Jaydee Basses

[BassByBeck]

I have a 1985 Jaydee Supernatural II and im wondering how the newer Jaydee basses compare to the older ones? 

Does anyone have experience with both?

[Sparky Mark]

You could email Andrew (John's son) at Jaydee Custom Guitars and ask how specs may have changed?

[Mrbigstuff]

Marcus at Bassdirect did a video on mark king basses which used a few Jaydees from different eras. Might be worth giving them a call, they have them in from time to time.

[Bass Direct]

3 hours ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Marcus at Bassdirect did a video on mark king basses which used a few Jaydees from different eras. Might be worth giving them a call, they have them in from time to time.

Give me a call anytime to discuss Jaydee, love them!

[matbard]

Hello all,

 

I've recently (last saturday...) seen Mark King in Pisa - Italy, and noticed he uses two Supernaturals onstage a red one and a brown one. Having a 1980 Alembic Series I, I'm guessing how the tone of those is comparing to my ol' pal...

 

[Bassfinder]

8 minutes ago, matbard said:

Hello all,

 

I've recently (last saturday...) seen Mark King in Pisa - Italy, and noticed he uses two Supernaturals onstage a red one and a brown one. Having a 1980 Alembic Series I, I'm guessing how the tone of those is comparing to my ol' pal...

 

Very different, split coils compared to single coils for a start 🤟🏻

 

Alembic’s have a cleaner tone in general, while the Jaydee’s out the box have more of a mid range character

 

the best way is to get your bass side by side with one and make the comparison 

[matbard]

Hi,

I've seen only a Supernatural in my life... And only recently have I been able to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning an Alembic... So it's quite hard here in Italy to have them side by side

[Misdee]

Jaydee basses might be shaped similarly to Alembics but in terms of sound they are very different. I seem to remember reading a long time ago that Jaydee pickups are essentially P Bass style split humbuckers in a rectangular case.  The Jaydee preamp with bass, mid and treble cut and boost is a million miles away from the Alembic filter system. 

 

That said, I remember back in the mid 1980's when Jaydee basses first arrived in the USA that Rick Turner, chief designer of the original Alembic basses and as such eminently qualified to make a judgement, reviewed a Jaydee Supernatural bass in Guitar Player Magazine. He commented on the similarities between Alembic basses and the Jaydee especially in terms of the distinct "pop" of overtones you got on both basses because of their extended frequency range. So maybe they are a bit similar in certain respects.

[Jaydee Bass Mafia]

MY 2023 CHERRY-RED JAYDEE SERIES ONE CLASSIC SUPERNATURAL

 

This is my latest Jaydee, it's the 2023 Series 1 Classic in cherry red that I purchased from Bass Direct about two months ago. This makes the fourth Jaydee that I own.  I'm glad that I didn't have to wait for it to be built and was readily available. (Thanks, Marcus Bell!)  I just changed the strings and tweaked the setup to my liking.  Unlike most Jaydees, the Classic comes with the traditional credit card-sized preamp circuit which was also in Mark King's SA003.  I like this preamp design better as it allows access to the pots so that you can clean them with contact cleaner without removing the entire electronic assembly that is found in typical active Jaydees.  

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Jaydee Bass Mafia

[Jaydee Bass Mafia]

MY 1987 CHERRY-RED JAYDEE MARK KING SERIES 2

 

I purchased this bass from the U.K. off of eBay 20 years ago.  It had a major issue on the fingerboard as there was a high spot at the fourth fret making everything below those frets unplayable.  I had a trusted guitar luthier friend of mine pull out all the frets, re-plane the fretboard level again, and then re-fret the bass.  Problem solved.  I also purchased new parts from John Diggins including all-new gold hardware and a pair of his hand-made humbucker pickups.  After all that, the bass was almost excellent.  The biggest problem is that since it has the tradition control-cavity sized circuit board, you have to remove the entire circuit board to access the pots just to clean them.  (If I were Jaydee, I would have redesigned this particular circuit board so that it incorporated drilled access holes through the circuit board that lined up over the back of the pots to get a long spray nozzle tube so that you can spray contact cleaner without having to remove the entire board..........just a thought.)

 

Edited 49 minutes ago by Jaydee Bass Mafia