Jazz Pickup Recommendations

[ritch]

Hi

I have a Jaguar bass, which I have removed all active circuitry and pickups from, as I'm not a big fan and prefer to stick with fuss free simple setups. I replaced the pickups with a couple of Dimarzio Model Js, which for some reason just aren't cutting it for me - they seem quite dark, even with 500k pots, not a lot of mid range bite (compared to my 78 jazz, which I love the sound of).

Does anybody have any good recommendations of some nice pickups I could put in it that might be a bit more like my 78. I'm not looking for identical, just a bit more character than the Dimarzios and a little bit more aggressive in the mids. I like a bass that drives my Ampeg a bit.

Cheers

Rich

Edited September 6, 2014 by ritch

[zero9]

Depends how much you want to spend. I like EMG's, and have a set of JVX in my Warmoth Jazz. They give plenty of bite and a punchy midrange. For more character look at Lindy Fralins. The EMG's are completely noise free, but do need a battery.

I believe you can have some pickups 'overwound' to get more oomph, but this may be at the expense of clarity.

Edited September 6, 2014 by zero9

[Lozz196]

I liked the Seymour Duncan Hot Stack, has the advantage of being hum-cancelling as well.

[bubinga5]

The Sadowsky single coils are great pickups. not cheap though, as you might expect. Wizard pickups.? your own spec but cheaper than most.

[PlungerModerno]

I just got a set of pickups from the creamery - very nice IMHO.

What about the 70's fender set? seems a logical place to start!

[url="http://www.fender.com/en-IE/guitar-bass-parts/pickups-and-preamps/pure-vintage-74-jazz-bass-pickup-set-black-2/"]http://www.fender.com/en-IE/guitar-bass-parts/pickups-and-preamps/pure-vintage-74-jazz-bass-pickup-set-black-2/[/url]

[ritch]

Thanks for all of your suggestions - I'm tempted to find more out about the Lindy Fralins - they seem to get pretty good reviews! Or the vintage fender route, which may be a little cheaper.

[HowieBass]

Lots of feedback here on Entwistle pickups, the JBXN are high output and reputed to have a lot of mids available http://basschat.co.uk/topic/235314-entwistle-bass-pickups/page__hl__entwistle%20pickups

[Conan]

[quote name='PlungerModerno' timestamp='1410163512' post='2546599']
What about the 70's fender set? seems a logical place to start!
[/quote]

Does the Jag have the same pickups positioning as a J? If so, sixties or seventies placing?

If the Jag has the sixties positioning and your '78 J has the seventies (as I believe it should...) then that may account for some of the difference in tones.

As far as pickup recommendations go - I'm a fan of EMG (unless you want something more raunchy) and Wizard (who are now back up trading as HotRod - [url="http://hotrodpickups.wordpress.com/"]http://hotrodpickups.wordpress.com/[/url]). I am also quite interested in the Entwistles...

Edited September 11, 2014 by Conan

[fingerz]

If it was me, I'd do some homework on the Lindy Fralin pups. Check talk bass too, there was a great review on there i seem to recall, where someone had swapped a load of pups in and out of the same Jazz bass. Fralins sound great to me.

[GrammeFriday]

+1 for Fralins, or if you want a bit more aggression, I'd say Nordstrands.

[uk_lefty]

I have Bartolinis in my MIM Jazz and they give loads of clarity and zing with light strings on, not properly experimented through a gig rig but they aren't the punchiest or deepest of pickups though I'm sure some amp tweaking could get them towards that. Got a pair for less than £200 on thomann.

[Roger2611]

I have just installed a set of Fralin 5% overwounds in my Jazz bass, they sound fantastic, I was looking at selling the bass as I just couldn't get a sound I liked from it, the Fralins have transformed the bass, it has more power and bite but has a proper full range sound to it.

I highly recommend them

[jensenmann]

I´ve recently installed Rockinger PUs in my Jazz Bass. They sound incredible and were a big improvement over the stock PUs. The cool thing is that they have a bridge PU with more windings hence more mids. That makes the difference in terms of cutting through.

[molan]

My favourites are probably Aguilars. Never really heard a bad one and lots of high end US builders are starting to offer them as a standard option now.

They have a 60's and 70's voiced J set available