Sadowsky Jazz Hum-Cancelling

Pickup features: split coil hum-cancelling
Impedence or other specs: passive

Model of guitar or bass: Warmoth Jazz
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Blues, Rock, Pop. Funk
Reason for pickup change: Wanted to try "the best" pickups according to the many positive reviews on this site.

Perceived output level: Slightly hotter than stock single coil jazz pickups.
Tone: Very well balanced. Smooth, deep and clear. A little less raw than standard Fender single coils.
Sonic evaluation: I built a new jazz bass from the ground up using Warmoth parts. The body is Black Korina and the neck is a reverse headstock 70's style jazz neck with rosewood board, pearloid blocks and binding. I also installed the Sadowsky pre-amp. I play this through an 80's Kustom head and Ampeg B-15 cab and sometimes also a Flite 112MH. The tone is warm but focused and well defined with a ballsy low-mid growl. The pre-amp allows for vintage or modern tones and all of them are useful. Very even and up front studio quality sound even in live settings. Slightly less raw than vintage style single coil pickups but not obnoxiously modern sounding. The only criticism I have is that if you dig in and play hard finger style at or in front of the neck pickup, you will lose some attack/volume on the D string or A string if you use a pick due to the split-coil magnet design. If you favor or play towards the bridge pickup this will not be an issue.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I've only used this for blues so far but it is plenty versatile for other styles.

Comments: This bass sounds great but I'm not sure yet if it's the pickups or the Korina wood. I've been using Sadowskt pre-amps for years to make Fender basses more versatile without radically changing the vintage character. These pickups are really gig friendly because they are quiet and smooth and versatile. I love the fact that they raise the A and D pole pieces to match the fingerboard radius but they still need to work out that weak spot between the two internal coils. They sound great but if you play hard or bend strings you will probably notice the attack difference on the D or A string. I'd give them a 10 if they could fix that. BTW, these are basically Dimarzio Ultra jazz pickups made for Sadowsky. You could probably save some cash and get exactly the same tone.