Boodang

Brazilian rosewood might be a bit difficult to obtain these days, but it will be rosewood of some kind. And I hope, being as this whole project got started around the Weather Report pickups, that they'll be very good.

Glad it's inspired some GAS!! If you like envelope filters you'll like these. I was trying out envelope pedals to see which I liked best but each one did something different so now I have these two and the Fwonkbeta on my board!

Once the pups catch up with me and my heavy baggage in my new location I'll install them in my Squier jazz fretless with the resin fingerboard and post some clips. In the mean time I'm commissioning a jazz from my local luthier specially for the pickups. Not quite period correct for the Jaco thing but I quite fancy a '61 spec neck with a slab board and 1 7/16" nut.... and of course an epoxy finish on the board.

As it's a 'rather tasty looking Overwater' how about a pic!

Just looked up the Atomic Bass Box.... what the hell is a 'digital vacuum tube'?! Is that an iTube?!!

A TC Electronic Spectracomp is great if you're undecided as it's a cheap but powerful 3 band unit with loads of toneprints and you can use the tone editor if you want to go deeper. That way you can experiment with all types of settings to see if any compression types float your boat. Between the toneprints and the tone editor, if you can't find a setting you like then comp is not for you, but I'll bet you'll find something in there you'll want to keep even if it's to use as an effect rather than always on. I'm currently running two, one set up for bass guitar and another for EUB.

Sansamp VT di if you want straight SVT tones. TC Electronic Spectradrive if you want a pre with 4 band eq and toneprint compressor and drive circuits. Plus the latter makes a nice practice preamp as it has a headphone out and mini jack in.

I always thought the fretted Westone's were decent but the fretless versions were exceptional.

Well, I've bought the ones on reverb! Thanks for the tip.

Yep, I reckon that's a good enough reason to get them! Interestingly I emailed SD and they said the WR pups can be potted if I want but that it would reduce the upper harmonic response (not sure about the physics of how that works but I'll take their word for it). But yeah, I reckon these will be a good place to start for my Jaco bass.

I love the way the bass and guitar players stay well clear then just begin to pack up their gear. And luckily the drink on the bass combo didn't get knocked over.

Interesting... I shall do more research. I'll still get the WRs, even if I get something else as well, as I just like the idea behind them.

Well, I'm going to take the plunge on the pickups. Unfortunately Seymour Duncan state on their site that they do not ship to the EU due to WEEE regulations. Not sure if that applies to the UK now but I'll ask them. As the WR pickups are custom made to order, that makes it a bit more difficult if they don't ship but I'll persevere. The epoxy fingerboard will have to wait for a bit as I'm moving, to a different country, but once I'm settled in I'll get started on it. The move might help with getting the pickups delivered but I'm not sure SD ship to the country I'm going to either!

So, no experience of the Weather Report pickups then?!

A few years ago this was me, however something happened and the pedal thing snow balled. Now I try to limit myself to no more than 12 pedals for live playing.

Actually sold a Westone Thunder 1a here on BC the other week. Took about 4 months to get any interest and in the end it went for £200. Obviously buyers on FB have more taste than those on BC!

My first bass. Nearly 40 years old and still plays great, an awesome fretless which I'll never sell.

Whether it's barely noticeable in a live setting won't stop me nerding over details! And for recording it might make more of a difference, although probably the main difference will be in my head when I play the bass but then I don't mind the placebo effect. And yep, Jaco always said a big part of his amplified sound was his Acoustic 360 & folded bass bin. I was reading about an incident when he was asked into the studio but it was short and wouldn't be able to use his Acoustic, so he didn't want to do it. But you have to draw the line somewhere and I'm not dragging around an 18" folded bass bin to gigs! As to why it matters, it's for the giggles which is fun. And as I like fun it matters loads!

In fairness I'm never going to sound like Jaco no matter what I do! But neither am I trying to. I play 99% fretless and like jazz basses, and when I saw the WR pickups it seemed like a good idea to match up with an epoxy fingerboard.

There's a lot of truth in what you say but the project is about getting a close approximation of the tone of the jazz bass he used, regardless of anything else. Also, there's something about having pickups from Seymour Duncan made to the same spec as the ones he made for Jaco... even if it is just marketing the concept appeals. As to how different can single coil pickups sound... well my alnico2 sounds different to the alnico5 which sounds different to the large pole Delano which sounds different to the DiMarzio J which sounds different.......... So, the two main ingredients in the jazz bass I think are, the pickups and the epoxy resin fretboard. Oh, and as to whether anyone else would notice, well I don't care if even I don't notice the difference, it's just for sh*ts and giggles.

It's only the conductors in the cable that are silver and copper so there shouldn't be any oxidizing going on. Interestingly I can't hear any difference between this cable and my normal ofc cables.

PS. as much as I like Jaco's playing, more his albums than some of his exuberant live solos, my influences are more double bass in jazz and melodic styles like Eberhard Weber. So these pickups are potentially part of a technical project to create a Jaco sounding jazz bass just for the fun of it more than because it'll suit my playing (I like jazz basses!). In fact if I get a bass sorted Jaco style, it'll spend most of its time being played in a completely different way!

Actually Ed Friedland was talking about this on his bass whisperer channel so it made me try it out (I'll see if I can find the episode and link it). The attack is more 'immediate' where the pole piece is directly under than with the offset 2 pole design. Having said that it's subtle and the overwhelming difference in the sound is the overall character as the pickups, despite being single coil, are radically different in design.

On the Seymour Duncan custom pickup web page there is a listing for a pair of jazz pickups called 'Weather Report', the specifications of which are taken from notes for some that he made for a 'special friend'! I'm intrigued to get a set of these Jaco pickups but before I shell out (they're not cheap!) I was wondering if anyone has got experience of them.

Wired is a good Jeff Beck album! As you have listed, there's lots of parameters on pickup design to tweek. Something that I've been experimenting with recently with my jazz basses is the difference between the usual 2 offset pole pieces per string compared to just having 1 larger centered magnet. Definitely affects the attack of the initial note. I can feel a conversation coming on with the custom pickup guy for more pickups!