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Growliest, harshest Jazz pickups?

#21
Soberglitch said:
Like the title says I’m trying to find some really growly pickups for my jazz bass. The Fender vintage 60s that came stock are a little too mellow for my liking.

I’d like to keep the mids up and maybe throw some humbuckers in there. Passive and not straying too far from sounding like a jazz bass would probably be ideal.
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Can I ask what strings are you using?
 
#24
Soberglitch said:
I’ll give the Laklands a look then. Do they come stock in any of the Lakland basses or are they only aftermarket?

The pickups I have now are stock in my Fender 75th anniversary bass. Fender lists them as “Vintage-Style '60s Single-Coil Jazz Bass”
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I bought Lakland's Jazz pups from Best Bass Gear three or four years ago. BBG probably still carries it.
 
#26
While I’ll always encourage new pickups just because it’s good fun, there are other options you have. It helps to understand how the circuit works a little bit. You likely have 250k ohm volume pots, 250 is about as low as you’ll commonly see. What this does is let some of the signal, specifically the upper frequencies, bleed off to ground, and so it has a pretty big mellowing effect on the pickups. If you’re feeling froggy and want to learn and/or are adventurous you can try 500k pots, this will help retain more of the highs. There are two more stops on this train, the next is 1M pots which will be loud and brash for sure. The 4th and final stop is to just wire the pickups straight to the Jack. Maybe put a kill switch in there, but that will get you maximum output and treble possible from that pickup. Change your strings to some of the previous suggestions, maybe ticker with the wiring, and I bet you can find the tone you’re after much cheaper than new pickups. Not trying to talk you out of new pickups, just helping you understand all the options. If you don’t need to stick with the jazz shape and are willing to route 2 musicman pickups can get gnarly. Not sure if they are available yet but Jake Serek has been working on a bass P-90 called the B-90 that I’ve heard is killer too. Nordstrand big singles. Lot of ways you could go. Best of luck and have fun!
 
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#27
I forgot to mention that each jump up on the scale of pot values nets you more output in addition to the more highs. Think of it like plumbing and feeding your kitchen sink with progressively bigger pipes until the pipe is equal to the faucet.
 
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#29
BassFalcon said:
While I’ll always encourage new pickups just because it’s good fun, there are other options you have. It helps to understand how the circuit works a little bit. You likely have 250k ohm volume pots, 250 is about as low as you’ll commonly see. What this does is let some of the signal, specifically the upper frequencies, bleed off to ground, and so it has a pretty big mellowing effect on the pickups. If you’re feeling froggy and want to learn and/or are adventurous you can try 500k pots, this will help retain more of the highs. There are two more stops on this train, the next is 1M pots which will be loud and brash for sure. The 4th and final stop is to just wire the pickups straight to the Jack. Maybe put a kill switch in there, but that will get you maximum output and treble possible from that pickup. Change your strings to some of the previous suggestions, maybe ticker with the wiring, and I bet you can find the tone you’re after much cheaper than new pickups. Not trying to talk you out of new pickups, just helping you understand all the options. If you don’t need to stick with the jazz shape and are willing to route 2 musicman pickups can get gnarly. Not sure if they are available yet but Jake Serek has been working on a bass P-90 called the B-90 that I’ve heard is killer too. Nordstrand big singles. Lot of ways you could go. Best of luck and have fun!
Click to expand...
I’ll look into the pots then. Something I’ve been trying to learn more about anyways. I’m not experienced with the soldering iron but I should be fine taking it all apart again if the strings and/or pickups don’t give me exactly what I’m after.
Dave Leighton said:
Yes. I've gone down the string rabbit hole more than once. Am in the middle of one right now... I liked the Cobalts. But I liked the Rotos better. For me they kept the grind even after the zing calmed down.
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Ordering the Rotos then. I’d like to keep the highs and zing tamed a little so they sound like a better fit.
 
#34
I'm a big connoisseur of aggressive Jazz bass pickups. I can give you some good insight since that is my overall goal as well. First off, stay away from Dimarzio. They are too dark, even with 500k pots. I even tried 500k and no tone control and they are just to thick and humbucker like. They aren't bad but they take away from the single coil tone.
Stay away from Bartolini, they are too clean sounding except for maybe the B-Axis.
EMG is an ok choice if you don't mind as battery in the bass but it's not my top pick.
I've been really favoring the Custom Shop 60's with 500k pots. They have a nice mid range growl and the 500k pots give them more of a bite in the upper register.
Another good choice is the pickups that come stock with the MIM Geddy Lee. They are called American Vintage. They are more or less a run of the mill Alnico 5 pickup but they have a nice top end that is aggressive and growly. I've tried these in my custom built Jazz bass with 60's pickup spacing and they still had an aggressive character.
Fender AVRI 75 pickups. These are pretty growly and similar to American Vintage. Cheap too if you can find them.
Stay away from the Fender Pure 74s. I thought these would be aggressive but I found them to be pretty tame in my Custom built, especially compared to the American Vintage and Custom Shop.
 
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#37
Soberglitch said:
Like the title says I’m trying to find some really growly pickups for my jazz bass. The Fender vintage 60s that came stock are a little too mellow for my liking.

I’d like to keep the mids up and maybe throw some humbuckers in there. Passive and not straying too far from sounding like a jazz bass would probably be ideal.
Click to expand...
Keep the stock pickups and incorporate this into your signal chain. (Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe). Unfortunately, it appears they stopped production recently but you can snag one on Reverb for $189. Tons of tonal options (with 6 presets) if you so desire. Also two separate inputs and a DI.
Screenshot_20210609-091546_Chrome.jpg

I can get everything from a strong clean/clear vintage Jazz tone to slight growl/overdrive on up to crazy sounding modern overdrive. No need for new pickups!
 
#38
Soberglitch said:
Like the title says I’m trying to find some really growly pickups for my jazz bass. The Fender vintage 60s that came stock are a little too mellow for my liking.

I’d like to keep the mids up and maybe throw some humbuckers in there. Passive and not straying too far from sounding like a jazz bass would probably be ideal.
Click to expand...

I like the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickups.

I put a set in my MIM Jazz and it was like night and day. Growl definitely describes them.
 
#40
I bought a set of Wilkinson Js for one of my projects. They had an awesome growl that I didn’t expect from any J.
Their probably 1/8-1/2 the price of most of what has been mentioned so far. Cheap enough to try them out for sure.
 
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