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Jazz Bass Pickup upgrade (???)

#3
I like my Fender Custom Shops. If I was looking to boost a jazz in tone I would look at Nordstrands. There you have three drop in options, two of them humbucking. I just put a Nordstrand pickup in a P-bass and I really like it. Great definition and clarity.
 
#5
I recently dropped some Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pups into my MIM Jazz and it sounds great. Played around with the actual pup height for a while but now I can get a real punchy fat (well as fat as single coils will get) with a nice vintage snap. Really impressed and for $100 you can't beat it. BTW, get them through www.bestbassgear.com, I'm completely impressed with their service.
 
#9
I have a set of DiMarzio Model J's in my 2006 Fender Highway 1 Jazz bass and they are awesome. Fat bottom with a good midrange and decent high end and dead quiet. They are a side-by-side humbucker, not a single coil and the fact that they are a four conductor pickup means that you can wire them like your original pickups or wire them with a mini-toggle switch for series/parallel. And they are not too expensive. I'll give you a link. They will make your bass sound much better. Highly recommended. )-(

Link Removed
 
#10
spc said:
what don't you like about the stock pickups?


shawn
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Nothing in particular. I haven't used anything else, and I'm just wondering if there is something better.


Lincoln said:
Aero's are great as well/

The key is what type of "J bass" sound you are looking to get. There are those who are vintage tone purists and those who want more modern tones.

Are you adding a preamp? that will make a difference, as well.
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For this J, i'm going to stick to passive tone. When I'm ready for something new, I'll probably end up picking up a Deluxe Jazz. I love the sound of an old bass, but in no way a purist. So I would like a little more of a modern sound.
 
#13
I have a MIM Jazz that I put some Fender Custom Shop 60's in and it 1made a big difference. The bass is still bright but more body. The tone knob came a live. These babies are hot.

I was able to pick them up from a fellow TBer for less than a hundred bucks. I would do it again.
 
#16
dagrev said:
I have a MIM Jazz that I put some Fender Custom Shop 60's in and it 1made a big difference. The bass is still bright but more body. The tone knob came a live. These babies are hot.

I was able to pick them up from a fellow TBer for less than a hundred bucks. I would do it again.
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I must be deaf or sumthin cause I just swapped PU's on my MIM J-bass -04 to the Custom Shop's and the only diff that I noticed was that the volume over all strings was more uniform with the CS...and the mids where slightly more defined.
It surely was not the big diff that most swappers talk about.

But I'd buy em anytime just to have something to talk about with other musicians. :hyper:
 
#18
+1 on the Nordstrands. I just installed them with the Rothstein harness on my MIM fretless, and ended up with a nice vintage tone that really cuts through the mix. The muddy bottom end has definitely been cleaned up by replacing the stock pickups. The one new pot on the harness actually allows me to switch between series and parallel modes.
 
#20
I just put Ultras in my MIM -- Ask for Brian at www.bestbassgear.com he is great to deal with...

MIM_J1.gif






jsm81 said:
I recently dropped some Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pups into my MIM Jazz and it sounds great. Played around with the actual pup height for a while but now I can get a real punchy fat (well as fat as single coils will get) with a nice vintage snap. Really impressed and for $100 you can't beat it. BTW, get them through www.bestbassgear.com, I'm completely impressed with their service.
Click to expand...
 

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