If you’ve spent any time dialing in your Jaguar pickups or Bass VI pickups, you know the frustration: limited output, uneven string balance, and a low-end that feels thin or lacking. These issues often feel like tone bottlenecks, holding back your instrument’s full potential and making it tough to nail modern, versatile sounds. Enter Lollar’s new sB pickups — a fresh, innovative solution designed to unlock the true tonal power of your Jaguar or Bass VI with advanced blade-style pole pieces and refined coil design. As a professional guitarist and gear expert, I’ve put these pickups through their paces, and I’m excited to share why they’re a game-changer for players looking to upgrade or customize their instruments with confidence.
Key Takeaways
- sB pickups deliver hotter, fuller, and more balanced output than standard Jaguar pickups: Improves tone clarity and low-end presence for modern playing styles.
- Blade-style pole piece ensures consistent frequency response and string-to-string balance: Provides a more even and versatile tonal palette, especially for Bass VI players.
- Easy direct replacement with multiple color options and practical installation advice: Simplifies upgrade process and allows personalization to match your instrument’s aesthetics.
Why Standard Jaguar and Bass VI Pickups Fall Short: The Tone Bottleneck
Standard Jaguar pickups and Bass VI pickups have been beloved for their distinct vintage character, but they come with inherent technical limitations that can frustrate players aiming for clarity and punch in today’s diverse genres. Typically, these pickups use traditional single-coil designs with individual pole pieces, resulting in a tone that’s bright but often thin and lacking in output.
One common issue is uneven string-to-string balance. The individual pole pieces sometimes cause certain strings to sound louder or more prominent than others, making it difficult to achieve a smooth, consistent sound across all six strings. For Bass VI players, this can be particularly problematic as the low-end frequencies often lose definition and fullness, leaving the instrument sounding weak in the lower registers.
Another bottleneck is the overall output level. Standard Jaguar pickups tend to have relatively low output, which can make driving your amp or pedals tricky if you want more saturation or sustain. This limitation often forces players to compensate with heavy amp gain or aggressive EQ settings, which can introduce unwanted noise or muddiness.
In other words, these pickups are like a camera lens with limited focus, missing some of the tonal details that could make your playing truly shine. For guitarists and bassists tackling heavier styles or seeking a more modern, versatile voice from their Jaguar or Bass VI, these tonal shortcomings can be a real roadblock. To explore the measurable differences and better understand these limitations, measured pickup data for various Jaguar pickups offers valuable insight into their tonal characteristics and output profiles.
Visual comparison: The sB pickups (right) feature a sleek blade pole piece design that ensures even magnetic coverage, unlike the segmented pole pieces on standard Jaguar pickups (left).
Pickup upgrade and comparison tutorial for Fender Jaguar
Meet the sB Pickups: Lollar’s Single-Blade Innovation
Lollar’s sB pickups bring a fresh design philosophy to the classic Jaguar and Bass VI platform by replacing the traditional individual pole pieces with a single, continuous blade-style pole piece. This subtle yet powerful innovation radically changes how the pickup interacts with the strings and magnetic field.
The blade pole piece acts like a wide brush painting a richer tonal picture across all strings, ensuring a more consistent magnetic pull and a smoother frequency response. The coil design has also been refined to increase output and fatten the tone without sacrificing clarity or dynamics.
Compared to standard Jaguar pickups, the sB pickups deliver a hotter, fuller output that brings out previously hidden low-end warmth and midrange richness. This makes them especially appealing to Bass VI players who crave a beefier bottom end without losing the instrument’s signature articulation.
In practical terms, the sB pickups provide improved string-to-string balance, enhanced clarity, and a thicker, more powerful tone that adapts well to a variety of playing styles — from jangly indie riffs to heavier rock textures.
This innovation is like adding a turbocharger to your Jaguar or Bass VI tone — it boosts power and responsiveness while maintaining the character that makes these instruments unique. For players interested in exploring the full specifications and hearing detailed demos, Lollar’s sB Pickups page is an excellent resource.
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Installation and Tone Shaping: Pro Tips from The Gear Guru
One of the best aspects of Lollar’s sB pickups is their user-friendly installation. They’re designed as direct replacements for standard Jaguar pickups (two-piece sets) and Bass VI pickups (three-piece sets), meaning you won’t need to modify your instrument’s routing or pickguard. For those looking for a step-by-step walkthrough, Lollar’s detailed Pickup Installation Instructions offer valuable guidance to ensure a smooth, confident setup.
They also come in multiple color options — including black, cream, and white — allowing you to personalize your guitar’s look while upgrading its voice.
For wiring, sticking with the stock Jaguar wiring scheme works well, but consider using 250k or 300k pots to complement the sB pickups’ hotter output and preserve brightness. Experimenting with tone capacitors in the .022uF to .047uF range can help you tailor the high-end roll-off to your taste.
On the amp and pedal front, the sB pickups respond beautifully to overdrive and distortion, thanks to their increased output and balanced frequency response. Pairing them with a transparent overdrive pedal can push your amp’s natural tone without muddying it, while a versatile EQ pedal lets you sculpt the enhanced low-end and midrange to fit your style.
Adjusting your amp and pedals with sB pickups is like fine-tuning a musical recipe to taste — small tweaks can yield big improvements in clarity and punch.
Video tutorial: Installing and adjusting Strat pickups with Jason Lollar – Part 1
Making It Your Own
Upgrading to Lollar’s sB pickups is more than just a technical improvement — it’s an invitation to redefine your Jaguar or Bass VI’s voice and express your personal sound identity. These pickups solve the common tone problems that have limited players for decades, offering hotter, fuller output and balanced string response that opens new creative possibilities.
With straightforward installation and multiple color options, the sB pickups provide a practical upgrade path that respects your instrument’s heritage while pushing its performance into the modern era. Whether you’re chasing vintage sparkle with a modern edge or beefing up your low-end for heavier styles, these pickups empower you to experiment and integrate your ideal tones seamlessly.
Ready to unlock your Jaguar or Bass VI’s true tone? Explore Lollar’s sB pickups through authorized dealers or online retailers today. And I’d love to hear from you — what tonal improvements would you hope to achieve with the sB pickups on your Jaguar or Bass VI? Share your thoughts below!
