Replacing Lace Pickups

[jaijai]

Hey all! I've recently acquired a Fender Aerodyne P/J. I wasn't too impressed with the stock pickups so I swapped them out with Lace Man 'O' Wars but I'm still not too keen on them. I recently switched over from a Schecter Stiletto Extreme 4. Playability-wise, the Aerodyne blows the Schecter out of the water, but I definitely prefer the Schecter's sound. Anyone have any suggestions on similiar sounding pickups?

 

[Blaargh]

Man, I love Man O' Wars, but hey, whatever floats your goat. Stiletto Extremes have Schecter active soapbars don't they? You're not going to get a tone like that from passives. I'd suggest EMG for some reasonably priced, good sounding active Jazz pickups. Big but though- EMG has a solderless system, which when I put them in my Jazz I found meant there was no room in the control cavity for the battery. You're either going to have to source the electrics elsewhere and solder it up yourself (no biggie, but it might be worth getting a pro to do it), rout a battery cavity in your bass, or pay for their overpriced external power supply unit (that's what I did, I didn't want to have to rout my bass).

Another option is keeping the pickups, but fitting an active preamp. I know Lace's Alumitone pickups are supposed to work great with preamps, but I don't know about the Man O' Wars. Preamps aren't really anything I've had a lot of experience with, but it might be worth looking into.

 

[jaijai]

I know, they're pretty great! Only problem is I'm after a more modern, versatile sound but the man o wars seem geared for rock/metal. What is an external power supply unit? As well as an active preamp? I'm guessing a pedal?

I'm sorry about all the questions. I'm still pretty new to the whole mod game. I appreciate all the help I can get!

 

[Hopkins]

I don't know of any Passive P/J pickups that sound remotely like an active soap bar.