Connecting Atlanta Musicians

Bass pups

Bought a Fender Marcus Miller Jazz 4 and want to replace the pups. What should I go with? What about the onboard preamp?

Permalink Reply by Mike Delaney on August 15, 2008 at 10:33pm: Hi Frankie,

Seymour Duncan has a nice variety of Basslines pickups available for the Jazz Bass. So much depends on what sound you are looking for. The nice thing about Seymour Duncan's site is you can hear what they sound like and compare them. I use them in a few guitar models that I build and have had great luck with them.
www.semourduncan.com

Mike Delaney; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by j-raj on August 20, 2008 at 2:16pm: Carey Nordstrand is building his own p/ups these days (hop on my site, his link is on my links page).... I can put you in touch with him if you would like, one of my past reps used to rent office space in his shop.

I have some of his split jazz p/ups in my MIA jazz, and they are silent with a bunch of punch. He also built me a jazz on steroids 5'ver a year or so ago (Sadowsky-killer!) and it has his 'fat-stack' p/ups in it.

Go luck in your search,
Jairaj Swann; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Frankie Aster on August 20, 2008 at 4:54pm: Does anyone have experience with the J-retro preamp?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John Hancotte on August 30, 2009 at 1:57am: I'm less inclined these days to add a preamp to a passive bass. If you're upgrading the existing electronics, then I've heard good things about that one in particular. I get a great bright and punchy sound out of my Japanese Fender "foto-flame" Jazz bass with no preamp. In a way, it's my best sounding bass, and I have a Stingray, a Tobias, a Precision, and an Ibenez with EMG's. I wouldn't want a preamp in the J-bass - I use a pedalboard but even if I didn't there are plenty of tone controls on the amp to compensate.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Eddie Moody on August 25, 2008 at 10:40pm: Frankie how's Dawn? Hope Life's good for you.
Love
blessings
Eddie; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Eddie Moody on August 25, 2008 at 10:41pm: Oh!!! go with EMG; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Richie Mays on December 5, 2008 at 4:44pm: listen to J-raj. His tone on his j-style bass is awesome. The duncans sound good, and are cheap if you are on a budget.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alan Grindle on June 15, 2009 at 8:34am: I have a Jazz Highway that I upgraded with the EMG vintage jazz set and a EXB bass expander in place of the tone pot and it has a very nice vintage tone and all the other sounds you need

Alan; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John Hancotte on August 30, 2009 at 2:00am: Now I see your original question. I would put the best Fender pickups you can find in it. For the preamp, you have to go with a Sadowsky, since that is what was in Marcus'. Gotta go for what Fender should have done, but fell short...; ▶ Reply to This