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5 string jazz help! please!

Discussion in 'Pickups & Electronics [BG]' started by BarkerBass, Jun 25, 2008.

  1. Jun 25, 2008 #1
    BarkerBass

    BarkerBass

    Sep 14, 2007
    York/Newcastle, England
    I'm trying to upgrade my old yamaha BB605 5 string bass's pickups. The current pickups are the stock jazz pups, both are long bridge sized pickups so i'm looking for a set of replacement pups that will fit the current routes.

    I dont like the current pups cos they are noisy when singled out:scowl: and the eq on the bass doesn't help them sound gd in my opinion, i plan to replace this too.

    i'm after pups that are very versatile, i plan on installing a 3 or 4 band eq. i have bart mk1 soapbars in my ibanez and i love them so something similiar would be great, a sorta warm punchy sound that can be tweaked alot via the eq. I'd love noiseless/hum-canelling if possible... not too worried about this tho.

    Anyone know any suitable pups? :help:
     
  2. Jun 25, 2008 #2
    IanStephenson

    IanStephenson UnRegistered User

    Apr 8, 2006
  3. Jun 25, 2008 #3
    4StringTheorist

    4StringTheorist Supporting Member

    Jan 19, 2008
    near Ft. Worth, TX, U.S.A.
    With your only stated tone preference being "very versatile" you're going to get a whole lot or recommendations from all of the folks here. The sad fact is that most of those recommendations would tell you more about our tonal preferences than yours.

    The trick with only using the word versatile to describe the tone is that there are tons of jazz style pickups that are honestly quite versatile. Person A could say "Bartolini 59J1s" and Person B could say "Seymour Duncan SJB-5s" and Person C sound say "Nordstrand NJ5s" and Person D could say "Delano JC 5 ALs" and they'd probably all be right.

    I think all of those pickups are, in reality, quite versatile. They don't all sound the same, but you could take any of them to a rock gig and do well, then a funk gig and do well, then a pop gig and do well, then a jazz gig and do well.... etc. etc. etc.

    So much of the tone we produce is in how we play the instrument, any preamping or EQing we do to the instrument, the gain staging we employ and our amp setup that you can take many many pickups and cover a broad sonic territory with them.

    Don't get me wrong... I do think that there are some pickups that are a lot less versatile than others. I do think, however, that the set of pickups that can reasonably called "versatile" is as big or bigger than the set of pickups that can be called "not versatile."

    Conclusion

    More info! What sort of sound is it that you're after? What sort of tone do you want to hear out of this bass with all EQ flat and just plain jane playing. What's the "home tone" you want out of your bass? What particular sonic directions are you wanting to go?

    Give that, and lots of people here can help you.:)

    [edit: Just so you don't think I was harping on you here, I've done the exact same thing to describe the sound I'm after. :bag:

    But, like you, I can also describe the sound I'm after, or give examples of it in recordings or artists. So I wasn't criticizing your first post. Just asking for more info so everyone here can help. ]
     
  4. Jun 25, 2008 #4
    BarkerBass

    BarkerBass

    Sep 14, 2007
    York/Newcastle, England
    thanks for the constructive crit,

    The tone i'd like to hear with eq on flat would be a punchy jazz bass-rock tone... punchy mids, present bass and subdued highs... a warm rock tone basicly, kinda ACDC back in black ish. of course this can be eq's in if the pups are close sounding to this.

    I play alot alot of varying music styles and i'm trying to upgrade a great playing bass into a great sounding one. My main outlet for playing is church gigs and rock jams so thick chunky warm tones usually fit well but i also play in a metal band so the more typical jazz bass tone with growly mids and highs is needed too, especially on the low B. i sometimes play jazz gigs too so a more articulate bridge, jaco tone needs to be accessible.... not to put alot of pressure on my choice but they need to fill alot of tonal options... i do understand that alot of these are partially technique based sounds too but eq goes along way to enhancing the technique and since i'm planning on equipping it with a 4 band eq system i can enhance high mids for more crunch, low mids for punch etc.

    so anything from a jaco tone to a geddy tone can be required of my basses since they have to cater for alot of styles and techniques including slap and tapping regulary.:bassist:

    hope this helps... its more that both pups need to be the length of a bridge pup and if possible noise free :help:
     
  5. Jun 26, 2008 #5
    BarkerBass

    BarkerBass

    Sep 14, 2007
    York/Newcastle, England
    anyone?:help:
     
  6. Jun 26, 2008 #6
    BuffaloBass

    BuffaloBass

    Aug 17, 2005
    conditional upon harmonic Hz
    Aero alinco 5's. I think they do exactly what you want. www.aeroinstrument.com

    You have described my natural sound to a "t", adn I run them wide open and flat and get that punchy rock jazz tone. But describe what you want to the master winder at aero. Dont take my opinion. Its a custom shop so two equal long pups is no issue.
     
  7. Jun 26, 2008 #7
    BarkerBass

    BarkerBass

    Sep 14, 2007
    York/Newcastle, England
    atm my 2 main contenders for replacement pickups are the seymur duncan sj5 70-74 mainly because they are the same length but i have no idea on how they sound realisticly... anyone know first hand how they sound?

    the other option for me atm is the dimarzio ultrajazz 5 which i think will fit... they seem slightly minutely different in dimensions to the sj5 70-74's which will fir perfectly, but more importantly they are hum canelling (and cheaper) anyone had any experience with these?

    :help: