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"J" pickups discussion and comparisons - PART II
- Thread starter grygrx
- Start date
Here is my JB-2jazz base with flat wounds. I’m just noodling around. I’m not trying to show off or anything. I just do this as a hobby
Wow, Pitbull audio delivers!
Ordered Friday and pickups arrived today.
Wanna install them so bad right now.
Ordered Friday and pickups arrived today.
Wanna install them so bad right now.
Hi there! I have a Harley Benton Mj-5eb.
I love my 5eb but I find the preamp could use a mid control especially since it has a humbucker.
I'm looking for a drop in pre-amp.
I'm ok giving up the series/parallel switch if necessary.
Aside from defretting a bass, or replacing a tuner, this will be my first real "mod" . What would you're recommendations be?
Also i'm going into this thinking a jazz bass plate "drop-in" would be able to work for this bass.
Ideally i wouldn't want to spend more than $200 if possible. Thank you!
I love my 5eb but I find the preamp could use a mid control especially since it has a humbucker.
I'm looking for a drop in pre-amp.
I'm ok giving up the series/parallel switch if necessary.
Aside from defretting a bass, or replacing a tuner, this will be my first real "mod" . What would you're recommendations be?
Also i'm going into this thinking a jazz bass plate "drop-in" would be able to work for this bass.
Ideally i wouldn't want to spend more than $200 if possible. Thank you!
Hi everyone- I’ve been reading through tons of postings on this and the previous thread and listening to a lot of videos in search of the right upgrade pick ups for my American Professional 2 Jazz, which I find kind of thin and boring, and it’s a little information overload so hoping to learn from the wisdom of someone here by adding to the thread.
I’m basically looking for something versatile with big but not sloppy low end which can cut through distorted guitars with some grind and clank almost like a Rick. I play mostly rock, pick and fingerstyle, no slapping- everything from classic rock to noise rock to metal. I like the demos I’ve heard of the Dimarzio Model J a lot but want a bit more vintage tone and high end grind. Based on my research, top picks are maybe Nordstrand NJ4SE, SD Antiquity 2, Lindy Fralin 10% overwound and Lollar 70s. Any thoughts? Thanks!
I’m basically looking for something versatile with big but not sloppy low end which can cut through distorted guitars with some grind and clank almost like a Rick. I play mostly rock, pick and fingerstyle, no slapping- everything from classic rock to noise rock to metal. I like the demos I’ve heard of the Dimarzio Model J a lot but want a bit more vintage tone and high end grind. Based on my research, top picks are maybe Nordstrand NJ4SE, SD Antiquity 2, Lindy Fralin 10% overwound and Lollar 70s. Any thoughts? Thanks!
I have a few J-basses, from a couple of 1970, a ‘72, a ‘73 and a ‘75, with a number of combinations of Frahlin’s in most. In one of my 1970’s, I have a split coil Frahlin standard wind in the neck with a 5% over split coil in the bridge, and it rocks pretty good. This is with the ‘60’s bridge pickup position, BTW. I say, however, I put a set of Lollars (not ‘70’s version) in my ‘73 Jazz (which has an aftermarket body with ‘60’s bridge pickup location as well), and these single coils have a good balance and a gritty full tone that I keep finding myself going back to. Funny that my parts Jazz is my go to over my more vintage ones. I put a set of standard wound single coil Frahlin’s in my ‘72, (‘70’s bridge pickup location) and it’s pretty good too, but I think, so far, the Lollar’s seem to have my attention. I’d say they are a little more aggressive, maybe closer to the Ric like tone your looking for.
Anyone have a Klein Epic ‘62 Jazz set in one of their basses? I haven’t seen much talk about those.
I do not, but I can vouch for their '55 Strat pickups. Great customer service, great product.
Apologies if this has covered before.
I have a 2012 new old stock Fender Custom Shop ‘64 Jazz Bass. Great player.
What are the pickup specs? I gleaned from other threads they are mild compared to hotter windings. For reference, they are weaker than my P-Bass pup. That is a Custom Vintage ‘59 Split Single-Coil Pickup.
What other drop-in Fender pickups are owners substituting?
I have a 2012 new old stock Fender Custom Shop ‘64 Jazz Bass. Great player.
What are the pickup specs? I gleaned from other threads they are mild compared to hotter windings. For reference, they are weaker than my P-Bass pup. That is a Custom Vintage ‘59 Split Single-Coil Pickup.
What other drop-in Fender pickups are owners substituting?
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Does anyone have any recommendations for a long/long pickup set (each pickup is 3.73")? The stock pickups pretty much disintegrated in my '94 Jazz V Plus, and I want to replace them before I sell it.
I know Dimarzio has sets that fit in there, but I'm having a hard time finding any used. It wouldn't make sense to shell out for a new set then immediately lose that money when I sell it. Any sets that are cheap or commonly available on the used market?
I know Dimarzio has sets that fit in there, but I'm having a hard time finding any used. It wouldn't make sense to shell out for a new set then immediately lose that money when I sell it. Any sets that are cheap or commonly available on the used market?
They were very noisy, and I noticed that the bass was picking up a lot of interference, so I took everything out to shield the cavities. When I took one of the pickups out, I noticed a washer jammed up inside the cover, and a rubber washer/adhesive(?) that kept part of the grounding baseplate attached has dissolved. There may be a point where I can solder it back on, but if that doesn't work, I'd like to have a backup plan in terms of pickups.
As far as bang for the buck goes, it's going to be hard to beat DiMarzios. Here's the thing -- if you're selling a 94 Jazz V Plus (Fender, not Squier, right?), and it currently has non-functioning pickups in it, you have a choice. You can either sell it as is, or you can sell it without any pickups. In either of those cases, you'll have to take a significant discount. Or you can replace the pickups with something new (new to the bass). But you'll have to disclose that to any potential buyer. So you don't want to put expensive pickups in there because you'll likely not see that money back in the sale... but you also don't want to put crap pickups in there. So you want something with decent quality, something a buyer isn't going to feel compelled to replace as soon as he/she gets the bass.
But regarding the noise, single coil J pickups can be really noisy, depending on your EM environment. That's just the nature of the beast. A rubber washer jammed up inside of the cover is unusual, certainly, but unless the windings of the pickup were smooshed, that shouldn't have any impact on the amount of noise in the signal. The grounding baseplate is sort of a throwback that nobody uses any more in modern basses. A full shielding job does what the grounding plate is supposed to do, and does it better.
Normally, this is the point where I'd advise you to try a set of hum-canceling pickups and do a full shielding job. Since you're selling it, I don't know how much time you want to put into it. The good news is that DiMarzio pickups are hum canceling and relatively inexpensive. And copper tape with conductive adhesive is easy to find and not necessarily that expensive if you shop around. (I use something like this from ebay, in 10mm or 15mm.) That is money you probably will see back in a sale.
But until then, I recommend troubleshooting the noise. See if it changes based on where you are or which way you're facing. See if it gets worse or better as you move away from your computer, or fluorescent light, or dimmer switches. That sort of thing.
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Thank you so much. This inspired me to be patient and troubleshoot. Since I had some time today and yesterday, I fully redid the shielding paint (I happened to have some from an old project that never panned out), glued the pickup back together, and redid the wiring, and it sounds good as new.
I knew something was up since the Lace Sensors are supposed to technically be humbucking. The shielding certainly helped (didn't solve it completely, but the front of the pickup is still exposed so some interference is inevitible), but the most embarrassing part is that I had an extra 12db of gain on the input of the plugin I was using, so of course the signal to noise ratio was atrocious. It's quieter with the extra shielding, but backing off on the gain definitely helped a ton too.
Thanks again!
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If I have two of the same pickups, say Original Jazz bass pickups from 1974, with the neck pickup at about 10k, and the bridge is 11k, does that mean the bridge pup is 10% overwound?
Likely not. Bridge pickups are typically a little hotter than neck pickups, because the range of string vibrations is less at the bridge pickup position. So it needs a little more oomph to balance with the output from a bridge pickup.
Ok, here’s another question:
I have 2 mid ‘70’s P-bass pickups, one reads 10.66k, the other reads 11.72k.
Since 10.66 x .1 = 1.066, meaning 1.066 is 10% of 10.66k, added that to 10.66k = 11.72k would that mean the 11.72k pickup is 10% overwound as compared to the 10.66k one?
I have 2 mid ‘70’s P-bass pickups, one reads 10.66k, the other reads 11.72k.
Since 10.66 x .1 = 1.066, meaning 1.066 is 10% of 10.66k, added that to 10.66k = 11.72k would that mean the 11.72k pickup is 10% overwound as compared to the 10.66k one?
Not necessarily. Apparently you are thinking strictly in terms of measurable resistance as a means of comparing pickups. It is sometimes a useful tool for comparing, but there are many more variables than that. (The old adage about "when your only tool is a hammer, all your problems look like nails" seems appropriate here.)
The key really is what did the designer of the pickup intend? Pickup creation can be a mix of plan/trial-&-error, but there will be an end result that represents what the designer wanted, and is now happy with. That's the pickup that goes to market. So that's the baseline (see what I did there?) -- that now represents the zero point for lack of a better term, and now you can measure 10% upwinding from that.
To put it another way, if you know for a fact that those two pickups you measured started out as the same model of pickup, then you could reasonable conclude that one of them is roughly 10% overwound compared to the other. But if they are different models of pickup, even though they are both P pickups, then you can't really come to that conclusion. You might be able to conclude that one pickup is a little hotter than the other, but even that might not be true. You'd have to hear them together and do an A/B comparison to know for sure.
By the way, in my previous post, I meant to say, "Bridge pickups are typically a little hotter than neck pickups, because the range of string vibrations is less at the bridge pickup position. So it needs a little more oomph to balance with the output from a neck pickup."
The key really is what did the designer of the pickup intend? Pickup creation can be a mix of plan/trial-&-error, but there will be an end result that represents what the designer wanted, and is now happy with. That's the pickup that goes to market. So that's the baseline (see what I did there?) -- that now represents the zero point for lack of a better term, and now you can measure 10% upwinding from that.
To put it another way, if you know for a fact that those two pickups you measured started out as the same model of pickup, then you could reasonable conclude that one of them is roughly 10% overwound compared to the other. But if they are different models of pickup, even though they are both P pickups, then you can't really come to that conclusion. You might be able to conclude that one pickup is a little hotter than the other, but even that might not be true. You'd have to hear them together and do an A/B comparison to know for sure.
By the way, in my previous post, I meant to say, "Bridge pickups are typically a little hotter than neck pickups, because the range of string vibrations is less at the bridge pickup position. So it needs a little more oomph to balance with the output from a neck pickup."
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