Changing the sound of a Jazz bridge pickup

[Dingus]

Reading your o.p , I honestly don't think swapping out your existing Jazz pickups for another brand /model would ever provide the kind of changes in tone you are looking for. That thinner, strident , more wiry sound from a rear Jazz pickup is very much the nature of the beast; It's what makes it sound like a jazz bass! Chopping and changing the pickups will almost certainly be a waste of money and effort and lead to dissapointment . Both the stock pickups in your 2010 American Standard and the Seymour Duncan in your Hotrod are very good sounding pickups; if they dont please you then the chances are fairly remote that any other brand or model will make such a huge difference that you will be glad you made the change. In my experience changing pickups can be worthwhile if you have got a substandard pickup to begin with, but the diffences between one high quality pickup and another top-grade replacement can more often than not be a sideways move at best.
Have you tried experimenting with what is commonly referred to as the inbetween-tones on your basses ? Try turning both pickups on full and then turn down either the neck pickup or the bridge pickup a fraction until you hear the tone change slightly and you will find a sweet spot in the sound where the pickup that is on full is supported by the pickup turned down slightly . This can be a very useful and musically enjoyable sound, and has more cut than both pickups on full together as it avoids the mid-scoop you get with that setting because phase cancellation between the two pickups. Experiment with it and see what you think. And it's free.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Dingus

[LukeFRC]

DR Fatbeams... nice tone.

I think ultimately you're not a jazz bass man.

[Nibody]

When i had the VM I used the neck pickup with a touch of bridge - the bridge was too plinky on its own. Jusp picked up an old 70's Japcrap Jazz (Columbus I think?) and it had been modded ages ago judging by the wiring, the tone pot is replaced with a toggle switch which allows you to run the two pickups in Series or Parallel (had to do a bit of a dig to find out what it did)

[The Dark Lord]

Well .... for better or worse, I have bought a replacement vintage control plate assembly with concentric pots for my Jazz from basschat's [url="http://basschat.co.uk/user/7835-kiogon/"]KiOgon[/url] which will allow me to control the tone on each of the pickups. No idea whether the tones will work independently. I guess I'll find out when I fit it.

Also, I pickup my P/J from a local guitar tech (actually Dave from the rather cool Eternal Guitars in Chichester). He's wired it with separate concentric pots ... let's see if that does anything. I'll probably post and A/B test video on here a bit later.