| Reviewer
| Tim Skaggs
|
| Experience
| 23
|
| Review date
| January 03 2002
|
| Manufacturer
| Seymour Duncan
|
| Model
| Antiquity Jazz bass pair (neck & bridge)
|
| Price
| $110 / pair
|
| Item owned for
| 1-2 years
|
| |
|
| Size
| Standard "older" jazz neck & bridge
|
| Shape
| Jazz, neck pickup wider than bridge as earlier Jazz basses
|
| Type
| Not sure, duplication of early 60's p/u's
|
| Other
| Pickups aged to seem "antique" rusted screws, etc.
|
| |
|
I got a really good deal on the pickups from a friend who works in a music
store or otherwise I may not have bought them. These may run as much as
$75 or more each. They come packaged in an old muslin cloth sack inside a
box. Each pickup has the actual measured impedance on a small piece of
paper in the box, and each has Seymour's signature on the same paper, with
a brief description of the Antiquity Series pickups.
I put these pickups in a "parts" bass which consists of an Edenhaus body,
a Fender '62 reissue neck (very expensive), Fender reissue hardware
(Kluson reverse tuners, Fender bridge & neck plate, Fender reissue'62
tortoise shell pickguard, Fender "61 / '62 stack knob volume / tone
controls with correct capacitors for '62 Jazz bass.
As you can see, I tried to build a '62 jazz bass. I had EMG pickups in
this bass for a while. When I put these pickups in this bass, I was
knocked out for sure. I have never owned a better sounding bass guitar,
and I have onwed a bunch (I own seven now). These pickups are the
smoothest clearest thing I have ever plucked a string over. They are not
high output, but they sound great. If you are looking for a heavy metal
high output pickup or a super high fidelity slap / modern bass sound, these
are probably not the pickups for you, but if you want the closest thing to
an early Jazz bass sound without spending $4000 for an original Fender,
these are definitely the pickup to buy. I believe the Antiquity II series
are bassically the same thing with a litte higher output, but that alone
may change the sound. Seymour said he measured hundreds of original old
Fenders to get to these. He nailed it.
| Clarity
| 100% | 
|
| (Deep growl lows from neck, throaty midrange and highs from bridge)
|
| Punch
| 95% |
|
| (Not extremely punchy, but not designed to be)
|
| Noise
| 90% |
|
| (Either will hum when soloed, quiet when both on full)
|
| Tone
| 100% |
|
| (Nothing sounds better to me.)
|
| Value
| 100% |
|
| (At the price I gave, great)
|
| Overall
| 98% |
|
| (Nothing I've ever owned is closer to perfect for my ears )
|
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