Jazzmaster pickups

[playas]

I'm curious, about a few aspects of Jazzmaster pickups. Are they good for both clean and crunchy sounds or are they better suited to just one?

Also is there anything more in common with P-90s soundwise (or construction wise for that matter) or do they just look fairly similar?

 

[jeremy]

they just look similar to a p90 a bit, but they sound quite different. they can sound great for both clean and dirty tones. short, wide coils with rod magnets, so different than many other fender pups with tall coils, and different than a p90 with screws and bar magnets

 

[GilmourD]

Jazzmasters are quite versatile guitars, clean or with dirt.

 

[GuitarStv]

P90s tend to be middier sounding - kinda more towards the humbucker side of the split between humbuckers and regular single coils. JM pickups sound like single coils, maybe just a hint more low end than normal. The wiring in a typical jazzmaster guitar is a little funky, and capabable of some very bright sounds due to the high value pots used.

 

[Mincer]

I think they sound better with a good fuzz pedal than preamp gain from a modern amp.

 

[jeremy]

interesting. i dont know if i agree with that. they do have a sound for sure

 

[esandes]

Listen to Dinosaur Jr. Good for both clean and dirty. I like my jazzmaster pickups with 1 meg pots and P90s with 500k pots.

 

[freefrog]

A traditionally made Jazzmaster PU measures half the inductance of a P90, for the record.

Rod magnets also give a much stronger magnetic field and a higher Q factor.

So these PU's sound very different under comparable frames.

There's a more precise comparison below, FWIW.

A Comparison of Jazzmaster and P90 Pickups

If you ask your average guitar picker to tell you what a Jazzmaster pickup is, you'll probably get a variation on the theme of, "It's like a big single coil." Ask the same guitar picker about P90s and you'll likely get a similar answer. In both cases it's a correct answer, but there are a few...

unofficialwarmoth.com

 

[playas]

Thanks all. This is good info. That link is very useful freefrog, thanks.

 

[jeremy]

Listen to Dinosaur Jr. Good for both clean and dirty. I like my jazzmaster pickups with 1 meg pots and P90s with 500k pots.

oh i know that they work with a big muff fine, but ive heard plenty of good tones with a jazzmaster into a roaring amp too. honestly, most muffs dont care all that much what ya use

 

[Chistopher]

I have an A3/A5 hybrid JM set in my house somewhere. Nowhere to put them

 

[esandes]

Sonic Youth

 

[SirJackdeFuzz II]

I'm curious, about a few aspects of Jazzmaster pickups. Are they good for both clean and crunchy sounds or are they better suited to just one?

Also is there anything more in common with P-90s soundwise (or construction wise for that matter) or do they just look fairly similar?

Listen to the BUSH album, ''The Art Of Survival'', it was recorded with a Jazzmaster.