New (to me) CP Jaguar - PV65 bridge pickup lacking growl

[andy_tchp]

Really appreciate the detailed rundown, GilmourD! There are several of those that weren't on my radar, so I've got some more research to do.

Usually plenty of growl from the neck pickup. Does it not work?

The neck pickup, for me, is not a substitute for a bridge pickup. There is definitely bass in the neck pickup, but due to its position, the timbre is all wrong for what I would use a bridge pickup for. I fully get that some people use the neck pickup for rhythm and the bridge pickup for lead like God/Leo intended, but I've spent over 25 years doing it wrong, and I will almost certainly continue to do so

Fair enough. I pretty much just use the neck pickup for everything, unless I need something particularly bright/thin/scratchy where the bridge pickup comes into play; there's a lot of versatility there.

[GilmourD]

...
[*]Whatever the hot set that Fender put in the Anniversary Jags - Got these in The Gator (my pickup test guitar) and they actually sound pretty mean but then when you flip the strangle switch on they sound more like a vintagey set without the strangle. It's an interesting setup that surprised me since I've kinda grown away from hot pickups in general but this still gives me that option.
...

The stock pickups in the 60th anniversary jag were nominally PV65s with aged covers.

PICKUP ASSY JAGUAR 65 BRIDGE AGED WHITE 7723931000 - A5, 6.8 KΩ (6.1 - 7.5), north up
PICKUP ASSY JAGUAR 65 NECK AGED WHITE 7723932000 - A5, 6.8 KΩ (6.1 - 7.5), south up
https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Orig ... ersary.pdf

Maybe it was the 50th I'm thinking of because they used the same pickups as the MIM Classic Player Jag... Whichever these are they're hotter. I measured what they were and never wrote it down, but they were 11Kish, I think, and definitely out of an MIM Fender.

[timtam]

...
[*]Whatever the hot set that Fender put in the Anniversary Jags - Got these in The Gator (my pickup test guitar) and they actually sound pretty mean but then when you flip the strangle switch on they sound more like a vintagey set without the strangle. It's an interesting setup that surprised me since I've kinda grown away from hot pickups in general but this still gives me that option.
...

The stock pickups in the 60th anniversary jag were nominally PV65s with aged covers.

PICKUP ASSY JAGUAR 65 BRIDGE AGED WHITE 7723931000 - A5, 6.8 KΩ (6.1 - 7.5), north up
PICKUP ASSY JAGUAR 65 NECK AGED WHITE 7723932000 - A5, 6.8 KΩ (6.1 - 7.5), south up
https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Orig ... ersary.pdf

Maybe it was the 50th I'm thinking of because they used the same pickups as the MIM Classic Player Jag... Whichever these are they're hotter. I measured what they were and never wrote it down, but they were 11Kish, I think, and definitely out of an MIM Fender.

Ah ... that would explain it. Those 50th anniv jag pickups were indeed the same as in the Classic Player jag.
https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Orig ... A_SISD.pdf
38 PICKUP ASSY BRIDGE JAGUAR SPECIAL 0076303000
40 PICKUP ASSY NECK JAGUAR SPECIAL 0076302000

[GilmourD]

The stock pickups in the 60th anniversary jag were nominally PV65s with aged covers.

PICKUP ASSY JAGUAR 65 BRIDGE AGED WHITE 7723931000 - A5, 6.8 KΩ (6.1 - 7.5), north up
PICKUP ASSY JAGUAR 65 NECK AGED WHITE 7723932000 - A5, 6.8 KΩ (6.1 - 7.5), south up
https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Orig ... ersary.pdf

Maybe it was the 50th I'm thinking of because they used the same pickups as the MIM Classic Player Jag... Whichever these are they're hotter. I measured what they were and never wrote it down, but they were 11Kish, I think, and definitely out of an MIM Fender.

Ah ... that would explain it. Those 50th anniv jag pickups were indeed the same as in the Classic Player jag.
https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Orig ... A_SISD.pdf
38 PICKUP ASSY BRIDGE JAGUAR SPECIAL 0076303000
40 PICKUP ASSY NECK JAGUAR SPECIAL 0076302000

Brain has become mashed potatoes lately and I'm amazed I remember anything these days.

I would probably say these wouldn't be a bad choice for adding low-end growl.

[RoaringTwenties]

As far as Jag experience goes, this is what I've had actually installed:

• Classic Vibe Jag - Something magically nice even though they're Squier pickups made by Rosswell and the factory ships them with the hotter one in the neck (there's a reason for that, which I can explain).
  [/quote]
  
  Are you saying the CV jags specifically get shipped with the hotter pu in the neck? I would definitely be curious to hear the reason.
  
  I totally agree that these are nice sounding pickups, despite being stock squier. I don't have a ton of jag experience and have never played a vintage one. I bought my first jag last year (a squier CV in metallic charcoal frost). I quickly put in PV65s, but I kinda wish I hadn't and I might switch them back. The stock pickups were definitely a little hotter / more aggressive, but still very jag-y. The other thing I noticed with the stock pickups is that with both pickups on, it had a more distinct sound from either the neck or bridge on their own; With the PV65s, I find that both pickups on just sound mostly like the neck, despite trying a range of pickup height adjustments.

[alexpigment]

I figured I'd follow up on this thread. I haven't bought any new pickups yet, but I managed to find a suitable workaround until I can justify spending some money on a new bridge or a set. In the Line 6 HX Effects (or Helix, if that's what you use), there's an overdrive model called "Alpaca Rouge", which is based on the Way Huge Red Llama. For whatever reason, this boosts the exact right frequencies that I found lacking in the bridge pickup (I wasn't able to achieve the same goal with an EQ patch, so it's a bit more nuanced). I don't use it as an overdrive or anything - I just set it as a non-footswitchable effect at the beginning of the chain with the gain turned down to zero and the level at ~unity. Then I run all my normal effects after it. Essentially I have a "Jaguar" bank now.

This does have a side effect of the neck pickup being a tad too beefy/muddy in the lows, but the strangle switch now becomes pretty useful for cleaning it up. Has anyone wired their strangle switch as a neck-only option? If so, how does this affect the both-pickups-in-parallel setting?

[GilmourD]

As far as Jag experience goes, this is what I've had actually installed:

• Classic Vibe Jag - Something magically nice even though they're Squier pickups made by Rosswell and the factory ships them with the hotter one in the neck (there's a reason for that, which I can explain).

Are you saying the CV jags specifically get shipped with the hotter pu in the neck? I would definitely be curious to hear the reason.

I totally agree that these are nice sounding pickups, despite being stock squier. I don't have a ton of jag experience and have never played a vintage one. I bought my first jag last year (a squier CV in metallic charcoal frost). I quickly put in PV65s, but I kinda wish I hadn't and I might switch them back. The stock pickups were definitely a little hotter / more aggressive, but still very jag-y. The other thing I noticed with the stock pickups is that with both pickups on, it had a more distinct sound from either the neck or bridge on their own; With the PV65s, I find that both pickups on just sound mostly like the neck, despite trying a range of pickup height adjustments.
[/quote]
Yup! Totally by accident, too, because I think the factory assemblers just see the wire color and go by that, but it's backwards because I think they actually intended the middle Bass VI pickup to be the bridge and the neck to be... well... the neck. LOL

What are your heights with the PVs?