Bartolini or Delano?

[Belka]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90wkSGiBKtk&feature=relmfu

Here's some Delanos. Nice sounding pickups. More of a classic Fender tone than the Barts. I'm not anti Delano even though my preference would be the Barts.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by Belka

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90wkSGiBKtk&feature=relmfu

Dark, muddy, and muted?

Bear in mind that according to well known Brubaker afficiondo Brad, Malcolm keeps his tone controls flat. I'd hate to hear that thing with the treble boosted.

I will say that in my opinion Bartolinis are fairly neutral sounding. They do have a noticeable low mid presence but they tend to let the acoustic sound of the bass shine through. If your bass sounds dark and and muddy unplugged, the Barts won't help it at all. If your bass is bright and spanky sounding, the Barts will bring out its true character.

Say what you want, but having owned several basses with Bart's that's the opinion I have on them. I've only played one Modulus bass ever that I would say had a 'dead' tone to it, and sure enough it was a Flea with a Bart humbucker and preamp in it. Every other one, regardless of pup and pre configuration, sounded a million times more alive and modern. The same can be said about all the Laklands I've owned/played that have had Bart's in them vs another brand. They just don't do the modern/alive tone thing to my ears. For that sound, I'd suggest EMG's and Delano's.

[cjp3044]

Hmm, that's the same clip of the white Brubaker, which sounded great BTW. If you have a link to a clip played with Delanos, that would be awesome. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Belka

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90wkSGiBKtk&feature=relmfu

Here's some Delanos. Nice sounding pickups. More of a classic Fender tone than the Barts. I'm not anti Delano even though my preference would be the Barts.

[cjp3044]

Opinions are exactly what I'm after. I like the tone you're getting in the SoundCloud recordings in you're sig, what were you using on Mulch Fire?

Originally Posted by jmattbassplaya

Say what you want, but having owned several basses with Bart's that's the opinion I have on them. I've only played one Modulus bass ever that I would say had a 'dead' tone to it, and sure enough it was a Flea with a Bart humbucker and preamp in it. Every other one, regardless of pup and pre configuration, sounded a million times more alive and modern. The same can be said about all the Laklands I've owned/played that have had Bart's in them vs another brand. They just don't do the modern/alive tone thing to my ears. For that sound, I'd suggest EMG's and Delano's.

[Belka]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F0JzB9nSH00

Sorry, try it now. Here's the video with the Delanos. They sound good. Very Fenderish tone.

[aproud1]

Having used several different Barts and Delano's. I think they both make excellent pickups and both are typically very quiet too.

My opinion is if you want to go passive the Delano's are they way to go. very full even sound to my ears very present highs but not annoyingly so.

If you are going to use a pre-amp you could go either way. Bart's are great but they interact differently with different pre-amps. but typically they will have a meatier mid low mid that is hard to find with other pickups, where as the Delano's are more clean and clear. Also several builders can work magic mating Bartp/u's and pre's. I have not had much luck with that. IME Bart pickups + Aguilar pre= magic. The controls on the Aguilar pre make very big changes with very small knob turns but that combo really works well. I've really wanted to try Bart's with the Nordstrand pre as I heard the Nordie is based somewhat on the Aguilar sound (possible rumour though)

The Delano's seem to work well with the Glockenklang pre. It just kind of gets out of the way of the pickups and offers you frequency control.

I personally think Delano are some of the best made commercially available pickups out there. Every set I've had have been dead quiet, well built and sounded amazing. That being said my Clement I have is wearing some Fender single coils and will very likely end up with some Barts as I just can't tame the top end and the muted highs of the Barts will likely be a perfect fit.

Good luck and report back with whatever you do and how it works.

[tylerwylie]

Honestly, if you can stand waiting for a while.. SGD's sound great..but that wait.

I love the "Deep" Bartolini sound on fretted instruments. Trying out some Classic series on my fretless which should be back here soon. Bartolini's to me, sound deep and refined yet I've had no problem getting the high mids and treble to shine if I've needed them.

I've never played a bass with Delano's either, but every one I've heard screams "modern, aggressive" and sounded really hi-fi.

A technician I'm subscribed to on Youtube recently did a video where he installed some passive Bartolini's into an SX Jazz style bass and they sounded amazing with some DR Fat Beams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4mS0j2oG20

[tubehead2]

Originally Posted by tylerwylie

I've never played a bass with Delano's either, but every one I've heard screams "modern, aggressive" and sounded really hi-fi.

I just had Delano JC5HE in my Warwick Stage 2, It sounds modern, polite, full body, smooth, even, deep, clear, natural, warm and woody.

Not any sign of aggressive or hifi at all. I hope it is a little more aggressive.

[tylerwylie]

Originally Posted by tubehead2

I just had Delano JC5HE in my Warwick Stage 2, It sounds modern, polite, full body, smooth, even, deep, clear, natural, warm and woody.

Not any sign of aggressive or hifi at all. I hope it is a little more aggressive.

Well I should also note the Delano's I heard used pole pieces as big around as a soda can.

[tubehead2]

Originally Posted by tylerwylie

Well I should also note the Delano's I heard used pole pieces as big around as a soda can.

I see. I think that is JMVC model.
I heard some clips compared Delano JMVC with EMG in warwick thumb nt. I for me Delano still be on polite side :P

[tubehead2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0JzB9nSH00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMzsxttaOso

Sound nice, isn't it?

[Brad Johnson]

Originally Posted by Belka

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90wkSGiBKtk&feature=relmfu

Dark, muddy, and muted?

Bear in mind that according to well known Brubaker afficiondo Brad, Malcolm keeps his tone controls flat. I'd hate to hear that thing with the treble boosted.

I will say that in my opinion Bartolinis are fairly neutral sounding. They do have a noticeable low mid presence but they tend to let the acoustic sound of the bass shine through. If your bass sounds dark and and muddy unplugged, the Barts won't help it at all. If your bass is bright and spanky sounding, the Barts will bring out its true character.

Out of the thirty or so basses I own and more that I've owned, the vast majority have Bart pickups and/or preamps. It's amazing that in all that time not a single one has sounded muddy or muted. What are the odds?


That's not to say that I've never heard a Bart install that I didn't like. They aren't magic. I've heard them make basses sound better but if the sound isn't there, it isn't there.

If you're looking for a brand of pickup to hype what's not there I wouldn't suggest Bartolini.

I have a Brubaker module bass with Bart NTMB and Aguilar OBP-3 preamps. They sound very close, I can hear more of the string texture on the lows with the Bart, the Aggie is smoothed down there and its treble control is set 500hz higher. The bass control goes into overkill at around two clicks. They're both great in their own way. I guess if I tried hard I could muddy them up but it would have to be intentional.

I've owned two basses with Delanos, one with two humbuckers, one with an oval model. Both basses sounded good unplugged. And I really didn't care for the amplified sound at all. Plenty of highs at the expense of everything that carries through in the mix IME. I experienced the same with other Delano equipped basses. One was a friend's otherwise killer lefty singlecut Stambaugh, probably the best Stammie I've seen right up to the point where I plugged it in. There could be basses they sound great in, I haven't seen it.

FYI: on passive installs, I've noticed many folks don't know the effect of not running your volume control wide open on clarity and highs. It matters and I wonder if that's what the folks with muddy sound are failing to do.

[cjp3044]

I went with the Delano HEs. As I posted earlier, I'm quite sure that I'd have been perfectly happy with either. This is nothing against Bartolini in any way, my decision came down to me simply wanting something different with this instrument. Barts are pretty prevalent in a lot of mid and high end basses, and are also popular replacement p'ups - Delano not so much, at least not yet and I haven't seen a set of them around here before. So I simply went for different. I will also be ordering an Audere -Mode preamp for it

Thanks for everyone's input. I will post my opinions of the p'ups and preamp after I install them. I will still run the p'ups passive for a while and the I'm ordering the preamp with a passive switch.

[cjp3044]

Installed the Delanos last night. All I can say is WOW. What a tremendous difference. Great tonal range compared to the stock pickups. A couple of adjustments to pickup height and she'll be ready to play in public. I don't think I could have gone wrong with either the Barts or Delanos, but I can say I am happy with the way these sound. The bass still needs... something. A preamp. Audere will be coming for it, but I had to put that off for now due to another large expense (thanks Brad ). Work in progress and is at the point where it can actually be played live without being embarrassed, but still more to go.

Thanks everyone for you input!

[kucor]

Cool! I have a spare JC5HE set I am keeping for my custom dream jazz bass

one of the best pickups available imo.