Yamaha TRBX not cutting it for me

[Wombat-metal]

@Mike_NL

The only thing I can think of is that the bass side of the pickup is a little bit closer to the bridge, and the treble side is a little bit closer to the neck. Is that all, or is there more to it? And if that’s all, does it really make that much of a difference?

That’s it. The theory is the P is a little bassier on the E and A string being closer to the neck, and a little warmer. The D and G strings being closer to the bridge will be a little brighter.

The reverse P puts thae D and G keys nearer the neck and warm them up, and E and A gets brighter. A P has a mismatch in tone between the two halves of the pickup as art of the design, while the reverse P is more balanced.

That’s the theory. I think the difference is subtle in practice, and you can do a lot more with setup.

My Jaguar bass when it came from the factory had the two halves of the pickups peaking in the middle like the roof of a house. The E ang G strings were farthest away from the pickup, and I wasn’t happy with the tone. A few twists of a screwdriver and they were evened out and the tone more balanced, and pleasing to my ears.

So I’m not sure I buy into a huge difference that can’t be addressed with a setup

[howard]

@Wombat-metal

My Jaguar bass when it came from the factory had the two halves of the pickups peaking in the middle like the roof of a house.

This is how it is supposed to be, to follow the string radius. Of course if it is too extreme, it’s easy to fix.

[howard]

@Mike_NL

And if that’s all, does it really make that much of a difference?

Is there a difference? Sure.

Are there other things that affect the tone much more? Oh yes.

This seems really pretty minor to me. Pickup position definitely matters but there’s a lot of other tonal variables.

[Wombat-metal]

@howard

This is how it is supposed to be, to follow the string radius. Of course if it is too extreme, it’s easy to fix.

It was very extreme in this case. At one end the pickups were flush with the body, and the other end was up maybe 3/4". Fix was sort of easy, the screws adjusted easily enough but they would not stay in adjustment. I had to adjust them every time I played. Until I changed screws. Then they stayed in place.

[John_E]

@Mike_NL

what is the difference between a “regular” split coil P pickup and a reversed one

The ‘selling point’ for the design is that the pickup is ‘out of your way’ if where the E side pickup normally is is where you like to pluck and you don’t like feeling it there.

I kinda think the rest is that it is visually different and everything else is just marketeering BS again.

[HowlinDawg]

@Mike_NL

what is the difference between a “regular” split coil P pickup and a reversed one? The only thing I can think of is that the bass side of the pickup is a little bit closer to the bridge, and the treble side is a little bit closer to the neck.

That’s it basically.