NPD: Testosterone for Jules - EMG Geezer Butler PJ Pickups

DrThumpenstein

DrThumpenstein

Living for the groove
Supporting Member
Feb 8, 2015
2,380
8,703
5,426
St Louis, MO
#1
Jules, my Aerodyne bass, was suffering from an anemic and noisy J pickup, and the P was in need of a little beefing up as well. I've considered these pickups for some time. After lots of research (and a little heart-to-heart with @JimmyM some time ago) I decided to give these a try. What a great upgrade! Dead silent J is MUCH hotter, growlier, and meatier than the stock J. The upgrade would have been worth it for that alone.

What's really impressive is the fatter, beefier, punchier P pickup. I was ok with the previous P, but this one shows me what I didn't know I was missing. It has a great classic P-bass tone that the stock pups just kind of approximated. This one makes my PJ sound like a vintage P-bass when solo'd. I really dig the range of tones I can get with different blends of P-J and the tone control. What really made me drop my jaw was tuning down to drop D. WOW! Just those 2 notes are worth the price of admission! None of my other basses sound this good in drop D. My WD-800 fond a new gear!

These pickups are articulate and respond well to different fingerstyle techniques and to playing with a pick. Both are brighter than the stock pups, which is great. I play some fusion that benefits from that, but when I don't need the highs, it's easy to EQ them down as needed. You can't really add highs that aren't there, but there are options from the tone knob down that tame them when necessary.

Packaging is top-notch and installation was a breeze. I assumed I would need to solder the input jack, since Jules has a strat-type jack, but no, the supplied input dropped in just fine, so no soldering needed. The stock Aerodyne knobs are a little snug, but work. (I ordered some Gibson knobs in black that would look pretty sweet on Jules. They were supposed to be 6 mm, but they don't fit. I had read that the Aerodyne knobs would not work on these, but I think someone just didn't try hard enough.)

20200223_195004.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: NinjaPyrate, Woofer, mikewalker and 12 others
#4
I'm considering these for my Harley Benton, the stock Roswells are pretty hot and sound ok, but I really like the idea of swapping everything all at once and properly shielding the cavity better while I am at it. I have never heard anything but glowing reviews on these pickups and every demo sounds like what I like... I guess I should just go for it, lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrThumpenstein
#5
Gustopher said:
I'm considering these for my Harley Benton, the stock Roswells are pretty hot and sound ok, but I really like the idea of swapping everything all at once and properly shielding the cavity better while I am at it. I have never heard anything but glowing reviews on these pickups and every demo sounds like what I like... I guess I should just go for it, lol
Click to expand...

My understanding is that these are internally shielded so you may not need to shield the cavities. These are really quiet out of the box. Yeah, at this point I'm wondering why I waited so long!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Clemouze and Gustopher
#7
DrThumpenstein said:
My understanding is that these are internally shielded so you may not need to shield the cavities. These are really quiet out of the box. Yeah, at this point I'm wondering why I waited so long!
Click to expand...
That is true about the actives. I don't know that it's true about passives like the geezers. They still suggest running a ground wire to the bridge. But I don't know for sure so I'm certainly not speaking for EMG.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrThumpenstein
#8
JimmyM said:
That is true about the actives. I don't know that it's true about passives like the geezers. They still suggest running a ground wire to the bridge. But I don't know for sure so I'm certainly not speaking for EMG.
Click to expand...

Definitely grounded to bridge. I'm not sure they're shielded but I read that somewhere and they're really quiet. I was thinking if there was still noise I'd go ahead and shield the cavities, but I just don't see the need at this point.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Clemouze
#9
DrThumpenstein said:
Definitely grounded to bridge. I'm not sure they're shielded but I read that somewhere and they're really quiet. I was thinking if there was still noise I'd go ahead and shield the cavities, but I just don't see the need at this point.
Click to expand...
Yeah, shielding with those pickups is probably only needed as a Hail Mary move in the absolute worst and noisiest places on earth for electrical interference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrThumpenstein
#12
DrThumpenstein said:
Jules, my Aerodyne bass, was suffering from an anemic and noisy J pickup, and the P was in need of a little beefing up as well. I've considered these pickups for some time. After lots of research (and a little heart-to-heart with @JimmyM some time ago) I decided to give these a try. What a great upgrade! Dead silent J is MUCH hotter, growlier, and meatier than the stock J. The upgrade would have been worth it for that alone.

What's really impressive is the fatter, beefier, punchier P pickup. I was ok with the previous P, but this one shows me what I didn't know I was missing. It has a great classic P-bass tone that the stock pups just kind of approximated. This one makes my PJ sound like a vintage P-bass when solo'd. I really dig the range of tones I can get with different blends of P-J and the tone control. What really made me drop my jaw was tuning down to drop D. WOW! Just those 2 notes are worth the price of admission! None of my other basses sound this good in drop D. My WD-800 fond a new gear!

These pickups are articulate and respond well to different fingerstyle techniques and to playing with a pick. Both are brighter than the stock pups, which is great. I play some fusion that benefits from that, but when I don't need the highs, it's easy to EQ them down as needed. You can't really add highs that aren't there, but there are options from the tone knob down that tame them when necessary.

Packaging is top-notch and installation was a breeze. I assumed I would need to solder the input jack, since Jules has a strat-type jack, but no, the supplied input dropped in just fine, so no soldering needed. The stock Aerodyne knobs are a little snug, but work. (I ordered some Gibson knobs in black that would look pretty sweet on Jules. They were supposed to be 6 mm, but they don't fit. I had read that the Aerodyne knobs would not work on these, but I think someone just didn't try hard enough.)

View attachment 3723330
Click to expand...
I did the same thing with my aerodyne. What strings are you using on it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrThumpenstein
#13
Which I guess by definition makes it a humbucker, but it's a dam sight from a mudbucker, that's for sure!

I have a Gibson Grabber bass with the sliding humbucker, and you can see where the term "mudbucker" comes from with that bass. While I'd never describe that bass as muddy-sounding, that pickup is no where near as articulate or responsive as either of these pups.
 
#15
DrThumpenstein said:
Labella Deep Talkin Bass flats in the light gauge. They're at least 3-4 years old and as bright as I need, especially with the WD and these new pups. But man! The creamy deep warm tones, even fatter now!

I gotta go work on our drop D tunes!
Click to expand...
Cool. I tried a few different strings on mine and have fallen in love with the la Bella black tapes on that bass. Has an almost acoustic timbre. Very warm and articulate at the same time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DrThumpenstein
#16
The split-coil (humbucking) J is an important part of this as a P/J Set.

I think a lot of times where guys and gals are not pleased with a 'typical' P/J setup is often the J (often a single-coil) is just overwhelmed by the P. It can often sound thin as it's closer to the bridge, where less energy is generated by the string, and unless it's a 'hotter' Jazz pickup, it's just going to get out-gunned by that humbucking P sitting under that fat spot of the string.

Rob Turner and the crew at EMG rightly steered Geezer towards a humbucking J: Higher output, single-coil noise concerns eliminated, and they calibrated the output and tone to that best of all worlds: Either sound good solo'd, and compliment each other when using both pickups.

I'd far rather eliminate that single-coil hum at whatever small expense in tone I might lose, and it's strong enough to keep up with the P pickup. That's vital for it to work right.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheGreatPrfrmr, PawleeP, iiipopes and 4 others
#18
J Wilson said:
The split-coil (humbucking) J is an important part of this as a P/J Set.

I think a lot of times where guys and gals are not pleased with a 'typical' P/J setup is often the J (often a single-coil) is just overwhelmed by the P. It can often sound thin as it's closer to the bridge, where less energy is generated by the string, and unless it's a 'hotter' Jazz pickup, it's just going to get out-gunned by that humbucking P sitting under that fat spot of the string.

Rob Turner and the crew at EMG rightly steered Geezer towards a humbucking J: Higher output, single-coil noise concerns eliminated, and they calibrated the output and tone to that best of all worlds: Either sound good solo'd, and compliment each other when using both pickups.

I'd far rather eliminate that single-coil hum at whatever small expense in tone I might lose, and it's strong enough to keep up with the P pickup. That's vital for it to work right.
Click to expand...

Yeah with these, you're right, the best of both: tone is better than the stock fenders, which really weren't that bad. And dead quiet. That bass grooves in the mix even as it was. I can't wait til our next practice!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back