Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: gtrguy on December 29, 2020, 12:40:45 PM
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I have a mint condition stock '86 Fender MIJ '62 ri Jazz Bass. These are great instruments that were only somewhat let down by the quality of the pickups. Can anyone on here recommend some replacements for mine?
Thanks
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I hear there’s a company called “Alembic” that makes great drop-in pickups for a J Bass.
Bill, tgo
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I am looking for a classic Fender Jazz bass type of sound.
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I had an '87 Fender Japan '62 Jazz reissue - the stock pickups got compliments from Jim & Jon Mouradian when I had it in for a setup. I remember at a gig too, I was playing my '76 4001, thought it sounded fine, but when I switched to my Jazz the sound became so much better with fat bottom and nice clear highs, I was kind of blown away!
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Interesting to read two different opinions of stock pickups. My Fender Jazz 1968 that I bought then and was stolen in year 2000 was a wonderful working bass (as was intended by the manufacturers) but had it's faults (earthing wire needed from bridge etc.) but it did me for all that time. The Alembic Orion 4 I bought with the insurance money when it was stolen is on a totally different level. It can produce any sound that I want with adjustments even with just the pan. One way gives Precision on the neck pickup and the other way Jazz if you want. Personally, I think there is too much talked about the "old " tones being sought after - I don't subscribe to that talk. Given that the subtleties of tones are lost in a busy gig anyway, I sort of see it as a rather pointless quest. I am happy that I had the Fender Jazz time in that I had a bass that was a tool for me to work but I would never go back, even with vintage re-creates and especially the new "ageing" offers that sell a new bass looking as if it has been badly treated!.
Not trying to be negative but rather the opposite - Alembic circuitry and workmanship does it for me.
Glynn
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Thanks for the replies. However, Alembic I got, vintage Fender is what I am after in this case.
Hieronymous, I'll try the original stock pickups with some various amps and see how that sounds to me.
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Here are some fender jazz pickups on Reverb
https://reverb.com/item/6616688-fender-original-jazz-bass-pickups-set-of-2-099-2123-000
The Fender website has some too
https://shop.fender.com/en-US/search?q=Jazz%20pickups&lang=en_US
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IF not going with Activators:
Lots of guys replace Jazz pickups. I recently 'reloaded' a Squier James Johnston Signature with 'takeouts': A guy took brand new Yosemites out of a brand new bass, threw them up on Reverb, and I got them for half of new retail, and they were essentially brand new.
Otherwise I'd recommend either Lindy Fralins or Seymours; had I not ran across the ones I did, something from their catalogs would have been the choice. Both offer customization.
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While I am a devoted lover of vintage guitar sounds, for bass, I prefer modern & hi-fi (yes, you can read that as "Alembic"). But, if you don't want to go with Bill's Activator suggestion, I'm with Joey; for classic Fender sound, you can't beat Lindy Fralin.
Peter
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As I think about it, also a consideration in the 'other-than'Activator' world: Fralin, Seymour, and others offer humbucking Jazz pickups, either 2+2 split side by side inside the typcially-sized JBass pickup shells, as well as stacked, depending on who and which model you buy from. Very close to single-coil tone but with humbucking advantages.
Also, after years of active basses, a Jazz with they typical two volumes and tone made me nuts. Had mine rewired with a passive pan pot and I'm a LOT happier.
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Maybe post the question with this group that focuses on Fender jazz basses, they would probably have some good insight...
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/the-fender-jazz-bass-club-part-seven.1060573/page-422
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One of the things I did with my 76 JB, which I bought new, was change out the OEM pickups for DiMarzio Model J's. They are a ceramic humbucker and IMO a big improvement over the OEM equipment. DiMarzio still makes a Model J though I don't know how it compares to the original version like I have in my bass.
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I also have DiMarzio's in my Jazz bass, and agree that they are an improvement over the original pickups in my 77.
Regards,
Pete
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When a bassist I was roadieing for asked my input on upgrading his '76 P-bass, the first thing on my list was to replace the DirtMarzio he had in it with P-J Barts.
As I said above, I think a bass should have modern, hi-fi sound - which means clean, which ain't what DM does (I mean, they made their name with the "Super Distortion" & "Distortion Plus"). You can always add dirt later in the chain, but if it's at the source you can't take it out.
Just to ramble a bit, the Barts had active electronics; V-P-B-M-T. The fretless maple 'board was replaced with ebony (shortly later Jaco-poxied) with LED markers. The Bad-Ass he already had on it. That was, IIRC, '81; it's still his main ax.
Also, one of his 8X10" SVT cabs was converted into a 1X15' enclosure in the middle, with 2 2X10" enclosures top & bottom*; the other was swapped out for an 18" folded horn. The SVT head was sold to fund a Furman pre-amp & Ashley 3-way crossover (or maybe that was the other way around; like I said, it was '81.....) and a Yamaha (of course) power amp for the 10s & 15. The 18 was pushed by the amp section of an Acoustic head; I disremember the model.
Put all that together with his ears & fingers and it was absolutely awe-inspiring! (I will note that, while the P is still his #1 - #2 being an Ibanez fretted I sold him a couple years later when I worked at GC - as he is pushing 70 & no longer has me to hump it, he no longer uses that rig.......)
*Last I heard, the guy I took him to for that liked the challenge - but swears he'll never do the like again, and is still kinda pissed at me for bringing to him.
Peter
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How about Curtis Novak? He could probably customize to your specifications.
https://www.curtisnovak.com/shop/jb-hc/
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As I said above, I think a bass should have modern, hi-fi sound - which means clean, .....
I guess that is really the question. The original Jazz and Precision basses are not clean sounding and the grit is part of their sound. When I play my JB it is because I want the sound of a JB (limited as it is). If I'm looking for a clean modern bass sound I have my Alembics along with the myriad of other modern basses to choose from.
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As I said above, I think a bass should have modern, hi-fi sound - which means clean, .....
I guess that is really the question. The original Jazz and Precision basses are not clean sounding and the grit is part of their sound. When I play my JB it is because I want the sound of a JB (limited as it is). If I'm looking for a clean modern bass sound I have my Alembics along with the myriad of other modern basses to choose from.
I understand; I was just suggesting that DiMarzio is not the way to go, as they up the distortion significantly over stock. I stand my earlier recommendation of Lindys for classic F-type thump.
Peter
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Great stuff to think about and thanks to all who posted! I also didn't realize the 2 volume control setup on the bass, as I have not owned a Jazz bass before. I tore into the bass and removed the foam under the pickups and installed softer foam so I could lower them a bit more. I had at first thought the bottom foam was a bar magnet like they use on cheap pickups to replace the non-high quality pole pieces. However, it was just gray hard foam. Now that I have it set up better (neck adjustment, strobe tune, pickup height, bridge height, etc) I am liking the stock pickups more and more. One of my Mij 62ri Strats has an EMG active pickup setup which sounds great. That might be something for me to think about on this bass later on, but I don't know how the bass setup compares to the quality of the guitar version.
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Great stuff to think about and thanks to all who posted! I also didn't realize the 2 volume control setup on the bass, as I have not owned a Jazz bass before. I tore into the bass and removed the foam under the pickups and installed softer foam so I could lower them a bit more. I had at first thought the bottom foam was a bar magnet like they use on cheap pickups to replace the non-high quality pole pieces. However, it was just gray hard foam. Now that I have it set up better (neck adjustment, strobe tune, pickup height, bridge height, etc) I am liking the stock pickups more and more. One of my Mij 62ri Strats has an EMG active pickup setup which sounds great. That might be something for me to think about on this bass later on, but I don't know how the bass setup compares to the quality of the guitar version.
If you are going to go more modern, I recommend the Activators over the EMGs. I have a 5 string bass that was made for me in 1985 and it originally had EMGs. I always struggled with getting the right depth and punch out of it (although other people seemed to like it). I went to Bartolinis about 20 years ago and that was an improvement, but when I put activators in it a couple of years ago, it gave me a very Fender type tone, but still clean. The Barts are a bit wooly in comparison and the EMGs felt weirdly compressed.
The bass is a neck through, so it's very different from a Fender acoustically, but I have had all three brands in there and the Alembics win.
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Now I am waiting for a 97 mij Jazzmaster to show up. I hear that those pickups could really stand to be replaced, as they might be strat pickups hidden under the Jazzmaster covers. More projects to work on during the pandemic!
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I doubt they'd be strat pickups under the covers; more hassle that it's worth to make that work...