Part 1: Changing the Jazz Bass Pickups
It was 2006 when a younger bass-playing version of myself was ready to invest in my craft and buy a new bass. Having spent years playing and gigging with my starter bass, a $175 PJ Ibanez clone, just about anything I could get would be a step up.
At the time, the coolest possible bass, to my eyes, was a Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass QMT V. It was Fender’s response to the active Super J models that boutique builders were producing. It had 5 strings, a 3 band preamp, and it looked gorgeous with its quilted maple top and gold hardware.
As a young college student, it was way out of my price range. So I kept looking down the Fender catalog and found the Fender Deluxe J Bass 24 V.
It also had 5 strings, a 3 band preamp, a quilted maple top with a pretty tobacco sunburst finish, and 24 frets. Since more frets = better, I ordered it sight unseen, since they didn’t have one available to test at my local Fender dealer.
After waiting a grueling 5 months for it to arrive, I was finally able to plug it in and play.
And it sounded OK. I messed a bit with the preamp knobs and the ‘slap’ switch, played some more, and it still sounded only OK. A bit later I tried pulling the volume knob to bypass the preamp and it sounded much better. In passive mode, it sounded open, dynamic, and more like what you would expect a Jazz Bass® to sound like.
Not knowing any better, I kept the bass.
Eventually, I gave up on using the active mode altogether and used it exclusively in passive mode. The bass is a bit on the heavy side, but it plays well and I grew to love the neck feel.
In the 18 years that I’ve owned this bass, I’ve used it on hundreds of gigs covering a wide variety of genres. I recently asked myself, should I just get a new bass? Something I really love?
But then I ran into Fat Bass Tone, and I asked myself a new question, can I make this bass I love sound really, really good?
So I reached out to Brian & Max at FBT, and what follows is the process of how we’re taking my good, old, but meh-sounding bass to make it sound as good as it possibly can.
Throughout this entire series, we want to show you just what is possible when you take a reasonably priced, old beat-up bass, upgrade the pickups, preamp and bridge, and see what you come up with.
~ JJ Monzon
Background On My 2005 Fender Jazz Bass® Deluxe 24 V
The 2005 Fender Jazz Bass® Deluxe 24 V is a Korean-made, mid-range model that Fender released from 2005 to 2008. This bass was Fender’s response to the explosion in hot-rodded active J Basses in the market.
Originally, this 5 string J Bass came equipped with Seymour Duncan (called Basslines back in the early 2000s) single coil pickups, an early version of a hi-mass bridge, Hipshot licensed tuners, and a three-band preamp with a slap switch that gave a big bump in the low-mid range and cut a lot of other mid frequencies.
Some of its quirks include the fact that it has 24 frets and a 6 bolt neck which Fender doesn’t do very often. The bass has an alder body with a quilted maple top, maple neck with rosewood fretboard, and is topped with a beautiful tobacco sunburst finish.
As mentioned above, my J Bass always looked and played great. But the tone was always just ok. It wasn’t a great-sounding J Bass by any extent, partly due to its sub-par onboard preamp.
Because of preamps like this, onboard preamps often get a bad rap. It sounded compressed, stiff, and the boost and cut range of the knob was barely usable. The only passable tones you could get from it were with a slight boost in the lows and mids. The highs were always too clanky when boosted and sucked the life out of the bass when cut.
The best thing you could do with this preamp was to bypass it by pulling the volume knob and playing the bass in passive mode.
Ultimately, the preamp one day decided to simply die. So I just kept using the bass in passive mode and called it a day. ***We will get to working on that part of the electronics in a future article.
Prior to this project, the only mods I had done to this bass were to gut out the original preamp and install a Fat Bass Tone pre-wired passive harness with a Volume-Blend-Tone configuration, and add some copper shielding tape. This is the starting point for our Deluxe Jazz Bass makeover.
Here are some sound samples so that you can get a better idea of what we’re starting with.
This is being recorded direct with a very neutral “studio” type of preamp that has a minimum amount of coloring so we can get a good idea of what the bass sounds like. The exact same setup will be used in the following recording so we can have an apples-to-apples comparison.
The strings used are a fresh pair of D’Addario NYXL which, in my opinion, work well with this bass.
As you can hear the bass is on the darker side of the Jazz Bass® spectrum. Also, it has a mid-range honk that makes it sound a little different than what you would expect from a typical jazz bass.
The tone from the balance in the center position is pretty solid, it’s like a vintage voiced J Bass with a bit of extra midrange honk, which I like, since it works well in a band context.
However, things start to fall apart when you solo the bridge and neck pickups. The neck becomes woofy and loses clarity. The bridge thins out too much and starts getting clanky.
It’s for this reason that I kept the blend pot exclusively in the center position with both pickups on.
Also worth mentioning is that the fifth string sounds a little bit duller and it doesn't ring as clear as the other four strings. This is typical in five-string Fenders of this vintage and this bass is not an exception. In case you were wondering, the dull sounding B string is not due to a poor setup. In fact a lot of care has been taken in setting up the bass properly and no matter what I’ve tried, the fifth string just sounds a little bit more dull than the rest.
Setting Goals for the Jazz Bass Upgrade Project
At the start of any project, it's smart to have a goal in mind – what am I trying to achieve? We're living in a golden age for bass players, with more options than ever before. There's a huge variety of manufacturers catering to just about every tonal goal you can imagine.
For this project, the goal is to fulfill the potential of what this bass was originally designed to be: a stylish Jazz Bass® on steroids. Now, that could mean many different things. We've seen boutique builders take this concept in various directions. Some aim for a vintage-voiced Jazz Bass with slightly higher output and more flexibility. Others go completely wild, creating tones that a traditional Jazz Bass could never achieve.
My goal is somewhere in between. I don't want it to sound exactly like a vintage '60s Jazz Bass because it's not one. But I also don't want it to be overly modern or hi-fi.
Basically, I want this to be the one bass I can use for any gig. Currently, I play in a cover band that plays '60s psychedelic rock, but I also fill in with other bands that play newer pop tunes. So this bass needs to cover a wide range of tones.
Choosing the Right Pickups
The first step in this project was finding the perfect pickups. With so many options available (Fat Bass Tone alone has over 25 choices for 5-string Jazz Bass pickups) it can be overwhelming.
I knew I didn't want vintage-accurate or super modern pickups, so I focused on the "Modern" and "New Vintage" categories on the website. This narrowed it down to 15 options—still a lot, but more manageable.
Choosing pickups based on descriptions and demos can be difficult. Pickups sound drastically different depending on the rest of your signal chain and the bass itself. Fat Bass Tone's demos are super helpful because they use the same signal chain for each pickup, so you can hear the actual differences.
My Pickup Priorities
Whether it's a Jazz Bass or another style, I like a tone that's deep but not boomy, clear but not harsh, and with enough mids to cut through the mix. Bonus points if it's punchy and dynamic.
The Finalists
After listening to many demos, I narrowed it down to three options:
- Delano JMVC5
- Bartolini Classic Series 5-String
- Nordstrand Big J Blades (Warm and Wooly wind)
All three have a similar vibe but with distinct personalities. The Delanos are punchy and clear, the Bartolini's are smooth with that classic Bartolini growl, and the Big J Blades are somewhere in between, with a harmonically rich growl, and more punch and mid presence than what you get from vintage voiced pickups.
The Winner
After careful consideration, I chose the Nordstrand Big J Blades. I think they'll sit well in a mix, with just enough bottom-end and high-end clarity to cut through. The ample mids should also help me avoid getting buried in the mix.
Likely, I would have been happy with any of the three, but the Nordstrands seemed like the best fit for my needs.
Double-Checking Measurements
Once I decided on the pickups, I carefully measured them. Fender has used various pickup sizes over the years, so it's crucial to order the correct ones. I wanted to avoid returns or having to route the pickup cavities.
Installing the Nordstrand Big J Blades
The first thing I noticed when I got the pickups was how beautiful they are. The bar magnets give them a seriously classy look. It's impressive how much detail and craftsmanship goes into these pickups.
Installing pickups isn't difficult, even if it's your first time. Each pickup has two wires: one ground (black) and one hot (white). Since my bass already had a pre-wired harness, swapping pickups was a breeze. I simply unsoldered the old ones, removed the mounting screws, and soldered in the new ones. The included diagram was clear and easy to follow. The whole process took about 30 minutes because I was being extra careful not to melt any wires or damage the pots.
If you're new to soldering or installing pickups, take some time to practice. Soldering isn't hard to learn, and there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube. Once you're comfortable, installing the pickups is straightforward. Just pay attention, and you're unlikely to damage anything. I actually find soldering pickups kind of fun and meditative.
Setting Pickup Height
After soldering and screwing in the pickups, the next step is to adjust their height. Finding the right height is a matter of trial and error and personal preference. Fender provides some initial measurements, but I just use those as a starting point and then experiment.
I experimented a lot with pickup height, going from the standard height to higher and lower. I found that I prefer them a bit lower than standard. These pickups have a strong output – definitely not vintage, but not super hot either. So a slightly lower height gave me the balance I like.
I settled on setting the neck pickup 4mm from the B string and 3mm from the G string. The bridge pickup I set up at 4mm from the B string and 3.5 mm from G string (string height measured with the strings fretted at the 24th fret). This gave me a good balance of output, a tone that wasn't too boomy, and the overall balance I was looking for. Your mileage may vary, so try different heights and see what sounds best to you.
How Do They Sound?
I've included a video to demonstrate how the new pickups sound on my bass compared to the original set. Everything was recorded with the same signal chain and strings, and I tried my best to play consistently to minimize variables. Also, the recordings have been volume matched so that you can do a better comparison, as our ears tend to be biased to equate louder with better sounding.
Compared to the original pickups, which were voiced to be somewhat vintage-like, the Nordstrand Big J Blades are much more touch-sensitive. They have more mids and an overall clarity in the high-mids, giving them a lot more presence. The highs are smooth and rounded, which I prefer over the harsh, brittle sound that some Jazz Bass pickups can have. And despite being called "wooly," the low end is still tight and defined – not boomy like the vintage set.
One of my favorite aspects of the Big J Blades is that they feel noticeably more touch-sensitive and dynamic. They respond better to changes in playing intensity, whether I'm digging in harder or using a lighter touch. I love this characteristic because it helps me keep my playing dynamic and expressive.
To sum it up, the Big J Blades are better balanced, punchier, and have a richer sound than the old Seymour Duncan pickups. The difference is NOT subtle; it's almost like I have a completely different bass now. This pickup swap has drastically changed the character and tone of my bass, and I couldn't be happier with the results.
Final Thoughts on the Pickup Swap
After spending more time with the new pickups and using them in band rehearsals, I'm extremely happy with the upgrade. In a band setting, which is how I play most often, they just fit perfectly. Their voicing makes a lot of sense for rock, pop, or any genre with multiple instruments. It was effortless to find my place in the mix. The mids are present without clashing with vocals or guitars, and there's just enough high-end sparkle to let my playing dynamics shine through.
You can tell that Carey and the team at Nordstrand Audio are gigging bass players because these pickups sound like they have been designed to fit perfectly in the context of a live band.
Overall, I consider this first step of the project a huge success. Honestly, if this was the only modification I ever made to this bass, I could happily play it for another 18 years.
But we're not stopping here! Next, we'll install a new preamp and swap out the bridge to see what other improvements we can make to this 18-year-old Jazz Bass. Stay tuned for the next article!