I recently bought new nordstrand NJ5S pickups for my Squier Deluxe Active Jazz V bass and I am having difficulty with volume levels with the E string. It is less punchy and quieter compared to the other strings. I have no idea why it is doing this, new DR low rider strings were just put on and the pickups are connected to the stock preamp, which by the way I was thinking of replacing with either and aguilar or audere preamp. Any help will be appreciated.
Well, at the risk of teaching you to suck eggs have you made sure that simple things are checked - such as the pickup height is adjusted correctly before, and that it is not just a rogue string? Have you checked that it is wired in correctly (could the split pickup be out of phase?) and that the string is running directly over the poles
I have talked to the Nordstrand people, string height, pickup height and poles (which btw he told me it doesn't matter if the string is directly over, but close there is no difference) are all fine. So from the information I got there is nothing wrong with the pickups. My theory is that my tech installed them incorrectly, unfortunately I don't know how to do it myself, but he won't admit his mistake, so I'll talk to him again and have him look over it. Don't get the wrong idea he is a good guy and I have had lots of stuff done by him, and he is apart of the fender organization.
change your mindset about this tech issue. it's not that he did something wrong, but if the E string doesnt have even volume, something needs to be done. he's a tech, take it to him with the attitude of 'you're a good tech, can you fix this?' rather than 'you effed up, fix it.'
So I dropped my bass off for the tech to have a look at. He phoned me a couple days later and told me he honestly couldn't hear what I was talking about, so we talked for a bit and he decided he was going to flip the pickups around, by that I mean he kept them where they were and turned them upside down. I picked up the bass today and plays just fine now. I'm still not to sure what the problem was, because the pickups should work both ways. But anyway sounds great that's all that matters.
Nordstrand Pickup Problem 
