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Your best bang-for-your-buck MIJ Jazz upgrades

tmut

tmut

May 18, 2009
20
0
62
Milwaukee
#1
First off, thanks everyone for the wealth of knowledge I've accumulated through lurking around this great forum. It's a great community and you guys all rock! (or country!, or soul!) OK, now down to business:
Two hours ago, I picked up a beat up '95-ish Japanese fretless bass on CL (God bless Craigs list!, right?) for $200. All stock. It's gonna need a lot of cleaning up. Scratchy pots, shorting input jack, lolts of rust, etc. The neck, however, is dead solid and straight. Does anyone have advise on upgrades? How are the stock PUs on this thing? Would a bridge upgrade, for instance, be a cost-effective way to amp up the sound? I'm willing to spend a few hundred if the ROI in sound is viable. Wanna hear some best bang-for-the-buck no-upgrade-remorse upgrade stories out there that have proven worth your investment. Thanks for your input!
 
#4
I put them in my '88 MIJ Jazz & love 'em. Fuller sonic spectrum, fatter sound, hum cancelling. Of course this is all IMHO & YMMV.

Now my bass is fretted, but here's DiMarzio's blurb about the Model J's in a fretless:

"The DiMarzio Model J™ pickup’s sensitivity and deep tone are also the perfect complement to fretless basses. Double-stop glissandos and delicate violin-style vibrato speak with a classic, woody voice simply by backing off slightly on the tone control."
 
#5
So upgrading PUs are a worth-while investment, you're saying.
Would a badder-ass (pun? Maybe) bridge be worth considering?
Can one hear the difference in the sustain of a higher-mass bridge?
I mean in real life in a band situation?
 
#6
depsite a lot of testaments, including my own (i have one on my marcus miller and love it) it is not going to make a real-life band situation difference in your sound. with a good set-up the stock bridge will work exactly as its supposed to.

pick-ups will, on the other hand, make a notable difference in the sound of your bass. However, fender makes fantastic pick-ups and i happen to love the vintage tone of the stock MIJ single coils. And since this is a bang-for the buck scenario, i think the biggest difference you could do would be to install a retrofit pre-amp. I am going to recommend one of the audere ones,

http://www.audereaudio.com/JZ3.htm

It will exponentially increase the range of tones you can get, and let you really dial in a particular sound.

All in all, an MIJ jazz is a beast, this will make the absolute most of what is already there
 
#8
Gabeja15 said:
depsite a lot of testaments, including my own (i have one on my marcus miller and love it) it is not going to make a real-life band situation difference in your sound. with a good set-up the stock bridge will work exactly as its supposed to.

pick-ups will, on the other hand, make a notable difference in the sound of your bass. However, fender makes fantastic pick-ups and i happen to love the vintage tone of the stock MIJ single coils. And since this is a bang-for the buck scenario, i think the biggest difference you could do would be to install a retrofit pre-amp. I am going to recommend one of the audere ones,

http://www.audereaudio.com/JZ3.htm

It will exponentially increase the range of tones you can get, and let you really dial in a particular sound.

All in all, an MIJ jazz is a beast, this will make the absolute most of what is already there
Click to expand...

+1

I have one in my MIM Jazz and love it to death.
 
#9
You might try some Fender Samarium Cobalt noiseless pickups. I put some in a SX Jazz Bass and really like them in that bass. They're noiseless but still retain a semblance of a Jazz Bass tone.

I think (not 100% sure) Fender discontinued them, so you can probably find a clearance sale.
 
#10
Interesting stuff, everyone. Thanks!
I'm still somewhat baffled by onboard active electronics. I mean, besides a hotter (hence quieter) output. You're saying there's a wider tonal variation with active eq but why not just put inline a graphic or parametric floor pedal? Is there a distinct advantage to having it onboard (besides the obvious within-arm's-reach answer). And that brings me to a wider question: Can't all one's tonal control issues be fixed with a good inline EQ? My 2000s is a tone monster but certainly lacks in the tonal variation department. So why active onboard? Can't a 1/3 octave rack or 7-band on the floor be the tonal (I like using the word 'tonal,' my word of the week, but I see that's another thread) fix for half the " I can't get a good sound from my amp/speakers/bass, etc.? Plus: one inline pedal - fix for ALL your basses. I know: an extra bot and cord to set up and muck with, but is that the only down side? I ramble because I care :)
 
#11
the within reach thing is exactly the reason to get an onboard preamp. Yes, you will get vastly more options with a pedal or rackmount eq, BUT, the ability to adjust the tone of your bass in between songs quickly, or even more important, during a song makes onboard preferable when gigging. ideally both
 
#13
I bought a used Yamaha fretless P bass for $150. It was in great shape but the pots and PU were scratchy and noisy. Bought stock Fender P bass PU and changed the 2 pots. Voila! A nice fretless for $200.00
You don't need to spend a lot to upgrade it as you can see.
 

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