Pick players, what picks and pickups?

#41
I'd say I'm also a very "part-time" pick player. I play guitar and know how to make use of it but most of the time I'm finger style and thumb. I prefer the .60-.73, I like Tortex. I like the little bit of flexibility instead of a stiff pick when I use one. I don't mind a stiffer pick on guitar, though. I'd rock a pick if the song sounds better with it, there are some that do. It's nice to have that option.
 
#43
Gibson humbuckers sound great with picks too. Some call it (the pick) the "ignition switch" of these basses.
I mainly use a 0.88 Herco or Dunlop Anniversary (basically a yellow Herco with better grip). I have to sandpaper the edges to remove the factory burr (I always do this to all my MIA nylon picks), but after that these are THE picks. When I use celluloid it's mainly Gibson Heavy or these free Catalinbread picks included with their pedals. I don't like Tortex, I find it a bit dark and lacks harmonics.
To me, finding a pick is all about balance - physical and tonal. IME a heavy pick has less top-end snap, and a light pick has less low-end authority. My happy medium have been 0.88-1mm, nylon or celluloid. And they happen to be the most common, too. :thumbsup:
 
#45
For the Warwick, I used to blend a little of the neck J to bring some good low end in.

for picks, nowadays I am using the Ernie Ball Everlast picks

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#47
I’ve been using mostly Carol Kaye (1.4mm, medium teardrop) picks since the 70s. I use others as well but I keep coming back to these. They’re identical to picks made by others, Dunlop & Gibson way back when, but I like the consistent manufacture of these. There’s enough texture in the name impression to give a good grip without squeezing. I have found that playing near the neck, as she recommends, covers most of what I do. I do play near the bridge a la Roger Waters on occasion and this pick serves well there, too.
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#48
I play with a pick much more that 2/3 of the time. I personally prefer Dunlop .88 mm through 1.5 mm, leaning to the 1.5 most often. Picks are a very personal choice though, perhaps the most personal choice of all potential choices at hand (bad pun intended). Regarding pickups: I have had no trouble getting good sounds using flats and either a P pickup or a Mustang pup. I have only recently been appreciating rounds and so far I think I like the sound of a vintage style mudbucker the best so far (at least in a rock setting).
 
#50
I've been using the Clayton Acetyl .80mm for many years. Thick enough to dig in when needed, and flexible enough to afford some precise control. Plus they don't break like the old Fender ones used to (or possibly still do!).
 
#51
For more than 20 years, I only used a pick when I couldn't get it done any other way; during that time, I settled on Dunlop Gator Grip .96mm (purple) picks and mostly played a stock Ibanez ATK. When I got back into bass in a big way two-and-a-half years ago after a decade of playing only occasionally, I found myself playing almost exclusively with a pick, and I also found I could afford a few more instruments and aftermarket pickups and such, haha. I still love the sound of those Gator Grips with that ATK, but I think the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound Precision Bass pickup was made for rock and metal pick players with roundwounds. I currently favor the 1.0mm Dunlop Tortex (blue), but the .88mm (green) and the old Gator Grips still get in there regularly. I don't use them often, but I do also like the 3.0mm rubber Clayton Phat-tones for something very different; they claim finger tone for pick techniques, and while I don't think they really nail a finger tone, it does sound unique in a good way. Come to think of it, I really should try those on my Peavey Fury (Precision-ish pickup, Jazz-ish neck) with flatwounds. Stay tuned on that.

I have settled on .73mm (yellow) for guitar; I had been using .45mm (red) but found that I could hit squealies more consistently with something a bit stiffer. Steel strings seem to have helped there, too.
 
#53
My Dead band I always play with a pick. Not all basses, amps and cabs will get me where I want to be using a pick. This band is usually my Alembic with flats, but depending on cab could still be tricky. I had Audiokinesis Hathors and didnt gel well with those. My Revsound 2x10 is great at the moment with the Mesa D800+ and its voicing control. The Mesa WD800 just couldnt get the sound right 'for me' even with all those knobs. I could get a great tone really anywhere when playing with my fingers.
 
#54
Reedt2000 said:
So, played an outdoor gig yesterday afternoon (only kind there are round my way nowadays) and by the end temps had dropped into the low 50s. I'm a fingers player 95% of the time (but I've played guitar for years so I know what to do with a pick), but with the chill setting in I started to get uncomfortably cold in my right (plucking) hand. I hadn't brought any picks to this gig so I reached over and snagged one from the guitarist's mic stand (where several were conveniently hanging out in a clip :D).

I had my MM/J Warwick and I had it set to 100% MM (running parallel). With my fingers I love this setting. It can be tight and punchy, open but aggressive, or warm and full, depending on how and where I attack. With the pick it was all nasal-y high mids. I immediately rolled the J in so they were 50/50 and it sounded great. I didn't have the versatility factor (other than palm muting to get some staccato notes and dull a bit of the brightness), but the tone was really nice, present but not thin and tin-y, beefy but not muddy, and (IMHO) one of the biggest benefits of playing with a pick is I don't need to be as cognizant of my attack to achieve consistency.

The pick I grabbed was a Dunlop Tortex orange (.60 mm). On guitar I find this size too flexible. I usually strike with just the top few mm of the pick when playing guitar and I prefer the green Tortex or purple (.88 mm or 1 mm). I was really surprised at how nice the thinner pick sounded and how easy it was to play with on the bass.

I'd like to hear from full or part time pick players what picks and pickup(s) you like and why. I think the perspective could be helpful in expanding my range, feel, and tonal options as a working bassist.

(Thanks in advance :smug:)
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I'm not a full time pick player, but started out pick playing exclusively my first 2-3 years, my teacher drilled & instilled proper technique into me for 2 of those years. I searched for the perfect pick in that time settling on felt picks because they got a warmer tone for me. I went back to finger plucking because i believed myself to be faster & I got a cooler tone from fingers,; Years later I went back cause band prefered the pick sound. search started again I stumbled across Clayton Ultem Picks 72-77mm t they have a model called Spike that are like triangle bass picks that I really enjoy! the Ultem feels good & sound good & the spike picks are fun to play.
 
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#55
Jim Burkland said:
THESE - I'm not sure why but they work perfectly for me. Lots of options to choke up a little and easy palm mute.
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JB, lately these seem to be harder and harder to find, even online. The D'Andrea's are easier to find, even Musician's Friend stock them. For me, they're identical, and available in the tortoise-shell celluloid and a nylon blend in the same shape / weight.

FYI:

SHELL CELLULOID - 355 SHAPE

. . . . and . . . .

FORMULA DELREX - 355 SHAPE

I find the Delrex 1.0mm is the duplicate.

All the Best,

JW
 
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#60
JimmyM said:
Why not? Sting sounded great on his fretless Precisions with a pick.
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A very fair point ;)

I'd think on a fretless (and let me say I'm terrible at fretless so I'm just thinking outloud, not speaking from my super limited experience :smug:), you'd need a pick to get that sort of sharp punctuated attack. I can get a really close approximation with my fingers by striking down into the string making it lightly slap the frets, it takes concentration so its as consistent as it would be with a pick, but it's cool to be able to juxtapose that sound with rounder or punchier tones during some tunes. No frets to whack the strings into on a fretless though... (insert captain obvious joke here :roflmao:)
 
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