A few years ago I bought a Harley Benton JB-75 (with Wilkinson pickups) to do some home recording and I think it's a terrific guitar for the money. A bit later I bought the fretless model, which has Roswell pickups and it has a much fuller, warmer sound.
Having finally got down to some serious recording with the JB-75, I'm finding that the bass is getting lost in the mix no matter how much tweaking of the EQ, compression etc. I do. So, I thought that upgrading the pickups would be the answer, since the fretless sounds better with Roswells. All the reviews point to the Fender Original Jazz Bass PU Set as the answer so that's what I ordered.
I installed the pickups and was very disappointed with the sound, which seemed very mid focussed and a bit muffled. I'm not a bass player and I began to realise that I really didn't have a clue what Jazz Bass pickups should sound like. I re-read all the reviews and finally came to understand, as one wise soul put it, that it is all about the mids - you need the mids to cut through when playing in a band.
I went back to a recording I'd already made and recorded a new bass track with the Fender pickups and I finally got it. Whatever settings I selected on the guitar, the Fender pickups always cut through the mix and provided a firm foundation for the recording, which is exactly what I needed. I can't say that I am amazed at how wonderful they sound but they do solve the problem I was trying to address.
