Of Basses and Pickups!

Gear
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It’s been a while since I’ve made a post talking about how much I like my gear. I learned about “this is my new main bass that I love so much more than any other bass I’ve ever had!” posts, LOL.

Anyway, it’s been about a year that I’ve been stuck on 2 basses without thought of selling either for something else, which is a record for me. And short of my recent “retail-therapy-in-response-to-an-emotional-event” impulse Kiesel Zeus purchase, I haven’t been looking to purchase other basses, which is another record for me. Those two basses are my 2023 Fender Player Jazz, and my 2021 Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas IV.

But this post isn’t about my basses. It’s about the pickups I put in them.

For the Jazz, I was kind-of unhappy with the stock Fender pickups. I asked around and wound up installing the EMG J System… active pickups, no pre-amp, solderless install. For the San Dimas, I had initially put in the Geezer Butler PJs… while in my initial research they sounded RAD online, they did not sound as good in the San Dimas. I think it’s because they’re voiced in a very specific way, and the San Dimas is a reverse P. I think having to reverse the split-coil pickup wonkified the voicing. I think. Anyway, I swapped those out for standard EMG PJs… active pickups, no pre-amp, solderless install.

At first, I was dubious about installing EMG pickups. I’d had several mid-level Schecter basses which used active EMG humbuckers with a pre-amp and a 2-band (bass/treble) EQ, and I did not care for them. But I have to tell you, I am a HUGE fan of the EMGs I’ve put into these two basses. They are amazing sounding… clear as a bell, beautiful tone, and I have really bad EMF issues in my “office”, but these seem to be completely unaffected by it. I may hear a wee, minor bit of hum at the lowest volume in my headphones if I silence everything else and listen closely. But on the original Jazz pickups, on the original DiMarzio pickups, or on my Kiesel, when the EMF is flowing, I can hear it loudly.

I always pictured that the Jazz would be my #1 bass with the San Dimas playing backup. But… I’m telling you… with the EMG PJs in it, the San Dimas is quickly becoming my #1 with the Jazz playing backup (of course, it doesn’t hurt that the San Dimas ergonomics are effing amazing).

So. Anyway. If you’re looking for replacement Jazz or PJ pickups, check out EMG. I’ve become quite a fan.

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EMGs are a very funny thing.

@Al1885 loves them.

And I don’t, except the Geezers. But I like them because they are so different. The odd thing is though I like them with LaBella flats. Gives the Aerodyne they are in a wholly different vibe then any other bass I have.

I have tried Frank Bello and Less Claypool EMGs, and a couple other more standard sets I can’t remember - just not for me. The Claypools went to @Al1885 actually lol. I wish I liked more of them, as they are so easy to install.

As mom always says, “there’s an ass for every seat”. It’s what makes the world a great place, everyone has their thing. Glad they work for you!

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I imagine those are voiced VERY uniquely. I would love to try them out, but I don’t think they’d be a good fit long-term for me. They’d be fun to play with though.

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I like EMG pickups, especially the active ones. I seem to have settled on Novak pickups as my personal pickup of choice. Though if I had soapbars, I would definitely go EMG CS neck and DC bridge

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Curious which mid-level Schecters you didn’t like them on. I’ve been looking at either a Stiletto Extreme 4 (which have Schecter-branded pickups) or Stiletto Studio 4 (which have EMGs) for a bit more. I have the Geezers in my P-bass and I dig em. Did you maybe wire one out of phase causing the wonkying?

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EMG is one of a very few companies that make active pickups. They really know their pickups. First of all the active circuit takes care of the 60 cycle hum, then the pickups are constructed with weak magnets but powered by onboard preamp this secret sauce allow them to introduce very little magnetic interference to the string hence allowing for more sustain and promote better oscillation. The preamp takes care of the volume power. That’s why they are not any louder than your typical passive pickups.

I love them.

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Oops - I lied.

There are EMGs in my Gene Simmons Punisher Bass. The jury is still out on if I like them or not. In comparison to the Gibson Ripper I also have (which he played early on), the Gibson OEM pickups, at leats to me are way more interesting.
That said, Gene rips out all the electronics anyway and plays every bass with a volume only knob and the pickups au naturale.

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It’d be hard to do that, the instructions show very clearly how to connect stuff, and I triple checked all the connections. Like I said, I think it’s because normal P basses have the E/A pickup towards the neck and the D/G pickup towards the bridge. But the Charvel is a “reverse P”: the E/A pickup is towards the bridge, and the D/G pickup is towards the neck. Given that the Geezers are all voiced to work together in a standard P bass configuration, I suspect the reverse P configuration is what caused the wonkification.

I stand corrected, one of the two I had used Schecter pickups. I did have the Stiletto Custom 4 - which is a gorgeous instrument and is ergonomically awesome - but has EMG 35HZ pickups with an EMG 2-band Active EQ. It cut through the mix like dammit, but I felt it was missing any sort of “warmth”. And without an EQ band to cut the mids, I couldn’t “fix” it. I’m sure I could have done it with pedals or software, but meh.

…really.

I had no idea. Reminiscent of Timothy Schmit of the Eagles and his signature Carvin, which had 2 single-coil pickups and only a volume knob.