What would happen if I rewired my Classic Stack Jazz Bass pickups?

[petebretzke]

A while back I installed a set of Classic Stack Jazz Bass pickups (STK-J1b and STK-J1n in the bridge and neck positions respectively) in my Frankenstein Jazz Bass. I love them! They sound killer and are dead silent. Installation was a breeze and the diagram that was included was easy to follow. Nice job SD!

...Now, however, I want more output.

In lieu of installing a pre-amp, I am curious to know if I wired the coils of each pickup in parallel with itself instead of in series as the diagram showed, would that increase the output of each pickup, essentially making them a hotter (albeit noisier) pickup? Or, would that just unnecessarily introduce noise without the additional output I am looking for? Would it work at all? My thought is I could wire the pickups through a switch that would allow me to change from hum cancelling mode to 'single coil' mode when I wanted an instant increase in output. Good idea or a bad idea? If it's not going to increase the output, then I'll just leave them as is and install a STC-2C-BO or similar pre-amp to get the added output. I really don't want to change the 'color' of the pickups so much, just increase their output a bit to match other basses I own which have hotter pickups.

Has anyone tried this? Any information you can offer is much appreciated.

Pete

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: What would happen if I rewired my Classic Stack Jazz Bass pickups?

Welcome to the forum.

Altering the coil interconnection on your pickups from series (per pickup) to parallel would reduce the midrange and overall output, making the instrument sound more like a Fender. There will be no noticeable change in the noise-cancellation.

In short, series is the loud mode. Parallel is the noise-free "Fender" mode. With stacked coils, the difference is not as great as it would be with side-by-side coils.

The various STC systems should be thought of as active tone control circuitry rather than output boosters.

If you are determined to increase the output signal, you need to either investigate pickups by other manufacturers or add a linear boost pedal to your signal chain.

 

[petebretzke]

Re: What would happen if I rewired my Classic Stack Jazz Bass pickups?

Ah, that makes total sense. Maybe a linear boost pedal is the way to go... never dawned on me. You know how you get stuck on a track and neglect to look at other, potentially easier answers? Thanks for the advice!

 

[Mincer]

Re: What would happen if I rewired my Classic Stack Jazz Bass pickups?

Yes, a boost pedal, active preamp, or more powerful pickups are really your choices here.