achieves suitable warmth qualities and dynamics because of the custom-sized Alnico V, without any use of ceramics.

These pickups are warm and engaging, so on picking softly, creates sweet tones, and on digging in, creates aggressive, chirping attack. The Juggernauts have a multilayered character, unlike the singularly focused pickups which only drive certain frequencies, and a “black”, noiseless background which allows the harmonics of the guitar and the amplifier to stand out.

They are the best when it comes  to tonal complexity, and presents the sound with amazing clarity, and a full range of tonal shades. The pickup also has a distinctive ‘bulb’ design cover etch which is optional, and it adds another dimension to this pickup.

So if you are a guitarist of rock or metal genre, or your guitar needs more bass control, these might just be the pickups you are looking for. These pickups deliver on every step, be it crushing tones, or massively clean sound scenarios or versatile solo tones.

Specifications:

• Number of conductors: Four
• Position: Bridge, Neck
• Screws in pole: Nickel
• Output: Contemporary
• Material of Magnet: Alnico & Ceramic
• Number of Strings: Seven

Unlike the usual high-gain pickups, the Bare Knuckle Juggernaut provides high gain, with no compromise on refinement. They turn raw power into complex art, with a thick mid-range, crushing lows, and a distinct treble snap. And moreover, they are available for six, seven, as well as eight-stringed guitars.

7. Seymour Duncan Black Winter Humbucker Set

The Black Winters were specifically designed to be used by players of extreme metal, and was available exclusively in Scandinavia, and was released later worldwide, on popular demand. They provide the players the ability to go from highly aggressive tones to very articulate, distinct works.

As it was developed for extreme metal genres, it is, as quite expected, very hot. Very, very hot. Ridiculously hot. They are especially heavy on mids, and have harsh ends. It cuts like a knife through butter, but never gets too thin or shrill. They work extremely well on low tunes, and have a very tight bottom end because of the Ceramic magnets.

You won’t require a stomper box, as it provides sufficient grind by itself. If you are looking to remove all the harmonics and musical overtones out of a note, these are just the perfect pickups.

These passive pickups have very high output, as you would expect, and a very attractive black finish design. In the distorted tones, you can feel a grind layer underneath. For some frequencies, it is felt that a fuzz is running in the background, which adds to the already heaviness of these pickups.

Now, even though they are designed for heavy metal, they sound surprisingly good for clean, or crunchy tones. So, if you think these are “just” for one genre, you’ll be surprised by its versatility. Yes, it is mainly designed for heavy metal, but it works quite great for other genres too, like metal, or rock, or punk.

The Black Winters set totally live up to the reputation and name of Seymour Duncan. If you are a player of extreme metal, or even subtler genres like punk, or rock, or are a lead player, these might just be the pickups you’ve been looking for.

Specifications:

• Passive or Active: Passive
• Type of Pickup: Humbucker
• Position: Bridge, Neck
• Material of Magnet: Ceramic
• Number of Strings: Six
• Number of Conductors: Four
• Covering: Uncovered

Designed mainly for extreme metal players, this set has since moved on to other softer genres too, like rock, or punk. It has ceramic magnets which renders it versatility, and it can be played decently on cleaner tones. These passive pickups have an attractive all-black finish, and have a very high output.

8. EMG ZW Set Zakk Wylde Signature

This active set is made in accordance to the preference of one of the greatest guitar players ever, Zakk Wylde. He prefers the rare combination of EMG and single cut, for an aggressive tone and sustain, and this set consists of EMG 81 for the bridge position, and EMG 85 for the neck position.

The set is designed according to Wylde’s famous Les Paul and similar guitars, and has complete volume and tone controls.

The EMG 81 ceramic humbucker, for the bridge position is perfect for precise, thrilling lead play, and aggressive guitar art. The EMG 81 causes very sharp attack and very long sustain, which is very important when you are combining it with high output pickup. The PAF model of EMG, EMG 85 Alnico magnets, causes a bluesy, softer sound at the neck position.

These pickups bring your guitar to life. Picking up every subtle nuance of the guitar, the sound is very crisp and articulate. They have quite some character, and with a bit of adjustment, through a high powered amplifier, they sound perfect, for almost every style. The lows are tight, while the mids are warm, while the overdrive sounds are very smooth and fluid.

While they are just amazing with overdrive, but for those assuming that it is only for metal or hard rock are wrong, as with decent equalization at lower volumes, the cleaner sounds are quite great, which means they can be used with your thick blues guitar.

Specifications:

• Passive or Active: Active
• Type of Pickup: Humbucker
• Position: Bridge, Neck
• Material of Magnet: Alnico & Ceramic
• Number of Strings: Six
• Covering: Covered

Preferred by the famous Zakk Wylde, this single coil set has many desirable features like the EMG 85 Alnico magnets and the EMG 81 ceramic humbucker, which provide aggressive tones along with long sustain, and can handle just about every style.

9. DiMarzio DP419 Area ’67

One of the biggest drawbacks of single coiled pickups is that while creating a clean and bright tone, because of the electronics, the pickups attract a bit of buzz, which can be heard as a hum in the background. Players have since long, wanted single coil pickups without this limiting factor. These pickups by DiMarzio achieve that task, by patented technology. Launched to raving critical as well as audience reviews, these pickups have been very popular since.

This pickup makes use of Alnico II magnet to deliver smooth sound which is bright, natural and with treble, and no sustained loss. The hum cancellation ensures that you get a bright sound without it being harsh. You get an added benefit of better adjustment range because of the pickup’s reduced string pull, which means you can keep it closer to the strings without any fear of messing up with the intonation or the sustain of the guitar.

These Area™ models, because of patented technology, can use weaker Alnico 2 magnets, without any output reduction. The sustain and intonation are improved, because of 40% less string pull. In the bridge position, you get the iconic chime of the ’60s pickups, and the pickups are very bright in that position, without being brittle.

Specifications:

• Passive or Active: Passive
• Type of Pickup: Humbucking Single Coil
• Position: Middle, Neck
• Material of Magnet: Alnico 2
• Number of Strings: Six
• Number of Conductors: Four
• Covering: Uncovered

Combining the sound of the ’60s pickups, with the noiseless-ness because of DiMarzio’s patented technology, these pickups give great results. The low string pull ensures that you get a better adjustment range.