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Nordstrand Big Single Opinions

#102
KJung said:
It's the 'creamy' tone of these that I don't like. They sound much more like humbucking soapbar pickups than 'jazz pickups on steroids' to me. IMO, they 'suck the J out of a J bass tone'.

If you are looking to make your J bass sound fatter, less grindy, more creamy, with fatter low mids and mids, these are great. However, they sound nothing like a 'single coil J on steroids' to me.

Regarding hum, they hum like any other single coil when solo'd. Given how fat they sound with the bridge pickup solo'd, I'd HIGHLY recommend the Big Splits over the Big Singles. In my indirect A/Bing, they sound virtually identical, and solo'ing the bridge pickup with these 'Big' pickups is quite amazing if you dig the 'Jaco burp'... MUCH fatter and smoother than any standard J pickup.

However, none of these 'Big' pickups are appropriate IMO for 'juicing up' a J bass. They are cool if you like the way a J bass feels and looks, but would rather have a more modern 'soapbar' tone.

IMO and IME.
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Kingbassist said:
Hello.. Thought I'd chip in for a sec... I just replaced all the electronics in my custom jazz basses with the Audere Jazz circuit and Big Singles.. The sound is great.. Aggressive, full, fat and pretty bright.. The only problem is that I work in a theatre pit every night and due to the fact that the pick-ups are single coils (and very big ones at that!) they did pick up a lot of interference.. It's not something you would notice live with a loud band but if you are working in near studio conditions (ie. with cans, like I do) the buzz is annoying... I'm having mine replaced with the Big Splits which I'm told sound pretty near to the Big Singles but without the hum.. Think long and hard about whether you could actually put up with the buzzing (and yes, even with both pick-ups on full) before ordering.. Best of luck
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Both of these posts would give me pause before ordering Big Singles. If I were to go the Nordstrand route, I'd probably get the Big Splits, given Ken's direct comparison and Kingbassist's experience in the pit.

But I'm not sure I really have a handle on how these Nordstrand pickups (either variety) sound. Sorry if this a big detour, but is there any correlation to the sound of a Big Single and a Darkstar? They're both really big single-coils, right? Or are these two pickups as different as apples & oranges? I really liked the Darkstar-equipped bass I heard, but am interested in other options. They're not cheap, (and I know this is a weak reason), but I don't care for their looks.

FWIW, I'm not crazy about the sound of a traditional solo'd J bridge pickup, it sounds kind of nasal. But I don't do the kind of solo'ing that a solo'd J pickup might lend itself to (I couldn't if I wanted to, I'm a hack!). However, the same J pickup in the neck position can be very, very nice, pretty fat. It seems like it would take a real leap of faith to carve up your bass for a larger pickup without having a solid idea of how it's going to sound. Did most of you go through a bunch of J pickups before trying the Big Singles?
 
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#103
"on time, delivery scheduled for 4/10/08:"
geddyFront3.gif


I'll give you guys my thoughts in a couple days, and compare notes with my Big Single equipped 51P5, and D/S equipped '72 Tele, if that interests anyone.
 
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#104
koobie said:
It seems like it would take a real leap of faith to carve up your bass for a larger pickup without having a solid idea of how it's going to sound. Did most of you go through a bunch of J pickups before trying the Big Singles?
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I was never a fan of J pickups to begin with, so it was an easy decision for me. I never had anything against them, I just always seemed to find something closer to "my sound" in other designs. In fact, i never even had a desire to own a Jazz bass, or any Fender style for that matter. Then I got interested in the Squier Active V and figured for $299, I'll give it a shot. I fully intended (if I liked the bass at all) to mod it out of the box. After a 15 minute test run, to make sure I liked the feel as well as to make sure everything worked, it was on the bench.

I initially installed a set of Carvin soapbars during my first wave of mods because I had them laying around, and because they were a standard shape, so I knew I could upgrade at some point without having to route cavities a second time. After a couple of weeks of researching the Nordstrands, I chose the Big Splits, mainly because most peoples opinions and reviews made them sound like the pickups that would give me what I was after. They were right, I am very pleased with them. Huge, fat, clean, defined... I'm hitting the lowest notes on a .175 tuned G#0 and I can actually differentiate between the notes lol.

These are my first Nordstrands, so I can't compare them to any of the other models.
 
#105
Firstly, :eek: at Atrapp's Jazz! One thing I forgot to ask via PM - is that Warmoth's "Dinky J" body? The lines seem a tad too sharp to be the standard model.

It's been great to finally find a thread on pickup I've had questions about (I've searched many a-time, but have never come up with a "Big Single"-specific thread). I have a Spector ReBop 5 DLX FM fretted and fretless duo that I'd like to gut the pups/electronics but I'm not a huge fan of the stereotypical "EMG Sound" and would much rather have something much more single-coil - as an example, my favorite pickups right now are the Lindy Fralins in my Lull Modern 4 and the Aero Type 1s in my Modern 5, and getting a true single-coil as a drop-in replacement for EMG-40 routes wasn't the easiest to find. Finally, I gave a call on separate occasions regarding different issues to the Nordstrand shop, and both Carey and Stew were absolutely wonderful people to speak with. They both took note of the specs of the basses I'd be putting new pups in, and rather than try and "upsell" me to a more expensive set (which a manufacturer has tried to do :scowl: ) they both agreed that Big Singles were exactly what I was looking for and would work the best in my bass... and as Stew claimed, would "absolutely kill in my fretless.

I just about had enough for this project came up, but an emergency Mike Lull Modern 4 came up and managed to divert all my cash flow, but I hope to move forward with this by the Summer. :hyper: An open question to anyone reading this: what preamp would you recommend to match up with the Big Singles? I'm very much a "set it and forget it" guy in terms of onboard EQ, so I'm thinking an OBP-1 or 2. Who's using what, and what exactly - what are the pros and cons?

Thanks a bunch. :D
 
#113
Ian Perge said:
Firstly, :eek: at Atrapp's Jazz! One thing I forgot to ask via PM - is that Warmoth's "Dinky J" body? The lines seem a tad too sharp to be the standard model.

It's been great to finally find a thread on pickup I've had questions about (I've searched many a-time, but have never come up with a "Big Single"-specific thread). I have a Spector ReBop 5 DLX FM fretted and fretless duo that I'd like to gut the pups/electronics but I'm not a huge fan of the stereotypical "EMG Sound" and would much rather have something much more single-coil - as an example, my favorite pickups right now are the Lindy Fralins in my Lull Modern 4 and the Aero Type 1s in my Modern 5, and getting a true single-coil as a drop-in replacement for EMG-40 routes wasn't the easiest to find. Finally, I gave a call on separate occasions regarding different issues to the Nordstrand shop, and both Carey and Stew were absolutely wonderful people to speak with. They both took note of the specs of the basses I'd be putting new pups in, and rather than try and "upsell" me to a more expensive set (which a manufacturer has tried to do :scowl: ) they both agreed that Big Singles were exactly what I was looking for and would work the best in my bass... and as Stew claimed, would "absolutely kill in my fretless.

I just about had enough for this project came up, but an emergency Mike Lull Modern 4 came up and managed to divert all my cash flow, but I hope to move forward with this by the Summer. :hyper: An open question to anyone reading this: what preamp would you recommend to match up with the Big Singles? I'm very much a "set it and forget it" guy in terms of onboard EQ, so I'm thinking an OBP-1 or 2. Who's using what, and what exactly - what are the pros and cons?

Thanks a bunch. :D
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It is a Dinky J, and I installed an Audere three band on this bass. I have also had BS's in this Roscoe with the Bartolini/Roscoe 3 band pre... they sound great with both pre's!

IMG_27431.jpg
 
#116
Chef said:
I'll give you guys my thoughts in a couple days, and compare notes with my Big Single equipped 51P5, and D/S equipped '72 Tele, if that interests anyone.
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koobie said:
Chef, I'd appreciate that very much. And if you don't mind, please compare the sound of Big Single, Darkstar and single-coil Tele pickups.
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Chef, any chance you might be interested in some shedding light on the tonal differences of these pickups? I've got a Sting and am considering changing out the Duncan pickup.
 
#117
The darstar I have is in a 72 Telecaster.
It's all the way up against the fingerboard, so just it's positioning kinda makes it different.

The two single coil tele's I have are both wound real hot. One's an SD scbp3, the other is a custom Nord 5 string.

Of the Big Singles I have, one application is a two pickup Jazz type bass from Valenti, with an Audere preamp. The other in the bridge position of a Warmoth 51P5 bass.

So, keep all that in mind: radically different positioning, active vs passive, etc.

The Big Singles *are not* Jazz Bass pickups. At least they're not as grind-ee as either my Lakland JO5, or Fender 62 Jaco bass. They're a little more polite. But, they still have that "big single coil full range feel to them."

The single coil P pickups I have-despite being wound to the same specs-are pretty different. The SD scpb3 seems hotter, and meaner. But, I added a J pickup to the bridge position of the 51P4 it's in, and by-passed the tone control. It's only got vol/vol for the two pickups.
The 51P5 has two concentric vol/tone pots. I *do not* like the way the stackpots interact. But, having a tone pot really calms what ought to be the same pickup down a lot.
Neither of the P single coils have "that mid range bump" a split P does.

The DarkStar, while still a single coil, is a differnet deal altogether. It's very touch sensitive. It's very bright: despite being shoved up against the neck of athe 72 Tele, it's still got "slaptone-ability." Dig more, get more...a lot of range.

Hope that helps, somewhat.

It's hard to compare the three, since they're in very different applications.
 
#119
Chef said:
Of the Big Singles I have, one application is a two pickup Jazz type bass from Valenti, ....
The Big Singles *are not* Jazz Bass pickups.... But, they still have that "big single coil full range feel to them."
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Could you post a short 12-bar sound clip with the big singles?
I am having a hard time trying to decide on Sadowsky HC vs Nordy Big Singles. I've never heard Big Singles.

Thanks.
 
#120
Aram said:
Hey Andy,

I'm glad you asked -- I was just thinking about replying about this.

I got them in and they're AWESOME. Right now they're hardwired in Series, but I might install a 3-way series/parallel/sc switch. Honestly, though, I have a feeling I'd still keep them in Series, because the sound very close to what I want.

They're a much better match for my sound than the Big Singles were. I found the BS to be very full and clean sounding, and very even from top to bottom, but as I mentioned before I realized they were a bit too 'polite'. I had thought because they were 'overwound' that they would have some nice low-mids and not a lot of highs, but that wasn't the case. Carey really wanted to re-wind them for me, but I didn't want to experiment any more with them...based on descriptions I had read on pickup types, Series-wired DC's seemed like the only thing that would meet my needs.

While the DC's aren't super mid heavy, they are definitely a bit 'meatier' than the BS. Also the highs roll off at a better point for me, and they seem to respond better to both the blend control AND the tone control. The BS were more like subtle coloration when you blended or adjusted the tone, and with the DC's you can get more of a range of sounds.

I don't really want to write a full review until I have gigged with these yet, but I should have some recordings of them soon, so I will post a link when they're complete. So far, I'm very optimistic though.

-Aram
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BS= big splits or big singles? nice of ya'llz to give your recommendations, by the way! p
 

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