Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Upgrading my old 93 Mexican Fender Jazz with new pickups and wiring kit, any recommendations? I heard of someplace that sells a good shielded kit but not sure which one it was, also, finding mixed reviews on pickups.

I play a lot of Jazz, Rush, and hardcore, so trying to find something that will be good for all.

Thanks

John

check out EMG - HZ non-active pick ups for the J Bass
bridge selection even more important though, change stock bridge to BadAss II Bridge. be sure to soldered ground wire directly into the bridge.

This bridge change over will dramatically improve your tone and sustain more than any electronics will. you will be amazed at how much of an improvement in overall sound this will provide.

sheild electronics (potentiometers) under your tone and volume cover plate w/aluminum tape. check all solder joints as most from factory aren't quality connections.

change your nut to a graphite composite type, and go with quality strings like Roto Sound, round wound or flat wounds. they provide the best tonal quality available for any bass.

i have done these listed modifications on my Squier Affinity J bass (that's right, the cheap $200 one) and it now sounds better than any American made J bass, which has annoyed many folks who have spent 8 times that amount for a brand name bass. this upgrade will run you about $250.


have fun.


mike

If you follow one piece of advice I give follow this: don't by hz's.

I have a set of em in my fretless but they are the most dull sounding lame crap I've ever heard... maybe when I put a pre in there it will sound a bit better, but for now my opinion is they blow.

I've had bartolinis... I've had dimarzios, I've had basslines... I've had fenders... all of which are good.

Honestly my suggestion would be to get a good set of stacked single j pickups... then get a bartolini preamp.

I've tried a few things in my p-bass and all sounded good but I settled on an alnico (ernie ball style) humbucker and a dimarzio split p going into a bartolini pre.


another mod: screw the blend pot on the jbass... I'd go with a three way toggle. blends are just lame IMO cause one pickup is always overpowering the other... unlike the middle position on a toggle.

Unfortunately, to get the preamps bass and treble controls, plus a volume, plus a toggle... you'd nead a stacked pot... or you could drill one small extra hole and go with a mini on/on/on (for the three way) but you'd have to wire it so that both pickups are always on and when you flip it one way or the other you short out the p/u... I could draw you a diagram if you want to go this route... lmk.

I'd also wire in a bypass push/pull for the preamp so you can go to straight passives when you want to.