Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

[stevie_bees]

The bass player in my band uses a Fender MiM Jazz Bass. I'm not sure of the year/model but I believe it has an active preamp with passive pickups. We play 70's era rock and blues (Rory/Stevie/Quo/Litzy/Clapton) so we're looking to get a 'classic' Jazz Bass sound to sit with the band's sounds. I've had a cursory glance at the pickups on the Duncan website and feel that Antiquity 2's with a vol/vol/tone setup would get us into ballpark.

Any thoughts? I'm no bass expert so am more than happy to bow to the sage advice of you low-end gurus!


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[Mincer]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

I also dig the Apollos, which are more of a vintage sound, but the side-by-side coils makes them silent. Since I use a lot of the neck pickup alone, I really dig how quiet they are.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

the antiquity II is the classic jazz tone, never heard the apollo but ive heard good things about them

 

[dg27]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

I own two Jazz basses (one Squier and one MIM Fender). Both are passive. One "add-on" that I have on both is series-parallel switching, which is activated via a DPDT pot on the tone. I think that makes a huge difference in terms of flexibility. Just a thought.

 

[Arwin]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

I would definitely second antiquity II pickups for a classic J bass tone, to my ears they are the quintessential single coil J pickup, and depending on how you look at it there really is nothing more vintage than good ole' 60 cycle hum!

Of course, if you plan on playing the bass with both pickups up full most of the time, then the antiquity set will hum-cancel, since both pickups together act as one big humbucker and negate the 60 cycle hum.

If you like to solo the neck or bridge pickup or even favor one or the other then the hum-cancelling nature of the individual Apollo pickups really pays off, especially if you are playing in venues with less than stellar power, florescent lights or neon budweiser signs hanging right over your bass rig...or if your bandleader just can't stand 60 cycle hum. Also the Apollo pickups are a little bit fatter and punchier in the bridge position and a bit more precision like in the neck position, so depending on your taste or the mix the bass player needs to fit into they might be preferable overall from a sonic perspective as well.

 

[toowrongfoo]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

Old thread bump, but did SD ever get the antiquity sound examples working?

Anyways, I too have a MIM jazz bass and getting that tone "should" be down to setup and amp selection. The "let's change pickups" thing is dicey.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

Looks to me like there are some issues with the code on each of the Antiquity pages. For now, check YouTube, or ask some others who own the pickups to provide clips.

 

[toowrongfoo]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

But we went through this with my P-bass Mincer, it was almost impossible to find examples. That is your "high end" pickup, people should have some examples and expert stuff. I mean, you are "SD", not some shmoe brand :lol:

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

Pickups make a big difference in the MIM stuff.

Also, sound samples work for me just fine for the antiquity jazz bass (but not for the II's) And there's quite a bit on YT as well (more for the II's admittedly). Hell, the offical SD video is up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFw9dzdTASI

 

[Mincer]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

But we went through this with my P-bass Mincer, it was almost impossible to find examples. That is your "high end" pickup, people should have some examples and expert stuff. I mean, you are "SD", not some shmoe brand :lol:

You are absolutely right. There really isn't much excuse for those clips not working. I will add that to the other, um, issues with the website.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

Not a bass guru....but pickups aside....


Might the amp be a bigger factor here?

 

[dotsdad]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

I would start by replacing the active stuff with 250k pots. Active systems use 1meg - 10meg pots. They work well with active preamps becuase the signal is cleaner, but they dont bleed off much high end. Passive and 250k pots on the other hand will round off the top end and give a more vintage sound.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

I would start by replacing the active stuff with 250k pots. Active systems use 1meg - 10meg pots. They work well with active preamps becuase the signal is cleaner, but they dont bleed off much high end. Passive and 250k pots on the other hand will round off the top end and give a more vintage sound.

I don't know how many active systems you've wired, but those pot values are miles away from anything I've ever seen. I've never seen an active system with a pot larger than 100K, and most of them are 25K with an occasional 50K balance pot thrown in. The clearer (and typically brighter) tone of active systems is due to the low output impedance, not the pot values.

 

[dotsdad]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

Youre right i had it backwards.

 

[toowrongfoo]

Re: Calling Jazz Bass Gurus

Nah, and I'm sorry for bumping this.

This "deluxe" MIM bass has an active/passive switch (with those noiseless pups) and though it sounded ok, the active is totally desirable over the passive. Fender "noiseless" pups don't suck.

AGAIN, as a bassist that has been doing this for some time, it's you/and you amp/or sim setup. You could get a 64 and have it sound great or ****ty depending. Strings and setup are kinda important too