Lakland Skyline 44-02 tone/pickup position

[ronlitz]

I have a Lakland Skyline 44-02 (Barts), and I've been having fun experimenting with all of the different tones available. I've pretty much concluded that when playing fingerstyle, I like to have the toggle switch set to the front coil of the MM pickup, and the blend pot is set to favor the bridge pickup just slightly. EQ are all at center detent. I anchor my thumb on the front pickup. I have a Fender U.S. jazz bass ('06), and I was curious as to why the Lakland sounds so different. Both basses have rosewood fretboards. The Fender has an alder body, the Lakland an ash body. I've had various pickups in the Fender - including dual-coil Barts - but never had this tone. I measured the pickup positions from the nut of each bass, and discovered something interesting: The Lakland's neck pickup is a little closer to the bridge than the Fender's neck pickup, and the neck half of the Lakland's MM pickup is about 5/8" closer to the neck than the Fender's bridge pickup. 5/8" is a fair amount of distance in pickup placement. I think the different pickup positioning is a large part of the tone difference. IMO, the Lakland beats the jazz, so the poor jazz has been stowed away in it's case lately.
Anyone else out there with a Jazz and a 44-02, and have you had a similar experience when comparing the two?

[mmbongo]

I know what you're talking about, man. My 44-02 is just stellar (I replaced the Lakland pickups with SGD's). Definitely outperforms any 'Jazz' out there, and the body is so much more comfortable...and at 7lbs. my 4402 has become my #1. I also have a Spector USA NS-2J which is also awesome, but in a different way. And considering the $2000 price difference, my 44-02 is a true jem.

[JeffplaysBass]

Originally Posted by mmbongo

I know what you're talking about, man. My 44-02 is just stellar (I replaced the Lakland pickups with SGD's). Definitely outperforms any 'Jazz' out there, and the body is so much more comfortable...and at 7lbs. my 4402 has become my #1. I also have a Spector USA NS-2J which is also awesome, but in a different way. And considering the $2000 price difference, my 44-02 is a true jem.

$2000 difference??...I thought maybe a $300 difference.

[Roscoe East]

As I wrote in a fairly recent thread:

Originally Posted by Roscoe East

85-90% of the time I have the Blend at 50/50, bridge pickup switch in the 3rd position (rearmost coil only activated), Bass at just the slightest nudge above the detent, Mid (600Hz) at just the slightest nudge below the detent, and Treble in the detent.

The other 10-15% of the time it's as above except I rotate the Blend to ~30/70 (favoring the bridge pickup) and move the bridge pickup switch to the middle position (both coils activated).

And my Lakland sounds and feels so different from my Jazz that it's not even worth comparing. Different tools for different jobs.

[vernhillbass]

I have a 55-02 with the LH-3 and my Jazz has not seen the light of day (or neon of night) since I received it. Poor Jazz Bass! The Lakland is FAR SUPERIOR to the Jazz. I do love the quilt top on my Jazz, however!