New Nordstrand Fan - PJ Set - WOW!

jaywa · #1 03-24-2013, 01:28 PM

Gigged my brand new set of Nordy's in my 78 P-Bass at a small house party last Friday night. This set replaced an EMG PJ set that had been in there since the early 90s.

Wow what a sound. Playing mostly blues and blues/fusion material (Beck, Bolin, SRV) with GHS Pressurewound strings, the tone from my Precision through a LowDown 150 combo amp on "Rock" (SVT model) with moderate compression and Master Volume just under half was stunning. To the extent that my guitarist and drummer both commented on it and an old, long-retired bassist in attendance came up and took a long look at my combo while I was playing as if to say, "how the heck is that sound coming out of THAT?"

Anyway, I'm not a techie but some of the settings I tried were:

1) Neck up full, bridge open just a hair, tone half, playing fingerstyle right in front of the pickup cover: this was THE sound for slower blues. Warm, fat but still clear and defined. Sustain for days.

2) Neck up full, bridge up about half, tone half, playing pick style just behind the pickup cover: very cool vintage hard rock sound. The attack of the pick was very present but in no way harsh. Just the right amount of "grind" to translate against a turned up guitar a heavy drums.

3) Neck up full, bridge up about half, tone open (bright) playing slap-and-pop at the joint of the neck: again, WOW. I have owned this particular P-Bass for over 30 years and last Friday night was the first time I have EVER gotten the sound out of it that I want and need for this style. Truly a revelation.

The only setting I really didn't have a chance to try (because of the material) was bridge volume full and playing back over the J pickup. But I'm sure I won't be disappointed with that either come the time.

And one other pleasant surprise... this set is extremely QUIET. Definitely exceeded my expectations on that score.

Shout-outs to MacDaddy Music for setting me up with the PUs and Buzzards Bass Shop for the wiring kit (I just used a standard Jazz Bass kit per advice here on TB). Total investment (parts & labor) came in right at $335. Worth every penny and highly recommended for any PJ bassist whose current setup just isn't quite doing it for you anymore.

maurilio · #2 03-24-2013, 08:46 PM

+1

M

MysticMichael · #3 03-24-2013, 11:48 PM

Cool. A high-quality, well-matched set of P/J pickups is a truly a thing of beauty.

Which specific models are you using? The NP4 + NJ4 set?

MM

jaywa · #4 03-25-2013, 05:22 AM

Well what actually happened was MacDaddy was out of the NP4SE sets so they graciously parted out the bridge pickup of a J set and sent that with an NP4. Same pickups, just not a prepackaged "set" and because of that I was a little apprehensive how the two would interact but they seem to work together just fine.

bassfreakah · #5 03-25-2013, 05:55 AM

that sux i picked a set of EMGx 's for my p bass. they sound great and i like the active tone control it sounds so thump y rolled off. with flats but i wish i would have tried the nordy's

jaywa · #6 03-25-2013, 06:02 AM

Yeah... No dis on EMGs cuz I know they do right for a lot of people... But for my current playing style and the type of material I'm playing I needed something a little more old school so it was back to passive PUs for me.

Also I was getting tired of taking the strings and PG off every time I had to change the battery.

Joebone · #7 03-25-2013, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaywa

Gigged my brand new set of Nordy's in my 78 P-Bass at a small house party last Friday night. This set replaced an EMG PJ set that had been in there since the early 90s.

Wow what a sound. Playing mostly blues and blues/fusion material (Beck, Bolin, SRV) with GHS Pressurewound strings, the tone from my Precision through a LowDown 150 combo amp on "Rock" (SVT model) with moderate compression and Master Volume just under half was stunning. To the extent that my guitarist and drummer both commented on it and an old, long-retired bassist in attendance came up and took a long look at my combo while I was playing as if to say, "how the heck is that sound coming out of THAT?"

Anyway, I'm not a techie but some of the settings I tried were:

1) Neck up full, bridge open just a hair, tone half, playing fingerstyle right in front of the pickup cover: this was THE sound for slower blues. Warm, fat but still clear and defined. Sustain for days.

2) Neck up full, bridge up about half, tone half, playing pick style just behind the pickup cover: very cool vintage hard rock sound. The attack of the pick was very present but in no way harsh. Just the right amount of "grind" to translate against a turned up guitar a heavy drums.

3) Neck up full, bridge up about half, tone open (bright) playing slap-and-pop at the joint of the neck: again, WOW. I have owned this particular P-Bass for over 30 years and last Friday night was the first time I have EVER gotten the sound out of it that I want and need for this style. Truly a revelation.

The only setting I really didn't have a chance to try (because of the material) was bridge volume full and playing back over the J pickup. But I'm sure I won't be disappointed with that either come the time.

And one other pleasant surprise... this set is extremely QUIET. Definitely exceeded my expectations on that score.

Shout-outs to MacDaddy Music for setting me up with the PUs and Buzzards Bass Shop for the wiring kit (I just used a standard Jazz Bass kit per advice here on TB). Total investment (parts & labor) came in right at $335. Worth every penny and highly recommended for any PJ bassist whose current setup just isn't quite doing it for you anymore.

+1. I've put that same set in a four-string P/J in place of EMGs, and I gather that the P/J set in my Sadowsky P/J 5 is from Nordstrand. I also use their big singles in place of soapbars, on another Sadowsky fiver. Nordstrand rules!