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Upgrading my Lakland 55-60

H

Hillie

Oct 11, 2024
193
261
#1
Looking for some inputs from the hive mind! I own a Lakland 55-60 (5-string "classic" Jazz). I love the bass, it plays great, it's big, but there are some things that I, well, hate:
  1. I absolutely 100% want to move away from volume/volume to volume/balance. I know, some folks say you lose volume, but not with an appropriate MN taper. Anyway, it's about the ergonomics for me.
  2. The single coil noisemakers are doing my head in. I want to move to noise cancelling pickups.

I have no issue with modifying things. Resale value means nothing to me, as I want to keep this bass. I'm also not married to the idea of a passive bass. It's my only passive bass and although it doesn't have a battery box, nor do I want to add one, I can live with electronics that need power. I'm also not at all married to the "classic" sound or anything.

So yeah, pickups. I'm kind of thinking Bartolini J55J, because don't seem harsh on high strings, and a "punchy" or "tight" sound and they have 'em for 19mm string spacing. Been eyeing the Seymour Duncan Apollo 5 set as well, although spacing might be an issue. Any other recommendations? If I'm going active, I could even consider EMGs! :)

Electronics: Should I stick with a "standard" passive tone knob? I'm leaning to something different. Either a Stellertone Tonestyler passive tone selector, or a John East active plate.

Any things I could consider? Options to look at? Opinions that I'm crazy for modifying this perfect gem? Lemme know please!
 
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#2
You could add Sadowsky Hum cancelling pickups and a Sadowsky preamp, which would need a battery box and a new jack socket. Regular Sadowsky pickups won’t fit, but they make a wide version that should.
It would sound pretty awesome, I’d bet.

Edit. If you don’t want to have a battery box or a new jack socket, John East make a preamp that might work for you.

Edit, maybe the bass could be shielded better, I recently bought a Korean Lakland and the shielding wasn’t the best, great bass, though!
 
Last edited:
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#5
Hillie said:
Looking for some inputs from the hive mind! I own a Lakland 55-60 (5-string "classic" Jazz). I love the bass, it plays great, it's big, but there are some things that I, well, hate:
  1. I absolutely 100% want to move away from volume/volume to volume/balance. I know, some folks say you lose volume, but not with an appropriate MN taper. Anyway, it's about the ergonomics for me.
  2. The single coil noisemakers are doing my head in. I want to move to noise cancelling pickups.

I have no issue with modifying things. Resale value means nothing to me, as I want to keep this bass. I'm also not married to the idea of a passive bass. It's my only passive bass and although it doesn't have a battery box, nor do I want to add one, I can live with electronics that need power. I'm also not at all married to the "classic" sound or anything.

So yeah, pickups. I'm kind of thinking Bartolini J55J, because don't seem harsh on high strings, and a "punchy" or "tight" sound and they have 'em for 19mm string spacing. Been eyeing the Seymour Duncan Apollo 5 set as well, although spacing might be an issue. Any other recommendations? If I'm going active, I could even consider EMGs! :)

Electronics: Should I stick with a "standard" passive tone knob? I'm leaning to something different. Either a Stellertone Tonestyler passive tone selector, or a John East active plate.

Any things I could consider? Options to look at? Opinions that I'm crazy for modifying this perfect gem? Lemme know please!
Click to expand...
My favorite setup for a J style is a set of split coil (not stacked) himbuckers. My personal favorites are DiMarzio Ultra J, followed by their Model J. To me, the ultras sound like hot wound single coils without the hum or volumes drop at WFO, and the Model J set will make you tge god of thunder.
I’ve tried 500K pots with both and prefer the 250k. I've also tried the VVB control setup and after a while of trying to like it, I’m back to a VVT. I found I can get a lot wider variety of sound by adding pickups individually than I can with a fixed taper of fade on one and volume up on the other. I used different cap values, but I can't recall off the top of my head what that value was.
FWIW I was doing all this with a few MIM J basses after coming to TB and reading all the opinions on the best setup for a J config. I wound up with 2 basses, 1 with a Model J set and another with an Ultra J set and both using the OEM control setup except for different cap values. I spent the better oarr of a couple years dicking around with different humbuckers and control setups with VVB tonestyler instead of tone pot, different pot brands and tapers, and wiring/additional single coil selecting setups, so I’ve tried a lot of options in humbuckers and control configurations. I discovered the KISS principle applied to me in spades when it came to the control setup, and the DiMarzios were the hands down favorites of my band mates.
Hope this helps.
 
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#6
fhm555 said:
My favorite setup for a J style is a set of split coil (not stacked) himbuckers. My personal favorites are DiMarzio Ultra J, followed by their Model J. To me, the ultras sound like hot wound single coils without the hum or volumes drop at WFO, and the Model J set will make you tge god of thunder.
I’ve tried 500K pots with both and prefer the 250k. I've also tried the VVB control setup and after a while of trying to like it, I’m back to a VVT. I found I can get a lot wider variety of sound by adding pickups individually than I can with a fixed taper of fade on one and volume up on the other. I used different cap values, but I can't recall off the top of my head what that value was.
FWIW I was doing all this with a few MIM J basses after coming to TB and reading all the opinions on the best setup for a J config. I wound up with 2 basses, 1 with a Model J set and another with an Ultra J set and both using the OEM control setup except for different cap values. I spent the better oarr of a couple years dicking around with different humbuckers and control setups with VVB tonestyler instead of tone pot, different pot brands and tapers, and wiring/additional single coil selecting setups, so I’ve tried a lot of options in humbuckers and control configurations. I discovered the KISS principle applied to me in spades when it came to the control setup, and the DiMarzios were the hands down favorites of my band mates.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
I'm absolutely no traditionalist, so I've got nothing that ties me to any "traditional" double volume setup. This is my first semi-Fender style bass. I'm just looking for a better sounding setup. I'm not married to any idea, the Tonestyler appealed because of its fixed settings. I've got a bunch of mic pres and EQs with gains like that instead of pots (the name escapes me), easy to recall/reproduce settings. But single volume is what I want on my basses.
 
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#7
Hillie said:
I'm absolutely no traditionalist, so I've got nothing that ties me to any "traditional" double volume setup. This is my first semi-Fender style bass. I'm just looking for a better sounding setup. I'm not married to any idea, the Tonestyler appealed because of its fixed settings. I've got a bunch of mic pres and EQs with gains like that instead of pots (the name escapes me), easy to recall/reproduce settings. But single volume is what I want on my basses.
Click to expand...
That is pretty much how I arrived at my final choices for my J basses. I started playing some serious honky tonks and guy bucket bars and wanted reliable, easily available, good sounding basses. At that time you could throw a rock in just about any direction and hit a used MIM J bass, so I snagged up a couple and started tinkering.
 
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#8
I had a 5560 (my daily driver is a us 4460) and I've never had issues with single coli pickups and noise/hum/buzz. that being said, I'd go with Lindy Fralin dual coils if I were to replace the pickups in a 5660
 
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#13
Dimarzio Ultra J if you want a modern hot sound. You don’t need to go active with these pickups.

For an in between from the classic jazz bass sound to the modern punchier sound, Dimarzio Model J is the way to go.

For a real jazz bass classic sound, the Lindy Fralins is bang on but rather quiet and smooth.

I tried them all on my jazz bass and the Ultra J stayed and never felt the need to go active.
 
#16
Lakland offers the J-Retro pre as an option for their passive J basses. Anything John East is spectacular. AS far as pickups, too many choices to choose from. Although I too am a big Sadowsky fan, and they are excellent pickups.
 
#17
Phreaky Phriday said:
Crazy suggestion is to use active EMGs
Click to expand...
I was actually going to suggest the same. You don't even need to go with a preamp if you don't want to - the EMG active LPF is really good. Look at the different flavors EMG offers - standard, ceramic and steel, alnico, vintage... there's something to cover most wants. One suggestion, get the X series of whatever flavor you choose. They are really smooth pickups and respond like passives. For the blend, EMG makes the ABCX balance, but it's almost $80 for a blend pot. For half the price, TBer @AgingEngineer sells an active balance control of his own through his LHZ preamp website (he's the guy that makes the ridiculously good Spector HAZ clone preamps) and it works with the X pickups and their built in preamp. I have a few of them myself.
 
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#20
Man, there are so many options. Personally, I like Seymour Duncan qtr pound pickups with an emerson tone circuit. Make sure you shield everything, including the under side of the pick guard. No need for Active circuitry and you'll keep the bass "original". Another option would be a set of Bartolini J55J's or even the B'Axis Pickups or the SD Apollos and a John East retro J pre-amp. The battery will sit under the pre-amp and inside the control cavity. I've used all of these different setups with great success. Good Luck.
 
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