Active Pickup Recommendations: Marcus Miller Jazz / John East

C

cs1422

Aug 14, 2018
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#1
Hey fam,

I have a killer early MM jazz that I dropped a John East pre in about ten years ago. This bass has been in storage for a hot minute, and turns out, the neck pickup is as dead as a doornail.

I need recs for a great all around set of active(switchable to passive) pickups that could really take advantage of the depth that the JE preamp can bring.

Open to all thoughts!

Context: I play funk, jazz, R&B, and LoFi - No metal etc.

Thanks!


-luke
 
#2
I’m repeating myself at the risk of sounding like a Fralin fanboy, well, good for me.

The Lindy Fralins have been a great combination with the East J Retro preamp in my Mike Lull Jazz-style bass. Since they are not underwound and my Lull has the 60s spacing, it’s not exactly like a Marcus Miller tone, but it’s a most excellent Jazz bass tone that I’m 110% satisfied with.

Lindy Fralin Jazz pickups should definitely be on your list to consider.

EDIT: it’s possible that Fralin can rewind/repair your dead pickup, too, although I would send him both pups if you took that route.
 
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#4
That's right. I just noticed that part. I guess you could look to EMG for active pickup choices, but I tried the EMG active jazz pickups in a Fender Jazz bass several years ago and I immediately pulled them out and put the OEM pups back in. The EMGs sounded dreadful. Also, I'm fairly sure one doesn't use active pickups with active preamps, unless they are made as a pair. I hope someone else will come along and clarify/confirm this. The EMGs I installed and subsequently discarded were paired with the standard passive Jazz bass electronics.
 
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#6
cs1422 said:
Interesting! I had assumed that due to the active/passive nature of the Marcus Miller bass, these were active pickups
Click to expand...

Noooo, I do know for certain that the Marcus Miller Jazz had good ol’ passive pickups going into the active preamp. You can find some discussions on passive vs active pickups around here and other places.

I don’t know if anyone else makes active pickups (that require a battery all by themselves) besides EMG. Again, hoping someone else can offer some more insight. Frankly, I’m kinda surprised no one else has yet.
 
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#8
Geri O said:
Noooo, I do know for certain that the Marcus Miller Jazz had good ol’ passive pickups going into the active preamp. You can find some discussions on passive vs active pickups around here and other places.

I don’t know if anyone else makes active pickups (that require a battery all by themselves) besides EMG. Again, hoping someone else can offer some more insight. Frankly, I’m kinda surprised no one else has yet.
Click to expand...

MEC & Seymour Duncan have active pickups too.
Personally, I like EMG’s JA set and PA pickups.
Imo they produce a better tone than EMG’s ceramic magnet pickups.
The high end is not as harsh and the mids are not as scooped.
 
#10
I had a MIJ MM that I played for 9 years with an East Marcus retro in it. I had Fender USA 75RI pickups in it.

I would recommend Pure American Vintage 74 Reissues.
These are the top in the Fender Jazz 70’s sounds IMO. I have a set in a MIJ 70’s classic series Jazz and they sound great. They take set ups well, especially if you like a growly, Barky, or burpy bridge tone.
 
#11
cs1422 said:
Hey fam,

I have a killer early MM jazz that I dropped a John East pre in about ten years ago. This bass has been in storage for a hot minute, and turns out, the neck pickup is as dead as a doornail.

I need recs for a great all around set of active(switchable to passive) pickups that could really take advantage of the depth that the JE preamp can bring.

Open to all thoughts!

Context: I play funk, jazz, R&B, and LoFi - No metal etc.

Thanks!


-luke
Click to expand...

I’ve got the same bass with the same East preamp and the best result I’ve gotten is with plain old single coils from an American standard jazz.
 
#12
I have a Jazz bass with 70's Aguliar pickups and an Audere preamp and I get a very Marcus like tone out of it. The only active Jazz pickups I can think of are EMG's but if you go with active pickups you need to make sure that the preamp is compatible with active pickups.
 
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#15
Geri O said:
That's right. I just noticed that part. I guess you could look to EMG for active pickup choices, but I tried the EMG active jazz pickups in a Fender Jazz bass several years ago and I immediately pulled them out and put the OEM pups back in. The EMGs sounded dreadful. Also, I'm fairly sure one doesn't use active pickups with active preamps, unless they are made as a pair. I hope someone else will come along and clarify/confirm this. The EMGs I installed and subsequently discarded were paired with the standard passive Jazz bass electronics.
Click to expand...
I've used active EMG pickups with active preamps many times. EMG sells active preamps to pair with their active pickups. EMGs sound great with John East preamps, one of my favorite combinations.
 
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#16
cs1422 said:
Geri, Thanks for the recommendation - I'm not seeing any active pickup options on Lindy's site.
Click to expand...

Do you really want active pickups?

Active pickups can't work without power, so no 'passive' option.

I'm 99.9% certain you'd want passive pickups, like the stock ones in your bass.
If that's the case, I personally really like the Dimarzio Area J (I have them in a Jazz with a John East J-Retro01 preamp, great combination). Those pickups are humbucking but they retain a lot of the classic Jazz character.
 
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#18
Geri O said:
I'm fairly sure one doesn't use active pickups with active preamps, unless they are made as a pair. I hope someone else will come along and clarify/confirm this.
Click to expand...
geri, i can't say my experience clarifies anything, but i can confirm this: i thought i'd pair an audere active 4-band ( Jazz 4B Black ) with an active EMG PJ set that i had. i inquired at audere for guidance, and was told "no worries" (there's a protocol/best-practices for the settings), and 'voila', a great playing/sounding ax using the audere preamp + EMG actives:
BLUE PJ.png


Geri O said:
I don’t know if anyone else makes active pickups (that require a battery all by themselves) besides EMG.
Click to expand...
the guitarfetish redactive line = active pickups requiring 9v power. the guitarfetish redactive pickups are actually pretty nice, IMO, but they don't compare to EMGs, nor does the redactive pre begin to compare to the audere preamp. i've never paired the redactive pickups to any other preamp than the one offered by guitarfetish
REDactive EQ Switchable Jazz Bass Active pickup Neck Positio


disclosure: i know nothing (much) about EB electronics. i'm a player/user, i love both active and passive EBs, i'm not a tone chaser, and if the knobs do anything at all (something!) = i'm good to go!
 
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#20
JRA said:
geri, i can't say my experience clarifies anything, but i can confirm this: i thought i'd pair an audere active 4-band ( Jazz 4B Black ) with an active EMG PJ set that i had. i inquired at audere for guidance, and was told "no worries" (there's a protocol/best-practices for the settings), and 'voila', a great playing/sounding ax using the audere preamp + EMG actives:
View attachment 4860997
Click to expand...

Were you able to power the EMGs with the same battery(ies?) as the preamp?
 
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