Review of Tonerider Jazz Plus and Precision Plus Bass Pickups
By George Urbaszek, October 2007
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I have been in the fortunate position to review both the Precision Plus and Jazz Plus bass guitar pickups manufactured by Tonerider. I own a Fender American Precision Bass and a Fender American Jazz Bass, creating the ideal situation to compare replacement pickups with originals.
Before installing the Tonerider pickups I recorded both of my basses using computer software. I made sure that I kept all bass, preamp, mixer and recording settings the same for both the original recordings and the comparison recordings. Furthermore, I made notes of all bass guitar settings, such as volume, tone, and pickup configurations.
I recorded the same material (open strings, low notes, midrange, high notes, across-the strings, riffs, grooves, double stops etc.) on both basses with the original pickups, then with the Tonerider replacement pickups. I believe this process provides the most objective and direct comparison possible, i.e. a comparison unclouded by different amps in different rooms on different days.
Of course, I also played the basses with the Tonerider pickups installed through different amps I was familiar with and at a regular gig where I was familiar with the room sound.
Observations and results from the computer recordings were astonishing – there was almost no detectable difference between the originals and the Toneriders. The original pickups sounded ever so slightly more compressed than the Toneriders. This may have been due to the fact that the Toneriders may have been installed a little farther away from the strings, giving them a more “open” sound. Also, my original P-Bass pickups had electricians’ tape covering the pole pieces, whereas the Toneriders had a thinner protective transparent tape covering them. I am not familiar with the differences between aged and new pickups, so I cannot comment in that respect.

The gig sound yielded the same results – slightly more “open” with the Toneriders. This is somewhat surprising, especially because Tonerider claims that their Precision Plus and Jazz Plus bass guitar pickups provide a slightly hotter output and a little more compression than the original Fender pickups. Tonerider, however, does not specify exactly which model they are comparing with.
Whatever the finer details may be, I perceive the tested Tonerider pickups to be as good as equal to my original factory-installed pickups. No more, no less. This is a great endorsement, especially considering price comparisons.

If you own a J or P-style bass with a great body but inferior pickups, replace them with Tonerider. I would.

George Urbaszek.

Precision Plus Soundfiles - Tone on full. - Tone off. Jazz Plus Soundfiles - Bridge tone on full. - Bridge tone off. - Neck tone on full. - Neck tone off. - Both pickups, tone on full.

Recording Details Recorded through ADA programmable preamp straight into the computer with the regular settings I use for all my lessons. They include compression. I used Sonar (by Cakewalk) on the PC and did no modifications.Bass Lessons Online - The ONLY complete online bass course by George Urbaszek. Visit The PowerHouse Music Forums