Jazz Bass Pickup Routing - Fender Aerodyne Carved Top

[Chuck_Norris]

Looks good. How do the Relentless pickups sound?

They do not sound like single coils. They are linear humbuckers and sound like it. Very punchy low midrange. I still have yet to adjust their height but they are apparently 70% more output and sound like it.

They sound closer to a an active pickup (with a bit of compression) than they do a passive to me so far.

I absolutely love the bridge pickup.

I can update after I get some more play time but they are so different I didn't know what to make of them late when I finished installing them last night other than they sound great with distortion and I can use the bridge pickup solo even for punchy rock sounds.

The problem with the new Aerodyne is the pickups were too Vintage for the aesthetics. They originals sound great and I might even use them in another more vintage style jazz bass but this bass is now the hot rod jazz bass I wanted.

The fire sale on Aerodyne was a steal. It's an absolutely gorgeous instrument and plays like a dream. I can't believe I only paid $650 for the bass. B stock but it was brand new.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

They do not sound like single coils. They are linear humbuckers and sound like it. Very punchy low midrange. I still have yet to adjust their height but they are apparently 70% more output and sound like it.

They sound closer to a an active pickup (with a bit of compression) than they do a passive to me so far.

I absolutely love the bridge pickup.

I can update after I get some more play time but they are so different I didn't know what to make of them late when I finished installing them last night other than they sound great with distortion and I can use the bridge pickup solo even for punchy rock sounds.

The problem with the new Aerodyne is the pickups were too Vintage for the aesthetics. They originals sound great and I might even use them in another more vintage style jazz bass but this bass is now the hot rod jazz bass I wanted.

The fire sale on Aerodyne was a steal. It's an absolutely gorgeous instrument and plays like a dream. I can't believe I only paid $650 for the bass. B stock but it was brand new.

Well, I know he doesn’t typically use Jazz style pickups but if the Relentless series are supposed to be a Billy Sheehan thing, and I could be mistaken on that, that sounds about right for him. If I ever build a 4 string Jazz I’ll have to keep them in mind.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

I like that the Relentless pups are already shielded and the wires are rapped in plenum wire. Still waiting on some parts on my build but I have it completely wired up and the pups are noiseless.

 

[Chuck_Norris]

I like that the Relentless pups are already shielded and the wires are rapped in plenum wire. Still waiting on some parts on my build but I have it completely wired up and the pups are noiseless.
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That is a good looking bass. Don't forget that DiMarzio recommends 500k pots for volume and a 0.033uF capacitor on the 250k tone pot. I did when I first installed mine.

It was near impossible to find 500k pots with a 6mm shaft to fit the Japanese pots in my Aerodyne but I found some similar enough to work. Now the pickups sound better than they did with 250k. These are powerhouse jazz bass pickups for sure. It will be a great rock or metal bass. Your typical slap bass player may not like them as much.

Now I'm trying out different strings to see what matches these pickups well. I like DR strings but the hi beams may not be the best match.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

That is a good looking bass. Don't forget that DiMarzio recommends 500k pots for volume and a 0.033uF capacitor on the 250k tone pot. I did when I first installed mine.

It was near impossible to find 500k pots with a 6mm shaft to fit the Japanese pots in my Aerodyne but I found some similar enough to work. Now the pickups sound better than they did with 250k. These are powerhouse jazz bass pickups for sure. It will be a great rock or metal bass. Your typical slap bass player may not like them as much.

Now I'm trying out different strings to see what matches these pickups well. I like DR strings but the hi beams may not be the best match.

Thanks, love the look of the bass too.
As far as strings go I’m using Ernie Ball Cobalt .105 to . 045. They sound great IMO with those pups.

As you noticed I don’t have any volume pots but I do have a 1 meg resistor going between the hot and ground on the output jack to simulate a resistance load, I probably will put 1 more 1meg resistor in parallel across the output jack to get the resistance load down to 500k.

As far as resistance on the caps there isn’t any, it’s just 2 caps connected to a on/off/on dptt toggle. While this does add a resonance peak to whichever cap is engaged it is an effect that on this setup sounds really good. The resonant peak adds a nice little boost to the upper mid range which makes the pickups bark and burp in a good way when running thru a cab with 10” speakers.

I probably will play around with the control plate a bit more. Thinking about buying some trim pots and throwing them into the passive electronics so I have some variable resistors to set and forget.

Cheers.