bubinga5 Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 Im going to put a better pair of pickups in my jazz bass.the Japan pickups arent cutting it.... just wanted some suggestions..i had a pair of Nordstrand NJse 4's in my old Custom Shop and they werent as good (to my ear) as the Custom shop pups that were in there so i want a single coil design.. i was thinking Lindy Fralins but ive never tried them... money is not an issue so can you give me some recommendations.. i really want a good trad sound... i really like Bartolini's but ive never tried them in a Fender what have you got/had in your jazz basses? Quote
Grand Wazoo Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 I have had Barts in a ESP Jazz 400 series. they kicked ass but happened too powerful and meant a departure from the original Jazz gentle sound, I have tried many pickups in many jazz basses including Lollar and Fralin, and I still think that the Seymour Duncan Stacked humbuckers model STK-J1 and STK-J2 have the right formula, besides with 4 conductor wires per each pickup they allow you twice the wiring combinations, from the traditional jazz sounds with the to added option of series/parallel for each pickup and for both together [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/basslines/cutting-edge-1/stkj1_classic_f/"]http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/bass...tkj1_classic_f/[/url] Quote
BottomE Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 Had similar issues over time. I tried SD's and didn't like. Always found them a bit brittle. I have gone back to Fender Custom Shop PuPs - sound great with the audere preamp Quote
bubinga5 Posted June 19, 2011 Author Posted June 19, 2011 [quote name='BottomE' post='1274933' date='Jun 19 2011, 04:52 PM']Had similar issues over time. I tried SD's and didn't like. Always found them a bit brittle. I have gone back to Fender Custom Shop PuPs - sound great with the audere preamp [/quote] The Fender CS pups always sounded good to me.. where are these available? Really like the Bartolini Jazz SC pickups though.. and there much more ergonomic than most jazz pickups.. Quote
giblett123 Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 [quote name='bubinga5' post='1274938' date='Jun 19 2011, 04:58 PM']The Fender CS pups always sounded good to me.. where are these available? Really like the Bartolini Jazz SC pickups though.. and there much more ergonomic than most jazz pickups..[/quote] Have you heard any of the "bare knuckle" pups? A mate of mine had a bass with them in, sounded like a great trad kind of noise to me. Quote
Lozz196 Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 In my old Aerodyne I put in an SD Hot Stack STK-J2B in the bridge. My impressions were that it was about "15% more" of the stock pickup, and without the irritating hum, both of which features I was pleased with. Quote
ikay Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 I have Fender CS 60s on my 72 J and Fralins on my JO4. Fralins and CS60s are very similar to my ears, both sound great. Quote
bubinga5 Posted June 19, 2011 Author Posted June 19, 2011 [quote name='giblett123' post='1274948' date='Jun 19 2011, 05:05 PM']Have you heard any of the "bare knuckle" pups? A mate of mine had a bass with them in, sounded like a great trad kind of noise to me.[/quote] those Bare Knuckle pps sound very nice... and cheap at 135 for the pair.. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5RNc1g92XI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5RNc1g92XI[/url] Quote
BottomE Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 I got the CS 60s in my Hamer and they are seriously vintage PuPs. I don't like much treble in my tone so these are purrrrrrrfect. They have such a growl that i often look round to see if a very vicious dog has snuck in the room. Quote
giblett123 Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 [quote name='bubinga5' post='1275002' date='Jun 19 2011, 05:33 PM']those Bare Knuckle pps sound very nice... and cheap at 135 for the pair.. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5RNc1g92XI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5RNc1g92XI[/url][/quote] Yeah, I have Shuker building me a "vintage" jazz at the mo and they're going in that, should be good, I hope! Quote
Ou7shined Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 Fralins, Bill Lawrence, Ultra Js, EMG JV set .... not necessarily in that order. Quote
bh2 Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 (edited) I have DiMarzio model J's in mine... the ones with the cream covers. They sound superb, although I'm putting them through a J-Retro. Edited June 19, 2011 by bh2 Quote
machinehead Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 [quote name='Ou7shined' post='1275056' date='Jun 19 2011, 06:21 PM']Fralins, Bill Lawrence, Ultra Js, EMG JV set .... not necessarily in that order.[/quote] I'm no expert on pickups but I have the Dimarzio Ultra Jazz set in one of my basses and they are all-round a great sound. I also have SDs in a P bass and a Jazz. Also great. It's a minefield really. There's lots of great stuff out there. Good luck in your search. Ultra jazz are highly reccommended by me for what it's worth. Frank. Quote
skidder652003 Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 yup bareknuckle are fab. I think fender C/S are starting to use them? Made in Devon too! Quote
stingrayPete1977 Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 I have Barts in mine B5 and they sound great but maybe a little smooth for some people's ears? I would try the bare knuckles out just to be different. I fancy one in my P Bass soon. Quote
LawrenceH Posted June 19, 2011 Posted June 19, 2011 I have Fender Vintage 75s in my Classic 70s. They've got tons of treble bite and mid-range grind. For the same reason they're not the bassiest pickups though, so it depends if you want proper 'vintage' clank or that overwound-type of heavy bass/low mids. For the former I've not heard better, they transformed a nice but slightly polite bass into a vicious growling monster. You have to order them from the States, but the price when I did that was suprisingly reasonable (under £100 all in). Btw if the pickups in your Jap bass are anything like the (supposedly US I think) ones in my Jap 75RI, then most things will be a very worthwhile upgrade - they really weren't up to much. The ones in my aerodyne or my dad's 80s Jap jazz are much better though. Quote
Vibrating G String Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 [quote name='bubinga5' post='1274908' date='Jun 19 2011, 08:35 AM']Im going to put a better pair of pickups in my jazz bass.the Japan pickups arent cutting it.... just wanted some suggestions..i had a pair of Nordstrand NJse 4's in my old Custom Shop and they werent as good (to my ear) as the Custom shop pups that were in there so i want a single coil design.. i was thinking Lindy Fralins but ive never tried them... money is not an issue so can you give me some recommendations.. i really want a good trad sound... i really like Bartolini's but ive never tried them in a Fender what have you got/had in your jazz basses?[/quote] No such thing as better pickups, only different If you go the Bart route (my favorite) it can be tricky as there are so many different models to choose from and the sound can vary greatly and the descriptions are horrible. There is no Bart sound IMO. Moon used to use some Barts and they sounded very vintage to me. The humbuckers including the rare quad coils sound different than the single coils. They make at least 3 kinds of humbuckers with many flavors of each. Some things I really like about Barts is no exposed pole pieces, they use bars instead of poles so string spacing and bending is never an issue. And they are indestructible and fully shielded with shielded wires. You can get away with not shielding the control cavities. What tone are you chasing? Quote
Vibrating G String Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 (edited) The original EMG actives can sound very vintage. Lots of Jaco in this tone to my ears. Edited June 20, 2011 by Vibrating G String Quote
Rayman Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 Fralins or Aeros. In my experience they were the dogs danglies. I've had both in a couple of Laklands and loved the crunchy bark and growl from them. Clean and clear highs and thumpy lows, and they cut through a treat. Marvellous. Also a heads up for Villex. I had a set of those in a H1 Jazz and they were fabulous too, but I think Villex have disappeared. Quote
Geek99 Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 I like the ones I got from Matte_black on this forum - they are split coil humbuckers in a standard sized casing. They are very quiet and also nice and punchy, Quote
bubinga5 Posted June 20, 2011 Author Posted June 20, 2011 Has anyone tried the Dimarzio Model J pickups.. there around 100 for the pair... Quote
bh2 Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 [quote name='bh2' post='1275220' date='Jun 19 2011, 08:33 PM']I have DiMarzio model J's in mine... the ones with the cream covers. They sound superb, although I'm putting them through a J-Retro.[/quote] I guess I'm invisible. Quote
bh2 Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 [quote name='bh2' post='1276387' date='Jun 20 2011, 09:16 PM']I guess I'm invisible.[/quote] Who said that? Quote
Doddy Posted June 20, 2011 Posted June 20, 2011 I can't comment on the Model J,but I've got DiMarzio Ultra Jazz in mine and for me they are great. Quote
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