Jazz shape pickup choice

[fleabag]

Thinking of getting some  J shape pickups, but with some specific requirements

 

I hate single coil hum, who doesn't, so do they need to be humbucking ?

Not looking for  trad single coil Fender J sound either.  I'd like subdued highs , as glassy brittle treble is not my thang.  Smoother midrange,  smoother low end.  I believe  ( rightly or wrongly ) that its easier to add growly mids with onboard / amp EQ to a smooth pickup, than to clean up a growly pickup.

 

I have an onboard preamp,  so would passives overload the input when combined with the onboard pre ?  Or does it not matter , just turn down the amp gain if there's too much input ?

 

Having said all that, what choices are there for me - recommend some names if you can.

 

Cheers !

 

 

 

[Hellzero]

Simply buy a stacked humbucking pickup. And there are not so many on the market.

 

I would recommend you the Nordstrand Fat Stack (but I'm not sure it comes in the jazz shape) that will fit perfectly with any onboard preamp or even fully passive.

[Delberthot]

If you have both pickup volumes up full then you don't get the single coil hum. I actually prefer the sound of both volumes on full or pickup balance in the middle and increase the mid-range on my preamp to compensate for the slight loss when you run the volumes like this.

 

I use Tone Riders on my spare Jazz bass but EMGs on my main bass. They don't have to sound trebly and brittle, just listen to Guy Pratt playing Betsy on either his lockdown licks or some of his other work. I have a balsy, slightly aggressive tone with a set of standard EMGs and a 2-band BTS system. I actually run things pretty flat and use my Radial Bassbone to shape my sound

[Thunderbird]

12 hours ago, fleabag said:

Thinking of getting some  J shape pickups, but with some specific requirements

 

I hate single coil hum, who doesn't, so do they need to be humbucking ?

Not looking for  trad single coil Fender J sound either.  I'd like subdued highs , as glassy brittle treble is not my thang.  Smoother midrange,  smoother low end.  I believe  ( rightly or wrongly ) that its easier to add growly mids with onboard / amp EQ to a smooth pickup, than to clean up a growly pickup.

 

I have an onboard preamp,  so would passives overload the input when combined with the onboard pre ?  Or does it not matter , just turn down the amp gain if there's too much input ?

 

Having said all that, what choices are there for me - recommend some names if you can.

 

Cheers !

 

 

 

Emg pickups are your friend here active or passive doesn't really matter if your running a preamp personality I would go with active pickups 

[fleabag]

Dont active EMG's have some kind of built in preamp already ?

[itu]

Well, the right term is buffer. The pickup has a built-in buffer, which also amplifies the signal a bit.

 

EMG puts less wire to its pickups. The frequency response is wider, but the basic output is also lower, thus buffer.

 

Once more: EMGs are ordinary coil-magnet pickups. But as the buffer is built-in (integrated / epoxied) to the pickup, we can use the word "active", although a better description is "low impedance" (lo-Z). You can also say, that practically any electronics which incorporate batteries, are lo-Z. As the buffers are built-in, there is no possibility to drive the pickups in high impedance mode (passive).

 

EMG Hz is a series of ordinary hi-Z pickups without built-in buffers.

[fleabag]

I've read that passive Hz pickups are a bit meh,  but read good reviews on the Nordstrand Big J blades

[Thunderbird]

14 hours ago, fleabag said:

Dont active EMG's have some kind of built in preamp already ?

Only the active ones 

Another great choice are kent armstrong pickups passive and noise cancelling and sound great imo

[fretmeister]

I love EMG J pickups.

Wonderful things.

[Bridgehouse]

Lindy Fralin Split Jazz. Silent. Fabulous musical rich sound. Expensive, but worth every penny

[fleabag]

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

I love EMG J pickups.

Wonderful things.

 

The passive ones ?

[verb]

I like the EMG JVX pickups, they are active but voiced differently to the standard active EMGs.

Edited December 19, 2021 by verb

[fretmeister]

1 hour ago, fleabag said:

 

The passive ones ?

No. Proper ones.

[fleabag]

Active EMG's wont work for me. Their built in plugs and preamps would mean dumping my onboard preamp

[verb]

4 minutes ago, fleabag said:

Active EMG's wont work for me. Their built in plugs and preamps would mean dumping my onboard preamp

You can still use your onboard preamp, use the EMG volumes and connect the output into your preamp. I have active PJ EMGs connected to an Aguilar preamp in one of my Warwicks.

[Boodang]

I run my jazz with traditional single coils and a series / parallel switch. In parallel you get the normal jazz sounds but in series it's a humbucker (with just one volume control as the other is bypassed / redundant at this point) and gives you a fatter sound with less highs. Quite versatile. 

[Dan Dare]

On 19/12/2021 at 02:18, fleabag said:

I've read that passive Hz pickups are a bit meh,  but read good reviews on the Nordstrand Big J blades

 

I wouldn't be swayed by reviews, etc. Trust your own ears. Remember most pickups are not actually active. It's the onboard pre' that makes a bass active. In my case, I added an East active pre' to my J bass and found I preferred the instrument in its passive form. The active pre' made it sound more generic, for want of a better term. Bigger sound, more poke and more versatile in active form, but the signature J bass quality was missing. It just sounded like everything else. I returned the instrument to passive form and sold the pre'