Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Flea's Fender Jazz bass pickup?
- Thread starter Fleazer Butzary
- Start date
on his new silver bass, believe it is an Aguilar MM4 (you can see the aguilar logo on the bottom right of it)
Not sure if it was a jazz but I saw a rig run down quite a while ago with lane poor pickups. Out of production and highly priced when they come up for sale
What Flea uses are the original pickups of his pre-CBS Jazz Bass. The closest you can buy are SD Antiquity ,but keep in mind that those pickups were hand wound and therefore no two sets would ever sound exactly the same. It is the same for Antiquity 1 pickups. Russian roulette pickups.
I think it is important here to clarify exactly which jazz bass of Flea's the OP is referring to. I think the way it is worded - likely speaking of the one with traditional jazz bass pick-ups. Does he use that one live much though?
I landed here because I was in fact curious about the tone of the new silver jazz bass that has "Flea" inlay on the maple fretboard with a definite MM4 pickup. I was just unsure which brand.
Massive sound on the latest tour.
i think that was during the post-stingray Modulus Graphite days; as i recall the Flea model had the graphite neck (bolt-on), a sparkly body and one lane poor MM style pickup; i don't remember if it had a preamp, but i think it did, being essentially a Modulus Graphite stingray copy.
damn nice basses if you can find one.
I am super confused. The title of this thread is "Flea Fender Jazz Bass pickups" and everyone is talking about Modulus and MM pickups.
Exactly! And it's even more confusing as I stated, because he has Fender jazz basses now with MM pickups in them.
I am super confused. The title of this thread is "Flea Fender Jazz Bass pickups" and everyone is talking about Modulus and MM pickups.
Lindy Fralin makes AlNico magnet pickups in single coils and side by side reverse wound coils that are hand wound. Would those come pretty close to the mark too or do the SD antiquity have some special mojo I'm missing?
(Side note: Would many agree that hand winding has a lot of influence on replicating the original fender 60s pickup sound due to the variation in winding by hand?)
If anyone is curious to hear Flea's 60s jazz in action he uses it all throughout the itunes originals 2006 session here. Check out around the 12:30 min mark:
(Side note: Would many agree that hand winding has a lot of influence on replicating the original fender 60s pickup sound due to the variation in winding by hand?)
If anyone is curious to hear Flea's 60s jazz in action he uses it all throughout the itunes originals 2006 session here. Check out around the 12:30 min mark:
Last edited:
I had Lindy's single coils for awhile. While they are nice pickups their higher output (8.5 to 9) does not qualify them for authentic vintage pickups. I also found they too polite.
The SD Antiquity I's have less winding and subsequently less output and a process is applied to replicate the natural demagnitzation of old pickups (so yes they have a special mojo).
Now, I actually think the Fender custom shop '60 (now OEM on Am Std Jazz Bass) were very close to an authentic pre-CBS pickup. That and some flatwound LaBella strings and you can get very close to Flea's tone on stadium arcadium.
For the story, after recording the album, Flea started touring using this bass and realized that while it was perfect for studio, the bass did not cut through live and got back to using his Modulus. All this to say that Flea does not use the same bass for recording than playing live (I tend to do the same thing using flatwounds strings only in the studio)
The SD Antiquity I's have less winding and subsequently less output and a process is applied to replicate the natural demagnitzation of old pickups (so yes they have a special mojo).
Now, I actually think the Fender custom shop '60 (now OEM on Am Std Jazz Bass) were very close to an authentic pre-CBS pickup. That and some flatwound LaBella strings and you can get very close to Flea's tone on stadium arcadium.
For the story, after recording the album, Flea started touring using this bass and realized that while it was perfect for studio, the bass did not cut through live and got back to using his Modulus. All this to say that Flea does not use the same bass for recording than playing live (I tend to do the same thing using flatwounds strings only in the studio)
Last edited:
That's weird and I don't doubt your first hand experiences but the fender custom shop 60s are over-wound so I wonder why they would be any different...
Read below the 3rd response on the thread. Narud is probably the #1 expert in Jazz Bass pickups on this forum. Like me he tried almost almost every aftermarket Jazz Bass pickup but in addition to be more knowledgeable than I am he also took the time to measure their output too. He measured the Custom Shop 60's with an output of 7(ish)k which is in line with a real 60's vintage pickup (although it can greatly vary between basses made at that time). As Narud said they are "marketed" as over-wound.
For reference the Lindy's are 8.5 to 9k (quite overwound compared to a real vintage pickup and the custom shops 60s)
I did not measure both sets but I knew right away the Custom Shops were not overwound when I tried them.
Now Lindy is a nice guy and if you order from him you can get whatever specs you want anyway.
Has anyone used the Fender Custom Shop 60's J-Bass Pickups?
I previously replicated Stadium Arcadium's bass tone in my studio. Don't have time to do it for free for demo purposes but if anyone was to pay me to record a track with this tone, I'd have no issues doing it again.
For reference the Lindy's are 8.5 to 9k (quite overwound compared to a real vintage pickup and the custom shops 60s)
I did not measure both sets but I knew right away the Custom Shops were not overwound when I tried them.
Now Lindy is a nice guy and if you order from him you can get whatever specs you want anyway.
Has anyone used the Fender Custom Shop 60's J-Bass Pickups?
I previously replicated Stadium Arcadium's bass tone in my studio. Don't have time to do it for free for demo purposes but if anyone was to pay me to record a track with this tone, I'd have no issues doing it again.
Last edited:
BTW: I lived in the Silicon Valley for a long time. A friend is a friend of the guy who bought this pre-CBS Jazz Bass to Flea. The guy was one of those Silicon Valley techs who made tons of money in stocks in the early 2000's. He paid over 30k for it and gave it to Flea as he was a big fan. A few years later the guy lost all his money and found himself totally broke.
Or this?
This might be the most detailed picture of this bass I've been able to find. Looks like an Omega bridge, since he was a big fan of the badass, but they're hard to find.
Don't mind me, just intrigued is all.
I will comment that I have Fralin Jazz (non-split) Pickups and an Aguilar OBP-1 preamp, with chromes on a Fender Jaguar bass. I can nail the stadium arcadium tone in passive mode, and kick on the preamp for his more aggressive tones.
The 64RI pickups are very nice also and would get you in the ballpark. They aren't a hot pickup but have decent output and are a slappers delight. I have them in a maple necked jazz and was actually playing along to some RHCP over the weekend. Not sure what bass Flea was using (Stadium Arcadium) but the Jazz was nailing the tone.
