NPD: Testosterone for Jules - EMG Geezer Butler PJ Pickups

Jules, my Aerodyne bass, was suffering from an anemic and noisy J pickup, and the P was in need of a little beefing up as well. I've considered these pickups for some time. After lots of research (and a little heart-to-heart with @JimmyM some time ago) I decided to give these a try. What a great upgrade! Dead silent J is MUCH hotter, growlier, and meatier than the stock J. The upgrade would have been worth it for that alone.

What's really impressive is the fatter, beefier, punchier P pickup. I was ok with the previous P, but this one shows me what I didn't know I was missing. It has a great classic P-bass tone that the stock pups just kind of approximated. This one makes my PJ sound like a vintage P-bass when solo'd. I really dig the range of tones I can get with different blends of P-J and the tone control. What really made me drop my jaw was tuning down to drop D. WOW! Just those 2 notes are worth the price of admission! None of my other basses sound this good in drop D. My WD-800 fond a new gear!

These pickups are articulate and respond well to different fingerstyle techniques and to playing with a pick. Both are brighter than the stock pups, which is great. I play some fusion that benefits from that, but when I don't need the highs, it's easy to EQ them down as needed. You can't really add highs that aren't there, but there are options from the tone knob down that tame them when necessary.

Packaging is top-notch and installation was a breeze. I assumed I would need to solder the input jack, since Jules has a strat-type jack, but no, the supplied input dropped in just fine, so no soldering needed. The stock Aerodyne knobs are a little snug, but work. (I ordered some Gibson knobs in black that would look pretty sweet on Jules. They were supposed to be 6 mm, but they don't fit. I had read that the Aerodyne knobs would not work on these, but I think someone just didn't try hard enough.)

 

He's a Bad MotherXXXXer!

 

My understanding is that these are internally shielded so you may not need to shield the cavities. These are really quiet out of the box. Yeah, at this point I'm wondering why I waited so long!

 

Definitely grounded to bridge. I'm not sure they're shielded but I read that somewhere and they're really quiet. I was thinking if there was still noise I'd go ahead and shield the cavities, but I just don't see the need at this point.

 

Which I guess by definition makes it a humbucker, but it's a dam sight from a mudbucker, that's for sure!

I have a Gibson Grabber bass with the sliding humbucker, and you can see where the term "mudbucker" comes from with that bass. While I'd never describe that bass as muddy-sounding, that pickup is no where near as articulate or responsive as either of these pups.

 

Labella Deep Talkin Bass flats in the light gauge. They're at least 3-4 years old and as bright as I need, especially with the WD and these new pups. But man! The creamy deep warm tones, even fatter now!

I gotta go work on our drop D tunes!

 

Yeah with these, you're right, the best of both: tone is better than the stock fenders, which really weren't that bad. And dead quiet. That bass grooves in the mix even as it was. I can't wait til our next practice!

 

Digging that bridge too. What bridge is that?