Fender Jazz Bass problem

[Pocket Dave]

As others have pointed out, technique, technique, technique.

That said...

Are the road worn PUs hotter than normal Jazz bass PUs?

Not sure about the 2013 model pickups, but I found the stock pickups in my 2010 Road Worn Jazz Bass to be kind of lifeless and inarticulate. The lack of any balanced upper mids might have created a more pronounced bottom-end boom on the low E string once I increased overall volume to compensate. I'm not sure; I couldn't get the stock ones out fast enough.

 

[lug]

I never have this problem! Of course I play with the E string on the bottom so..................

 

[G72]

This CAN be a problem with some J-basses if the pole pieces are flat (rather than staggered), but this is usually not a huge problem with 4-string basses, and then mostly with 7.25" fretboards. Pickups with staggered pole pieces that follow the radius of the strings MIGHT help a bit, but it sound like what you are experiencing is far more extreme than what I would expect from any standard J-bass 4-string pickups, even with flat pole pieces. The Roadworns are usually great basses, some of the best Fenders in recent years IMO and possibly the best MIMs ever.

The most common cause for what you are describing is that the lows are boosted too much, but from your description this doesn't seem to be the case here.

Blending the pickups on a J-bass will "scoop" the mids and effectively focus more on the lows (and highs). Do you get a more balanced tone with either pickup soloed?

Also, lowering the pickups as low as they will go is definitely NOT the solution. That's just a recipe for poor, unbalanced tone. I would start by raising the pickups to correct heights and start again from there.

Technique can also be part of the problem of course, but that's impossible to know without actually hearing you play.

Oh wow yes.. your comment made the most sense to me.
Thanks alot!!
Most people said its technique and i seriously doubted myself for a moment but i guess its due to me not explaining myself properly.
I have been playing guitar and bass for 35 years and mute with both my left and right hand.

I just noticed that when i play the roadworn and fully mute the E-string with my right hand, the E-string still kept growling alot.
When i play my other basses (Fender precision Lyte and a modded Vintage VJ74) i never experienced that.
But yes.. this is the first bass i own with a 7.25" radius so your answer makes alot of sense.

I took your advice and raised the PUs to the correct height.
I also raised the action of the E-string so both E and A strings have the same distance to the PU and it makes alot of difference.
Altough it still sounds very much in the low end (which could be due to this type of bassguitar / PUs) everything feels alot more balanced and alot more playable.

Do you know if its possible to raise the individual polepieces of these pickups?
Although it sounds way better, It does kinda feel weird to have the strings not follow the radius of the fretboard.

 

[H K]

The best solution is learn to mute.

From what I'm reading the problem is that it's too loud when he's playing it too..

Could it be that the rest of your strings are dead? Do you cut off the ends when replacing strings, and if so, have you had them off and back on after that?
Also, you could angle your pickups more towards the D and G, making them hotter. At the least that would even it out abit

 

[C Stone]

…Do you know if it’s possible to raise the individual polepieces of these pickups?…

Depends on how the bobbin is designed.
I personally wouldn’t risk it as you could
very well inadvertently ruin the pickup.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Oh wow yes.. your comment made the most sense to me.
Thanks alot!!
Most people said its technique and i seriously doubted myself for a moment but i guess its due to me not explaining myself properly.
I have been playing guitar and bass for 35 years and mute with both my left and right hand.

I just noticed that when i play the roadworn and fully mute the E-string with my right hand, the E-string still kept growling alot.
When i play my other basses (Fender precision Lyte and a modded Vintage VJ74) i never experienced that.
But yes.. this is the first bass i own with a 7.25" radius so your answer makes alot of sense.

I took your advice and raised the PUs to the correct height.
I also raised the action of the E-string so both E and A strings have the same distance to the PU and it makes alot of difference.
Altough it still sounds very much in the low end (which could be due to this type of bassguitar / PUs) everything feels alot more balanced and alot more playable.

Do you know if its possible to raise the individual polepieces of these pickups?
Although it sounds way better, It does kinda feel weird to have the strings not follow the radius of the fretboard.

The only pickup I know you can raise individually the pole pieces is the Dimarzio Model J and it works fine on a jazz bass with any sort of radius.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Oh wow yes.. your comment made the most sense to me.
Thanks alot!!
Most people said its technique and i seriously doubted myself for a moment but i guess its due to me not explaining myself properly.
I have been playing guitar and bass for 35 years and mute with both my left and right hand.

I just noticed that when i play the roadworn and fully mute the E-string with my right hand, the E-string still kept growling alot.
When i play my other basses (Fender precision Lyte and a modded Vintage VJ74) i never experienced that.
But yes.. this is the first bass i own with a 7.25" radius so your answer makes alot of sense.

I took your advice and raised the PUs to the correct height.
I also raised the action of the E-string so both E and A strings have the same distance to the PU and it makes alot of difference.
Altough it still sounds very much in the low end (which could be due to this type of bassguitar / PUs) everything feels alot more balanced and alot more playable.

Do you know if its possible to raise the individual polepieces of these pickups?
Although it sounds way better, It does kinda feel weird to have the strings not follow the radius of the fretboard.

Do NOT attempt to raise individual pole pieces!!! You will most likely ruin the pickups!!!

I didn't actually remember if these basses are 7.25" (I haven't tested a Roadworn in a long time) but if that's the case, yeah, it's not ideal with non-staggered pole pieces on a 7.25" J-bass. But J-bass players have been getting great results with 7.25" fretboards and pickups with "flat" pole pieces for DECADES. It should be possible to get a nicely balanced tone by tweaking the setup (and be careful not to dial in too much deep lows, which will accentuate the E-string relative to the other strings).

But of course, modern bass players may have different tonal/setup needs than a bass player in the 1960s. Raising the E-string higher than you ideally want to get a usable tonal balance across the strings is obviously a compromise. If the problem persists, you can always consider replacing the pickups. Some pickup manufacturers (like for example Fralin) offer staggered pole piece as an option for their J-bass pickups, specifically designed for better balance with a 7.25" fretboard. But I really don't think this should be necessary to get a reasonably balanced tone from a Roadworn. I've always thought they are one of the best series of basses Fender has ever made (but I'm more of a P-bass player, where this isn't an issue at all, with the two separately adjustable coils).

It might also be worth noting that in my experience the differences between flat and staggered pole pieces on a J-bass pickup is a relatively subtle thing. Yes, there's definitely a difference, and yes it will definitely give you a better balance across the strings. But I don't think it will be enough to fully compensate for the seemingly extreme imbalance you are experiencing. If you tweak the setup to perfection, and are careful not to dial in too much lows on your amp (or on any pedals you might be using), staggered pole pieces will only give you the last 10-20% (ish).

One thing you might consider trying is a High Pass Filter (HPF) pedal to filter out the deepest lows. This might just help with that unruly E-string of yours. You would have to insert the filter AFTER any pedals that can potentially boost the lows (many dirt pedals do this).

 

[Gunga Din]

Sorry had to be more clear.

I do mute the strings with the palm of my right hand en my left thumb when playing with a pick. (Big hands slim neck )
Its just that i dont need to mute it all the time while playing my other basses, so i wondered if it was something else that caused this issue.
I wondered if maybe the PUs are hotter or something as it feels like the gain is all the way up

Could be magnetic pull wolf tones?

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Could be magnetic pull wolf tones?

The OP said the pickups were lowered as low as they would go, so no. Definitely not this.

BTW, wolf tones is actually a term for a very different phenomenon that can happen with bowed string instruments. It can never happen with a solid body electric. Lots of people use this term the wrong way though, so I totally understand what you REALLY meant. And yes, it can definitely be a problem, but only if the pickups are too close to the strings, which definitely wasn't the case here (based on the OPs description)

 

[Dan1985]

I have a Squier PJ that I have a similar type problem like you describe, except it’s the A string. Not a problem on my other 3 basses so I don’t think it’s my technique. But I still need to practice technique. Anyway, I couldn’t figure it out and it was annoying, so that bass is now at my cabin with a Rumble 15 so it is just used occasionally and doesn’t matter. But that’s a cheap bass, not a Road Worn.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I have a Squier PJ that I have a similar type problem like you describe, except it’s the A string. Not a problem on my other 3 basses so I don’t think it’s my technique. But I still need to practice technique. Anyway, I couldn’t figure it out and it was annoying, so that bass is now at my cabin with a Rumble 15 so it is just used occasionally and doesn’t matter. But that’s a cheap bass, not a Road Worn.

The A-string is too loud? That could simply be the angle of the E/A coil on the P-pickup. Try lowering the A-side of the E/A coil.

Unbalanced output across the strings shouldn't be an issue at all with P-bass split coils, where the distance from pickup to string can be adjusted more or less separately for each string.

It's actually far more common to see people complaining about the A-string being too weak, because they don't realize the P-pickup coils must be slanted to follow the radius of the strings/fretboard, NOT "flat" and parallel with the pickguard because it "looks nice".

Or does it happen with your bridge J-pickup too? That would be VERY strange, unless your saddle heights are completely messed up.

Whatever this is, it sounds very much like a setup issue, and I'm 98% certain it can be fixed by simply tweaking the pickup+saddle heights (although this is of course impossible to say with 100% certainty without actually testing the bass).

 

[Dan1985]

The A-string is too loud? That could simply be the angle of the E/A coil on the P-pickup. Try lowering the A-side of the E/A coil.

Unbalanced output across the strings shouldn't be an issue at all with P-bass split coils, where the distance from pickup to string can be adjusted more or less separately for each string.

It's actually far more common to see people complaining about the A-string being too weak, because they don't realize the P-pickup coils must be slanted to follow the radius of the strings/fretboard, NOT "flat" and parallel with the pickguard because it "looks nice".

Or does it happen with your bridge J-pickup too? That would be VERY strange, unless your saddle heights are completely messed up.

Whatever this is, it sounds very much like a setup issue, and I'm 98% certain it can be fixed by simply tweaking the pickup+saddle heights (although this is of course impossible to say with 100% certainty without actually testing the bass).

It just seems like it is always “ringing”, which makes sense that it’s my technique because my thumb is always muting the E string, and my fingers are playing the D and G string when it happens, so the A is not properly muted apparently. But I have 3 other basses and don’t notice the issue with them. It’s weird. I also notice my pull offs are a lot louder/more noticeable on that bass. I changed the strings to GHS pressure wounds from the original factory strings but didn’t help. I’m not an advanced player so it’s probably just me. But I’ll try making adjustments you mentioned. I don’t think I ever tried it with just the J pickup. Thanks