Pickup advice needed

[dazza14]

Hi, on Tuesday at practice i used my newly-acquired Vintage 'Jaco' bass and the guitar just sang!
This isn't terrible thing of course but what is weird is how it compares to my trusty Squier VM Jazz, the Jazz isn't anywhere near as powerful and i'm having to whack up the volume on my Rumble stack to compete with drums and 2x guitars.
So, is it simply better pickups in the 'Jaco' or what?
The Jaco has the stock Wilkinson pups while the VM has stock Seymour Duncan.

Is it worth me putting the Wilko's into the Jazz to compare or are Seymour's traditionally less oomphy??
I've seen Wilko pups on e-bay for not a lot of money but someone i know has offered me some pups he removed from his 2002 Fender MIM Jazz to try, but he said they were 'BassLines' so, again, not actually stock MIM Fender...

Advice needed....

[lettsguitars]

Maybe one is wired up funny. Check the websites for pickup outputs as they're probably just different spec'd pups. Strings? Steel and nickel give different outputs too. Different everything would make a dig difference.

[gjones]

Adjust the Squier pickups to be nearer to the strings............makes a BIG difference in output.

[dazza14]

Yeah the Squier neck pickup is a little further away than the Vintage neck pickup but it was a huge difference, the sound from the fretless seemed to 'hang' in the room and surround everything. I think that will be my first port of call, raising the pups on the Squier.
Both had flatwounds, nickel i think. Different brands though, Rotosound and an unknown.

[Conan]

All basses vary slightly - even two from the same manufacturer made with the same materials, so I wouldn't be too surprised at variations.

One point though, aren't the pickups in the VM series "Duncan Designed" rather than "proper" SDs? Still decent units, but not quite the same quality as the real thing.

There may also be differences in the circuitry (potentiometers and capacitors for example) that might explain some of the differences you have noticed. String brands and ages can make a difference, yes - but not usually as much as pickup height.

Lots to consider!

[dazza14]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1370529838' post='2102274']
All basses vary slightly - even two from the same manufacturer made with the same materials, so I wouldn't be too surprised at variations.

One point though, aren't the pickups in the VM series "Duncan Designed" rather than "proper" SDs? Still decent units, but not quite the same quality as the real thing.

There may also be differences in the circuitry (potentiometers and capacitors for example) that might explain some of the differences you have noticed. String brands and ages can make a difference, yes - but not usually as much as pickup height.

Lots to consider!
[/quote]



Yeah thats right 'Duncan Designed' the point i was making was they were totally different pickups, different brands and all that stuff.
I'm now at a point where i can do four things, one is raise the pickups so they are closer to the strings (the neck pup seems about 1cm from the strings) or i can swap the pickups for the ones a mate of mine gave me - they were the stock pickups from his 1998 Fender Jazz - but the fact these were replaced with SD Bass-Lines tells me these pups ain't going to give me what i want. OR i can order some Wilkinson pups from The Bay OR, alternatively, and more expensively, get hold of some Wizard pickups and put these in. Wizards get nothing but good reviews and i would like my fave bass to remain that. Would like to hear some Wizards in action though, so i'll be trawling YouTube later...
Whatever i decide to though, i'm going to raise the pups and change my strings back to roundwounds... don't get on with flats on my VM.

[Conan]

[quote name='dazza14' timestamp='1371108768' post='2109796'] raise the pickups so they are closer to the strings (the neck pup seems about 1cm from the strings[/quote]

That's very low!! As the neck pickup provides most of the "bulk" in the tone, you should get a much "beefier" sound by raising that. Not too close, or the magnetic field of the pickup will pull the string down quite strongly and you will lose sustain. But bringing it down to about 5mm should give you a significant improvement.

Be careful reviewing things like pickups on Youtube. The sound you hear will be influenced by so many other factors - the quality of the recording gear that the reviewer uses... the quality of your internet connection... the quality of the speakers you listen to the playback through... You won't necessarily be any further forward.

Maybe have a look at this company: [url="http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Bass-Guitar-Pickups_c_97.html"]http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Bass-Guitar-Pickups_c_97.html[/url] I installed one of their hot P pickups in a Squier bass and the sound was really good, for an excellent price. Worth a try if you find the cost of Wizards [i]et al[/i] a little daunting!

[dazza14]

Brilliant, thanks Conan. Youtube is massively variable, i watched one vid and after reading the description it said he uses a few pedals, so no 'real' tone at all.
When my bass was setup the 'setup-per' told me there wasn't any play left in the screws to raise the neck pickup any more so i'm going to replace the screw with a longer one and start there. I think it'll make a difference, how much exactly remains to be seen/heard, but it'll be a slow ongoing thing i think. I've seen the Wilko pickups on e-bay for £48 so it's not a massive expense if i decide to get some replacements but i'll try the F-Jazz ones first before opening my wallet.