Growly J pickups and advice for noob

[Sands]

LOL!!

 

[Artman]

Basses of mine that give huge amounts of growl:
Pedulla Buzz (fretless) ebony board, maple neck-through, Bartolini J-J, Labella LT flats.
Fender Standard MIM Jazz Bass fretted pau Ferro board, maple neck, DiMarzio Model Js, D'addario NYXLs
Fender Player Precision MIM, maple neck and fretted maple board, Fender Original 62 pickup, Labella LT flats.
Sterling by Musician Ray4 Stingray basswood body, fretted rosewood board, maple neck, Seymour Duncan 70's alnico MM pickup, D'addario balanced tension nickel rounds.
They all growl as much as I want them to anytime I play them.
I think strings and pickups are responsible for much of it, and of course setup and technique. Not so much wood.
Ymmv

 

[Kipp Harrington]

OK, so I've been at this long enough that it's time to try a little project over the upcoming winter holiday break. I have a gorgeous Yamaha BB 404 (it's a J bass) that I bought on the TB classifieds and it feels (and looks) great, but I think the pickups are a bit lacking. So, it's time for me to try my hand at replacing pickups. I am... I'm not great at soldering, but I'm not entirely incompetent with a soldering iron and I can read a circuit diagram, so why not?

This leads to a couple questions.

Question #1: Which pickups should I get?

I want something growly, but I can be even more specific. I want growl something along the lines of this:



If I'm going to err, I'd want to err on the slightly more growly side than that, if that makes any sense. What do the TB experts recommend here? Dimarzio Model J? Nordstrands?

Question #2: How to get started?

I know there are lots of guides, but which ones are good ones? I'm also kind of thinking about changing from the current VVT setup to a VBT setup. How hard is that?

Just use a cool sounding Preamp pedal. May I suggest the Tech21 YYZ? I love mine! And it makes ALL my basses sound great!

 

[Ric5]

OK, so I've been at this long enough that it's time to try a little project over the upcoming winter holiday break. I have a gorgeous Yamaha BB 404 (it's a J bass) that I bought on the TB classifieds and it feels (and looks) great, but I think the pickups are a bit lacking. So, it's time for me to try my hand at replacing pickups. I am... I'm not great at soldering, but I'm not entirely incompetent with a soldering iron and I can read a circuit diagram, so why not?

This leads to a couple questions.

Question #1: Which pickups should I get?

I want something growly, but I can be even more specific. I want growl something along the lines of this:



If I'm going to err, I'd want to err on the slightly more growly side than that, if that makes any sense. What do the TB experts recommend here? Dimarzio Model J? Nordstrands?

Question #2: How to get started?

I know there are lots of guides, but which ones are good ones? I'm also kind of thinking about changing from the current VVT setup to a VBT setup. How hard is that?

to get that sound get this pedal

Link Removed

 

[Hankenstein]

Frailin w 10% overwind!!

I speak from experience.

 

[SunByrne]

But if you do just wanna mess around with pickup swaps (sounds like you do!), is there a budget you have in mind?

Great question!

I'd like to stay under $200 for the set, which narrows the space a little, though not all that much. These are all within-budget:

Dimarzio Model J or Ultra
Nordstrand NJ4
Seymour Duncan QP or Heavy Weather
Fralin standard

Based on what people have said so far, sounds like Model Js or Fralins are both good choices. Model Js are cheaper and the Fralins have a 3 week lead time, but I can handle 3 weeks. 5% or 10% overwind have both been suggested...

 

[Dave Leighton]

If you're pretty new at this, let me cut to the chase:.You can't buy that sound with new pickups. It's in the hands, the amp, the settings on the bass and amp, plus how and who recorded it.

Or you can learn to solder on your own bass, buy new ones and more than likely not get that tone.

You can certainly do what you want, but my advice is to try brighter strings on a professionally set up bass. Plus, what about your amp vs. what's used on that clip?

It's near impossible to buy your way into replicating another player's tone.

This, this, this... I can give my suggestions. When it comes to tone. The fingers mater...

 

[semiprohooker]

That tone is all in the strings, setup, and fingers.

But, you wanna swap pickups. So let's do the damn thing.


First, get you a John East preamp, it'll fit in any jazz cavity and give you more adjustment than you could ever need right on your bass. AND it has screw terminals so no soldering required making any future pickup swaps STUPID EASY.

Second, I love bartolini classic series. Nordstrand are also very good. But to be perfectly honest, if you get the setup and strings right... Damn near any good pickup is gonna do you well for that ballpark of tone. Especially when couple with that preamp that can dial exactly what you need on top of what you have.

 

[mdogs]

Plenty of love for Dimarzio Model J's. But, I have a J with Area J's that I absolutely love the tone on. I don't use it live too much, the output is lower than a lot of my basses. But, recording wise, it sounds so good. I didn't think I liked Dimarzio's until I got this bass, but I guess I was wrong. I have other J's with Norstrand, Lollar and Fender and I think the Dimarzios sound the best.

 

[TJH3113]

Tom Brantley Rewinds rewound p/u's for Geddy Lee and sells them. Doesn't get more growlier than that... and he's a great guy. He demagnetized an old Guild p/u for me, quick and cheap.

 

[conttador]

You may want to try the Duncan Weather Report pickups. They're pretty hot.

 

[Gasman]

Get a Sansamp BDDI. Dial in your growl, not committed to a single instrument

 

[Grahams Groove]

I have an Adam Clayton jazz that came stock with 60s single coils. The dude who sold it to me put EMG-JVX pickups in. Not an active preamp, but the pickups are active and require a single 9V tucked into the control cavity. They're one of the most full range, grunty pickups I've played, especially when I dig in. They aren't hot like a stingray or other basses with active preamps. So the bass plays really well with pedals…it's just got a bit "more" of everything and it makes them easy to growl.

 

[MIMike]

You may want to try the Duncan Weather Report pickups. They're pretty hot.

SD Heavy Weather PUs?

 

[conttador]

SD Heavy Weather PUs?

Yup, Heavy Weather is an album by Weather Report.

Heavy Weather Jazz Bass Pickups | Seymour Duncan

 

[Doug4321]

Just use a cool sounding Preamp pedal. May I suggest the Tech21 YYZ? I love mine! And it makes ALL my basses sound great!

Oh yeah. For circa $200 that should do a lot more than pickups. Lots of growl and tone shaping on tap.

 

[Ric5]

OK, so I've been at this long enough that it's time to try a little project over the upcoming winter holiday break. I have a gorgeous Yamaha BB 404 (it's a J bass) that I bought on the TB classifieds and it feels (and looks) great, but I think the pickups are a bit lacking. So, it's time for me to try my hand at replacing pickups. I am... I'm not great at soldering, but I'm not entirely incompetent with a soldering iron and I can read a circuit diagram, so why not?

This leads to a couple questions.

Question #1: Which pickups should I get?

I want something growly, but I can be even more specific. I want growl something along the lines of this:



If I'm going to err, I'd want to err on the slightly more growly side than that, if that makes any sense. What do the TB experts recommend here? Dimarzio Model J? Nordstrands?

Question #2: How to get started?

I know there are lots of guides, but which ones are good ones? I'm also kind of thinking about changing from the current VVT setup to a VBT setup. How hard is that?

it is not the pickups it is effects

 

[Levent]

As everyone here stated growl is a combination of many elements. If I wanted a random brand jazz bass growl I'd put on new 45 105 strings, increase pick up height, crank tone / little gain from amp at sweet spot and dig in a little more while playing. It will growl 100% no exception.
Aside from these my favourite single coil is Sadowsky and humbucker is Delano

 

[legalbass]

After that, the neck. I tried Rotosound 66, new, on a Status Graphite. Given enough HF and drive there can be a snarl, but no deep growl. That most often comes from the composite necks usually found basses with necks of mixed woods and a truss rod helping to add to the complexity of neck resonances.

I also find Status basses (and in large part, Status necks) are designed to offer the cleanest possible tone. You can of course process the bass's signal to "dirty" it up but if someone is looking for a bass with an inherently snarly tone, Status ain't it.

 

[BaileyMan]

Not really sure if your "growly" is the same as mine, but I've got some Nordstrand Big Blades, I think they're the warm and wooly variety, and they are the growliest pickups I've got out of my 6 basses.

There's a little bit of a dirty edge that sounds killer. In my opinion / experience about 180⁰ different from Bartolini's (admittedly I haven't played every variety of Barts). Those are some of the cleanest, most present pickups, and also among my favs, that I've played.

Seriously, check out the Nordy Big Blades. I've been converted.