Humbuckers in a jazz

[cocco]

I'm seriously toying with the idea of doing some serious upgrade work to my CIJ 60s looking jazz. It currently has a pair of Shed hot n dangerous jazz single coils and it's original passive wireing in it. This was fine until I played a sandberg with 2 music man style buckers. I want that tone (similar to anyway) and am seriously toying with the idea of getting some humbuckers and a nice preamp dropped into my jazz now. What combination of pickups and preamp would people suggest? I've looked into Aguilar and east pre's and Delano and nordy pickups. What else is out there? I should also mention I'm trying to keep costs down because I sense the routing will cost a fair bit.

[Noisyjon]

What about the Seymour Duncan Jazz Stacks?
They're the same size as the original pickups and come in Classic and Hot varieties...

[Lozz196]

Agree with that - I had a Seymour Duncan Hot Stack in the bridge of my Aerodyne Jazz bass and it was a very good pickup, instant Duff McKagan - which is exactly what I wanted from it.

[BigRedX]

There's plenty of Humbuckers that are the same size as your original Jazz bass pickups with the coils either stacked or arranged side-by-side.

Bartollini and Nordstrand do the side-by-side versions.

[Darkstrike]

Yes, but them Jazz sized humbuckers definatly won't sound like the two big MM pickups that he played in the Sandberg, if thats the tone he's after, they won't do.

[cocco]

I'd love for there to be j sized pickups that can sound like an MM humbucker but I really don't think they're going to pull off what i want. I'm after complete transformation from the pickups. I don't want a jazz sound but fatter, I want as close to a music man sort of sound as i can get if you know what I mean.

[wateroftyne]

I've got Fralin split-coils in my J. They sound fatter than stock (IMO), but they're light-years away from fat humbucker MM pups.

[Jerry_B]

Perhaps Wizard could magic up something for you...?

[geoffbyrne]

The difference in sound/tone is more to do with the 'sensing window' - a single coil picks up(!) the vibes & overtones from a noarrow 'slice' while the 'bucker senses a much wider area, and as there are two coils, there's also some phase cancellation (albeit small) going on.

In other words, because of the physics involved, nothing will sound *exactly* like a 'bucker except another 'bucker.

I have a Westone Thunder IIIb fretless with a double-coil 'bucker at the bridge and I just love the sound.

G.

[cocco]

I think I'm going to go with nordy pickups, stupid as it sounds I want the pole pieces exposed, not covered in epoxy or what ever. The question now is which preamp? East? Audere? Sadowsky? ACG? I don't mind weather it's 3 or 4 knob, if I need a new cavity for the jack I'll probably put a strat style one on the front as opposed to an underneath one.

Edit - I should mention I want volume for either pickup, 3 cut and boost band eq, and coil tap on the preamp atleast. I may consider a pickup switch instead of the twin volume controls. Truth be told I'm a little bewildered by the array of options available.

Edited November 16, 2010 by cocco

[gafbass02]

The wizard GAffer is a split coil humbucker in a jazz sized casing. Sounds beefy as all hell,its a fantastic pickup and has real edge and bite in the bridge but still, an MM bucker it aint.

[kurcatovium]

I'd try SGD, he makes side by side humbucker squeezed into JB covers. There are some samples at the page: [url="http://www.sgd-lutherie.com/pages/ND3-J4.html"]http://www.sgd-lutherie.com/pages/ND3-J4.html[/url]

[cocco]

They look interesting! Have you any experience?

[Prime_BASS]

The delanos, with the fat magnets and a good quality 3 band pre will be your best bet. Those delanos that a coils with MMstyle magnets give the best representation of the stingray character. Although you should probably just save ip and buy a ray, or a sandberg.

[JTUK]

I can get as close as I'd want to a type of MM sound with KA in single stacks and a John East retor01 pre.
Huge sound but not the classic classic sound of a MM..if you want that, as per LJ, say, I'd go for a MM.

If not, talk to Kent/Arron Armstrong about how to get there....or Wizard and maybe others as they all know what goes into these types of pups...IME.

Was the Sandberg active..? assuming it was..

[simon1964]

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1026580' date='Nov 17 2010, 04:18 AM']The delanos, with the fat magnets and a good quality 3 band pre will be your best bet. Those delanos that a coils with MMstyle magnets give the best representation of the stingray character. Although you should probably just save ip and buy a ray, or a sandberg.[/quote]

+1. The Jazz I've just sold had the Delanos with a John East J-retro. With the bridge pickup solo'd it sounded more like a Stingray than my Stingray does! Excellent combination, and I only sold it as I don't get on with Jazz necks.

[kurcatovium]

[quote name='cocco' post='1026403' date='Nov 16 2010, 10:32 PM']They look interesting! Have you any experience?[/quote]
Not in person. I just exchanged few informative emails with producer and I must say he is amazing guy! Very helpful even when that means no job for him... Can't recommend more. Anyway no experience with his pickups, but if they were at least half as good as him, they would be perfect :-)

[Chopthebass]

I've built a Jazz style bass with an EMG MM pickup at the rear and a CS at the front. I've got an Audere 3-band pre, and it is really flexible. The preamp has a passive tone as well as the 3-band, so I can get all sorts of tones. The MM pickup is a monster! Good luck with the mods.

[iam]

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110986"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=110986[/url]

Looks like you should be after my Sandberg