Bass Pickup Recommendations

HandsFree

Newbie
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Hey I am in the process of putting together my first warmoth bass (j bass) with my friend (who is on his 3rd). He is a guitarist and knows nothing about bass pickups, and I need some help as im not too savvy about the electronic part of the bass. Im mainly a rock/funk bassist so i want the sparkle in the high range and the growl of the low end. I was thinking about Fender Custom Shop 60s or Seymour Duncan hots. I also was considering Rio Grande pickups but i couldnt find any reviews or much information about them. So if you could give me some suggestions that would be great.

Some of my main (bass) influences: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sly and the Family Stone, Cake,  and some Flecktones and Jaco in there
 
Around here Nordstrand Pickups get a lot of talk, for good reason.  If you are going to be playing Flea-esque sounding stuff, the Nordstrand MM4.4 or four string quad coil musicman is the pick up that I'd go for.  It offers the musicman pick up option with noiseless (as noiseless as it gets) single coil splitting of the humbucker.  For active preamps, Bartolini and Aguilar systems also receive a lot of talk.  If you decide on the musicman pickup, I'd also recommend having the series single and parallel (an on/on/on switch) for versatility.  Good luck
Patrick

 
I can strongly recommend Bartolini's with the pre-amp.  I'm using M34CBC 's run in parallel and the 2 band pre-amp. They will produce everything from the low round thump of a P-bass to Sparkle that would slice ice.  You have the option of wiring them in series , this produces more output with less shimmer. or using mini toggles to get a huge variety of alternate combos.

 
sorry for not clarifying. i already have the body and it was routed for j bass pickups so no musicman  :-\
 
anyone have any thoughts about the rio grande bass pickups? i can't find much info on them anywhere so i was wondering if any of you guys had tried them.
 
Hi! I have the Fender custom 60's in my upgraded MIM jazz. They are great. Suprisingly versatile, good foundations and great high's.  I was stunned when i changed my mexico pickups for them. A whole new instrument. Good luck!
 
The analogous pickups for the jazz route from Nordstrand are the nj4sv for more of the classic jazz pickup sound (which it sounds like you like) and the nj4se for, as the ad says more heft and bark.  Skuttlefunk has more experience with describing these pickups, you might search the threads for comments he has made for a better description. 
Patrick

 
HandsFree said:
anyone have any thoughts about the rio grande bass pickups? i can't find much info on them anywhere so i was wondering if any of you guys had tried them.

I've got a Muy Grande set in my PJ.  Pretty beefy with strong top end.  I wouldn't consider them exactly vintage sounding.  If you're looking for a bit more oomph, the Muy Grande's would be something to consider.

 
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