Review By Chris Raspante

Throughout the years, EMG has established themselves as the “go to” active pickup in the industry. I was definitely curious and excited to check out their latest offering of Jazz bass pickups. The new pickups have a quick, solder-less design that allows you to install them by simply plugging the supplied wiring to the pots, output jack, and pickups. Even if you are an experienced tech, not having to fire up the old iron is very cool indeed! And like older EMG models, you will need to use their pots and jack to make the system work.

EMG Jazz Bass Pickups

With the help of Nashville bassist and experienced pickup installer Mike Wolofsky, we dropped the set into an older Geddy Lee model Fender Jazz bass with an alder body and a maple neck. The first thing you notice is how quiet these pickups are. I mean dead quiet, with no grounding noise when you take your hands off the strings, thanks to the lack of a ground wire to the bridge. Sonically, the EMG jazz bass pickups are a little hotter than the stock pickups they replaced with a fairly flat response. There does seem to be a bump in the high treble part of the frequency spectrum that gives an airy quality to the tone. Otherwise, they are a very balanced, well behaved sounding pickup with a smooth even tone.

For a comparison, we ab’ed a US made ’75 reissue Fender Jazz with Seymour Duncan Hot Jazz pickups and a sunburst 1966 vintage Fender Jazz bass with Lindy Fralins installed. The ’66 output was about the same as the EMG’s. There were a little more mids, a lot more noise, and a vintage rounded tone you would expect from this bass. The ’75 reissue had a way hotter output, a lot more mids, and the inherent noise that comes from conventional pickups.

In general, the non-active pickups had a rawness or “rough edge” to their tone that EMG’s do not have or at least down play. This is neither good nor bad, it’s simply a matter of personal taste. If you are looking for a vintage, slightly unruly sound, the EMG’s probably aren’t for you. What they do excel in are situations where noise is definitely a factor and a flat, even response is needed. The studio would be a prime example for this. But don’t get me wrong, these pickups sound great on stage as well. Their active design and low impedance signal works very well plugged into a DI box feeding the PA system. Many professional touring bass players can vouch for this!

EMG seems to have another winner on its hands. These pickups are well made, sound great, and the solder-less design is a welcomed change for any player or tech. Check ‘em out!