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Upgrading my Fender Jazz 70's reissue. Advice welcome


Harlequin74
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Hi all

Having traded with the excellent Frank from Belfast, i have a very nice Fender Jazz 70's reissue, but want to improve the tone and flexibility of the bass.

I want to upgrade the pick ups, and could really do with some good advice!

Also planning to fit the John East J-retro preamp.

Any thoughts or advice from the wise heads here, much appreciated!

Thanks!

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Yep - my USA 75ri had a J-retro fitted when I got it, but I'm not really into active Basses so I replaced it with a Kiogon loom and sold it on.

No doubt it's a great piece of kit though, and really easy to fit.

As said above, put it in before replacing the Pickups, it'll do all you need.

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No, I'd follow the advice of others on here and do the pre-amp first. I'd say it's best to make one upgrade at a time - that way, if you're not happy, you know whether to swap back. If you do both at the same time, it's harder to judge what each upgrade is doing - so if you're still not quite 100% happy, you don't know which change had what effect, and which to change back - or both!

Like Lewis says above, I'm not a fan of active basses either. But if you are set on fitting the retro pre-amp - do that first.
Personally, I use a Pre-amp pedal, and I get all the additional control / frequency boost I want from that. This way, I don't have to add a pre-amp to each of my basses (I have too many, I know!) But also, I'm only concerned with having one spare pre-amp battery. And if I sell a bass on, I don't have to start retrieving components I want to keep....

I did change the pickups on my Roadworn Jazz - the stock ones were fine, but someone locally was selling an old 70's / 80's set of DiMarzio J pups -so I thought I'd give them a whirl... and boy, are those old DiMarzios very nice! Great, punchy sound, high output, without any additional noise, and still sounding vintage...

Obviously, it's your choice & preference, but I find the Pre-amp / D.I. Pedal works for me

Good luck
PS. Nice basses those 70's R.I.s :)

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry I've only just seen your question Harleqin74 :o

I use the MXR pedal. It also has a distortion function, with an extra footswitch. I don't use it often, but it's there & it's handy
You can set the distortion to a low setting, and pump up the gain.....

Not tried one myself, but there's a lot of love for the Sansamp on here. I actually started with a second-hand Behringer. It was under a tenner! And though it's a bit noisy if you set the treble up high - it's not bad at all. It was cheap, so I just keep it as spare, and use it for the odd gig here & there....

Think they're about £25 new - so might be worth it, just to try one out?

Edited by Marc S
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