Stewmac Golden Age J Pickups

[tubatodd]

I've seen some great reviews on the Stewmac website for their Golden Age J Pickups. I looked through the forums and found only old threads on the topic. Are these still regarded as good quality pickups? I have a 2014 Squier VM jazz bass and I don't care for the tone of the Fender-designed pickups. The DD ones in my other 2 VMs are much better. What is the 2015 opinion of these pickups.

 

[iiipopes]

AFAIK, they are still exactly the same pickups. Stew Mac doesn't change things, like other companies do, because they know that repairmen need reliability as to parts specs.

 

[gary mitchell]

I had USA Pbass a long time ago, and some how the pickups shorted out are something. They just quit I had them check out and they were dead. we had some gigs coming up that week end and I needed it bad. A friend had some Stewmac Golden age P bass pickups and sold them to me cheap. I thought I would just put them in for the gig then replace them. We played a gig and there were a couple of Austin bands there, one of the bass players ask to use my bass so I let him. He like the sound real well he said, he liked it better then is Pbass. Myself I couldn't really see much different between is USA P then my USA P with the Stewmac Golden age 50s. I think sometimes not all cases but we let the price of something influence are thinking and hearing, cause we want it so much. The same thing happen with an Gibson ES335, I got an ES335 and someone had put EMGs in it. They had put a 60 in the neck and a 81 in the bridge, I thought who would do this to a Es335 anyway it wasn't my cup of tea. I took it to a tech in Wichita Kansas, he ask me if I had ever heard of Golden Age 50's this was way before the bass. I told him no so he said you are to try them. He told me you could get the neck and bridge for the price of one Gibson pickup. They were built very well by looks you couldn't tell the different from the Gibson or the Golden 50s. So we put a set in the 335 chrome or nickel, anyway it sounded great. For fun we spent the day letting people compare my 335 with a 335 with Gibsons pickups. About 20 Guitar players and we didn't say a word about the pickups, until they were done trying them out could tell the different. We played it on a Fender Twin we had a lot of fun, I bet over half us if we stood behind a curtain maybe couldn't tell the different. It boils down to if that's your sound, my favorite guitars are Tele and Les pauls, my Tele is Loaded with Texas Special, my Les Paul is loaded with Dimarzio 36th anniversary's. I still think most of the magic is in practice and the hands and good mojo. I have seen some junk pickups I don't like but that's me.

 

[FenderTuni]

I've been using a pair of Golden Age P-bass pickups for a couple of months and IMO and to my taste, they are second to none. Comparing it to the former pickups (SD-QPs) these sound less middy and very fat, but not muddy, not even when the bass is strung with flatwounds. I've never played an original 50s Fender P-bass, or any reissue model for that matter, so I really can not say how "vintage" sounding they are. Still, I love it , outstanding pickups.

 

[basscrab]

i know this is an old thread...bt the OP question was never answered...thought this might help others who may be interested in these pups...i own 2 sets of early seventies, and 1 set of late 60’s j bass pups...i also own 2 sets of golden age/stewmac j bass pickups...the stewmac is basically a copy of the pups u see in the natural j bass on the stewmac site...@ that time and possibly still, owned by a stewmac employee...without getting into the nuance of j pups from different eras & makers...yes my 68’s r a bit warmer...bt not the most versatile j bass sound...classic though it may seem to some...i feel very good about using golden age pups in some of my j’s...i use them w flats...i use them w rounds...real vintage j pups can b a bit ugly, or as ken smith told me...humpy......very true ! ...remember...i hav 3 “original” sets...the golden age/stewmac IMO r a good example of a reproduction of an exrtordinarilly simple design...4 me there’s no special magic in an old j bass pup...believe what u will...golden age/stewmac j pups r as good as any other new single coil j pup out there...the question is...which jazz bass sound r u going for & which combination of gear can get u there... ; - )... PS...they are not as microphonic as my 68’s LOL

 

[basscrab]

...just to compare ...the golden age are not as bright and springy as fender original 60’s, bt they’r brighter than SD sjb-1

 

[duke of earl]

Old thread I know but I've been using Golden age pickups in my MIM jazz and Korean 92 fender p bass for a long time they're still going strong and sound fantastic, I've had bass players ask what kind of pickups I'm using, they comment how good my tone is , Don't hesitate, try them if your after that vintage tone these nail it.

 

[Lefty7]

Adding to this old thread, I have a Jericho Alpha 5, which is, as stated on the website, loaded with stewmac golden age pickups. So it's a lefty, and the P pickups are BE/ADG, as opposed to BEA/DG. Soloing the P pickup on the Jericho...it's P-like, but compared to my buddy's Fender American P, it's quite different. It may be due to the configuration, or the fact that it has an Aerodyne type body and macassar ebony fingerboard, or that it's a long-scale bass with Hipshot A Style bridge, strung thru the body. I hadn't measured, but maybe the pickups are not in the traditional spots too. I had to lower the pickups a bit as I dig in hard and it seems the Stewmacs don't have the headroom that my active schecter hellraiser 5 has with emg's. All that said, when blended with the J pickup this bass sounds really good. I run it thru an empress, into a Dr. J Sparrow into a SVT-4 Pro into a GK neo 412 and it sounds beastly! May be looking into pickups with more headroom tho.

 

[Aaron David]

Bumping this thread again, as it's been a few years, and I'm considering a bass that has a set installed. Would love to hear from anyone who has tried them.