Third Pickup in Jazz Bass

[Mike Marshall]

So I have a partscaster jazz bass that I'm considering installing a third pickup in the neck position, as close to the neck as possible to get more low end in my signal. The DiMarzio Model One/Will Power seems to be popular for a lot of good reasons, and I'm also interested in putting a TV Jones Thundertron at the neck, or maybe a Gibson Thunderbird or Ripper pickup. The jazz pickups in the bass are Dimarzio Model Js, they sound good and have fairly hot output so whatever I choose I want to be something that wouldn't be overpowered by then. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Edit: for clarification as far as the tones I'm gunning for, I'm using La Bella flats on this bass so warm, thumpy low end is my focus.

Guild BiSonic it will sound good and there not pricey

 

[markanini]

Easy, stick a 4-lead MM pickup in between. Now you can combine the J bridge with the MM bridge side for an MM type sound. Or combine the J bridge with the MM neck side for a Warwick Streamer type sound.

 

[DJ Bebop]

So I have a partscaster jazz bass that I'm considering installing a third pickup in the neck position, as close to the neck as possible to get more low end in my signal. The DiMarzio Model One/Will Power seems to be popular for a lot of good reasons, and I'm also interested in putting a TV Jones Thundertron at the neck, or maybe a Gibson Thunderbird or Ripper pickup. The jazz pickups in the bass are Dimarzio Model Js, they sound good and have fairly hot output so whatever I choose I want to be something that wouldn't be overpowered by then. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Edit: for clarification as far as the tones I'm gunning for, I'm using La Bella flats on this bass so warm, thumpy low end is my focus.

Best low end sound I ever heard from a Jazz bass was one with P pickup in the neck position. It didn’t hurt that it was played thru a Macintosh power amp & a Bag End cabinet either. The sound was low, clear & rattled teeth…

Yup,

 

[Watchootognbout]

The late Mark Adams of the funk band "Slave"had a Jazz with three pickups.
Didn't sound dark.

 

[ctmullins]

Butting a pickup against the neck, won't give you more lows. It'll just be a muddy, deep and tubby sounding pickup

That completely depends on which pickup you choose. I have one bass with a Nordstrand Big Blade right up at the neck, and another with a Sentell UnMudbucker right up at the neck. Both have a shocking amount of aggressive brightness. Not at all tubby.

 

[OnTheDownLow]

Yup,

View attachment 4813369 View attachment 4813370 View attachment 4813371

Who is that in those photos?

EDIT: Nevermind, Jack Casady

 

[6-3-2]

Atelier Z does this J-M-J trio that always intrigued me

 

[Jay2U]

Basically any pickup close to the neck will produce a more muddy tone. I think humbuckers are the better choice. It would be nice to be able to blend this third pickup in with its own volume control.

 

[wysiwyg248]

As reference for a production bass, take in consideration this is not a 34" instrument.
Never measured it, but looks like the neck pickup is in the conventional position.

 

[Jimbowhit7]

Basically any pickup close to the neck will produce a more muddy tone. I think humbuckers are the better choice. It would be nice to be able to blend this third pickup in with its own volume control.

Whatever I choose will definitely be hum cancelling. It may be a DiMarzio Model J or P, I'm still strongly considering the Will Power/Model One just because it sounds really thick, but the Model J and P would both probably be great too.

 

[Jay2U]

Whatever I choose will definitely be hum cancelling. It may be a DiMarzio Model J or P, I'm still strongly considering the Will Power/Model One just because it sounds really thick, but the Model J and P would both probably be great too.

Close to the neck any humbucker will be producing a thick tone, so being able to blend in this pickup will be worth the effort.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

So I have a partscaster jazz bass that I'm considering installing a third pickup in the neck position, as close to the neck as possible to get more low end in my signal. The DiMarzio Model One/Will Power seems to be popular for a lot of good reasons, and I'm also interested in putting a TV Jones Thundertron at the neck, or maybe a Gibson Thunderbird or Ripper pickup. The jazz pickups in the bass are Dimarzio Model Js, they sound good and have fairly hot output so whatever I choose I want to be something that wouldn't be overpowered by then. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Edit: for clarification as far as the tones I'm gunning for, I'm using La Bella flats on this bass so warm, thumpy low end is my focus.

A Gibson Mud Bucker will give you all the low end you can handle. I knew a bassists in the 70’s that just swapped out the neck pickup and played it through an SVT rig. The low end was over whelming…

 

[micguy]

Easy, stick a 4-lead MM pickup in between. Now you can combine the J bridge with the MM bridge side for an MM type sound. Or combine the J bridge with the MM neck side for a Warwick Streamer type sound.

The OP is looking for more low end. A MM pickup in the middle of things won't do that - MM's get their low end from eq in the preamp, not the pickup design or location (the preamp isn't even close to flat with the knobs at center detent, it's got a lot of bass boost)

 

[micguy]

A Gibson Mud Bucker will give you all the low end you can handle. I knew a bassists in the 70’s that just swapped out the neck pickup and played it through an SVT rig. The low end was over whelming…

A lot of the "common wisdom" about pickups in that location come from the mudbucker. The mudbucker has a lot of low end due to its location, it sounds tubby because it's VERY overwound. If you put a pickup there that isn't so overwound, it won't sound tubby.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Yes

 

[dbsfgyd1]

The OP is looking for more low end. A MM pickup near the bridge or in the middle of things won't do that - MM's get their low end from eq in the preamp, not the pickup design or location (the preamp isn't even close to flat with the knobs at center detent, it's got a lot of bass boost)

I’m going to blame this on apple’s aggressive spell checker. I meant a Gibson Mud Bucker.

 

[DJ Bebop]

A lot of the "common wisdom" about pickups in that location come from the mudbucker. The mudbucker has a lot of low end due to its location, it sounds tubby because it's VERY overwound. If you put a pickup there that isn't so overwound, it won't sound tubby.

Plus on some models, there was that tone choke setting, EB -2 and EB-3s I think, that added to the mud.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Who is that in those photos?

EDIT: Nevermind, Jack Casady

FlyGuitars So when you first joined Jefferson Airplane you were using Fender basses?

Jack Casady Yeah the first three albums are recorded with a Fender Jazz bass, and I customised that by adding a P pickup right butted up against the neck. So in essence I had on the very bassy end of the speaking length of the string an offset P pickup and then two bar pickups of the Jazz bass.

FlyGuitars And how did that the P pickup work?

Jack Casady I took the concentric pots that were used and later on dropped by Fender for there Jazz bass line. You would have a volume and a tone stacked up on top of each other, so that's the configuration I used. I used a volume/tone, volume/tone, volume/tone for each pick up and blended them together. That was my '60 Jazz bass, it got stolen just before I came out to California in 1965.

When I arrived out there I bought a brand new 1965 Jazz bass. That bass originally came with the two volumes and one tone. I took those controls out and put in concentric pots and added a p bass pickup.

Jack Casady talks about his mid-sixties modified Fender Jazz basses >> FlyGuitars

 

[BlueTalon]

Butting a pickup against the neck, won't give you more lows. It'll just be a muddy, deep and tubby sounding pickup

Basically any pickup close to the neck will produce a more muddy tone.

This is not true. Any crappy pickup, maybe. Through a crappy amp, maybe. But a good quality pickup through a good quality amp, it's not going to be "muddy" at all. More bass, less honk, but not muddy.

 

[micahwc]

Ever play a bass VI? Three single coil pickups with on/off switches. Basically a short scale Jazz bass with three pickups.

the neck pickup isn’t that much darker than the other two. You would get more bang for your buck by using an octave pedal and adding a tiny bit of lowered octave into your mix.