bremen Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Any tips for a really deep sounding neck pickup for a Jazz? (Think Family Man Barret's sound on Bunny Wailer's Blackheart Man) I have a Quarter Pounder on my P and that's pretty heavy. A neck position pickup on a Jazz should be even weightier. no? There's a Pure Vintage '66 Jazz Bass pup on ebay, would that description fit? Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pow_22 Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 (edited) Names skips my mind now but the company that took over from Wizard did a dark one. Think it was called the 74 or 84? Found it https://www.eternal-guitars.com/product-page/jb-84-jazz-bass-pickup Edited July 30 by Pow_22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 (edited) Perhaps the Gemini Pickups Mountain Lightning J pickup? https://www.geminipickups.co.uk/bass/jazz-bass/mountain-lightning Edited July 30 by Baloney Balderdash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Pow_22 said: Names skips my mind now but the company that took over from Wizard did a dark one. Think it was called the 74 or 84? Found it https://www.eternal-guitars.com/product-page/jb-84-jazz-bass-pickup Thanks, they describe what I want to hear... ...as do the Gemini, have you (Pow and Baloney) tried either of these? Edited July 30 by bremen 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pn_day Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Some of the hum-cancelling jazz pickups tend to have a 'darker' sound due to the presence of a 2nd coil. DiMarzio Model-J for example has less top end, and so could be called 'dark' compared with a classic single coil. https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/jazz-bass-hum-canceling/dimarzio-model-j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Bartolini 9J are always a safe bet for deeper voiced J pickups. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 I also liked SD Lightnin' Rods for a fuller, high output J sound, active pickups though so although they can be used without a preamp you will need a 9v battery. Had them in my old fretless and it definitely had more beef. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shambo Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 I used to own a set of Wizard 84's and I thought they were dark sounding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Are you looking to add a neck J to your P, or are you looking for a set of pups for a J that will give you a darker tone? If it's for a J then you might want to look at getting a series parallel switch added to your circuit. I did this and it definitely adds a lot more beef to my J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiliwailer Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 5 hours ago, bremen said: Any tips for a really deep sounding neck pickup for a Jazz? (Think Family Man Barret's sound on Bunny Wailer's Blackheart Man) I have a Quarter Pounder on my P and that's pretty heavy. A neck position pickup on a Jazz should be even weightier. no? There's a Pure Vintage '66 Jazz Bass pup on ebay, would that description fit? Thanks! I very much doubt the 66 Pure Vintage will do that - you’d likely need an overwound pickup for a darker sound. Though it messes with the mids a bit, so not for everyone. Things is Aston used a stock pickup, and his tone came from a ton of variables. I had a cool conversation will Al Anderson once and when we chatted about Aston’s tone he was like “he’d take the mids off everything and whack the bass right up!”. Family Man was the man. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 I’ve studied Aston’s playing for years and he was amazing imo, he played mainly a very early 70s jazz bass, I’ve read on a few occasions that the bridge cover still had the foam in (but I can’t verify that) , and he also used flatwounds and played close to the neck , my guess is he just used the neck pickup and bridge and tone off , when I use my jazzes I have the bridge pickup off and tone rolled back, I also just back off the neck pup just a touch and it gives me a fatter deeper sound 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted July 30 Author Share Posted July 30 Thanks for all the replies. I'm looking to replace the neck pickup in a Jet J bass, lovely playing bass but just not as weighty as I like compared to my P with quarter Pounder. Family: Yes his tone was certainly "in the fingers". I've got close with a bitsa I made when I was playing in a (frankly terrible) reggae band, with a mm pickup slightly North of the P pickup position and playing softly over the 20th fret. But I know he played a Jazz, and was wondering what sort of pickup would do that sublime solid, dense sound. Like on Exodus. And Blackheart Man. A bass sound that comes in through the pores, not the ears. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 I’d say his sound is a combination of different things and his amazing playing style, just a suggestion, I don’t know the technical stuff, would it be possible for you to have your pickup rewound to your specification ie darker 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 I like a dark sounding pickup on a Jazz but I bought one of these and it was too dark and I ended up having to sell it on. It might be what you're looking for. https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/jazz-bass-hum-canceling/dimarzio-model-j 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 Pair of DiMarzio's in the FS... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 I'm a fan of the Dimarzio Model Js, I have them in my old Warwick Streamer. They're dark but not muddy, and have a lot of output. If you connect the coils in series it's getting close to a P sound. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles'tone Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 Go to 14.50 for "the reggae trick" for getting that deep dark tone on a Jazz bass. Brill! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles'tone Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 (edited) 13 hours ago, Reggaebass said: I’ve studied Aston’s playing for years and he was amazing imo, he played mainly a very early 70s jazz bass, I’ve read on a few occasions that the bridge cover still had the foam in (but I can’t verify that) , and he also used flatwounds and played close to the neck , my guess is he just used the neck pickup and bridge and tone off , when I use my jazzes I have the bridge pickup off and tone rolled back, I also just back off the neck pup just a touch and it gives me a fatter deeper sound Missed you saying this mate. Yes! Wish I'd understood how to dial in a Jazz bass effectively when I owned one. It was a long long time ago ☺️ Edited July 31 by miles'tone 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 Another one to maybe give a watch is my friend don talking about how he gets his reggae tone 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted July 31 Author Share Posted July 31 Yes, that's probably part of Family's tone. But it doesnt work with my current pickup, just becomes muddy. Thanks for the dimarzio tip. Though I'm in a rabbit hole now...found something called a dimarzio ultra that promises a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor J Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 It may be the value of your capacitor, rather than the pickup. That might be a substantially cheaper solution. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted July 31 Author Share Posted July 31 On 30/07/2024 at 13:34, pn_day said: Some of the hum-cancelling jazz pickups tend to have a 'darker' sound due to the presence of a 2nd coil. DiMarzio Model-J for example has less top end, and so could be called 'dark' compared with a classic single coil. https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/jazz-bass-hum-canceling/dimarzio-model-j 21 hours ago, PaulThePlug said: Pair of DiMarzio's in the FS... They are mine now. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diskwave Posted August 2 Share Posted August 2 On 30/07/2024 at 12:24, bremen said: Think Family Man Barret's sound on Bunny Wailer's Blackheart Man Thing is what tone are you hearing...studio? Live? I bet you anything u like he plays a bog standard J bass and that tone is all the making of the sound dude on the board... either in the studio or at the festival. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misdee Posted August 2 Share Posted August 2 In terms of a darker sound, an overwound Jazz Bass pickup will give more output with a pronounced midrange and noticeably less treble, and you can then eq in some more bass if required. Aguilar make some pretty good ones. However, so much of getting a good reggae tone is about how you pluck the strings and an overall feel for the music. In some ways having a really good bass makes it harder to get an "authentic" sound. None of the guys in Jamaica were using fancy equipment, just making the most of whatever they had and being creative. FWIW, I've got a Fender '74 AVRI Jazz Bass with Thomastik flats on that came with Fender '74 reissue pickups on and it sounds great for reggae and retro Jazz Bass tones in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted August 3 Author Share Posted August 3 (edited) I might have been a bit misleading in my original post... Not actually looking to get a sound like Family did; I'm not playing reggae so I'm not playing like him. I was looking for a pickup that could give as much pure low end as heard on some of his recordings. Point taken that eq is a big part of it, and that it's in the fingers...just don't think my current pup could emulate that solid sound no matter how skilfully the pultec is tweezed or how much I practise his technique. Anyway. There's a dimarzio ultra bass in the post, thanks to the lovely Jay Syncro of this parish. Thanks to all! Edited August 3 by bremen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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