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Post subject: help on precision bass + jazz pickup
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 12:50 pm
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I have a 1971 frettless precision bass with an additional Hi-A Bartolini jazz pickup at the bridge. Two challenges: the barts is at full volume and just opening the precision volume over a third open and this is as loud; secondly, the barts is noisy. I have been advised to change this for a newer dualcoil pickup but I am worried about losing the sound. I have been playing this bass since 1986 and just opening it up feels uncomfortable, but I would love to get rid of the humming noise


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Post subject: Re: help on precision bass + jazz pickup
Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 8:40 am
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Lorenzob64 wrote:
I have a 1971 frettless precision bass with an additional Hi-A Bartolini jazz pickup at the bridge. Two challenges: the barts is at full volume and just opening the precision volume over a third open and this is as loud; secondly, the barts is noisy. I have been advised to change this for a newer dualcoil pickup but I am worried about losing the sound. I have been playing this bass since 1986 and just opening it up feels uncomfortable, but I would love to get rid of the humming noise

Ditch that Bart post haste! Good Lord what were you thinking? Anyway, line all the pickup and control body cavities with copper foil. Make sure your ground to the bridge is good.

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Post subject: Re: help on precision bass + jazz pickup
Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 2:30 am
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linnin wrote:
Lorenzob64 wrote:
I have a 1971 frettless precision bass with an additional Hi-A Bartolini jazz pickup at the bridge. Two challenges: the barts is at full volume and just opening the precision volume over a third open and this is as loud; secondly, the barts is noisy. I have been advised to change this for a newer dualcoil pickup but I am worried about losing the sound. I have been playing this bass since 1986 and just opening it up feels uncomfortable, but I would love to get rid of the humming noise

Ditch that Bart post haste! Good Lord what were you thinking? Anyway, line all the pickup and control body cavities with copper foil. Make sure your ground to the bridge is good.


+1

Grounding the copper-foil shielding wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: help on precision bass + jazz pickup
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 3:13 am
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Not a big fan of the tone of split/dual coil Jazz pickups myself, and that is especially true for me in a P/J. While they do have lower RF sensitivity (less hum) they often have lower apparent output than a single coil Jazz pickup with the same impedance. Additionally stacked/split/noiseless Jazz Bass pickups (which are really humbuckers in disguise) can introduce some phasing issues when mixed into the humbucking arrangement of the P-pickup in a P/J setup.

Another huge reason I do not like Split/stacked coil J-Bass pickups in a P/J is that typically they do not sound much like a Jazz pickup should to me. They seem to lack upper mids and for lack of a better word...air...which makes them sound more like a Precision set than a Jazz pickup. Do not get me wrong, I love P-Bass tone, but the tonal similarity between a humbucking Jazz pickup and a Precision pair reduces your tonal options and at least partially eclipses the wider tonal palate most people expect in a P/J instrument.

The advice to properly shield to ground is sound with any single coil pickup on any instrument, not just in this one case.

About the only ways to get a decent volume balance between a P and J is to either buy them in a matched set specifically intended for a P/J setup or do an impedance reading on the existing Precision pickup pair (with the pot out of the circuit) and then try to match that impedance reading as closely as possible in the new Jazz pickup, even if you have to have it custom wound. In the case of your vintage instrument if the Precision pickup is original to the instrument finding a single coil Jazz pickup to match is preferable to changing both.

Unless you buy a matched P/J pair or can closely match the impedance of a single coil Jazz pickup to the Precision pair yourself you might find yourself in about the same volume conundrum by just replacing the J pickup with another mismatched J pickup. Seymour Duncan makes a matched set. So does Nordstrom and others. I personally like the Wilde P/J matched set by Bill Lawrence but it is not for everyone as it requires a Master Vol/Pickup Blend/Master Tone control setup, has some extra wiring to get right and requires two caps. I think the Duncan set would fit most players budget better ($135 US about everywhere), is a perfectly viable solution and is much simpler to install than the Wilde set.

One final word. I would also suggest checking that all the pots are 500k for the widest possible tonal range in a passive P/J. Since this instrument was obviously modified it may still have the original 250k pots. I have run into that a lot on P/J mods. 500k pots will open up more of the Jazz pickup upper mids or air when the P and J pups are blended. 250k pots in a P/J tend to strangle the Jazz pickup's upper mids when the Precision pup is turned up as well. And since it is modified you really are not hurting collector class value as it is player class much by changing pots, especially if you keep the originals with the instrument.


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Post subject: Re: help on precision bass + jazz pickup
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:27 am
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Thank you! very useful information!

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