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Fed up with soapbars! >( [UPDATE: no eq preamp recommendations?]


hrnn1234
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Ive been playing a Cort B4 for the last couple of years. Before that it was an affinity precision.


I really like the dimensions of the neck, the frets, the feel of the finishing.

 

I've struggled since forever with the electronics. Runs through batteries too fast, pre is a bit noisy and the pickups too quiet and just don't like how they sound (for reference, I already check if they didn't came switched bridge/neck and they didn't).

 

I paid 250€ second hand for the thing. The only possibilities to upgrade the electronics are other bartolinis, nordstrand, aguilar... All of them costing over 100 per pickup plus the pre. There is no mid budget alternative! 

 

Do I really have to put almost the cost of the bass to upgrade electronics? (Not entirely fair, I know I got it second hand but still)

If the thing came with p/j or emg format pickups it would be an entirely different scenario.

 

/Rant off

Edited by hrnn1234
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1 hour ago, hrnn1234 said:

If the thing came with p/j or emg format pickups it would be an entirely different scenario

Not really though. 

Congratulations, you found a bass that feels and looks great to you!

Now you can get to testing what your ideal electronic situation is. Try basses with the different pick-ups and preamps and select the ones that suit you.

What you once paid for the bass is irrelevant, what you want and can spend to build what you want counts, I think.

 

If you sell the thing and get something else you don't know if you'll have a bass you can work with.

Good luck deciding what to do!

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It’s worth noting that soapbars simply refers to the casing, not what is inside.

Generally speaking, you can find any pickup config in soapbar format, single cool, dual coul, humbucker etc etc.

So actually, your setup is much more versatile with what you can test than anything else.

I wager that there’s plenty of mid-priced or 2nd hand eBay alternatives to the big names too. You might even find that some pickup companies might fit whatever format you want in the cases you already have.

Si

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Does yours have the Bartolini MKI pickups and pre? If so try just upgrading the preamp, I think that's the weak point on these and the licensed Bart pickups are actually quite nice. I had the B5 and I always found the frequency points odd, the bass being too low/boomy and the treble too spiky. Some people wired these passive and noticed an improvement so....

Cort B series are great bang for buck and are great candidates for upgrades - licensed Ultralites, chunky bridge, nice woods. I would keep an eye out in the classifieds here for a suitable preamp, usually some bargains If you wait a while. maybe get a cheap Artec to tide you over? 

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From what I can see from online images the B4 pickup size looks remarkably like that of the Ibanez SR (no prizes for why that might be ☺)

In which case, it's a real pita to find reasonably priced replacements. I've yet to find anything that would fit bar some Barts, which would cost almost as much as the bass did new.

One thing I did do to my SR was to replace the active controls with passive ones. I asked @KiOgon to make me a loom with just a volume and tone control for each pickup, however the tone controls have different capacitors to give more tonal options. The loom also incorporates a series parallel switch, so even more options.

It's a better sounding bass now, however, the pickup output is still a little low.

Edited by Marvin
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16 hours ago, Bolo said:

 

If you sell the thing and get something else you don't know if you'll have a bass you can work with.

Good luck deciding what to do!

The problem exactly!

16 hours ago, Sibob said:

It’s worth noting that soapbars simply refers to the casing, not what is inside.

Generally speaking, you can find any pickup config in soapbar format, single cool, dual coul, humbucker etc etc.

So actually, your setup is much more versatile with what you can test than anything else.

I wager that there’s plenty of mid-priced or 2nd hand eBay alternatives to the big names too. You might even find that some pickup companies might fit whatever format you want in the cases you already have.

Si

I looked into this as well. The mk1s are sealed. I cant just use the cover to put whatever beneath them. And other soapbars besides batrs, nords have different measurements. I'd to route more roome for the new ones and I'd have a gap in another dimension.

4 hours ago, Marvin said:

From what I can see from online images the B4 pickup size looks remarkably like that of the Ibanez SR (no prizes for why that might be ☺)

In which case, it's a real pita to find reasonably priced replacements. I've yet to find anything that would fit bar some Barts, which would cost almost as much as the bass did new.

One thing I did do to my SR was to replace the active controls with passive ones. I asked @KiOgon to make me a loom with just a volume and tone control for each pickup, however the tone controls have different capacitors to give more tonal options. The loom also incorporates a series parallel switch, so even more options.

It's a better sounding bass now, however, the pickup output is still a little low.

Im interested in this! Could you show/tell a bit more about the end product?

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Seriously have a look at Artec SE3 preamp, minimal soldering and they will improve the bass massively for £30. They're a full unit with pots and easy fit connectors, if you're looking to improve the sound of the bass significantly without throwing a ton of money at it then you could do far worse IME.

http://artecsound.com/pickups/electronics/se3.html

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ARTEC-SE3-Bass-Guitar-electronics-board-Genuine-Artec/350864811568?hash=item51b12c2630:g:T9gAAOxyBvZTTQD9

 

The voicing of the 3 band eq is much more musical than the licensed Bartolini that comes stock, the bass control is set to 80hz for a start which is far more useful. Cort seem to like slapping a licensed brand name on what are probably all in-house parts, the no-name preamp in my old (Cort Factory) Ibanez was suspiciously identical to the Bart MKI preamp in my Cort B5, they use a Markbass branded preamp now which is probably the same thing.

Those lic Ultralites are great though.

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1 minute ago, lemmywinks said:

Seriously have a look at Artec SE3 preamp, minimal soldering and they will improve the bass massively for £30. They're a full unit with pots and easy fit connectors, if you're looking to improve the sound of the bass significantly without throwing a ton of money at it then you could do far worse IME.

http://artecsound.com/pickups/electronics/se3.html

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ARTEC-SE3-Bass-Guitar-electronics-board-Genuine-Artec/350864811568?hash=item51b12c2630:g:T9gAAOxyBvZTTQD9

 

The voicing of the 3 band eq is much more musical than the licensed Bartolini that comes stock, the bass control is set to 80hz for a start which is far more useful. Cort seem to like slapping a licensed brand name on what are probably all in-house parts, the no-name preamp in my old (Cort Factory) Ibanez was suspiciously identical to the Bart MKI preamp in my Cort B5, they use a Markbass branded preamp now which is probably the same thing.

Those lic Ultralites are great though.

I might try this. I've read about artecs in the past looking for alternatives but I didn't find any consistent opinions about them.

Thruth is tough that I could do without the pre. I've noticed  that I rarely touch the on board eq- I fiddle what the amp offers and leave it at that.

But for 30, why not... ;)

 

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Artecs are popular because they are a complete unit which includes pots so you don't have to completely disassemble your existing preamp and loom. They're also pretty nice sounding IMO, I have one in my old Cort and you can't get a bad sound out of it. I think the MKI pickups are quite low output so may be better suited to a replacement preamp than going purely passive, won't cost you anything to try it though I suppose!

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On 10/02/2018 at 11:30, hrnn1234 said:

The problem exactly!

I looked into this as well. The mk1s are sealed. I cant just use the cover to put whatever beneath them. And other soapbars besides batrs, nords have different measurements. I'd to route more roome for the new ones and I'd have a gap in another dimension.

Im interested in this! Could you show/tell a bit more about the end product?

Whilst swapping the pre is the biggest thing, I did find swapping the pickups for some decent dual coils improved the passive sound a lot (for obvious reasons).

I went through Elrick Basses, who stocks USA dual coil Bart in MK-1 sized housing, always handy: 
http://www.elrick.com/product-category/elrick-accessories/pickups-electronics/

That said, depends if that's above your budget as well. Worth considering that if your bass had pickups/preamp that indeed you loved the sound of, would the cost actually be higher. ie don't think about it as spending the same again on 'just' pickups, think about it as you spending the money on a bass you need to in order to get a sound pleasing to you.

Si

Edited by Sibob
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so, as an update: I installed the preamp. just can't get to solve a noise/grounding issue. probably just me, but I'm still sending it back.

I realize now that I actually don't care at all about the eq. I like the "preamped" sound but I can do without the eq as I never use it really.

I'm trying to find options for a preamp with no eq but it's really slim pickings. so far I found

  • a very interesting a dual channel bartolini which could work perfectly in this case but it's impossible to get anywhere
  • a polish one guy shop made G-501
  • a NOLL electronics

can anyone add any other candidates to the list? any experiences with any of these?

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I’m not sure what you mean. In the previous post you say you like the preamped sound but now you say you don’t like the sound of the preamp. A non-eq preamp should really just amplify the sound you already have without colouring it. You end up with the same sound, just louder. If your bass has passive pickups then the whole purpose of a preamp is to colour the sound by applying eq to taste. If you don’t use the eq but you like the sound flat even though it’s too quiet then turn up the input gain on your amp. 

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exactly! AGB918-2 is the one I've been eyeing as for what they show on the diagram it's for two pickups (I suppose it all depends where I put the preamp in the circuit) but I couldn't see it in any online store "nearby" (I'm in Austria, btw). only one in dubai with a weird website.

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