"J" pickups discussion and comparisons - PART II

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

How did you end up liking your pickups? I've had mine for a while now, and I think they're pretty good for the most part, but have a but too much sparkle when combined with my East preamp. I'm going to take the preamp down to a 9v setup soon, and am changing out the wiring to include a higher value capacitor right before it hits the preamp to see if it smooths them out a little.

While they were a great value, and do most things well, I'm kind of missing my Nordstrand NJ4SV + 2 band that I had on a previous jazz bass that got stolen from me. I'm still thinking about checking out the Fralin Splits and having Curtis Novak wind some splits for me also, to keep the East preamp installed. I just want something that has a little more growl and a little more vintage type vibe. I'm not sure if the Nordstrands will do that exactly.

They are sparkling even without any preamp ... you need to tweak your EQ to find an optimum balance ... however I wouldn’t touch the preamp, I would rather change the pickups ... in fact I’m not entirely satisfied as well and I’m planning now to explore a full Nordstrand solution with NJ4 70s and their 2 band preamp, same setup you now miss

 

[Pbassmanca]

ive posted quite a bit about the 2 different antiquity sets over the years. given the same amount of turns, the ant 1's are a little softer in the high mids than the ant 2's. pre cbs pickups have a high mid content combined with a top end presence which most "vintage" pickups miss out on ime. the ant 1's get there a little closer.

Did Fender ever actually use Alnico 2 for magnets in their bass pickups?

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Did Fender ever actually use Alnico 2 for magnets in their bass pickups?

Yes, with some divergence of opinions with JimmyM, I’m praising the virtues of the V-mod pickups Fender currently installs in their Am. Professional P basses as they are made of a mix of AlNiCo 5 and 2 magnets (5 for E and G strings and 2 for A and D) as they yield a true, smooth 60s P bass sound ... I’m releasing two videos comparing the V-mod to the GZR although using two different P basses ... problems in recording from YouTube which forces to r curd with the phone microphone but I hope it will gget ve an indication of the tonal properties of the two pickups ...

 

[bdplaid]

I went with Fender 70's Jazz pickups and love them. Just the right amount of bark and sparkle. better than anything else I tried, especially the Fender 60's (and other maker's versions of these), which i really disliked for being too bright.

 

[bdplaid]

Yes, with some divergence of opinions with JimmyM, I’m praising the virtues of the V-mod pickups Fender currently installs in their Am. Professional P basses as they are made of a mix of AlNiCo 5 and 2 magnets (5 for E and G strings and 2 for A and D) as they yield a true, smooth 60s P bass sound ... I’m releasing two videos comparing the V-mod to the GZR although using two different P basses ... problems in recording from YouTube which forces to r curd with the phone microphone but I hope it will gget ve an indication of the tonal properties of the two pickups ...

I really didn't like the V-mods in the AmPro I sold. Way too bright, IMO. But the mix of magnet types was surprisingly OK.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

I really didn't like the V-mods in the AmPro I sold. Way too bright, IMO. But the mix of magnet types was surprisingly OK.

Don’t know about the J bass V-mods, but those on the P basses are all but bright ... I mean if for you they are bright you shall avoid the GZR like the plague then

 

[Rbh]

Hello all - My first post here and I'm hoping someone can advise. I'm repairing a 73 Jazz neck pick-up. It's Ohming out at about 4 meg and drifting to about 2 meg. The Bridge is about 7.2 K. So I'm going to take it apart to check termination and maybe peel a wind if needed and re-terminate. So, my though is - if this strikes out - would there be any value to baking it out and should I need to reseal w varnish ? I'm presuming a mild temp of 175 deg F to 200 deg F for about an hour.

Ok--- just to follow up. I'm basically an asshat for reading my fingers at 4 meg !....yea it took me a few minutes to realize that's what I was reading. So, the original neck -73 Jazz pick-up is open and I replaced it with a new fender split coil that my brother had bought on sale. Good thing is the new Fender P/U sounds very good - I think it's the first time I've used a split pick-up. I'm hoping to get the original re-wound or do it myself if I can find a winder on the cheap. In a previous employed life I used to make and wind transformers, but that was 20 years ago.

 

[UmamiBass]

They are sparkling even without any preamp ... you need to tweak your EQ to find an optimum balance ... however I wouldn’t touch the preamp, I would rather change the pickups ... in fact I’m not entirely satisfied as well and I’m planning now to explore a full Nordstrand solution with NJ4 70s and their 2 band preamp, same setup you now miss

Man, I'm so glad I'm not the only one experiencing that! I thought I had a terrible case of G.A.S. and I wasn't trying to make up what I was hearing. I think these pickups may be great in a passive bass, but they're really harsh with a preamp. I'm going to swap them out to the stacked vintage noiseless for now I think, and get a better idea of the preamp sound before I'd go replacing it.

I have a Nordstrand bass, and I've used Nordstrand pickups or preamps in the last 3 builds I did too, so I was hoping for a little change with these and that the Fender pickups might fit the bill. I'd really like to do a more modern meets vintage thing with this bass, and the Nordstrands, while great in their own way, are a little too modern. I think either Fralins or the Novak pickups may do something different to the vibe being that they're both hand-wound pickups. I know that Carey kind of has a simulated hand-wound thing going on with his stuff, but the coil shapes are so consistent that sometimes they lack the uniqueness that I was kind of hoping for in this bass. Who know though, I may just end up going back to that sound because I know it works so well!

 

[pbass888]

Hey fellow TB ‘ers

I am interested in installing a set of EMG J solderless pick ups and preamp into an old early 80s MIJ fretless jazz bass. I have been reading through the threads about EMGs and there’s been lots of information that is very helpful.

My question is will I have to install a route, or carve out an area with the new solderless system, or will the 9 V battery fit in the original control cavity , like an audere preamp?
Thank you!
Pbass888

 

[Pete Greaves]

My experience was that you could not fit the battery in no matter how you tried. I ended up routing it under the pickup which is a bit of a pain to change the battery, but honestly how often do you do it? My only question is do you want to do that on an older bass worth quite a lot? I did it myself but if the bass is worth something I would consider paying someone to do a good job.
Pete

 

[pbass888]

My experience was that you could not fit the battery in no matter how you tried. I ended up routing it under the pickup which is a bit of a pain to change the battery, but honestly how often do you do it? My only question is do you want to do that on an older bass worth quite a lot? I did it myself but if the bass is worth something I would consider paying someone to do a good job.
Pete

Thank you Pete Greaves! I imagined so , Someone actually told me you could do it. I believe it’s a pro job with routing. Thankyou for sharing your experience!

 

[dustklose]

Just picked up a set of Model J's after many weeks of listening to samples for different J pickups. They are the first aftermarket pickups I will have ever installed, and are going into a Squier VM '77. Should be in tomorrow.

 

[Pbassmanca]

Just picked up a set of Model J's after many weeks of listening to samples for different J pickups. They are the first aftermarket pickups I will have ever installed, and are going into a Squier VM '77. Should be in tomorrow.

Ah, very exciting. Interested to hear your take on how they sound...

 

[crucislancer]

I had a set of Model J's on a mid 90's MiM Jazz a few years back. Monster low end on that bass, quite powerful compared to the Fender 62's on my other Jazz at the time.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Hey fellow TB ‘ers

I am interested in installing a set of EMG J solderless pick ups and preamp into an old early 80s MIJ fretless jazz bass. I have been reading through the threads about EMGs and there’s been lots of information that is very helpful.

My question is will I have to install a route, or carve out an area with the new solderless system, or will the 9 V battery fit in the original control cavity , like an audere preamp?
Thank you!
Pbass888

Don’t actually know about the cavity of a jazz bass but I couldn’t install the PAX pickup plus battery inside the cavity of a MIJ PB70 bass ... I had to excavate the cavity bottom but it was hard ash and I did t have a router .. I decided then to go for a passive GZR pickup installing the PAX on a plywood Hondo II which I excavated the cavity of using a screwdriver .... of course this is something that shall not be done in any valuable instrument although the “routing” work, although very bad, is fully concealed behind the pickguard

 

[pbass888]

Don’t actually know about the cavity of a jazz bass but I couldn’t install the PAX pickup plus battery inside the cavity of a MIJ PB70 bass ... I had to excavate the cavity bottom but it was hard ash and I did t have a router .. I decided then to go for a passive GZR pickup installing the PAX on a plywood Hondo II which I excavated the cavity of using a screwdriver .... of course this is something that shall not be done in any valuable instrument although the “routing” work, although very bad, is fully concealed behind the pickguard

Thankyou it seems similar on a jazz bass, so I may just go with the stock pickups and an Audere , which I have had really good results with . Thanks for your comments!

 

[MDBass]

If you guys haven't check out the new Nordstrand J Blades yet, I highly recommend them

 

[NKBassman]

If you guys haven't check out the new Nordstrand J Blades yet, I highly recommend them

Lol, sweet vid! Just not super helpful as a pickup demo. haha

 

[MDBass]

Lol, sweet vid! Just not super helpful as a pickup demo. haha

Hahaha, I'll do a cleaner one soon

They have a really musical sounding midrange and gobs of punch.

 

[pbass888]

Thank you everyone for the emg battery cavity information. So I have narrowed down to the following for my 4 string fretless fender
1. the active j set
2. the active jcs set (ceramic magnet )
I am going with a emg preamp for the pickups.

Has anyone had any experience with the jcs set?


I Play exclusively finger style jazz and reggae.
Thank you!