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NBD - Revelation RBN Jazz with unusual pickups

L

LdoubleL

Apr 13, 2025
27
70
#1
I found this Revelation RBN on a UK pawnbroker website, a model I hadn't seen before. It was pretty cheap and I like Jazz Basses - but I had to find out what's going on with those pickups. I've never seen anything like them.

The body has sanded down and battered to make it look reliced (making the sticker appropriate I guess), but the routing for the MM sized pickups isn't too bad. Only the bridge pickup works at the moment and it seems ridiculously powerful even on its own. It hums like a single coil which would make sense. The volume knob for the neck pickup is loose so I'll check it for loose wires shortly.

Has anyone else seen pickups like this before? Were they a production item or are they someone's home made project? The paint on them appears to be a proper swirl job.

20260320_143117.jpg

20260320_143104.jpg
 
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#3
Update: I resoldered a couple of wires and tightened up all the knobs and it works fine now. It seems to be set up with normal VVT controls and the fourth knob is just a push-pull pot set up as a kill switch, unless I'm missing something.
The pickups are definitely single coil as they hum when one is turned down, but they are incredibly potent. It desperately needs new strings so when I fit those I'll try and pop a pickup out and see what's going on inside.
Otherwise it's a fairly normal Jazz to play and feels decent.
 
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#4
LdoubleL said:
I found this Revelation RBN on a UK pawnbroker website, a model I hadn't seen before. It was pretty cheap and I like Jazz Basses - but I had to find out what's going on with those pickups. I've never seen anything like them.

The body has sanded down and battered to make it look reliced (making the sticker appropriate I guess), but the routing for the MM sized pickups isn't too bad. Only the bridge pickup works at the moment and it seems ridiculously powerful even on its own. It hums like a single coil which would make sense. The volume knob for the neck pickup is loose so I'll check it for loose wires shortly.

Has anyone else seen pickups like this before? Were they a production item or are they someone's home made project? The paint on them appears to be a proper swirl job.

View attachment 7456716
View attachment 7456717
Click to expand...
That looks great! I have a similar M/M setup and installed Bartolini 2J Squared pups. They each have two split-coil jazz pups inside, so there are lots of switching options. I currently have a switch for the bridge pup that gives series/north J, parallel and a switch for the neck pup that gives rear j/series/front j.

1774024409743.png
 
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#5
LdoubleL said:
or are they someone's home made project?
Click to expand...
Those are definitely homespun.

Mounting screws are mismatched, pickup cavities are a bit ragged and the bridge has been swapped; likely to accommodate the new pole arrangement.

RBN shipped with Alan Entwistle pickups, only fitting as he was design consultant for the Revelation line and has a long history with the brand. Revelation was a Hohner brand, Alan was head of Hohner's custom and R&D departments.

Your bass originally would have shipped like this.

Revelation RBN.jpg
 
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#6
kodiakblair said:
Those are definitely homespun.

Mounting screws are mismatched, pickup cavities are a bit ragged and the bridge has been swapped; likely to accommodate the new pole arrangement.

RBN shipped with Alan Entwistle pickups, only fitting as he was design consultant for the Revelation line and has a long history with the brand. Revelation was a Hohner brand, Alan was head of Hohner's custom and R&D departments.

Your bass originally would have shipped like this.

View attachment 7456933
Click to expand...
Assuming whoever rerouted it did so accurately for a 4-string MM pickup he's got options for replacing these pickups if it turns out he doesn't like them after all.
 
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#7
fourstringbliss said:
Assuming whoever rerouted it did so accurately
Click to expand...
I'd say that is a pretty safe assumption.

Empty MM shell are easy sourced and would take that mottled paint job.

If the original owner used something like a Retrovibe Hi-Gain/Roswell/Eric Custom they'd have plenty of room inside an empty shell to angle and position it.
Bonus being the shells have an inside depth of almost 3/4" (17.5mm) and the above mentioned pickups are shorter then 3/4", they'll finish flush at the back.
 
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#8
Thanks for the comments everyone! The bass really was quite a looker in its original form. I've seen various other Revelation models before but never this one.

When it comes to the pickups, them being MM shaped was a big reason for picking the bass up because of the possibilities. But they are interesting in themselves. The possibility of them being Retrovibe ones in an MM shell is intriguing since I'm also in the UK.

Other than new strings I don't really have a plan yet. It would be good to sort the electronics out. I have a spare Sire preamp hanging around, which might be interesting to mix up with those pickups, or even some normal MM pickups.
 

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