Upgrading jazz bass pickups bartollini to dimarzio?

[Mattbass97]

hello! Have a squier vm jazz bass with upgraded bartollini pickups in them now I've read many great reviews on the dimarzio dp123's and they seem to be the kind of sound I'm after. What I'm wondering is if that in upgrading to dimarzios will there be a large difference worth spending the money on to get compared to the bartollinis?

Thanks

[Noisyjon]

IMO when you get to the point of changing one set of high end pickups for another it's not so much an 'upgrade' more just a change in sound.
If you like the sound the Dimarzios make and want that then go for it!

[shizznit]

The only time I have played a bass with DiMarzios installed was a Sadowsky and I wasn't blown away by them. A bit too brittle for my taste. Sadowsky have them custom made to their specs, so they are different to the other stock models. I am quite bias towards Barts as I have used nothing else for about 10yrs, but as jonthebass said don't think of it as an upgrade but as a tweak in tone. DiMarzio, Barts, EMG, Nords, Seymours, Kent Armstrong, MEC, Delano etc... are all great pickups, but all have distinctive characters. Some are very colourful and others are very flat and transparent. It always come down to the player to decide what they want to achieve.

DiMarzios are not a common choice for most well known bass manufacturers, so getting a chance to hear them in the flesh is quite difficult. I don't know much about them if I am honest, so I can't make a detailed comparative opinion. The Sadowsky pickups are quite grunty and sensitive. You can get some cracking jazz tones and a lovely slap tone. With the mids up and the bass cut a bit it they do plump up into a nice bluesy tone. The NY model I played had a lot of string squeak which was quite annoying. I blamed the high sensitivity of the pickups. Again, that could just be my ears and it may not bother other folks.

[Mattbass97]

Well my bartollinis sound a bit weak and flat and from what I've read the dimarzios are the complete opposite

[chris_b]

If your Bartolini pickups sound "weak and flat" I'd check they were installed correctly.

They should be sounding the exact opposite.

[JTUK]

Another vote for Barts...

I think you need a new bass

[gjones]

I fitted a set of The Dimarzio 123s recently and they are very bass heavy. Almost a precision like sound. That may be a good thing if that's what you want.
It wasn't really the sound I was after. So I sold them and bought a set of wizards 64s which were the opposite and gave my Jazz a very authentic, bass light, Jazz growl (very Jaco pastorius) but that wasn't what I was after either so sold them as well.
In the end I bought a set of pickups, which were out of a standard mexican fender, for £9.99 off ebay and they are closer to the specific sound that I was looking for.

My other Jazz has a set of Japanese Squier pickups which sound great, mainly because I also have a J-retro pre amp installed in it. These pre amps make any pickups sound fantastic and is well worth the investment because it makes any Jazz ' turbo powered'.

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Edited August 27, 2012 by gjones

[Doddy]

I put a set of DiMarzio Ultra Jazz pickups in my Jazz,and I think they sound great. I like
Bartolini too(I have them in my Tobias and Roscoe),but I find them to be smoother sounding
than the DiMarzio's.
I wouldn't call swapping one for the other an upgrade,they are both excellent pickups.

[chris_b]

If you want a vintage Fender Jazz sound, then check out Lindy Fralin pickups.

But if the previous owner did a DIY installation of the Bartolini pickups then that is most likely the source of your problem, not the make of pickups.

[iiipopes]

First, I'm not sure I'd call changing Barts to DiMarzio an "upgrade." Quite the opposite.

That said, I played a J-bass with a pair of original Model J's in the early '80's, when the stock pickups died and factory replacements were not available (the transition years between CBS & FMIC); I've played (and still do in the bridge position) the UltraJazz. I've played the Seymour Duncan Stack. I've played basses with Barts. They all simply have different characteristics. The DiMarzio Model J is a little grittier, but I like it for live "classic rock" gigs where the bass is playing with significant gain, and that each pickup is humbucking in and of itself. The UltraJazz is also humbucking, and incredibly versatile: a hair more scooped and "rounder" or "modern" in tone, not exactly "classic" single coil J-bass, but still gotta love the ability for it to sit in the mix with no noise or hum. The Seymour stack I had was a little shy on bass; but I'm just not a fan of stacked pickups for electric bass. YMMV. SD's "vintage" and "antiquities" are good, each with a slightly different take on classic J tone. The quarter-pounders are a little "hard" for me, the "hot" models a little dull. The Barts are smooth. Ultra-smooth. Clean. Not high-gain pickups. This is what some folks are hearing when they describe them as lacking character. To me, they need a good versatile onboard preamp to bring out their best. Fralin makes great pickups. If you don't mind the noise, his vintage styles (like all single coils, irrespective of make or model) are some of the best. He also makes an end-to-end humbucker, if noise is an issue.

It's all a matter of flavor.

Edited August 28, 2012 by iiipopes

[Mog]

IMO, if you want a more versatile bass tone stick with the Barts. A lot of people find that the DiMarzios have too much edge and an pronounced scoop. Personally thats what I love about them but as I said they're not for everyone.

[geoffbyrne]

DiMarzio Model J's are effectively a P bass pickup put in a linear package - ie 2 coils wired in series - hence the fact that they are not a million miles away from sounding like a P (neck).

However.

If you change the wiring internally to parallel instead of series you may find a very versatile pickup - especially if you wire it via a push/pull pot so you can select series/parallel.

G.

[Conan]

Sorry if this sounds simplistic or patronising, but what strings are you using? The ones that came with the bass? If you changed them, what did you put on?

After trying a number of different pickup manufacturers and models, I've found that a decent set of strings (and making sure you have the right gauge for you and your bass) makes a huge difference to the tone and playability.

That said, I do tend to find Barts a bit on the "polite" side... Have you tried Wizards? There are several different styles within their J range (64s, 74s, 84s and Hammers) and they will even wind to your personal preferences (assuming you know what they are!). [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/shop.asp?category=Bass"]http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/shop.asp?category=Bass[/url]

As others have said, all of the pickups named above will offer a significant upgrade over the stock ones (Duncan designed if I recall) - but differences between them are largely down to compatibility and your own ears.

But I would seriously pay some attention to the strings first! Cheaper too...