"J" pickups discussion and comparisons - PART II

[TN WOODMAN]

Wilde J-45. Enough said.

 

[LightForce104]

Aguilar AG 5J-HC ... humcancelling but you really don't feel it ...

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I absolutely despise the sound of Aguilars. To me, they always sound like someone plugged the nose of the bass.

Wilde J-45. Enough said.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check them out.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I absolutely despise the sound of Aguilars. To me, they always sound like someone plugged the nose of the bass.



Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check them out.

I don’t know what you are basing your judgement upon nor what you like in a jazz bass ... personally I like the sound of vintage single-coil pickups .. the Aguilars I mentioned are IMO the best HC pickups in reproducing the tone of vintage single-coil pickups ... you can check this out listening to this video which is clear and self-explanatory ... the Wilde and all these small-quantity produced pickups are for believers as it’s generally not possible to get any sound samples ...

Check out the Finger Funk section .. the HC are even better than the true single coils exhibiting a good vintage tone ... if you don’t like the vintage tone this is a different story but it does not have anything to do with Aguilar and I’m not an Aguilar endorser ... all my basses have got Fender pickups installed

 

[LightForce104]

I don’t know what you are basing your judgement upon nor what you like in a jazz bass ... personally I like the sound of vintage single-coil pickups .. the Aguilars I mentioned are IMO the best HC pickups in reproducing the tone of vintage single-coil pickups ... you can check this out listening to this video which is clear and self-explanatory ... the Wilde and all these small-quantity produced pickups are for believers as it’s generally not possible to get any sound samples ...

Check out the Finger Funk section .. the HC are even better than the true single coils wglhuchbhsce s goof vintage tone ... if you don’t like thd vintage tone this is a different story but it does not have anything to do with Aguilar and I’m not an Aguilar endorser ... all my basses have got Fender pickups installed

Thank you for posting that demo, but unfortunately, I just don't think I'm one for the vintage sound. I'm looking for a more full range pickup, one that captures more of the frequency spectrum. It is my intention to use my bass as a clean palette which I can shape using EQ, as I need to be able to switch musical genres very quickly. The Aguilar pickups are very colored, which is certainly useful, but not for my purposes.

 

[Eric ER]

Thank you for posting that demo, but unfortunately, I just don't think I'm one for the vintage sound. I'm looking for a more full range pickup, one that captures more of the frequency spectrum. It is my intention to use my bass as a clean palette which I can shape using EQ, as I need to be able to switch musical genres very quickly. The Aguilar pickups are very colored, which is certainly useful, but not for my purposes.

I really liked the Novak split j for this. I had it in a pj that I just sold and loved it. I have a fralin in the pj I still have, which is very vintage sounding. I may end up swapping it a the Novak in the future, despite the fact that the fralin sounds great.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Thank you for posting that demo, but unfortunately, I just don't think I'm one for the vintage sound. I'm looking for a more full range pickup, one that captures more of the frequency spectrum. It is my intention to use my bass as a clean palette which I can shape using EQ, as I need to be able to switch musical genres very quickly. The Aguilar pickups are very colored, which is certainly useful, but not for my purposes.

Aguilar are vintage sounding ... you may try the Aero type 1 then although I don’t know whether they make a humcancelling version of them ... surely they have a modern jazz bass timbre

EDIT

Check the thread Aero pickups religious experience from @IngloriousOz

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Never tried Anguilar pickups , probably because I never cared for their amp/cab tone and I really wanted to.

 

[Zant]

I had NJ4SV pickups with an ACG preamp and it was dead quiet, no hiss. The reason I got the ACG preamp was the tone filter WAL-ish sounds but also the Audere that I had in there with the same pickups gave me a high frequency hiss, not buzz or hum, but hiss. It could only be tamed by turning the treble down quite a bit. Now, I am one of the very few who had problems with an Audere preamp, so it must have been my particular setup or combination of things.

I run the Audere pre in my build with p/j DiMarzio and itsi dead quite

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Never tried Anguilar pickups , probably because I never cared for their amp/cab tone and I really wanted to.

Me either also because their stuff is expensive for just experimenting ... however I always judged split coils as killing the crispy ness of true single coils jazz bass pickups ... the mentioned video shows something different and to me pleasantly surprising ...

 

[NKBassman]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a relatively uncolored and full-range humcancelling 5 string pickup set? Looking for a blank slate that I can shape to my liking.

Maybe Dimarzio Ultra Jazz?

 

[bucephylus]

FWIW, my favorite humcancelling J profile pickups are the Delano JMVC’s. In fact, that’s all that I am using now in my J’s; except my 62, which currently has Seymour Duncan SJB2’s.

I suppose the looks of the JMVC’s may put traditionalists off. But, they produce a surprisingly well balanced vintage tone. Great pickups.

 

[DennisO]

Hi guys. I'm hoping yas can help me identify these 5 string Jazz pickups I bought about a year ago. At that time I was told that they came out of a 90's mij Fender Jazz. I didn't know any better. I came across the pickups today, I should tidy my room more often lol . I took a look to see if they looked like mij jazz pickups. As I'm sure you guys know way better than I do, almost every single Jazz pickup I looked at had 2 posts per string. This one, has only 1 post per string. Wish I had of measured them, but 1 is a little longer than the other. I took a few pics. Hope you guys can figure it out for me.

 

[DennisO]

View attachment 3126631 View attachment 3126633 Hi guys. I'm hoping yas can help me identify these 5 string Jazz pickups I bought about a year ago. At that time I was told that they came out of a 90's mij Fender Jazz. I didn't know any better. I came across the pickups today, I should tidy my room more often lol . I took a look to see if they looked like mij jazz pickups. As I'm sure you guys know way better than I do, almost every single Jazz pickup I looked at had 2 posts per string. This one, has only 1 post per string. Wish I had of measured them, but 1 is a little longer than the other. I took a few pics. Hope you guys can figure it out for me.

 

[bassdog]

Hey bottom dwellers,
I just got lucky with an ebay 2017 mim fully loaded Jazz body purchase that came with upgraded pups, Aguilar AG 4J-60s, and CTS pots. I put on a rw mim J neck from another bass I have. These are sweet pups! Very even, warm where warmth is needed/wanted, bright where that is needed/wanted. Growl and crunch with some thump too. Very happy with these AG 4J60s and the bass in general. Stay low, Bd.

 

[UmamiBass]

If these only have 1 pole per string, they may be some of the John Suhr era Fender deluxe pickups. I believe those were known only for a single pole piece. I did a Google image search to find an example, and this is what I got.

 

[DennisO]

If these only have 1 pole per string, they may be some of the John Suhr era Fender deluxe pickups. I believe those were known only for a single pole piece. I did a Google image search to find an example, and this is what I got.

View attachment 3127412

Yah they look the same on the top, wish I could see the bottom. I'll try to look them up.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

View attachment 3126631 View attachment 3126633 Hi guys. I'm hoping yas can help me identify these 5 string Jazz pickups I bought about a year ago. At that time I was told that they came out of a 90's mij Fender Jazz. I didn't know any better. I came across the pickups today, I should tidy my room more often lol . I took a look to see if they looked like mij jazz pickups. As I'm sure you guys know way better than I do, almost every single Jazz pickup I looked at had 2 posts per string. This one, has only 1 post per string. Wish I had of measured them, but 1 is a little longer than the other. I took a few pics. Hope you guys can figure it out for me.

I was going to suggest the Suhr-era Jazz basses as well. They look like hum-cancelling split coils from the bottom.

Also, I see the stray yellow wire in your photo, there is also a yellow in this photo:

I am willing to bet they are the Suhr pickups.

 

[Pbassmanca]

Well I had the wonderful experience again of playing the Flea road worn jazz bass, which I believe still has the Fender Pure Vintage 64' pickups installed in it. I have to say that in some respects these pick ups tick all the boxes for me. They have a full range sound with a nice deep bottom end, a clear tone with lots of mid-range variety and the highs did not seem overbearing. They really do remind me of the sound of vintage jazz bass pickups that you hear on certain records, in particular Willie weeks with Donny Hathaway which is a tone that just slays me. There is a certain quality to them that I can't quite describe it is different from some other jazz bass pickups. I'm not sure if it's because of the formvar wire that they are are wound with but they definitely sound different than your run-of-the-mill jazz bass pickups. There is a "dry-woodiness" to the tone, that favours the upper mids that I quite like when the tone is rolled back a bit, and the pickups seem to have a "wet", almost slightly compressed quality to them when the tone is up with both pickups on full. The sound is undoubtedly similar to early jazz bass pickups and I'm tempted to order a set of them just to see how they work in my Highway One jazz bass, although I'm also debating the merits of the Aguilar single coil Jazz bass pickups and the Klein single-coil Jazz bass pickups. Based on the way that they sound, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Fender pure vintage 64' Jazz bass pickups would sound particularly good with flat-wound strings, and I am keen to try them with this setup. The quest continues......

 

[JIO]

Well I had the wonderful experience again of playing the Flea road worn jazz bass, which I believe still has the Fender Pure Vintage 64' pickups installed in it. I have to say that in some respects these pick ups tick all the boxes for me. They have a full range sound with a nice deep bottom end, a clear tone with lots of mid-range variety and the highs did not seem overbearing. They really do remind me of the sound of vintage jazz bass pickups that you hear on certain records, in particular Willie weeks with Donny Hathaway which is a tone that just slays me. There is a certain quality to them that I can't quite describe it is different from some other jazz bass pickups. I'm not sure if it's because of the formvar wire that they are are wound with but they definitely sound different than your run-of-the-mill jazz bass pickups. There is a "dry-woodiness" to the tone, that favours the upper mids that I quite like when the tone is rolled back a bit, and the pickups seem to have a "wet", almost slightly compressed quality to them when the tone is up with both pickups on full. The sound is undoubtedly similar to early jazz bass pickups and I'm tempted to order a set of them just to see how they work in my Highway One jazz bass, although I'm also debating the merits of the Aguilar single coil Jazz bass pickups and the Klein single-coil Jazz bass pickups. Based on the way that they sound, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Fender pure vintage 64' Jazz bass pickups would sound particularly good with flat-wound strings, and I am keen to try them with this setup. The quest continues......

Great (discontinued) pu's - I use the PV '74 pu's in a J and they also sound great. (and still come up for sale but are also discontinued)

 

[PawleeP]

I don’t know what you are basing your judgement upon nor what you like in a jazz bass ... personally I like the sound of vintage single-coil pickups .. the Aguilars I mentioned are IMO the best HC pickups in reproducing the tone of vintage single-coil pickups ... you can check this out listening to this video which is clear and self-explanatory ... the Wilde and all these small-quantity produced pickups are for believers as it’s generally not possible to get any sound samples ...

Check out the Finger Funk section .. the HC are even better than the true single coils exhibiting a good vintage tone ... if you don’t like the vintage tone this is a different story but it does not have anything to do with Aguilar and I’m not an Aguilar endorser ... all my basses have got Fender pickups installed

the 70's sound a bit scooped