AERO PICKUPS - Religious Tone Experience

IngloriousOz

IngloriousOz

Supporting Member
Jun 1, 2006
2,244
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SLC, Utah
#1
I want...no wait...I NEED to write a little review about these Aero Type 1 jazz pups I just had installed in my 74 AVRI jazz bass - WOW. I have been reading/hearing about these forever and have been curious ever since getting hip to Juan Alderetes magical Lakland DJ Skyline. I finally decided to spring for a set even though I've tried everything under the sun when it comes to pups and pre's (with mixed results): Novaks, Lollars, Nordstrands, Duncans, Bartolinis, Dimarzios, Darkstars, EMG's, and a couple Wals to boot - these definitely offer a new dimension that I haven't encountered yet. My experience in speaking to Larry at Aero a couple times along with the great CS at BestBassGear made the purchasing experience all the better.

My long-time tech who installed these and setup the bass called me for the first time ever and said "What the f*** are these pickups????" when I asked why he said "I tested the bass out on this busted up old Trace Elliot combo that's been sitting here for months and for the first time ever I wanted to buy the amp - turns out it was this bass, it made every single rig at the shop sound awesome!"

If you do a search on this site these are described as "hot, grindy, aggressive etc" and all of those apply but my immediate reaction after taking the bass home and plugging in with the headphones on was "Holy High Definition" - everything was so crystal clear, full and huge with nothing left wanting, they really capture and amplify the full sound of my Jazz bass through whatever setup I'm testing it through. I tried out some pressure-wound Rotos, D'Addario flats, Steel Rotos and DR HiBeams and they all sounded fantastic - one word that keeps coming to mind is "pure" during the testing. Very, very cool.

I wish I was a little more versed in the in's and outs of pickup construction, frequencies, terminology etc to describe what these do in more adequate terms but I can say they are absolutely worth the cost of admission. Don't have the means to record a great set of clips at the moment but for now I'll let this video do the talking:



Get some!
 
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#4
Couldn't find any information about price on the homepage, what do they cost, and do you think it would be possible just to buy a single bridge J pickup Type 1, opposed to a pair, as my bass is a P/J bass?

Not that I am not satisfied with the EMG Geezer Butler pickups I have currently installed in my bass, just got me curious and intrigued.
 
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#5
NoiseNinja said:
Couldn't find any information about price on the homepage, what do they cost, and do you think it would be possible just to buy a single bridge J pickup Type 1, opposed to a pair, as my bass is a P/J bass?

Not that I am not satisfied with the EMG Geezer Butler pickups I have currently installed in my bass, just got me curious and intrigued.
Click to expand...

I purchased my set on BestBassGear using a Promo code so they ended up being $180 for the pair shipped but you can order direct from Larry @ Aero - his email is [email protected] and he's happy to talk shop and get you exactly what you need.

The EMG Geezers are fantastic, had them in a P/J myself - you'll love these.
 
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#9
They're "beefier" as Aeros reach way down in the Hz where most cant. I never scoped it, aint a pro tech, but when I swapped AERO I into my Lakland J5, the china in the cabinets never danced like that before. Same everything else. Definitely a new B string harmonic I've never heard before. They are also a "scootch" louder as Aero uses a thinner, more expensive wire ( not the cheap black stuff), so while they're not "overwound" they have excellent output. Ballz + articulation is a hard combo to hit on. Sadowsky, Lakland, Nordy, never did that in my home practice space.

No machines are used to make AEROs, its all human hands. I think most others are machine wound etc. Better yet, if you have an idea or an unusual spacing, you really ought give them a call. Its really a custom shop, not a factory like many others. Plus, I guarantee, if you call, the chief over there Larry, will learn ya something.

PS. I do not believe they make an NC style. ??

BTW, all my comments above are my ears. I recorded with that J5 once, and the sound engineer said the same thing as IngOz's tech did...... " you got some sort of preamp on, the signal is big, but its so right" "what kind of pre is that" " I cant beleive the low end!" . He looks through the window at me trying to see what the heck my signal chain was, sees no box and I'm pointing to the pickups saying, " Its these crazy fckng Hawaiian pickups man!". ;) Swear on the Bible. He was floored by them. ( PS the trouble is, he scooped the mix bad, but damn it all, the recordings are BEASTLY if you're running a proper sub wooofer. Rattle china at low volumes. Make contact with nuke subs ( VLF) at high volumes. :) )

Most importantly, it confirmed it wasnt my imagination, what is called "confirmation bias" in my profession. I do frankly believe they are the best, or one of the few best , pickups made anywhere. If you have ears like me, Oz and the sound engineers its WAY worth the higher cost versus machine made.
 
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#11
@BuffaloBass Man you said it better than I ever could. Great description - I was surprised about the overwound part in general because they put out just as much as an overwound set in my friends Jazz I A/B'd them against. I've found the perfect setup for me is running the bass strung up with HiBeams into my SFX microthumpinator to cut out everything below 30hz and into a germanium comp/boost combo - the tone is unreal!

I also recommend giving Larry a call, I've spoken with him a couple times and he is a wealth of knowledge and loves talking to musicians whether you're a customer or not.

Again - Get some!
 
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#13
BuffaloBass said:
They're "beefier" as Aeros reach way down in the Hz where most cant. I never scoped it, aint a pro tech, but when I swapped AERO I into my Lakland J5, the china in the cabinets never danced like that before. Same everything else. Definitely a new B string harmonic I've never heard before. They are also a "scootch" louder as Aero uses a thinner, more expensive wire ( not the cheap black stuff), so while they're not "overwound" they have excellent output. Ballz + articulation is a hard combo to hit on. Sadowsky, Lakland, Nordy, never did that in my home practice space.

No machines are used to make AEROs, its all human hands. I think most others are machine wound etc. Better yet, if you have an idea or an unusual spacing, you really ought give them a call. Its really a custom shop, not a factory like many others. Plus, I guarantee, if you call, the chief over there Larry, will learn ya something.

PS. I do not believe they make an NC style. ??

BTW, all my comments above are my ears. I recorded with that J5 once, and the sound engineer said the same thing as IngOz's tech did...... " you got some sort of preamp on, the signal is big, but its so right" "what kind of pre is that" " I cant beleive the low end!" . He looks through the window at me trying to see what the heck my signal chain was, sees no box and I'm pointing to the pickups saying, " Its these crazy fckng Hawaiian pickups man!". ;) Swear on the Bible. He was floored by them. ( PS the trouble is, he scooped the mix bad, but damn it all, the recordings are BEASTLY if you're running a proper sub wooofer. Rattle china at low volumes. Make contact with nuke subs ( VLF) at high volumes. :) )

Most importantly, it confirmed it wasnt my imagination, what is called "confirmation bias" in my profession. I do frankly believe they are the best, or one of the few best , pickups made anywhere. If you have ears like me, Oz and the sound engineers its WAY worth the higher cost versus machine made.
Click to expand...

You edited your post! Yes, the price difference isn't even an issue considering the quality of these pups and the improvement in tone..that's why I needed to try them against a few other basses, different strings and the whole lot right away. The more I play these the more I'm convinced I'd be hard pressed to find a better set of pickups.
 
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#14
I forget what I added, maybe just the cycling thru all the pickups ( and basses) that were popular here at the time and settling on Aero, because its what my ears heard as "best". Still today, there is little mention of Aero here at TB while other manufacturers are praised greatly. Not that they are bad product, but I have to say its as much the groupthink of people praising this one or that one, that makes them popular, as much as the technical specs. I cant understand why AERO gets no love. They're simply among the best. Sound guys with WAY more experience than me agree, folks that usually never comment on bass sound. ?? I'd hate for them to be a "kept secret".

It's no doubt that true craftsman like Elrick use them. Folks with early Laklands with AEROs rave on them. Too bad making more profit at Lakland, Fodera, etc. precluded their use later on. They are more $$. And no machines, so no "scaling". That ironically, is probably why they are amongst the best, if not THE.
 
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#15
BuffaloBass said:
I forget what I added, maybe just the cycling thru all the pickups ( and basses) that were popular here at the time and settling on Aero, because its what my ears heard as "best". Still today, there is little mention of Aero here at TB while other manufacturers are praised greatly. Not that they are bad product, but I have to say its as much the groupthink of people praising this one or that one, that makes them popular, as much as the technical specs. I cant understand why AERO gets no love. They're simply among the best.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure, for me the lack of hype and the website being a bit older kept my interest cooled until I started connecting some dots - that Aero loaded Skyline DJ Juan Alderete plays is the only Lakland he still uses even though he had an entire stable of USA made prototypes to his spec, also talking with the folks at BestBassGear and the few good reviews I saw on TB finally convinced me. One of the best gear decisions I've ever made.

I really wish I would have scoped these out sooner because this could have saved me thousands in flipped basses and pickups swaps!
 
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#16
Ditto bro! I fell prey to all the "gossip" here! and thats OK, its why we're here.

Heres the only thing I caution folks about AERO, and you'll get this from them right up top. You better like the sound of the bass acoustically, as AEROS are flat as friggin' pancake, no color. I installed one in a Kingston once, and it wasnt pretty. The cheap ass oem mid humpy pickup made the bass sound "passable". I put it all back together, with the preamp back and sold it off.

To me, with AEROS you don't need a preamp. So while they're more $$, they save you that. But it has to be a decent bass, that sounds good acoustically. They wont make a purse out of pigs ear. For that, cheap mass produced pups are fine at 30% of the price with all their artificial color.
 
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#19
IngloriousOz said:
Fair enough, how long have you been using the Aeros?
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About a year and a half. I would not trade them . Kicking Deep lows without sounding muddy , good low mids and smooth sweet highs. I have found a sweet spot on pickup height . They work well with copper shielding however do not use shielding with Aguilar Noiseless. It made mine dull and lifeless until I removed the foil shielding then they sprang to life
 
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#20
LoveThatBass said:
About a year and a half. I would not trade them . Kicking Deep lows without sounding muddy , good low mids and smooth sweet highs. I have found a sweet spot on pickup height . They work well with copper shielding however do not use shielding with Aguilar Noiseless. It made mine dull and lifeless until I removed the foil shielding then they sprang to life
Click to expand...

What kind of strings have you had the best results with? Where's your sweet spot with pickup height - I set mine up with the recommended 5/32" height
 
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