1983 Jazz bass - low volume on D and G strings

[tuffnelljohn]

Hi guys

I have a 1983 jazz bass (with EMG pups) which I bought a few weeks ago. It feels lovely, I really like it.



It sounds great - perhaps a little bright/sparkly than I would like. I dont play slap, only finger-style funk.

However, when I play with the band, the D and G strings get completely lost! The E/A strings sound loud and deep, but the D/G strings are very quiet.

Ive tried raising the pickups so theyre closer to the D/G strings. This has worked a little, but its still no good.

I have a set of Aguilar AG 4J-60 jazz pickups knocking about, so thought I would put those in to see if that helps the issue. It would certainly help with the bass sounding a bit too sparkly (for my tastes).

I was also thinking of putting some flatwounds on there, becuase I like the feel of flats.

Do you think either of these things is a good idea, and/or would help with raising the volume of the D/G strings?

Thanks

 

[testing1two]

If you have not already, change the battery. The battery lasts a super long time with EMGs which means it's easy to forget to change it. Better to start off with a new battery before you get into the weeds troubleshooting.

Also, EMGs need to be really close to the strings compared to passive pickups. The photos make it look like your bridge pickup is too low, so if you set your neck pickup height to match the volume of the bridge pickup, the neck pickup is going to be even lower. To get them high enough, you'll probably need to add foam underneath the pickups so they are nice and solid.

Lastly, try not to make too many critical judgements/changes with old, unknown strings. Sometimes you can get away with it, mostly with flats, but there are so many things with old strings that can throw you off. So make your preliminary setup adjustments with the old strings (neck straightness, string height at bridge, nut slots, and pickup heights) and then change the strings before you fine tune things and set intonation.

As far as your Aguilar pickups, they're excellent and will sound way more like a proper jazz bass than EMGs (though I still like EMGs and people like Bobby Vega make them sound bada$$). The downside to swapping is that you'll need to change the pots & jack as well, along with some knobs. Not a huge expense but necessary when changing from active to passive pickups.

 

[bigtone23]

If you have not already, change the battery. The battery lasts a super long time with EMGs which means it's easy to forget to change it. Better to start off with a new battery before you get into the weeds troubleshooting.

Also, EMGs need to be really close to the strings compared to passive pickups. The photos make it look like your bridge pickup is too low, so if you set your neck pickup height to match the volume of the bridge pickup, the neck pickup is going to be even lower. To get them high enough, you'll probably need to add foam underneath the pickups so they are nice and solid.

Lastly, try not to make too many critical judgements/changes with old, unknown strings. Sometimes you can get away with it, mostly with flats, but there are so many things with old strings that can throw you off. So make your preliminary setup adjustments with the old strings (neck straightness, string height at bridge, nut slots, and pickup heights) and then change the strings before you fine tune things and set intonation.

As far as your Aguilar pickups, they're excellent and will sound way more like a proper jazz bass than EMGs (though I still like EMGs and people like Bobby Vega make them sound bada$$). The downside to swapping is that you'll need to change the pots & jack as well, along with some knobs. Not a huge expense but necessary when changing from active to passive pickups.

This is all great EMG advice. The #1 takeaway is the pickups needing to be really close to the strings to do their thing right. This was the first thing I discovered when I first started using EMGs 35 years ago. A battery with more than 8.5V pumping is also key, I have noticed some odd string balance and tones when the voltage drops to around 8V. EMGs are pretty easy on a battery, if you change the battery once a year and play the bass 200 hours a year, the voltage will still be over 8.5V.

 

[tuffnelljohn]

Thanks so much guys! Very useful.

I will certainly put a new battery in. I hadnt realised they reduce power gradullay. I thought they were fine... and then wentt kerput almost immediately. So changing the battery will be the first thing I try.

The neck pickup is 6mm from the strings. Ive taken a couple of photos (really hard holding the bass with one hand and trying to take a photo with the other!). From what youre saying, 6mm is too much space?



Id not heard of Bobby Vega before. Ive just watch a couple of video - amazing!! I will do a deep dive on him later after work.

Can you tell me other non-slap bassists that use EMGs? Im curious. Ive never used active pups before, so its new territory for me and I want to get inspiration from funk, non-slap bassists.

Cheers!

 

[el murdoque]

I'd say slap those flats on there (flats are great, I love them for non-slap funk), let them settle a bit and then
perform a complete setup. If you want to play flats in the long run, that would be my starting point - not much use getting a perfect setup and then changing the strings in such a drastic manner.
It could well be that you will want some top end back once you put in mellow pickups and your flats are settled in.

 

[darkwasthenight]

Thanks so much guys! Very useful.

I will certainly put a new battery in. I hadnt realised they reduce power gradullay. I thought they were fine... and then wentt kerput almost immediately. So changing the battery will be the first thing I try.

The neck pickup is 6mm from the strings. Ive taken a couple of photos (really hard holding the bass with one hand and trying to take a photo with the other!). From what youre saying, 6mm is too much space?

View attachment 5476781 View attachment 5476782

Oh yeah, that's way low. I don't subscribe to the "they need to be touching!" school of EMG, but with the low magnetic pull you can get them as close as physically possible without hitting the strings. I tend to go right up and then back off maybe 1-2mm until they feel less compressed - others disagree and say slam them right up.

 

[Chris Chong]

The neck pickup is 6mm from the strings. Ive taken a couple of photos (really hard holding the bass with one hand and trying to take a photo with the other!). From what youre saying, 6mm is too much space?

View attachment 5476781 View attachment 5476782

Cheers!

Hold the G string at the last fret, the gap between pickup cover to bottom of string should be around 3/32”

 

[testing1two]

Typically with EMGs, I will raise the bridge pickup so that it's almost touching the strings, in the 1/16" or 1.5mm range* (measured with the E or G string fretted at the last fret), then I will raise the neck pickup until it's the same volume as the bridge pickup (there's more string vibration over the neck pickup so it will naturally be louder and will need to be a little lower than the bridge pickup for the volumes to match). At this point your ears should take over. You can lower the pickups another 2 or 3mm to even out the sound at the expense of output, but with EMGs I always start with the pickups close and lower to taste and not the other way around.

*Depending on your playing style, you may need the bridge pickup slightly lower (say 2.5mm) to prevent pushing the strings into the pickup cover. The point is still the same: you want those pickups as close to the strings as your playing style will reasonably allow.

 

[bigtone23]

Thanks so much guys! Very useful.

I will certainly put a new battery in. I hadnt realised they reduce power gradullay. I thought they were fine... and then wentt kerput almost immediately. So changing the battery will be the first thing I try.

The neck pickup is 6mm from the strings. Ive taken a couple of photos (really hard holding the bass with one hand and trying to take a photo with the other!). From what youre saying, 6mm is too much space?

View attachment 5476781 View attachment 5476782

Id not heard of Bobby Vega before. Ive just watch a couple of video - amazing!! I will do a deep dive on him later after work.

Can you tell me other non-slap bassists that use EMGs? Im curious. Ive never used active pups before, so its new territory for me and I want to get inspiration from funk, non-slap bassists.

Cheers!

There are/were lots and lots of bassists that use/used EMGs. EMG was the active pickup in the 80s and 90s. What's great about the original recipe versions (the J and JA) is that they have a pretty balanced tonality and it's easy to shape the tone you want by using a preamp or EQ downstream.

Typically with EMGs, I will raise the bridge pickup so that it's almost touching the strings, in the 1/16" or 1.5mm range* (measured with the E or G string fretted at the last fret), then I will raise the neck pickup until it's the same volume as the bridge pickup (there's more string vibration over the neck pickup so it will naturally be louder and will need to be a little lower than the bridge pickup for the volumes to match). At this point your ears should take over. You can lower the pickups another 2 or 3mm to even out the sound at the expense of output, but with EMGs I always start with the pickups close and lower to taste and not the other way around.

*Depending on your playing style, you may need the bridge pickup slightly lower (say 2.5mm) to prevent pushing the strings into the pickup cover. The point is still the same: you want those pickups as close to the strings as your playing style will reasonably allow.

This is how I do it, too.
I have one bass with EMGs right now. It's a 5 string Jazz with the classic EMG J set and a BTS system with a pickup blend knob. I do remember having to drop the pickups down a touch to bring down the output to make this bass more closely match volume with the other active (and passive) basses I play. I think the BTS system may add a touch of gain, even though I nearly always run it at the 'flat' center detents. I didn't notice the volume difference before installing the BTS.
Either way, my heights are as such, I added the low B, as it's the outside string and lowest on the radius of the fingerboard relative to the flat pickup.
bridge PU: B-4mm E-4.5mm G-3mm
neck PU: B-4.5mm E-5mm G-3.5mm
As mentioned, they were certainly closer to 2-3mm before dropping them down after installing the BTS.

 

[JLS]

Also, consider 2-9v batteries in series; I've found this gives a remarkable opening up to EMGs.