I thought I would share my experience with the EMG JAX pickups I recently installed, in case anyone else is interested in these.
TL;DR - The EMG JAX pickups are very smooth sounding, noise free pickups that left a favorable impression even compared to the much loved Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pickups, and are a great choice for anyone who wants super quiet operation while still maintaining some semblance of what we all know and love about traditional passive J style pickups.
I got the EMG’s to replace the Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pickups running through an Aguilar OBP-1 that came in the Matt Pulcinella Level 5 I had just acquired here on TB. My main reason for this was the clicks and pops when I touch the pole pieces on the Dimarzios (I’ve been paying for 25 years…wrong or right, I am not changing my technique now).
Installation: It was super easy to install the JAX pickups. I had to get two LJAXs to replace the Dimarzio Ultra Jazz for 5 string set, because that was the correct size. The JAX set or J5AX set would not fit, because the width and mounting screw holes would not line up, so instead I purchased 2 bridge pickups from the standard JAX set. I used all the solderless components that come with the EMG Jazz bass wiring kit, but decided to use the existing battery box in my bass, so that was the only part that required soldering.
I also decided to not try and figure out how to re-use the OBP-1, and just used the VVT that came with the wiring kit.
Output: The EMGs definitely have a higher output than the Ultra Jazz set, even with the OBP-1 acting as a buffer to boost the signal. This was the first thing I noticed because the input section on my preamp (Golden Age Pre73) was clipping really badly. I had to lower the input gain from -50 to - 35 to stop the clipping. Of course, this could be due to pickup height, but I tried to place the EMGs at the same height that the Dimarzios were.
Tone:
The Dimarzios running through the OBP-1 (no bass/treble boost) actually sounded like they were more zingy (a bump in the 4-8K range) than the EMGs. I was cutting that frequency range on my outboard Symetrix PEQ by about 2dB. With the EMGs, I was able to zero out that band, and it sounded smooth, with just the right amount of string on fret sound to me.
I also noticed that the high end in the EMGs seem to extend higher than the Dimarzios. They didn’t exactly sound Hi-Fi, just more airy, if that makes any sense (I didn’t notice this difference in a mix though, just when playing the bass by itself).
To my surprise, I did not notice too much of a difference in the high mids between these two pickups (it could be the Alnico coils in both pickups, my preamp coloring the mids, or even my GK NEO 410 cab making the mids sound the same), but YMMV.
The Dimarzios did have a significant bump in the 150HZ-300Hz range that I was taking a hammer to (1.5 oct Q, centered at about 225Hz, with a 2.5dB cut) on my PEQ. With the EMGs, I was able to zero out that band and still get a good amount of energy in the low mids.
While I feel like the EMGs may extend lower (you may notice more of a difference between the two if you were playing through something like an SVT410 HLF or a large PA with subs), though it was only slightly noticeable in my setup. I did, however, have to add a 0.75dB boost at about 45Hz (about a 1.2 octave Q) to get the Low B string (E-B) to have the same impact as it did with the Dimarzios running through my rig.
Dynamics: I felt like I had more tonal options with the Dimarzios by altering my attack whether plucking, slapping, or popping than I do with the EMGs. With the EMG’s I feel like the sweet spot is at about moderately high impact, because anything more and the pickups sound like they are saturating too much, and both the lows and highs become more muted. Of course, this could be a function of pickup height (I tried to replicate what the Dimarzios were, but it may not be 100%), my pre-amp, or my amp/cabinet combo so YMMV, of course.
Overall, I am very happy with the EMG JAX pickups, and wish that EMG would offer the Alnico coil and X preamp combo option in all their pickup housing sizes for future basses I plan on owning!
TL;DR - The EMG JAX pickups are very smooth sounding, noise free pickups that left a favorable impression even compared to the much loved Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pickups, and are a great choice for anyone who wants super quiet operation while still maintaining some semblance of what we all know and love about traditional passive J style pickups.
I got the EMG’s to replace the Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pickups running through an Aguilar OBP-1 that came in the Matt Pulcinella Level 5 I had just acquired here on TB. My main reason for this was the clicks and pops when I touch the pole pieces on the Dimarzios (I’ve been paying for 25 years…wrong or right, I am not changing my technique now).
Installation: It was super easy to install the JAX pickups. I had to get two LJAXs to replace the Dimarzio Ultra Jazz for 5 string set, because that was the correct size. The JAX set or J5AX set would not fit, because the width and mounting screw holes would not line up, so instead I purchased 2 bridge pickups from the standard JAX set. I used all the solderless components that come with the EMG Jazz bass wiring kit, but decided to use the existing battery box in my bass, so that was the only part that required soldering.
I also decided to not try and figure out how to re-use the OBP-1, and just used the VVT that came with the wiring kit.
Output: The EMGs definitely have a higher output than the Ultra Jazz set, even with the OBP-1 acting as a buffer to boost the signal. This was the first thing I noticed because the input section on my preamp (Golden Age Pre73) was clipping really badly. I had to lower the input gain from -50 to - 35 to stop the clipping. Of course, this could be due to pickup height, but I tried to place the EMGs at the same height that the Dimarzios were.
Tone:
The Dimarzios running through the OBP-1 (no bass/treble boost) actually sounded like they were more zingy (a bump in the 4-8K range) than the EMGs. I was cutting that frequency range on my outboard Symetrix PEQ by about 2dB. With the EMGs, I was able to zero out that band, and it sounded smooth, with just the right amount of string on fret sound to me.
I also noticed that the high end in the EMGs seem to extend higher than the Dimarzios. They didn’t exactly sound Hi-Fi, just more airy, if that makes any sense (I didn’t notice this difference in a mix though, just when playing the bass by itself).
To my surprise, I did not notice too much of a difference in the high mids between these two pickups (it could be the Alnico coils in both pickups, my preamp coloring the mids, or even my GK NEO 410 cab making the mids sound the same), but YMMV.
The Dimarzios did have a significant bump in the 150HZ-300Hz range that I was taking a hammer to (1.5 oct Q, centered at about 225Hz, with a 2.5dB cut) on my PEQ. With the EMGs, I was able to zero out that band and still get a good amount of energy in the low mids.
While I feel like the EMGs may extend lower (you may notice more of a difference between the two if you were playing through something like an SVT410 HLF or a large PA with subs), though it was only slightly noticeable in my setup. I did, however, have to add a 0.75dB boost at about 45Hz (about a 1.2 octave Q) to get the Low B string (E-B) to have the same impact as it did with the Dimarzios running through my rig.
Dynamics: I felt like I had more tonal options with the Dimarzios by altering my attack whether plucking, slapping, or popping than I do with the EMGs. With the EMG’s I feel like the sweet spot is at about moderately high impact, because anything more and the pickups sound like they are saturating too much, and both the lows and highs become more muted. Of course, this could be a function of pickup height (I tried to replicate what the Dimarzios were, but it may not be 100%), my pre-amp, or my amp/cabinet combo so YMMV, of course.
Overall, I am very happy with the EMG JAX pickups, and wish that EMG would offer the Alnico coil and X preamp combo option in all their pickup housing sizes for future basses I plan on owning!
