Favourite passive jazz pickups

[Shambo]

What have been your favourites?

I'm looking for some inspiration regarding new pickups for a CV Jazz. Not that there's anything wrong with the original ones mind, but I've just bought a better quality Ki0gon VVT loom and want to take the original Squire pickups and electrics out as a whole (for originality's sake when I come to sell). I might be after something traditional or maybe something more esoteric, so long as they're passive. I just don't know.

When it comes to aftermarket pups, I've tried Fender 'Original', Hepcat '64 and Wizard '84 before... and that's it. From those three my favourite is the Hepcat's, they're French and boutique (Oo La La), and to my ear they have a pronounced midrange. The Fender originals had midrange but were quiet and too polite for my liking whilst the Wizards were thunderous.

Which jazz pups do you like?

[mcnach]

DiMarzio Area J.

They're not very expensive and sound much like traditional single coils, but they're humbuckers... and of course you can play with the wiring, trying series/parallel and see what you like best. They can do traditional well, but no hum. And can also be fat Jazz machines. 

[paul_5]

DiMarzio Ultra Jazz. 

[The59Sound]

Sadowsky single coil Jazz...

[skidder652003]

On 24/10/2018 at 09:50, The59Sound said:

Sadowsky single coil Jazz...

I've got those, weirdly I couldn't get a sound I liked until I changed the strings to Nano webs, now its great, weird!

[sifi2112]

Tried some of the above (Wizard nice, dimarzio less so) plus a few others incl fender cs 60’s nice & fender stacked not so, sd quarter pounders loud but less character than wizards I had a time .. read up loads on talkbass & was gonna get aero 1’s as they get best recommendations for ‘growl’ that I’m after however I opted for some bare knuckle 60’s pe as I really like their guitar pups & got a good deal off eBay on some used ones .. so glad I did coz they are fab ! Even my luthier commented on them when he put them in my bass & he sees tons of basses

just my 2c

[The59Sound]

45 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

I've got those, weirdly I couldn't get a sound I liked until I changed the strings to Nano webs, now its great, weird!

I think they work best with steels or very bright nickel rounds. They definitely give out that old woody Fender sound. 

[skidder652003]

3 minutes ago, The59Sound said:

I think they work best with steels or very bright nickel rounds. They definitely give out that old woody Fender sound. 

yeah, fresh nano's really cut through the band mix, I was used to a precision so struggled to hear myself with this Jazz, but its light and the neck is awesome so I perservered and bright strings have made all the difference. Back to the OP they have an incredible range, the Sadowsky's and by god they're loud.

Edited October 29, 2018 by skidder652003

[gjones]

I bought a set of pickups, for £40, from a guy that had taken out of a Road Worn Jazz.

I put them into a MIJ Jazz I have and they have a really nice deep, dark, warm sound to them, that I really like. I constantly get compliments about my sound, from other bass players, when I play that bass.

Recently I bought myself a Road worn Jazz and the bass sounds very similar.

If you can find a set of pickups from a Road Worn bass, I recommend them. They have a really nice vintage sound.

 

[Funkfingers]

Fender AVRI '75 stock single coils.

I cannot say for definite how much of what I like is due to the specs of these pickups and how much is due to the bridge/Treble pickup being in the CBS "wrong" position?

The Bartolini 9JS/L pair is nice - assuming that you like the Bartolini approach to bass guitar sounds.

[mybass]

Look up Delano pickups from Germany.

[dave_bass5]

On 23/10/2018 at 18:41, Shambo said:

What have been your favourites?

I'm looking for some inspiration regarding new pickups for a CV Jazz. Not that there's anything wrong with the original ones mind, but I've just bought a better quality Ki0gon VVT loom and want to take the original Squire pickups and electrics out as a whole (for originality's sake when I come to sell). I might be after something traditional or maybe something more esoteric, so long as they're passive. I just don't know.

When it comes to aftermarket pups, I've tried Fender 'Original', Hepcat '64 and Wizard '84 before... and that's it. From those three my favourite is the Hepcat's, they're French and boutique (Oo La La), and to my ear they have a pronounced midrange. The Fender originals had midrange but were quiet and too polite for my liking whilst the Wizards were thunderous.

Which jazz pups do you like?

ive used not many in my Squier CV Jazz, but the best of the bunch for me has been my Wizard 74's. I tried the 84's but i didnt really like them so go a set in between the 64's and 84's.

[Cuzzie]

Haüssel 

Sandberg

Sandberg Black label

Seymour Duncan SJB-3

[Hellzero]

Nordstrand NJ4 70's for the fast response and 60's for the pronounced mid range.

That said, it depends if you like single coil sound or humbucker sound or stacked humbucker sound or in-line humbucker sound or side-by-side humbucker sound.

Check this as you have a short description of lots of Jazz Bass pickups : https://www.bestbassgear.com/bass-pickups/shopby/jazz_bass/4_string.htm?dir=asc&limit=all&order=price

[gary mac]

I've tried a few over the years. My faves until recently were Wizards but a couple of days back I installed a set of Entwistle Neo's in a customer's Fender Mex Jazz. My word it sounded awesome and I now have Jazz GAS again.