Product: Aero Instrument Musicmaster Type I
Price Paid: USD 120
Submitted
07/14/2009
at
02:29am
by
Jeff Addicott
Features
:
Single Coil Passive "Strat" shape.
Instrument
:
This is a direct replacement pickup for the Fender Musicmaster. The stock pickup is 6-pole, obviously designed for guitar and IME is barely adequate on the gig. Apparently wiring the stock pickup directly to the output jack can help. You can drop in any strat pickup - some report good results with a Seymour Duncan "Hot Rail".
AFAIK the Aero is the only thing out there that preserves the single coil character I want and has magnets and coil windings specifically designed for bass.
Sound
:
10
The signal strength seems adequate - not too weak. I'd describe the tone as "balanced". The pickup successfully captures the fun & naturally outgoing vibe of the short-scale bass, but also delivers massive depth and clarity at stage volume. It was so deep, in fact, it gave the Jazz bass a thorough spanking, A/Bing the two on a gig.
Overall Rating
:
10
My Musicmaster is the most dramatic case I've seen of an axe needing - and deserving - a better pickup. In stock form the bass was a wimp onstage. Now it's a bully. This experience makes me want to try some other Aero models in my other basses.
Minor gripe: the cover they charged me $3 for doesn't fit thru the rout in the pick guard. Fortunately the original cover works fine. (I'm kind of tempted to go without a cover anyway.)
