I'm currently trying to have a sound between Billy Sheehan and Geddy Lee. Of course, I can't buy all their electronic stuff, but their sound is just a rough idea of what I'm interested to get. Very important: I don't want to be limited to this kind of sound, I want it to be very versatile.

I have a Fender Geddy Lee and I'm thinking about getting new pickups. I'm stuck. Really stuck.

These are SOME possible choices :

Bartolini 9CBJS-1 (S-1 is deep tone version)
Bartolini 9CBJS-3 (S-3 is bright tone version)
DiMarzio Model J
DiMarzio UltraJazz

1- Without considering amp and strings, wich pups are the best choice?
2- Should I get a J-Retro or any other hardware!! to help reach this sound?
3- Any of you have sound clips of DiMarzio vs Bartolini on the same bass?

Gimme your wildest ideas!

Thank you!

I would go for a set of the Nordstrand NJ4SV's if you want classic J-sound (also, noiseless!), or NJ4SE for a bit more modern take on the Jazz...

Geddy doesn't use a preamp, so you'd want something you could bypass. I'd do an Aguilar OBP-1 laid out in the following way:

Stacked Vol/Vol

Passive Tone with push/pull to bypass the preamp

Stacked Bass/Treble

go with the lindy fralin split jazz set. i got them and man do they growl like no other. plus they give a great bottom end and if you want to go high in the register, it no problem for the pups to handle. i highly reccomend those

My understanding is that a big part of Sheehan's sound comes from sending his neck pickup (a huge Dimarzio similar to the old Gibson mudbuckers) to a separate "woofer" rig. I would imagine the "poor man's" solution would be a two-amp or bi-amp setup so you can get that rumbling deep bass while keeping the highs clean.

You are probably on the right track to a Geddy tone with your current bass, of course.

Good luck!

but wich one would you choose between those 4 pickups, mushroo?

I saw some guy who put a Dark Star in his Geddy Lee sig. bass... wouldn't really *sound* like Geddy, but it would have to sound unique ;)

after reading many reviews, I remove the DiMarzio J from the list.
it's WAY too fat for me.

Anyone know where I could listen to Bartolini's sound clips?

http://www.basstasters.com/

bass tasters is such a tight sight. thanks for sharing man