J pup selection...for active bass?

[eastcoasteddie]

In the passive bass realm, the right pickup can make or break your bass' tone.

Is it so much so with an Active tone circuit?

Reason I ask, is that I'm considering some better pickups for my Dean "Jazz-Hammer"



It currently has the stock ceramic Dean bridge MM pickup and in the neck is a ceramic J out of a Squier Affinity JV.

I've been feeling that the neck p/u sounds slightly on the thin side, so I'm thinking of a Duncan Quarter Pound in there. Opinions? I never heard how the QP's sound, so I don't know what I'd get...

I'd go with a Carvin HBW bridge pickup. I have another bass with the same pickup, and they just sound great.

[walterw]

what the hell, give it a shot!

i'm surprised by how perfectly the squier J magnets line up with the strings; that may not be the case with another pickup.

[eastcoasteddie]

Originally Posted by walterw

what the hell, give it a shot!

i'm surprised by how perfectly the squier J magnets line up with the strings; that may not be the case with another pickup.

Both the Squier and this bass have 18mm string spacing (bonus). Although, when I had the Squier, I did change the bridge to a 19mm, and there was very little difference in how the magnets lined up to the strings.

[darkstorm]

A real good sounding passive bass gives the best active eq added voice imo. Mediocre sounding basses passive can sound a little better with active eq added onboard, but not as good as ones that sound real good in passive mode to.

[walterw]

pickups make a big difference active or passive.

your real issue (as i alluded to before) is that there's no "standard" size for 5-string pickups like there is for 4-strings, in terms of physical size as well as string-spacing.

you'll want to measure carefully before ordering anything sight-unseen.

assuming it would fit, i would look at a dimarzio 5-string area j or ultra J. it won't hum, and will sound nice and strong.