Hi Nick, i have a really nice Fender Jazz Elite, with noiseless pups and the truly bloody awful Fender active circuit. Well awful to my ears anyway, but might be great for others. It sounded glassy and hollow, and i tend to use preamps and compressor so can shape the tone. So, i have a Kiogin, VT, VT plus push/pull series/parallel loom and the Ironstone pups as i wanted Alnicos but also a warmer vintage tone but with the Jazz growl, which the Noiseless pups dont deliver.
the ironstones run quite hot, andcan produce a great range of tones, with the new loom.
i cant help thinking that Fender should do this , like they used to!
just about to fit the same loom into Fender Precision Ultra, but with Bloodstone pickups, as they do a nice PJ set, with a similar output to the ironstones but also hand wound, wax potted, and quality wiring.
both of these basses are keepers, and wonderful to play, but now i will have two passive basses, which i can tone shape, and still offer a really flexible range. Hope this helps.