Fender Super 55's

[orangejulius3]

I converted my bass to a fretless! The sound was ok but I wanted more of a throaty low mid voicing.

I picked up a pair of Fender Super 55's and loved them.
The tone is great and I can't believe they discontinued them.
After some tone tweaking, I was able to get exactly what I wanted!

Anyone else loving these?

 

[iiipopes]

I think a 55 is the best bridge pickup to go with a stock P in a P/J setup.

 

[soflbass]

Fender Super 55 Jazz pickups? | TalkBass.com

 

[tastybasslines]

I have a VM Jazz with them along with a Tone Monster 2 band preamp. They sound awesome and are completely ultra quiet. I just bought a Mighty Mite fretless P neck that's gonna go on it. I'm expecting velvety awesomeness.

 

[BlueTalon]

I like them so much, I put three of them on my bass.


OP, if you don't mind my saying, that gold bridge looks really incongruous with the rest of the bass. The red & black combination looks sharp, you should think about putting a black bridge on there.

 

[orangejulius3]

I like them so much, I put three of them on my bass.


OP, if you don't mind my saying, that gold bridge looks really incongruous with the rest of the bass. The red & black combination looks sharp, you should think about putting a black bridge on there.

I do have a black bridge I can put on but I also have gold tuner machines. I just haven't had time to play around with it much.

I might end up putting my black KSM bridge back on due to some looseness in the gold bridge.

 

[Hopkins]

Yes, the 55's are in my opinion the absolute best sounding noiseless jazz pickups out there. I have absolutely no idea why Fender, in all of their idiocy decided it was a good idea to discontinue the 55's while continuing to produce the terribly anemic sounding N3 noiseless stacked pickups.

 

[BlueTalon]

Yes, the 55's are in my opinion the absolute best sounding noiseless jazz pickups out there. I have absolutely no idea why Fender, in all of their idiocy decided it was a good idea to discontinue the 55's while continuing to produce the terribly anemic sounding N3 noiseless stacked pickups.

QFT

 

[BlueTalon]

I do have a black bridge I can put on but I also have gold tuner machines. I just haven't had time to play around with it much.

I might end up putting my black KSM bridge back on due to some looseness in the gold bridge.

I'd save the gold bridge and tuners for another bass, one on which gold parts would complement better. For this bass, the black bridge will look much better -- and I say that not just because of my taste. I think there is too much black as a secondary color for gold to work as a third color. Unless you added gold control knobs also, then I think it could balance nicely. Otherwise, on this bass, without doing anything else, a black bridge is going to look better than a gold bridge or nickle/chrome bridge IMO.

 

[orangejulius3]

I haven't had the chance to play with the N3's, but I do hear some bad reviews.

I do think the Delano's are pretty similar to the Super 55's but more $$$.

Here is the Transition of my bass
Added:
Black PickGuard
KSM black bridge.

Added:
Red dye
Red decal to fretboard

Added:
Gold tuners
Gold Gotoh bridge
Bartolini neck pup
Super 55 bridge pup
Black jazz control plate

Added:
Fretless neck
Super 55 neck pup

 

[acebase62]

The 55s I ordered will go in my black Warmoth JJ which currently has SD Hot Stack Js.

I've got the Dimarzio Area J set in my Ash Warmoth JJ, and the Area PJ set in my black Warmoth PJ.

The SD Hot Stacks are the only stack pickups I've used and they've worked well with 500k volume pots and Fender TBX tone.

As stated elsewhere, the split coil Js are higher output, more clear, and more single coil sounding.

I'll give a report on the 55s once installed.

 

[walterw]

I have absolutely no idea why Fender, in all of their idiocy decided it was a good idea to discontinue the 55's...

i think i might know; i had a customer say he had to return like more than one set (ordered online from wherever) that had at least one bad out of the box.

my guess is the manufacturing never got reliable enough and fender gave up on them rather than fixing the process.

 

[Hopkins]

i think i might know; i had a customer say he had to return like more than one set (ordered online from wherever) that had at least one bad out of the box.

my guess is the manufacturing never got reliable enough and fender gave up on them rather than fixing the process.

Weird, I have installed about 10 sets of them, most replacing the absolutely terrible N3's or the older Noiseless Fender pickups. I haven't had any problems out of them.

 

[walterw]

Weird, I have installed about 10 sets of them, most replacing the absolutely terrible N3's or the older Noiseless Fender pickups. I haven't had any problems out of them.

that is weird, as is the fact that they never showed up as stock on any model i'm aware of; i myself have yet to ever hear one, and my store carries the full line of fender stuff.

 

[Hopkins]

that is weird, as is the fact that they never showed up as stock on any model i'm aware of; i myself have yet to ever hear one, and my store carries the full line of fender stuff.

What the stacked noiseless pickups or N3? or the 55's? I have seen them all used in stock Fender basses. The Noiseless in MIM Deluxe Jazz basses, N3's in a few recent American Deluxe Jazz basses, and a 55 as the bridge pickup in an American Deluxe P bass.

 

[walterw]

i've never seen a super 55 pickup in person.

 

[Hopkins]

i've never seen a super 55 pickup in person.

I've only seen a 55 used as a stock pickup on one bass. It was the bridge pickup in a friends Deluxe P bass. I don't know what year it is because honestly, I spent some time searching for a similar bass but cant find anything. I guess its possible that he had the stock noiseless pickup replaced, but I doubt it because he brought it to me for a new setup right after he bought it. It still had the plastic film on the pickups and pickguard. It was one of the best sounding P/J sets I have ever heard which is what interested me in the Super 55's to begin with. Hell, it may have been a custom shop order, it was one of the nicer P's I have ever seen.

I've never seen them in a stock Jazz bass.

 

[acebase62]

Finally got the Fender Super 55s installed today in the black Warmoth JJ I mentioned and showed above (had SD Hot Stack J pickups).

So far, these sound great IMO. The Fender package specs rate the 55s as "slightly hotter output".

The 55s sound similar to the Dimarzio Area J pickups in my Ash body Warmoth JJ (both sets split coil).

I currently have the Area J pickups set a little higher due to the reduced pull of the Alnico 2 magnets, that may impact the volume seeming close on both basses.

Also, the body wood (Alder vs Ash) may play some role.

Super 55s: Alnico 5 magnets, neck: 8.9-9.9k, bridge: 10.5-11.6k
Area Js: Alnico 2 magnets, neck : 7.8k, bridge: 7.8k
Hot Stack Js: Alnico 5 magnets, neck: 17.8k, bridge 25.2K

The Area J set and Super 55 set both sound a little louder than the SD Hot Stacks, but the Hot Stacks did have a little more thickness in the mids (SD describes them as such).

The Area J and Super 55 sets sound closer to single coil, but I am a fan of all 3 of the sets mentioned.

I'm hanging on to the SD Hot Stack set, I think they might also sound good in a fretless if I ever get one.

 

[audioglenn]

I love the sound of the 55s! So much, that I installed them in two of my VM Jazz basses!

 

[JIO]

Just saw this thread doing pu research - I installed the 55's in my '66 trib J w/LaBella flats and Santellan Sounds (passive) harness. They are named Super for a reason. I do see them commonly for sale (new) on eBay - so does that mean eventually there will be none left to have? If so - I should get another set before they're gone!