Best Jazz pickups for stoner/doom metal?

[MYLOWFREQ]

I loved mine too, the look and the feel and the sound were amazing but I couldnt use it for playing Doom because I missed the low end. After the fact I think I should have kept it and routed out the neck pickup cavity to put a Rickenbacker pickup in.View attachment 1116910

With all my respect, I argue that the jazz bass has any less low end than a precision bass. P has plenty of low mid and low freqs, but the J has tons of low end.

 

[bryan gibson]

Pickups/wiring will help, but to fatten up a Jazz, you may consider a different speaker cab. Something, big/old/heavy/ported will thicken things up considerably

 

[Treebeard]

Pickups/wiring will help, but to fatten up a Jazz, you may consider a different speaker cab. Something, big/old/heavy/ported will thicken things up considerably

+1 to this man. Find an old peavey 18210 cab and let her rip.

 

[Ellery]

I have a bass with two active EMG J pickups and I set the blend to 100% neck pickup. It does not lack low end at all, and has serious attack to boot.

 

[madjazzbass]

I'm interested in what model jazz and amp/rig and tuning you are using? I have played detuned "Stoney/sludgy" rock, progressive metal and everything in between on a bone stock AS Jazz Bass...it sounded awesome in any context.

My point: I bet you can get what you are looking for with some pedal and amp knob tweaking.

Kudos for rocking the Jazz...IMHO, Leo's most versatile bass.

Indeed, I played in a death metal band back in the mid to late nineties, and I used a stock Mexican jazz bass everything turned out full, and everything always sounded great, back then I didn't even know anything about tweaking all the knobs everything was just turned up full never had an issue with not having enough low-end

 

[ptensioned]

What about a peavy tube head? What would you recommend for a 400 watt cab?

I've never played one, and don't know what model you're looking at, so can't comment specifically in any way. But as long as it's a tube power section and designed for bass (not sure a 5150 would work!), you'll probably be fine. Peavey makes some solid gear.

(I should clarify, though, that I'm talking about traditional doom tone, in the style of Sleep, Warhorse, Goatsnake, Kyuss, etc. Vintage-style amps pushed to the limit, but not hugely fuzzed out on bass. My personal favourite is Cisneros' totally blown out tone on Dopesmoker, but even he uses a fuzz these days with his Ampeg endorsement. I guess he got tired of dragging two tonnes of gear around...)

 

[ptensioned]

Off topic I guess, but when I tried to set up my Ric in C I couldn't get the lowest string to intonate...even with the saddle all the way back, it was sharp. Was that just a strings/neck/??? fluke on my end?

Not sure, though it depends on the gauge, I guess. If you tried throwing a .115 or bigger on without recutting the nut, I could see problems. I just used a standard size (45-105) set of DR DDT strings, and it worked fine for me. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that with identically sized strings, it shouldn't matter what your tuning is for intonation.

Also, it's important to check the rest of your setup before intonating. If your action is too high, or the neck has too much relief, it puts your intonation out of whack because you have to move the string so far to fret. I found the advice in Joey's Bass Notes extremely useful for getting the 4003 right. For example, the neck should be much flatter than Fender recommends for their basses. If you haven't already, get that dialled in and do intonation as the last thing.

The stock 4003 bridge is like a blonde joke, though, pretty but stupid. The Hipshot replacement is much more practical, but nowhere near as good looking. Failing the above, you could always throw one on, as the intonation range is much greater.

 

[gregmon79]

I play a Mexican jazz (I buy sub par basses. It's less stressful that way.

Mexican jazz through a pedalboard with a boss bass overdrive, blues driver, ds1, big muff. And a an Eden 4×10. I'm cycling through different heads. I buy sub par basses because they're less stressful that way. MIM/MIJ Fender, G&L Tributes, Lakland skylines.

Well, for one thing, I would look at replacing some of those pedals. The DS1 and Blues Driver arent the best for retaining lows IME. You may be better off with something like the new Darkglass Alpha/Omega or a Dunwich ODB for OD. Those other Boss pedals are going to thin you out real quick. The DS1 isnt terrible, but its not great. Oh and the Blower Box from Idiotbox and Cat/Rat tail from Fuzzrocious would be great choices too.

 

[gregmon79]

Also, as far as pups go, the EMG GZRs are really awesome and would be right up that stoner/doom alley. I have a set in my P/J and they just rule.

 

[ptensioned]

Also, as far as pups go, the EMG GZRs are really awesome and would be right up that stoner/doom alley. I have a set in my P/J and they just rule.

While I agree with you about the GZR's being amazing, they don't make a Jazz set, only P and P/J...

 

[gregmon79]

While I agree with you about the GZR's being amazing, they don't make a Jazz set, only P and P/J...

Yeah I know. But the OP said he had other basses. Just figured he'd like to know. But yeah, he did also say he wanted his J pimped for da doom.

Have you ever given any thought to humbuckers or Darkstars maybe @Danny McGinn ??

 

[MICKUSS]

Dimarzio Model Js will give you tons of low end. They "out P-bass" my actual P-bass in that department. You might want to just wire your existing pickups in series first. That's an awesome and free mod.

 

[InhumanResource]

Plain Fender single coils, neck pickup soloed is where I would start.

 

[morgan138]

Find an old peavey 18210 cab and let her rip.

As a former 3620 and 1820 owner, I found that whole family of cabs really underwhelming. Especially considering how unreasonably heavy they are! The 1x18 one especially doesn't handle a lot of power and low end.

 

[socialleper]

IF YOU PLAY METAL ... THEN YOU HAVE TO PLAY AN IBANEZ ACTIVE 5 STRING BASS

I see where you are going with that, but I'm guessing you don't listen to a lot of doom or stoner metal. A bass like that is anathema to the genres.

 

[Ric5]

I see where you are going with that, but I'm guessing you don't listen to a lot of doom or stoner metal. A bass like that is anathema to the genres.

Ya ... I never listen to stoner or doom metal ...

but to be completely serious I always thought that the Ibanez active bass was a bass that is really good for metal ... to me metal is metal ... all of the sub genres sound alike

 

[Ric5]

Off topic I guess, but when I tried to set up my Ric in C I couldn't get the lowest string to intonate...even with the saddle all the way back, it was sharp. Was that just a strings/neck/??? fluke on my end?

I convert 4 string Rics into 5 string Rics ... and the saddle has to be modified for a low B or low C to intonate properly ... it is actually pretty simple if you have a dremmel tool

 

[Lammchop93]

lace pickups! active sound without the batteries.

 

[okcrum]

What's the most ideal jazz pickups for playing stoner/doom metal? Yes, jazz bass pickups. Not P bass pickups.

I just played a custom with Nordstrand Big Blades, and they were amazing. I could see those working pretty well for you. I mean, they sound loud even when they're not, and with bite to boot. You'd need a little routing, but I might try that myself with a J.

 

[Stranger Danger]

What's the most ideal jazz pickups for playing stoner/doom metal? Yes, jazz bass pickups. Not P bass pickups.

No such thing. The strings, pedals and amp settings matter. One pickup is not better or worse for any genre than any other.