Howdy once again guys! I'll be putting together my thoughts on John's J pickups that I've dropped into my Carvin B4, the bolt on 4 string jazz bass. I'll shorten the disclaimer to this: All opinions in this thread are my honest opinions. John's a great guy who makes some kickass pickups and that's why I wanted to work with him.
SOUND SAMPLES ARE BELOW ...The honeymoon is over. So, what do I think of the pickups? 1) They're clean and dynamic. I really want to say that the sound is very tight. There isn't wooliness or flub to it. That's something I've mentioned about his pickups a lot. There's also the clarity and a high presence, especially with new strings, that just isn't with the other pickups I've used.
2) The bridge pickup can honk. I like to get some honky/burpy tones every once in a while. The bridge pickup still retains enough low end to be used on it's own and provides a lot of pleasant honk if you play fingerstyle by the bridge. One of my big gripes about this bass with the stock J99's was that the bridge pickup was lame. Not enough lows, not enough mids, not enough balls. I'm happy with it now.
Edit: I still dig the bridge pickup a lot. I played over the neck for the recordings up thus far, but I'll make sure to get a burpy one in.
Post-edit edit: OH GOD I LOVE IT. Listen to the clip where I layered a couple of parts. I really like this bugger.
3) The neck pickup... I almost never solo neck pickups. The neck on a J usually sounds 60-70% of the way to a P bass which makes me want to get a P bass and go all the way. This one can push into that range but I'm not sure that's what I really want to highlight about it. It's got a cool tone all its own. It's like it was nudged in the Bart soapbar direction just a bit and I dig that.
Edit: Frankly, I do feel a need to note the meatiness of the neck pickup's sound. It's got a good helping of low mids that'd duke it out with any P I've owned except my Highway 1.
4) Both pickups all on! Before, I had to use both full on because they were weak (and noisy!) solo. Now I do because it sounds great! It'll growl all day long if you beat on it like I do but, there's a soft side that'll purr in your lap if you're gentle. It'll do classic J with fingers all day long.
Edit: I still feel like this is my favorite setting. It just sounds really good to me if I dig in. One consequence of both all-on is that you lose a little of the high end brightness. Not enough to matter, but enough that I know I lost a little bit. I think that's just the cost of using two pickups together.
5) Bartiloni? Yes, Bartiloni. I've made that comparison once before and I think it's a good one. John's pickups are a bit like the child of a Bart soapbar and a cleaner version of whatever style pickup your bass actually has. I'd love to put this up against a Lakland with the Bart J's and see how they compare in clarity and overall tone. I think it'd be a cool shoot out.
Old Carvin tone layout to my ears (both pickups):
Bass: 4
Mids: 5
Treble: 5
John's tone layout:
Neck:
Bass: 7.5
Mids: 7
Treble: 6.5 *
Bridge:
Neck:
Bass: 6.5
Mids: 8
Treble: 7 *
*The treble isn't super present. I boosted the numbers because A, they're louder and B, these have the shimmering highs but not the over the top ear piercing kind of treble.
Lots and lots of inevitable revision and pickup samples to come within the next few days! Ask me about the tone control interaction because I haven't started the tweaking yet!
PS - Tell me what songs or styles you want to hear me play on this thing! SOUND SAMPLES
(Guaranteed to be sloppy unless otherwise stated.)
Playing over the neck PU and digging in a bit:
Both http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9864879
Neck http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9864878
Bridge http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9864880
Bridge Pickup solo. Layered improv with new Naked Strings .30-.85 played over the bridge pickup.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9878016
Little toying around with both pickups playing fingerstyle at the 22nd fret:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...songID=9864899
****All recordings done so far are before a proper setup. The neck is slightly back bowed because I haven't got the Carvin tool yet. Expect extra fret buzz.****
I do believe John is now buying covers for some of his pickups instead of casting so white may be a possibility. I certainly can't guarantee that though. 
