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"J" pickups discussion and comparisons - PART II

#881
FonkBass said:
Tried Lindy Fralin, not for me. I was not happy with the highs. My favourites now are Fender CS60's and PV74.
Great lows mids and highs for my taste, and i have tried quite a few. I also have the Fender 75 reissue's in one of my basses, but they dont come close to the CS60's or PV74's...
Click to expand...

I put a set of Fender PV74s in a Fender 74 bass which never came with the original pickups.

How are the Lindy Fralins vs the PV74? What was different about the highs to you?

Thanks!
 
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#883
Would anyone care to recommend Js for my 16.5mm Warwick fretless 5- I need quiet so split coils preferably. I like warm tones and hot output. I usually run passive. Not necessarily wanting to highlight a lot of burp or mwah.
 
#884
Rayjay said:
Would anyone care to recommend Js for my 16.5mm Warwick fretless 5- I need quiet so split coils preferably. I like warm tones and hot output. I usually run passive. Not necessarily wanting to highlight a lot of burp or mwah.
Click to expand...

I'd check out J pickups that don't have traditional pole pieces, and instead use a bar magnet. Nordstrand warm and wooly J pickups use a bar, and should put out a hotter signal. I think they would be great, but they are single coils. If you don't have shielding, they'll do the typical J bass thing.

Aguilar just released a new set of J pickups that are hotter output, but I think they're targeted at a cleaner response. Still, they don't have pole pieces and should accommodate tighter string spacing.

Bartolini also make pickups with bar magnets, and they come in multiple "flavors" within the same pickup shape. I'm pretty sure they have something that would work in this territory of tone.

My personal favorite pickups are the Nordstrand NJ4-SE pickups. They're a bit more subdued in the high end, but are more aggressive than the SV pickups with the same configuration. I wouldn't say they don't have treble response, but they aren't meant to do the glassy hi-fi thing that some people like out of modern J pickups. To me they have a bigger envelope on the attack, they are growlier(a lot of people say that Nordstrands are on the polite site), I think they're more percussive, and they will keep you silent. You may have to ask them to make a pickup to match your string spacing, but sure they'd do it. It just may take a bit of time.
 
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#885
Those W&W Blades sound so good. I can’t detect any single coil him in any demo vids, and I *think* they’d hum much less than my passive MECs do. To be honest I’m really leaning towards the blades.

@UmamiBass I have NJ4SV Js in another bass. I’m pretty happy, they have a warm vibe. What is the SE designation? The SEs might bump my mids a bit more than I’m looking for, although I don’t want to get lost in the scooped mix our sound guys tend to EQ.
 
#886
Hello, I finally got my Kleins in today. The tone is just fabulous, and I’m not just saying that because I bought them :P. Will post a thread with more sound demos later, but for now here is a sound clip of me noodling Jaco’s interpretation of “Delores” using the bridge pickup, mistakes and all. Strings are GHS precision flats. DAW is garageband DI with some slight eq tweaks.
delores noodling.m4a
 
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#888
Rayjay said:
Those W&W Blades sound so good. I can’t detect any single coil him in any demo vids, and I *think* they’d hum much less than my passive MECs do. To be honest I’m really leaning towards the blades.

@UmamiBass I have NJ4SV Js in another bass. I’m pretty happy, they have a warm vibe. What is the SE designation? The SEs might bump my mids a bit more than I’m looking for, although I don’t want to get lost in the scooped mix our sound guys tend to EQ.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's hard to hear hum from them, but there's a lot we don't always know from demo videos. I think the blades are a great idea, especially for the price. I've bought multiple sets of J pickups from Nordstrand over the years, and the only ones I didn't especially care for were their 70's wind NJ4's.

That being said, and ironically, the SE uses the finer wire that they use in their 70's pickup, but has the same winding pattern as the NJ4-SV. I love those pickups too, and unfortunately I had a bass stolen with them that was probably the best sounding J bass I've ever owned. I don't know the stock sound of your Warwick. I find that the SE pickups have a bigger attack and sound thicker. I don't know if I'd say they sound bump the mids too much, but they have a subdued high end that isn't as present as the SV's.

The SV can get pretty bright with a tone control or an active circuit engaged. The first bass I put these in was a Lakland Darryl Jones, which was really aggressive sounding on its own, so I wanted to tame some of the highs and high mids. It ended up sounding like a really balanced instrument when I was done. The second bass I put them in is a Fender Custom Shop Custom Classic. The Lakland was an ash and maple combo, and the Fender is a rosewood alder bass. With the 2 band boost only circuit I put in the Fender, it also opened up the high end, and the bass sounds pretty balanced. It still can benefit from a bit of treble boost when I want to slap a lot, but it's in no way dark, just bigger sounding overall.

I hope that helps!
 
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#889
So I just picked up a set of SD Antiquity IIs
Always wanted to try them based on Smash's OG review
They replaced a set Model J's that I liked a lot but I wanted more cut and clarity
I installed a 500K series/parallel pot while I was in there

So far they are exactly what I was hoping for
Output volume about the same
Way brighter with way more clarity without sacrificing too much punch vs the Model J's which I would describe as thicker and darker - but with a punchy heft
The A string is especially noticeable for a sweet punchy tone
IMO this bodes well for the mix

I also have a set of PV74's in a different J Bass - same strings about the same age
I would place the PV74's in between the Model J's and the Antiquity IIs
They are thicker and a little darker with less clarity compared to the Antiquity's but are brighter and have more clarity than the Model J's
All have similar output

The real test will be Thursday with the band
 
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#890
SickAura said:
So I just picked up a set of SD Antiquity IIs
Always wanted to try them based on Smash's OG review
They replaced a set Model J's that I liked a lot but I wanted more cut and clarity
I installed a 500K series/parallel pot while I was in there

So far they are exactly what I was hoping for
Output volume about the same
Way brighter with way more clarity without sacrificing too much punch vs the Model J's which I would describe as thicker and darker - but with a punchy heft
The A string is especially noticeable for a sweet punchy tone
IMO this bodes well for the mix

I also have a set of PV74's in a different J Bass - same strings about the same age
I would place the PV74's in between the Model J's and the Antiquity IIs
They are thicker and a little darker with less clarity compared to the Antiquity's but are brighter and have more clarity than the Model J's
All have similar output

The real test will be Thursday with the band
Click to expand...

Did you have 500K pots with the Model J's? Very curious as to whether the pups, pots, or both made the bigger difference.
I bought Model J's when they first came out (early to mid 80's I think) for a 73' J that had really bad sounding stock pups.
Back then I don't think they suggested changing pot values and I never did. I have read that 500 K's really open up the tone and brightness. I'm hesitant to change pots in this bass as it wasn't "collectable" when I bought it and I never flound it that dark.
 
#894
Pantone 333 said:
I could not be happier with the Nordstrand NJ4SV. I have a 2008 Fednder Custom Shop Jazz and I really liked the pickups it came with ... except the single coil buzz/hum. The Nordstrands sound exactly like the Fender pickups, only much quieter. Huge upgrade and very worth it.

NJ4SV Vintage Hum-Cancelling
Click to expand...


I've been looking at these

No where to be found except through the Nordstrand site

Dealers?

Thanks, by the way
 
#896
Just going to post this (likely) dumb question here, but I guess I want to be sure:

If I have two pickups, same model, and one has a higher resistance than the other, will the one with higher resistance have more output and I mean actually be louder?
 
#898
Zoot H Rollo said:
not necessarily

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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Thanks that was helpful. My reason for asking has nothing to do with Jazz Bass pickups, but does help explain why I have found when I use a 5% overwound pickups in the bridge position and stock winds in the neck position of my jazzes, it seems to give a great balance. The overwound pickup in the bridge may be a bit hotter and darker, which might beef up the typically thinner tone of bridge pickup.

My real reason for asking is for a Telecaster bass mod that I’m doing. I have a ‘73 Tele bass that someone before me had cut in a Jazz Bass pickup at the bridge position. I’ll be routing out the J-bass cut and putting a second WRHB pickup in place of it and I want to put the hotter/louder one of the two I have in the bridge position. I might find they both read essentially equal and all this is moot. I just received the other one today so I haven’t had time to check them both. I’ll follow up if anyone is interested.
 
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#899
Could anyone help me with finding good replacements for my Bartolini 9S pickups?
I like how they sound, but in my bass there is some interplay with the screws, that catch vibrations elsewhere on the bass, effectively making the pickups microphonic. I've been searching for non-ferrous screws with the right dimensions, but no luck yet. A different set of the same pickups gave the same result.
(I made a thread about this a few years ago)

So what I'm looking for are J-pickups that sound as close as possible to Bartolini 9S ('Original Single Coil J-Bass'), that don't have the interplay with ferrous screws.

Thanks!
 
#900
I've currently got Sire and Delanos in jazz config and I'd describe the sound as 'agricultural' in that I can use them but they are not my favourites.
I have Barts with a John East and that combo might make me sell the bass.

My very best combo is CS Noiseless with a Glock pre. Very natural but not that loud.

My next bass has Nordstrand JB plus Pope flexicore.

I run my pre's close to passive sound and I find East colour the sound the most, which I'm not looking for.
 

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