I recently picked up a used Squier VM Jazz Fretless for practicing and possibly wilder gigs. The overall playability and sound quality were very good, but I felt that I could use some more dynamic and expressive pickups. After looking into a bunch including the Aguilars, I decided the Bartolini 9CBJS-3 would fit my needs and sonic tastes. They were installed Wednesday and all I am really impressed. They went far beyond my expectations.
Yes, they give you all the things you usually look for in a pickup upgrade--higher highs, lower lows, more transparent midrange, more clarity, and more dynamic range. They respond to softer plucks and they put out more volume with harder ones. Where these go went beyond my expectations is their dimensionality. These don't just give you the notes, they give you air around the notes. There is an expansive, harmonic, rich, even lush sound to these. And I'm talking about the true single coils without a preamp.
I have little personal experience with Jazz basses. The "Duncan Designed" alnico pickups that came with the bass seemed to nail that tone, albeit with more limited dynamics, but these Barts go beyond that whole paradigm. It would take a more experienced Jazz bass aficionado to rate how "authentic" these Barts sound, but what I can say is that they transformed this Indonesia-mfd entry-level fretless into an hugely expressive tone monster. And by monster I don't mean massive per se. It does have a fuller bass and can sound "bigger" than the stock pickups, but it goes beyond that. Especially on a fretless, the tones, the subtleties, the nuances these pickups wring out of my playing make this bass hard to put down.
And that's just what I wanted. My #1 bass is a USA G&L ASAT semihollow fretless. It sounds and plays great, but it's not the most ergonomic bass out there. The Squier enables me to practice longer without getting uncomfortable, and the Bart pickups urge me on to play more and longer.
Next up: a Babicz Full Contact Hardware bridge:
