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Favourite P2 (5 string) shape soapbars?


benh
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As the title suggests! I have a Cort A5 plus, which is lovely to play/look at - however the electronics leave a lot to be desired I feel. It's got Bartolini (licensed - built by Cort in Indonesia) MK1 pickups and preamp stock, which seem to be a bit marmite with people who have used them - I find they sound quite brittle and, for lack of a better word, false in the high frequencies. The lows, although present, sounds quite muddy to my ears - boosting the bass on the preamp just makes this worse.

The obvious choice would be the direct replacement USA Bartolini MK5s, but as there seems to be an abundance of pickups manufactured in the P2 size (virtually identical at 108mm x 32mm), I wondered if anyone else has any experience of replacing these pickups, and what you decided on and why?

Edited by benh
Typos, added P2 dimensions
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I’ve got an Ibby fretless with the MK1’s and agree - pretty lifeless. Personally I’d replace with Nordstrand Big Singles - The best pickups I’ve ever heard or owned. Had a set in an Ibby SR - awesome pups but the bass had to go due to one in one out. One day, I’ll have me a custom with a set of those in for sure. Plenty of YouTube clips to listen to....

Edited by moley6knipe
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I haven't replaced those pickups but I have replaced every bass I ever had with a licenced barolini. I honestly don't know why they licence them. I assumed Barts were just a rubbish brand, and it was only when I heard the barts on the 5005 that I realised what they could sound like. It doesn't them no favours.

But I would agree, big splits or big singles all the way.

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I don’t remember them being particularly noisy, all I remember is the very rude, yet pleasing response the first time I dug in with them. It really was a case of, “Who’s that? Oh, it’s me. Nice.” If noise is a concern, then Big Singles would be the way forward. Check out the comparisons online.

 

EDIT: It seems @Woodinblack has beaten me to it with a very similar reply. 😊

Edited by ezbass
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Just now, benh said:

Been doing a bit of reading on the Nordy pickups. General consensus seems to be very favourable. I would probably be more tempted by the Big Splits I think. 

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in the least if you go down that route.

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53 minutes ago, benh said:

I would probably be more tempted by the Big Splits I think. 

 

34 minutes ago, moley6knipe said:

I didn’t find big singles noisy. Sure, they hum a little bit but nothing you’ll notice unless it’s between songs and everyone in the pub has stopped talking. Very minor. 

 

Re the big splits / big single. I recently got (and am waiting for a replacement for) my ibanez EHB1505 which had big splits. I have big singles in my SR1605 and 2605, and they were my favouritist pickups ever up until that point. I didn't actually realise the 1505 had big splits because they look exactly the same and sound very similar to the singles - ie, not the same, but no more noticable than the difference between sound of the 1605 and 2605 which are both the same pickups.

THe only time I noticed is doing a back to back on sound and noticed that the 2605 was picking up noise from somewhere, most likely monitor noise, I posted on here that it was odd and someone pointed out they were splits rather than singles.

So yes, they sound the same but have no noise.

I would say I never really had an issue with noise in the first place, apart from getting to close to a valve amp that I rarely use, but with all other things being equal (i don't know prices / availablilty) I would pick the splits over the singles, but not be unhappy if I got the singles!

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16 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

 

Re the big splits / big single. I recently got (and am waiting for a replacement for) my ibanez EHB1505 which had big splits. I have big singles in my SR1605 and 2605, and they were my favouritist pickups ever up until that point. I didn't actually realise the 1505 had big splits because they look exactly the same and sound very similar to the singles - ie, not the same, but no more noticable than the difference between sound of the 1605 and 2605 which are both the same pickups.

THe only time I noticed is doing a back to back on sound and noticed that the 2605 was picking up noise from somewhere, most likely monitor noise, I posted on here that it was odd and someone pointed out they were splits rather than singles.

So yes, they sound the same but have no noise.

I would say I never really had an issue with noise in the first place, apart from getting to close to a valve amp that I rarely use, but with all other things being equal (i don't know prices / availablilty) I would pick the splits over the singles, but not be unhappy if I got the singles!

Sounds like the Splits would be the preferred choice for me! Thanks everyone for all the info. Interested to see if anyone has any experience of any other manufacturers, although from what I have read/heard Nordstrands do tick the boxes.

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I am in the same position as yourself, although my bass is a lakland 5501....same pickups and preamp as the cort. After doing some research, it would appear that the preamp is more of a weak link. One guy installed the mk5's along with the usa bart preamp and ended up putting the cheapo mk1 pickups back in(along with the usa preamp!!)...the mk1's are i think split/reverse P style so with that in mind, fed with a decent pre, could sound good.

I myself are looking towards the john east uni-pre 5....i may change pickups at a later date...we will see!

Anyway, good luck with the mods and let us all know what you think when done.

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3 hours ago, ebenezer said:

I am in the same position as yourself, although my bass is a lakland 5501....same pickups and preamp as the cort. After doing some research, it would appear that the preamp is more of a weak link. One guy installed the mk5's along with the usa bart preamp and ended up putting the cheapo mk1 pickups back in(along with the usa preamp!!)...the mk1's are i think split/reverse P style so with that in mind, fed with a decent pre, could sound good.

I myself are looking towards the john east uni-pre 5....i may change pickups at a later date...we will see!

Anyway, good luck with the mods and let us all know what you think when done.

I certainly will! Although lockdown/furlough has just about wiped out what little disposable income I had, so could be a while. Never thought of searching for what others had done with the 55-01, although I suspect pickup changes may yield different results due to different woods and construction (although they are made in the same factory!)

I had an East preamp in a G&L L2500 I had a number of years ago and was always impressed with the usable tones I could eke out of it.

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Also been looking into the Delano SBC dual or quad coil pickups, they also seem to garner favourable reviews. Although YouTube is never a perfect way of determining exactly what they'll sound like, found this while trawling through and like the sound of both these pickups. Anyone tried these?

 

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13 hours ago, benh said:

Sounds like the Splits would be the preferred choice for me! Thanks everyone for all the info. Interested to see if anyone has any experience of any other manufacturers, although from what I have read/heard Nordstrands do tick the boxes.

I would also say the barts in the 5005, the american ones are very good.

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11 hours ago, ebenezer said:

Yes, I listened to these as well!... they both sound good but to my ears, the driver has a tone more to my liking.

Yeah I thought that too. SBC drivers are P2 size too, plus it would give the option of series/parallel/single switching... whether I need that many options is another matter!

10 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Im getting some delano pickups next week. Prepackaged in a bass, I will see what they are like then!

Please let us know how they are when your bass arrives!

10 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I would also say the barts in the 5005, the american ones are very good.

I know Bass Direct have a pair of MK5s in stock which would be a direct replacement, I'm just a little worried they won't be a great deal different to what I already have, though I'm probably wrong.

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Another consideration - when making enquiries regarding the Nordy Big Split pickups, the lead time if ordering through Bassdirect is 3 months for an 18mm string spacing set, so I may well end up going with something else...

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5 minutes ago, benh said:

Another consideration - when making enquiries regarding the Nordy Big Split pickups, the lead time if ordering through Bassdirect is 3 months for an 18mm string spacing set, so I may well end up going with something else...

That’s not great ☹️. You could have an entire bass built from makers in that time. However, are you in an all fire rush? It’d be a shame to purchase something in haste that isn’t right, only to end up selling them and buying what you really wanted in the first place. Maybe buy them for Nordy direct, I think they have 18mm in stock.

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16 minutes ago, ezbass said:

That’s not great ☹️. You could have an entire bass built from makers in that time. However, are you in an all fire rush? It’d be a shame to purchase something in haste that isn’t right, only to end up selling them and buying what you really wanted in the first place. Maybe buy them for Nordy direct, I think they have 18mm in stock.

That's very true. Although, strangely, it works out a fair bit more expensive to order from Nordstrand directly 🤷‍♂️

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