Best $150 dollar jazz bass pickup?

[Fleazer Butzary]

Hey there. After posting a thread about which bass to buy, I decided to buy a used 2001 Fender MIM Jazz when I get the money. Anyway, just gonna ask in advance, just in case the pups aren't really doing well anymore, what are some really good jazz bass pups worth $150 or below?

 

[walterw]

sky's the limit, that's what most good sets will cost.

if you're not sure what you want, you can't lose with some classic vintage-style single coils from duncan or fender; that's what will sound "like all the records".

 

[Hopkins]

What kind of sound are you looking for? Do you want single coils or noiseless? A little more information will yield you some better recommendations.

 

[tbplayer59]

There are all kind of threads here about Jazz bass pickups. There's even one pinned to the top. There's so much info and opinions, you will be paralyzed and unable to make a decision. Also, search YouTube. Lots of guys demoing different pickups there.

 

[tbplayer59]

One more thing... the 2001 MIM J's, had matching pickups. This means they were wound in the same direction, so didn't humbuck. I replaced mine for that reason. Replacing them with a standard set requires lengthening the rout for the bridge pickup just slightly. I did mine with a new, very sharp wood chisel. I essentially scraped off a tiny bit of wood from each end.

 

[tbplayer59]

One more, more thing, FWIW, I replaced the pickups in my MIM jazz with Fender Original '62's and I love them.

 

[Hopkins]

One more thing... the 2001 MIM J's, had matching pickups. This means they were wound in the same direction, so didn't humbuck. I replaced mine for that reason. Replacing them with a standard set requires lengthening the rout for the bridge pickup just slightly. I did mine with a new, very sharp wood chisel. I essentially scraped off a tiny bit of wood from each end.

The length isn't really an issue, if using noiseless pickups, just order two neck pickups. If going with singles, its no big deal to reverse polarity on Alnico poles, then its just a matter of reversing the leads. Some people choose to modify the pickup rout, but its not necessary.

 

[walterw]

One more thing... the 2001 MIM J's, had matching pickups. This means they were wound in the same direction, so didn't humbuck. I replaced mine for that reason. Replacing them with a standard set requires lengthening the rout for the bridge pickup just slightly.

oh, i thought they had corrected that flaw by then. yeah, they were kinda not "neck" and not "bridge" but an awkward in-between size, both the same (so no hum-canceling), and absolute junk.

+1 to doing the slight modding to the bass to get normal pickup sets to fit, makes way more sense then custom-ordering non-standard pickup sets that then become hard to resell if you don't like them.