Not rare- without purpose. Aftermarket neck on an ASAT that sold for just over half that a few weeks back.
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Not rare- without purpose. Aftermarket neck on an ASAT that sold for just over half that a few weeks back.
Huh. News to me. My MJ-5 had significant hum when used with one pickup only and that doesn't seem consistent with the dual coil notion—or perhaps the coils were side-by-side in the 4-string and there's an asymmetry in the 5-string. In any case, if you do a web search, this page describing the MJ-4 still shows up despite it no longer being available. And there's bi-coil pickup wording.
Like some others here, I never found my MJ-5's tone very inspiring: kind of vanilla bland. The however-many-coils J pickups and the M-series preamp just didn't do it for me, although that preamp in my M2500 is terrific. The straight J pickups in my JB-5 (no bi-coils) on the other hand are really excellent.
Yeah, I saw it sell for $730.00 on eBay. Almost bought it but couldn't see any use for it ( for me )
I know i LOVE the sound of them in my US JB2. I owned a '13 US Fender J with the Custom Shop '62 pickups prior to getting my jb2. (Sold after, i fell in instant love with the JB2's more compact body).
The sound is pretty similar, but i think the GL has more depth and clarity, and a brighter tone.
Seems I've read somewhere that the tribute models use different components/pickups to the US versions.
(?)
IvanBassist
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As far as I know, the tributes have the same pickups and bridge as the US models
That was certainly true at some point (e.g. my Tribute JB-2) which, had it had stronger signal, could have been insipid.
Yes, the JB-5 pickups sound fantastic. Even though I hate single coil hum, I have no intention of swapping them out.
I've never played an MJ-series bass, but from Ed Friedland's review of the MJ-4, it seems they were going for a "plain vanilla" active J-bass tone. If so, mission accomplished IMO. Nothing wrong with it, but not my thing:
For the series, single, parallel, or K mod on the L series does it require pickups with the extra blue wire? Pardon my ignorance but I'm a little confused. All the diagrams I can find show the extra blue wire.
I thought it was a mod you can do to a stock L bass that didn't require anything but a different kind of switch?
I thought it was a mod you can do to a stock L bass that didn't require anything but a different kind of switch?
That sounds really great to me, and I'm normally not a fan of active electronics.
It would be even better if the preamp was switchable,
Chef
In Memoriam
that may be the weirdest thing I've ever seen, and I'm extremely surprised the factory did that.
Attachments
Robert Fripp signature bass?
Well, I wonder how that was supposed to translate into the MJ-5? There was nothing humbucking about mine... Still, here's the old MJ-5 page from G&L where they talk about the bi-coil pickups. [Edit] To quote:
"A G&L Alnico Bi-coil pickup looks just like a classic Alnico single-coil, but under the cover are two side-by-side coils, configured in series-humbucking mode."
3+2 poles per coil?
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Can't see any further explanation on that Nordstrand page (3+2 or elsewise) other than their also stating that their pickups are hum-cancelling. I wonder if 3+2 is close enough, although they do call their pickups hum-free. I'm presuming there isn't an entire ghost coil somewhere in the design.
Edit: Found this image ostensibly from Nordstrand on Pinterest:
Can't see how this would be fully hum-cancelling. Improved certainly.
No, not at all. Very easy mod to do. Just a switch change. It's my favorite mode on mine.
I'll see if I can find the diagram I used. Take pictures before you start.
Mission accomplished! I'm unsure why G&L would go down that road.
I still think a jazz bass with half an L2K pickup would be pretty unique.
I think they should make a Kiloton/SB-1 combo like this one. Lots of good tones in there.
On the page I posted, there's a photo showing the 3+2 design, but you need to select it at the right of the large image.
I used a set for awhile in a 2008 Fender Jazz V, and I never noticed any hum at all. They had a more modern "shiny" tone than the stock Fender pickups (which IIRC sounded like the JB-5's pickups), which I wasn't crazy about, but to their credit they really came alive in a band mix. They recorded well too.
