J bass p'ups for MIDS

[Soledad]

Just hunting down a fretless Jazz, and it's very likely I'd want to swap the p'ups - obviously I'll give the existing ones a decent chance first but... 
SO, no body mods, a straight Jazz pup swap but looking to up the mids. Want to stay passive and I'm thinking max £150 the pair. Less would be happy.
Advice and opinions please. Thanks all.

[sirmuppet]

Jazz pickups with a lot of mids. I found Seymour Duncan SJB2's to have the most mids of any pickup of tried so far. They should come in under your budget with a bit to spare. I'm seriously considering going back to them. I've tried stock Japan ones, SJB2 and SJB3, Model J's and I have to say the SJB2's got me to where I wanted. If anything they were more dark sounding than my P-basses. 

[chris_b]

Is this going to be an active or passive bass? Either way I'd also try an out board preamp.

[Doctor J]

Go for four-conductor wiring humbuckers and run each individual pickup in series.

[sirmuppet]

2 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Go for four-conductor wiring humbuckers and run each individual pickup in series.

Series would give an additional boost to the mids like you say and a series parallel switch or push/pull pot would allow for the original Parallel Jazz tone as an extra option. I have a series parallel on my Jazz and it's great for that extra tone. 

[paul_5]

Series is probably the way to go on this; the distance between the pickups on a Jazz causes the famous (and wonderful) Jazz bass tone, as one magnetic field interferes with the other they cancel each other’s midrange frequencies out.

[Cuzzie]

Haüssel jazz pick ups are not only very good, they are quite hot and have a heap of mids.

The closest I have heard a neck solo’d Jazz pick up sound like a P bass pick up

[Soledad]

Sorry been away a week. Thanks for all the responses. The Jazz I had in mind turned out to be a problem so I'm still looking

On 21/06/2019 at 06:45, Doctor J said:

Go for four-conductor wiring humbuckers and run each individual pickup in series.

Is this the Seymour Apollo humbucker type? No expert on this so need a bit more info - I'd like to be able to drop pups into std cavities and keep the bass looking as standard as poss (so pull switch for coil tapping would be OK... I'm slightly OCD). I'll investigate the other options but find the right bass first. 

[Geek99]

Does anyone know how to do series parallel on a stack knob ?

[paul_5]

Found this diagram on TalkBass; it's a fairly straightforward affair. If you don't fancy doing it yourself then I'd have a word with BC member Kiog0n who does custom wiring stuff.

 

[Geek99]

I’ll try any thing once 

is that a dpdt?

[Johnny Wishbone]

On 23/06/2019 at 06:30, Geek99 said:

is that a dpdt?

Nope, it's a push-pull pot. Done this mod to all my Jazzes. Well worth it.

[Geek99]

Surely dpdt is about the circuitry inside ?

[Johnny Wishbone]

1 hour ago, Geek99 said:

Surely dpdt is about the circuitry inside ?

Fair point. As you were *hides*

[Soledad]

18 hours ago, Johnny Wishbone said:

Nope, it's a push-pull pot. Done this mod to all my Jazzes. Well worth it.

For the sake of us that don't follow (me then) does this start with the series wiring like on that pic @paul_5 found? And then where does the pull switching come in and what does it do? It all looks neat and really worth trying but I better check I properly understand first.

[Johnny Wishbone]

With the pot pushed in, the pups are in parallel (standard Fender wiring). Pulling the pot up switches them to series, effectively creating a humbucker. You get an increase in output and a bump in the mids which sounds fantastic. Well worth doing if only for the extra tonal option it gives you. YMMV of course.

[Soledad]

On 21/06/2019 at 17:50, paul_5 said:

the distance between the pickups on a Jazz causes the famous (and wonderful) Jazz bass tone

On my fretted Jazz I mostly have one or other pup backed just a tad, say around 9 (if 10 is full), but I agree the both on 10 is what many Jazz bass  players use it for.

@paul_5 - passive, definitely - simple old-school

btw, anyone know how the CS Pastorius Jazz is wired?

[Soledad]

9 minutes ago, Johnny Wishbone said:

With the pot pushed in, the pups are in parallel (standard Fender wiring). Pulling the pot up switches them to series, effectively creating a humbucker. You get an increase in output and a bump in the mids which sounds fantastic. Well worth doing if only for the extra tonal option it gives you. YMMV of course.

This sounds brilliant for my pending Jazz fretless - is there a parts list and wiring diagram anywhere, I mean a real basic talk-through for a real novice in these things.

[Johnny Wishbone]

Everything you need is on here. Personally I used linear taper pots for the volumes and a logarithmic for the tone (which I think is how Fender do it) but you can do it the other way around, or whatever combination you prefer, really. Instead of a standard pot for the neck pup, I used one of these: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F283498642049

Happy to discuss via PM if you want more detail. Of course, you could always get @KiOgon of this parish to put you a loom together if you don't fancy doing it yourself.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Johnny Wishbone

[Geek99]

Assuming it’s on /on switch ?

[KiOgon]

On 22/06/2019 at 22:33, Geek99 said:

Does anyone know how to do series parallel on a stack knob ?

Yes no pronlem with a mini toggle switch 😎

[Johnny Wishbone]

50 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

Assuming it’s on /on switch ?

Yep 👍🏻

[Geek99]

Is this easier with series parallel or side by side humbuckers ? Eg four wires 

[Soledad]

12 hours ago, Johnny Wishbone said:

Happy to discuss via PM if you want more detail.

Thanks JW, very keen to try this but really want to apply it to a Jazz fretless - very nearly bought one a week ago then seller went dodgy (so the bass probably was). I'm actively looking and I'll be in touch. May gat in tough with Ki0gon.

Not clear may have missed it but is the tone the pull-pot? 

[Johnny Wishbone]

On the diagram I've posted it's the neck volume. That's how I've done it but I would think you could use whichever pot you wish. I'm not that clever so I just copied the supplied diagram 🤷🏻‍♂️

Edited June 26, 2019 by Johnny Wishbone