I'm planning to mod my Jazz bass to a PJ configuration so I'm in need of a precision pickup. It's Fender Mexico so I don't want to spend a fortune.
One option is to keep an eye out for an equivalent Fender pickup from a Mexican P Bass but they don't seem to come up very often.
If I spend a bit more then some of the Seymour Duncans look good. I was probably thinking SPB1 or SPB2 for a more vintage type of output rather than SPB3.
The other option is other brands like Kent Armstrong or Tone Rider.
The Tone Rider TRP1 looks like it would fit the bill, but I can't find many reviews of it.
Does anyone have any experience of these, or any other suggestions?
Comments
Sounds like a good P, not much else to say really. You might be able to find a used one for a decent price as some people compulsively remove stock pickups.
I've got a black Dimarzio Model P I'd sell for £40 delivered but to be honest I don't think it'd work for you as it's considerably hotter than a standard P pickup with more of an aggressive mid to it. You'd need a hot Jazz pickup to get a suitable pairing (such as a model J).
The Tonerider Precision pickup was good enough to later convince me to get a Tele set for another guitar - and they were good too.
[edit] By the way, my Squier Precision is the old 'P/J' model with a Jazz neck and extra pickup. The Tonerider is in there alongside a seconhand Duncan Quaterpounder Jazz pickup and it more than holds its own.
I am leaning towards that Tonerider.
If I were buying P-bass pickups, I'd be looking at the Geezer ones, but they're not cheap; I've got Shadow (German) pickups on my partsblaster P-bass which I built on a budget; they were old stock in a local guitar shop and sound quite good.
An alternative is to get a John East J-Retro active board; it's a straight swap for a standard J-bass control panel and just takes the sound to another level.
If you are tricking up your bass, you could also look at a Hipshot D-tuner/Xtender; I've got two basses with them.
The mid pickup cavity was already fairly generous. I elected to enlarge it whilst removing as little additional wood as possible. This obliged me to purchase a blank J Bass scratchplate and cut out the pickup opening myself. Given the chance to begin again, I would have purchased a commercially available pickguard first and used that to determine the position of the pickup cavity.
1) decent pickups for not too much money?
2) pickups that will repay your investment time and time again by sounding utterly professional under stage and studio conditions?
The EMG-GZR pair is extremely good. The fully screened Solderless cables save you the trouble and expense of shielding. The modular controls format makes it easy to add active EQ - should you wish. (The pickups themselves are passive.)