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Pickup / Preamp Upgrade Advice


adamg67
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I am need in of BC wisdom... or failing that, a load of random opinions will do :)

I've got an Ibanez BTB456, it's a hell of a bass for what it cost (second hand), and it came fitted with a set of Thomastik-Infeld  flatwound strings that are probably the best (for me) strings I've ever played on anything. So I have an Ibanez neck that plays just amazingly (probably the best neck I've ever owned including amongst others Maruszczyk, Fender, PRS guitars, Gretsches, a Tanglewater and lots of other Ibanezes) and strings that just seem to suit it really well.

What I'd like to do now is upgrade the pickups and preamp to something that gets me as excited as the rest of the bass, it has the Bartolini Mk1 pickups which I think are not even real Bartolinis? And a relatively generic preamp. I'm looking for something quite "pure" rather than a very coloured sound (I've got a Maruszczyk Jake 5A+, and an Elwood 5A on the way, for colour). Any suggestions for pups and preamp for a "fake boutique" 6 string?

Edited by adamg67
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8 hours ago, CameronJ said:

The most obvious choice would be to replace the licensed (fake) Bartolini pups and preamp with the equivalent “real” USA Bartolini pups and preamp. They’ll drop right in.

Good suggestion.

From what I read, that might be better than going to Nordstrand pups.  I've not tried Nordies nor genuine Barts in anger but my Mk I Barts may be in line for a similar upgrade.  On the subject of Barts vs Nordies there are posts in the forum where folk seem polarised towards one or the other.

For the moment, I am happy enough with my Mk I Bartolini equipped Ibby even though they sound a bit heavy bottomed and less well defined in the lows than I'd like.  I am to be considered as being a bit wet behind the ears on the subject however.

Edited by SpondonBassed
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9 hours ago, CameronJ said:

The most obvious choice would be to replace the licensed (fake) Bartolini pups and preamp with the equivalent “real” USA Bartolini pups and preamp. They’ll drop right in.

The next question would be which real Bartolinis? They have a big range just of 6 string soapbars. Time for some reading and watching YouTube vids.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So it was easy enough to reduce the choice by looking at the ones that actually fit. I'm considering a pair of these: xxP46C-B

Anyone used them? Since the bass itself isn't worth much I'm happy to add a couple of switches to get the most flexibility out of the pickups, which is why I'm looking at the quad coils. I would do probably series / parallel / single - I've done that on guitars before and it looks like you get the same effect on bass pickups.

I had another look at the current pickups and they aren't even labelled as Bartolinis, they're just Ibanez soapbars.

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9 hours ago, owen said:

There was talk that the Bart pickups were fine and dandy but the preamp was a weak link.

 

9 hours ago, adamg67 said:

Do you mean on the BTB? Or just generally?

 

I heard that about the mkI Bartolinis when I was choosing the SR605.  Mine has the two way mid tone control whereas the newer ones have a three way version.  I suspect that the three way mid is supposed to address the preamp shortcomings.  It got luke warm reviews also.

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I've got the Bartolini Musicman replacement in my fretless with the 3 band Bart pre-amp that has the switchable mid, and I don't think it's weak at all, it's a very useful and musical pre that voices really well on the fretless.

 

Edited by WinterMute
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1 hour ago, WinterMute said:

I've got the Bartolini Musicman replacement in my fretless with the 3 band Bart pre-amp that has the switchable mid, and I don't think it's weak at all, it's a very useful and musical pre that voices really well on the fretless.

 

I know my Ibanez preamp has Ibanez branding on the pcb and no branding marks externally visible on the mkI Bartolinis.  I'll assume that yours is a Bartolini branded pre.  Does the mid band on yours have switchable range?

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1 minute ago, SpondonBassed said:

I know my Ibanez preamp has Ibanez branding on the pcb and no branding marks externally visible on the mkI Bartolinis.  I'll assume that yours is a Bartolini branded pre.  Does the mid band on yours have switchable range?

Yes, sits at 800hz normally and switches to 1.4Khz when you pull the pot up, if memory serves.

Yes, it's a Bart branded pre. it has the stacked HF and LF pot and a passive active push/pull on the volume.

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12 minutes ago, WinterMute said:

Yes, sits at 800hz normally and switches to 1.4Khz when you pull the pot up, if memory serves.

Yes, it's a Bart branded pre. it has the stacked HF and LF pot and a passive active push/pull on the volume.

Then I have no doubt that it is better than mine.

To be fair to Ibanez I don't think my woolly bottom end is that bad.  I run a fifteen and an eighteen inch speaker at relatively low volume (neighbour friendly level) so that could be behind a lot of what I am hearing.  I'd like it tighter but I'd have to see some financial return from my playing before investing that sort of cash into my hobby playing.  It's not likely to go that way but it's good to have the knowledge already if it ever does.

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So the pre on my BTB is 3 band with a stacked mid control with the lower half changing the frequency. I might have a look at the PCB, but from the BTB456 specs it's a "Vari-mid IIIB", I'll see what I can find out about it.

 

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