Best replacement Jazz pickups for reggae?

[redstriper]

I am considering replacing the pickups in my Mexican Fender Jazz bass.
I mainly only use the neck pup with heavy flat wounds and I like a really deep old school sound for reggae and soul music.
My old (1963) Fender Jazz has a very deep smooth tone, but the new one sounds thinner and I am hoping a new pup set might help.
I tried Wizard 84s, but they sound too growly and aggressive, I like a smooth deep and thick vintage tone with reduced mids and treble.

In [url="http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/multimedia"]this comparison[/url] of 5 J pickups, I prefer the DiMarzio "Model J" followed closely by the Seymour Duncan Antiquity II, I also like the Duncan designed ones in The Squier VMJs.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve.

[BassBod]

DiMarzio model J are a great choice - not really Jazz pickups, as they are humbuckers hiding in a Jazz cover...but they give a warm and punchy version of your bass, and no hum issues. Usually wired (internally) in series for a strong mid/bass tone.

[Ou7shined]

Barts.

[Raslee]

Ites dready, hope ya well. I've been really impressed with Lindy Fralins although they are expensive - nice rounded and defined tone. I've got a mate in Exeter who swears by Villex for his dub stuff and i've read they're quite warm sounding somewhere, lots of output so they maybe worthy of a look too. I had some Delano's at one point and they were great but again quite expensive...nice and defined, perhaps not as warm as the Lindy's though. I'm a Lindy man at heart...can you guess ; they were in my Laky JO5 as standard (sadly missed due to financial reasons) and my now 'bitsa jazz' had them in already when i got the bass, although they're slightly overwound customs i believe...sound lovely with flats and warm funky with rounds. Had Barts too in the past, found them a little thin as passive but not bad with a preamp, i have barts in my now Laky 5501 with a preamp.....sound alright but not as good as the passive Lindy's did in my JO5 in my opinion - still trying to get my head around active tbh. Got Wizards in my knackered fretless...think i actually prefer my old Fender pick ups that were in it, the Wizards left me a little cold really. Emg selects are good too if on a budget, i had a Hohner B bass in the past and loved the passive sound of them. Never had experience of Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio, good luck with your quest though matey....i'm having one hell of a trip into samplers & effects , a whole new world that i can't afford ...we're doing UK roots stuff with the Rooticals again, as a 3 piece minus Daddy Teacha as he's moved to London - we're doing stuff like Mad Prof, Vibronics, Disciples covers and a few riddims and originals......heavy scoop vibrations

Edited September 1, 2011 by Rasta

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='Rasta' post='1359182' date='Sep 1 2011, 08:17 PM'].... Had Barts too in the past, found them a little thin as passive but not bad with a preamp, i have barts in my now Laky 5501 with a preamp.....sound alright but not as good as the passive Lindy's did in my JO5 in my opinion...[/quote]
That's funny because I find Barts to be darker (hence dubby) and Fralins to be crisper while still maintaining the bright lows (absolutely awesome in rock setting)... but then that just my opinion.

[redstriper]

[quote name='Rasta' post='1359182' date='Sep 1 2011, 08:17 PM']Ites dready, hope ya well. I've been really impressed with Lindy Fralins although they are expensive - nice rounded and defined tone. I've got a mate in Exeter who swears by Villex for his dub stuff and i've read they're quite warm sounding somewhere, lots of output so they maybe worthy of a look too. I had some Delano's at one point and they were great but again quite expensive...nice and defined, perhaps not as warm as the Lindy's though. I'm a Lindy man at heart...can you guess ; they were in my Laky JO5 as standard (sadly missed due to financial reasons) and my now 'bitsa jazz' had them in already when i got the bass, although they're slightly overwound customs i believe...sound lovely with flats and warm funky with rounds. Had Barts too in the past, found them a little thin as passive but not bad with a preamp, i have barts in my now Laky 5501 with a preamp.....sound alright but not as good as the passive Lindy's did in my JO5 in my opinion - still trying to get my head around active tbh. Got Wizards in my knackered fretless...think i actually prefer my old Fender pick ups that were in it, the Wizards left me a little cold really. Emg selects are good too if on a budget, i had a Hohner B bass in the past and loved the passive sound of them. Never had experience of Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio, good luck with your quest though matey....i'm having one hell of a trip into samplers & effects , a whole new world that i can't afford ...we're doing UK roots stuff with the Rooticals again, as a 3 piece minus Daddy Teacha as he's moved to London - we're doing stuff like Mad Prof, Vibronics, Disciples covers and a few riddims and originals......heavy scoop vibrations [/quote]

Hail star and thanks for the info - sounds like you're keeping busy.
I'm gigging a lot with a new band doing original reggae and soul music and really enjoying it.
I bought a nice nearly new Mex Jazz and a Squire CV Jazz, trying to retire my old beast but neither have the depth of tone from the neck pup and I still take the old bass out for most gigs.
Maybe it's not just the pups that give it that thick dub tone, but it's starting to do my head in that I can't find anything that does the job as well.

[henry norton]

If you really want good dub tone I'll lend you my Rotosound 88 strung EB-0. On a more practical note you'd probably do well to replace the stock Mex Jazz pickup with any decent quality aftermarket pickup as virtually all of them will thicken up your tone. An inline humbucker wired in series will help but just to confuse you can I also suggest you wire your pickups in series, have them both full on and rolling off the treble should give you a much thicker sound than the stock neck pickup. That way it'll cost you some solder (or a series/parallel push pull pot if you want to retain your options) rather than an entire pickup change.

[Beedster]

[quote name='redstriper' post='1360210' date='Sep 2 2011, 06:14 PM']Maybe it's not just the pups that give it that thick dub tone...[/quote]

That's what I was thinking. Some basses just resonate nicely at exactly the right frequencies, others don't. You could always switch PUPs between the two basses to test this?

[Beedster]

[quote name='henry norton' post='1360372' date='Sep 2 2011, 08:32 PM']On a more practical note you'd probably do well to replace the stock Mex Jazz pickup with any decent quality aftermarket pickup as virtually all of them will thicken up your tone. An inline humbucker wired in series will help but just to confuse you can I also suggest you wire your pickups in series, have them both full on and rolling off the treble should give you a much thicker sound than the stock neck pickup. That way it'll cost you some solder (or a series/parallel push pull pot if you want to retain your options) rather than an entire pickup change.[/quote]

And that

[redstriper]

Henry - the EB-0 certainly sounded deep and was close to the right tone, but I couldn't get on with the growl and lack of clarity.
I must be more fussy than I thought and after 30 years of playing the same bass with 'my' tone, I'm struggling to find anything to match it.
I have thought about the series/parallel thing and it might work, although it could be another blind alley - the soloed neck pup on my old bass is so much louder and deeper than any other Jazz bass I've played, including other 60s models.

Chris, the more I think about it, the more I think it's more than just the pups.
I have thought about swapping pups between the old and new basses to test the theory, but I'm not great at DIY and I'm scared of damaging the old ones and losing the one bass in the world that has 'my' sound.

All this searching for the right tone is starting to do my head in to the point that I may simply sell the 2 new basses and go back to my heavy old hard to play beast and stop looking for a replacement altogether.
It's not pretty, but it does the job and it feels so right - I still take it to 95% of all gigs.

[Vibrating G String]

[quote name='redstriper' post='1358955' date='Sep 1 2011, 08:29 AM']I am considering replacing the pickups in my Mexican Fender Jazz bass.
I mainly only use the neck pup with heavy flat wounds and I like a really deep old school sound for reggae and soul music.
My old (1963) Fender Jazz has a very deep smooth tone, but the new one sounds thinner and I am hoping a new pup set might help.
I tried Wizard 84s, but they sound too growly and aggressive, I like a smooth deep and thick vintage tone with reduced mids and treble.

In [url="http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/multimedia"]this comparison[/url] of 5 J pickups, I prefer the DiMarzio "Model J" followed closely by the Seymour Duncan Antiquity II, I also like the Duncan designed ones in The Squier VMJs.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve.[/quote]My favorite bit of advice on pickups is ignore all advice that gives company names but no models.

Since you're going to solo the neck a lot a hum-bucker makes sense for noise control. I also find them to be smoother with less of the J bite of single coils.

What's in your old 63 jazz? Originals? They can be wound to most any spec

I find rolling off the lowest frequencies on the amp, even for a dub tone, can often fatten up a sound. Pino has a great tone on Vinnie Colaiuta's Private Earthquake: Error 7. To my ear that's a narrowly focused tone that doesn't go too far on either end. Super deep but mud free.

If you can find the old Bart quad coil J's those can get quite deep if you play with the series/parallel options of 4 coils. I think Bart makes about 9 variations at the moment of dual coils. If you like the Squier ones find a set for cheap and if they work for you you can mess with the fan boys who read labels. From what I know they're made much better than your old pre CBS ones.

You seem to prefer a low output single coil by your choices, my advice will be all wrong for you

I've got bart 57J1's in my MIM J, they're split coil. Still relatively fender sounding but a bit less growly.

[Doctor J]

Just made a bass with a set of DiMarzio Ultra Jazz and I'm not entirely sold on them, I think I might swap in a set of single coils. They're lacking in growl but would probably suit if you were looking for something quite dubby. They're smooth with ample low end but that's not really what I'm looking for.

[Grand Wazoo]

[quote name='redstriper' post='1360423' date='Sep 2 2011, 09:13 PM']Henry - the EB-0 certainly sounded deep and was close to the right tone, but I couldn't get on with the growl and lack of clarity.
I must be more fussy than I thought and after 30 years of playing the same bass with 'my' tone, I'm struggling to find anything to match it.
I have thought about the series/parallel thing and it might work, although it could be another blind alley - the soloed neck pup on my old bass is so much louder and deeper than any other Jazz bass I've played, including other 60s models.

Chris, the more I think about it, the more I think it's more than just the pups.
I have thought about swapping pups between the old and new basses to test the theory, but I'm not great at DIY and I'm scared of damaging the old ones and losing the one bass in the world that has 'my' sound.

All this searching for the right tone is starting to do my head in to the point that I may simply sell the 2 new basses and go back to my heavy old hard to play beast and stop looking for a replacement altogether.
It's not pretty, but it does the job and it feels so right - I still take it to 95% of all gigs.[/quote]


Steve as I've said to you that evening at your place, you should really get your vintage Jazz restored and start tayloring your sound more with your amp than with your bass. After all a "reggae" tone is initially generated by the bass but then it is perfected by the amp and with that mark bass you have you should have no reasons not to get a wicked dub sound from it.

I also recommmend you to start using mutes, either a simple strip of foam which I have loads still left if you want me to send you some, just pm me your full name and address, or you could look at these retrofit models which can be flicked on and off: [url="http://www.bassmute.com/bassmute/bm_mainframe.html"]http://www.bassmute.com/bassmute/bm_mainframe.html[/url]

Here is a video of it in action [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI9iAkTSOd8&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI9iAkTSOd8...feature=related[/url]

Good luck

[chris_b]

Aston Barrett used a stock Jazz bass for all the early stuff and now uses a Lakland. Lull basses use Lindy Fralins on their Jazz basses for a vintage sound.

Most of the bass players in Jamaica probably use whatever is lying around and EQ the sound they want. I'd look at out board EQ's for sorting your sound.

[redstriper]

Thanks for all the advice chaps.
It's a minefield with so many pups to choose from and no definitive ones to go for.
I don't fancy continually swapping pups in a futile search for the perfect tone, especially with the prices involved.

VGS is right about EQing for reggae - I don't add bass, but remove all the treble and a lot of mids, leaving a nice simple deep tone.
I love Pino's tone apart from the growl which I presume comes from a Precision rather than a Jazz bass - it suits his music, but not right for reggae.

Doctor J - you might like the Wizard 84s which have plenty of growl to my ears and I might be interested in your DiMarzio Ultra Jazzes if you want to sell them.

Fran - your advice is probably the best, I should stick with my old bass that I know and love/hate

Chris B - yes the standard Fender Jazz was used on most classic Jamaican reggae and it is the right tool for the job without doubt.
I do use EQ to get my sound, but it is not quite possible to remove the growl from pups or add the thick depth I get from my old bass.

[BassHertz]

I had a similar problem with a MIM Jazz a few months back and yes I was looking for that perfect reggae tone, I tried a few different pickups but and different flatwound strings and I came to the conclusion that the bass itself just didnt have the deep tones "in the wood" that I was looking for. Even with an Audere preamp I couldnt get the tone I wanted. Though it was one of the best feeling basses I have owned. I decided to end my quest and I put the Audere on an SX 5 string Jazz with some chromes and now I more or less have what I want.

I think the MIM was just too bright sounding to begin with and nothing could change it. Try playing your MIA and MIM unplugged and listen/feel the vibrations in the body I bet you will notice a big difference

[redstriper]

Thanks for your wise words BassHertz, I think you have nailed it.
It sounds like you have already trod the path that I am on and it makes me feel like stopping now, before wasting any more dough on a fruitless search.
My old bass had a new solid maple body fitted in the 70s and that may be where it gets it's deep tone.
The MIM jazz is much brighter and louder when played acoustically and it's lovely to play but it doesn't have the thickness and depth of the old girl.

[BassHertz]

Glad to be of help - I guess that with the wants and needs of the majority of bass players in this age the pickup manufacturers are building pickups to have more clarity and detail for those that play a lot of chords and bass soloes, also the slap players that need lots of highs. So with that, us die hard deep roots reggae players are a bit left out (kinda like being a left handed bass player). So the answer is probably to look for some ancient used pickups from another era or look for pickups with a vintage sound.

Not sure if these are any good. The write up looks impressive LOL

[url="http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/fatjazz.htm"]http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/fatjazz.htm[/url]

Oh BTW I tried Fender noiseless pickups and the EMG JHZ passive pickup set (avoid if you want any bottom end at all)

[redstriper]

Yes we are a minority, but we always have been so we're used to it.
You have reminded me of my roots BH and I'm going to stop thinking and start playing

[BassHertz]

Cant stop playing this one....makes your hands hurt

[url="http://youtu.be/GoBluI1Wjw0"]Yabby you[/url]

[redstriper]

The late great Jesus Dread and the Prophets - sounds like Robbie in righteous style.

More roots:

[dan670844]

[quote name='redstriper' post='1358955' date='Sep 1 2011, 04:29 PM']I am considering replacing the pickups in my Mexican Fender Jazz bass.
I mainly only use the neck pup with heavy flat wounds and I like a really deep old school sound for reggae and soul music.
My old (1963) Fender Jazz has a very deep smooth tone, but the new one sounds thinner and I am hoping a new pup set might help.
I tried Wizard 84s, but they sound too growly and aggressive, I like a smooth deep and thick vintage tone with reduced mids and treble.

In [url="http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/multimedia"]this comparison[/url] of 5 J pickups, I prefer the DiMarzio "Model J" followed closely by the Seymour Duncan Antiquity II, I also like the Duncan designed ones in The Squier VMJs.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve.[/quote]

Have you ever thought about changing the cap's in the guitar? the older ones dont have a 0.47mfd cap in them Its a 0.05uf (polyester not ceramic) I think???. I think the higher value caps will skim more treble to ground, if you use the tone control, of course many have it wide open! Good luck with trying, I would try the '64's and try and see if you can get a red disc 0.05uf polyester cap, they sometimes turn up on the bay, you might wanna change the pots too! in fact you prob want to get a vintage rewire kit from guitar parts resource in the USA not expensive, and they are very good. I used to have a MIM jazz for the same purpose, I didnt want the old 'un stolen. In the end I got rid and got a MIJ non export, why?, with mim neck is diff 9.5 instead of 7.25" ,jumbo frets yuck. The jap '62 resissue jap non exports i have found are more true to the originals and can be had for a good price from isibushi on the bay even if they are second hand not a prob as they are built like tanks. The MIM to me just looks like a jazz it looks feels and sounds very different to me. Not to say they can't be nice guitars just not what I am after. The exception to this is the road worn of course thats a nice guitar no matter where it was made! but I find the fake ageing a little off putting, but they play great.

Edited September 6, 2011 by dan670844

[redstriper]

[quote name='dan670844' post='1364077' date='Sep 6 2011, 01:44 PM']Have you ever thought about changing the cap's in the guitar? the older ones dont have a 0.47mfd cap in them Its a 0.5uf (polyester not ceramic) I think???. I think the higher value caps will skim more treble to ground, if you use the tone control, of course many have it wide open! Good luck with trying, I would try the '64's and try and see if you can get a red disc 0.5uf polyester cap, they sometimes turn up on the bay, you might wanna change the pots too! in fact you prob want to get a vintage rewire kit from guitar parts resource in the USA not expensive, and they are very good. I used to have a MIM jazz for the same purpose, I didnt want the old 'un stolen. In the end I got rid and got a MIJ non export, why?, with mim neck is diff 9.5 instead of 7.25" ,jumbo frets yuck. The jap '62 resissue jap non exports i have found are more true to the originals and can be had for a good price from isibushi on the bay even if they are second hand not a prob as they are built like tanks. The MIM to me just looks like a jazz it looks feels and sounds very different to me. Not to say they can't be nice guitars just not what I am after. The exception to this is the road worn of course thats a nice guitar no matter where it was made! but I find the fake ageing a little off putting, but they play great.[/quote]
Thanks for your advice Dan.
I am actually in the process, (soldering iron in hand) of fitting a new wiring harness with quality components.
This one has a 0.47 cap and the designer (Ki0gon on this forum) suggested fitting 2 of these to reduce the treble even more - I rarely have the tone turned on at all.
My old bass does indeed have the 0.5uf cap as you suggest.
I will try this new harness and possibly a Wizard 64, but I may end up selling it and going back to my old one - shame it had jumbo frets fitted when it was 'customised' in the 70s.......

[Jazzneck]

Just a suggestion:-

When I built my Jazznecked Precision earlier in the year I struggled to get the sound I had on my original (Duck Dunn thump) and I also needed a new harness.

Like you I searched the net and I still couldn't get it.

In the end I contacted Gary Wellington at Flyjuice Guitar Parts on a recommendation and he came up with a wizbang harness for me which allows me to get anything from Duck Dunn to James Jamerson using a treble bleed and selected caps.

OK, I'm using my original 62 P pickup but the change of body and neck made a hell of a difference.

Gary solved the problem for me, quickly and cheaply, using top quality components.

I'm still using La Bella 1953s - and I can get a super dub thump through my Ampeg as well.

Might be worth giving him a call?

Email: [email protected]

Telephone or Text: +447904396814

Best of luck.

[dan670844]

[quote name='redstriper' post='1364185' date='Sep 6 2011, 03:43 PM']Thanks for your advice Dan.
I am actually in the process, (soldering iron in hand) of fitting a new wiring harness with quality components.
This one has a 0.47 cap and the designer (Ki0gon on this forum) suggested fitting 2 of these to reduce the treble even more - I rarely have the tone turned on at all.
My old bass does indeed have the 0.5uf cap as you suggest.
I will try this new harness and possibly a Wizard 64, but I may end up selling it and going back to my old one - shame it had jumbo frets fitted when it was 'customised' in the 70s.......[/quote]

Dont write the wizzo's off until you have a decent tone cap in your bass either that hardess coming from te nasty ceramic cap in there, i think the kit you have has sprague orange drop 0.047 in, they are nice and smmooth big improvement from a this top quality pp cap, if you want smoother try a polystyrene 0.047 from audiocap on the net, bit pricy though....