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Best Jazz pickups for stoner/doom metal?

#65
Of all basses, a J is the last I'd choose to play stoner/doom. Il barely has lows which are essential to the style.
I don't think a pickup change will help because most J replacements are aimed at a bright, modern tone.

If I had to use a J for this style, I'd wire the pickups series, turn down the tone pot and leave it at that.
 
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#66
Jazz Ad said:
Of all basses, a J is the last I'd choose to play stoner/doom. Il barely has lows which are essential to the style.
I don't think a pickup change will help because most J replacements are aimed at a bright, modern tone.
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I think Aston Barrett (and any number of other reggae players) might disagree about the J barely having lows!

Also, there's plenty of folks playing Jazzes in any genre, including doom. Bassists in Orange Goblin, Nebula and Atomic Bitchwax come to mind, and obviously there's lots more. Granted, the P is way more common, but who wants to follow the herd?

(PS - The secret to truly flexible J tone is not diming both volume knobs)
 
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#67
In an apples to round shaped fruit comparision, I thought the stock pickups in my MIM Blacktop Jazz (which is actually precision pickups in Jazz Bass positions) sounded too anemic, and bumped them up to DiMarzio Model Ps, and it's a night and day difference.

I'd go Model J in a heart beat if I had a traditional Jazz Bass.
 
#68
morgan138 said:
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.
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I've only been in front of one on one gig but I was inspired. Now I'm going to unnecessarily dive into Peavey production consistency research lol
 
#72
Passive, single coil, low output (underwound pickup) & then max everything!!! hahaha.

That's the vintage vibe of the stoner doom, look at everything they're using. I have a fender jazz (ash body, maple fretboard) tuned to drop A that I threw a better bridge on and Nordstrand NJV 70's wind; sounds amazing. I find lower output pickups are more dynamic and responsive to tube amps and dirt pedals. I even had my ric replacement pickups underwound more to match vintage specs and it sounds stoopid good with dirt. I've found higher output pickups (and humbuckers) sound wayyy too harsh dirty.
 
#73
I have an SD QP jazz neck pickup in one of my basses...that coupled with Low-tension D'Addario Pro-Steels have a fabulous Doom/Stoner tone.
The strings give a lot of growl and grit to the tone.
I have the same pickups in another Jazz but use D'Addario Nickels that have about 20 lbs more tension than the Pro-Steels, and it doesn't sound the same...sounds more modern...
 
#74
The Quarter Pounds into a vintage SVt will do it! Of course, you'd have to make enough money to buy a big van and hire goons to move it...
 
#76
arbitrary said:
Passive, single coil, low output (underwound pickup) & then max everything!!! hahaha.

That's the vintage vibe of the stoner doom, look at everything they're using. I have a fender jazz (ash body, maple fretboard) tuned to drop A that I threw a better bridge on and Nordstrand NJV 70's wind; sounds amazing. I find lower output pickups are more dynamic and responsive to tube amps and dirt pedals. I even had my ric replacement pickups underwound more to match vintage specs and it sounds stoopid good with dirt. I've found higher output pickups (and humbuckers) sound wayyy too harsh dirty.
Click to expand...

This is an interesting perspective. I use a split coil humbucker(p bass) pup thats wound pretty hot and I think it sounds fantastic. I definitely get where you're coming from though. Maybe my definition of hot isn't really hot. Do you have any rough threshold that splits high and low output?
 
#77
Novarocker said:
This is an interesting perspective. I use a split coil humbucker(p bass) pup thats wound pretty hot and I think it sounds fantastic. I definitely get where you're coming from though. Maybe my definition of hot isn't really hot. Do you have any rough threshold that splits high and low output?
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For years I always used humbuckers and active basses...years.
A few years back my wife got me a MIM FSR ash bodied maple boarded jazz as a gift. Amazingly resonant bass, that I got a deal on some Nordstrand NJV 70's wind, so I put em in there. They made the bass come alive & were much lower output than the stock pickups. Way more open, I could hear the actual bass more, it became more responsive and overdrive became clearer and smoother. Obviously there was the volume and gain drop so I simply increased both on the amps and pedals. I believe Carey said they were like 7.3k ohms and had les winding/wraps. So, in my limited picup knowledge I'd say that's my reference point. I got a newer ric that had higher output pickups that I also swapped for lower output pickups to match vintage specs a bit more.
 
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#79
arbitrary said:
For years I always used humbuckers and active basses...years.
A few years back my wife got me a MIM FSR ash bodied maple boarded jazz as a gift. Amazingly resonant bass, that I got a deal on some Nordstrand NJV 70's wind, so I put em in there. They made the bass come alive & were much lower output than the stock pickups. Way more open, I could hear the actual bass more, it became more responsive and overdrive became clearer and smoother. Obviously there was the volume and gain drop so I simply increased both on the amps and pedals. I believe Carey said they were like 7.3k ohms and had les winding/wraps. So, in my limited picup knowledge I'd say that's my reference point. I got a newer ric that had higher output pickups that I also swapped for lower output pickups to match vintage specs a bit more.
Click to expand...

Ahh active with hb's, I agree. Too much, they can work, but passive just works better IMO as well. Makes sense though about the lower windings, hell that was the target for filtertrons and toasters. More clarity/jangle like single coils.

I'll have to check the pups in my jazz because they are super clear, but will really bark if you dig in.
 
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#80
Frenchy-Lefty said:
I played in a Death Metal band for awhile and my band mate were blown away by the power of my five string Jazz Bass Deluxe with Delano JMVC-FE pickups. Think of a Jazz Bass having a baby with a Musicman Stingray type of sound. No need of a preamp for those either.
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I love the tone of these, but am frustrated with string-string imbalance esp E and A as these pole pieces are flat across but my jazz has a 9.5" radius. Some say 9.5" is flat enough but I can hear a big difference esp in the bass freq. Tried angling down at E but then G to loud. If Delano made these with a radius and maybe even Alnico 5 instead of ceramic I'd be in heaven.
 

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