Bartolini or Emg?

[PJ all day]

Which pre amp is better?

[stuonbass]

I dont know if it was the pups, or the preamp, but I prefer the Barts over EMG. My A/B is my old Schecter with EMG HZ soapbars and 2 band preamp vs my Lakland with Bartolini Mk 1 soapbars and 3 band preamp. I could never get a good tone out of the schecter. The low end was incredible, but the highs were brittle and plastic sounding.
The Barts on the other hand are more to my liking. The mid range control is a definite plus for scooping or invert scooping the tone for mids and the highs are crisp and metalic.
I cant say if the difference is in the guitars, pups, or preamp, but take that for what its worth.

[metallicafan18]

I've been wanting to ask the same question here. Im between the Bartolni HR-4.6 and the EMG BQC preamp. What's are the differences?

[tomvelsor]

ive never liked EMG pickups or preamps.

bartolini is a great company, never seen anything i diddnt like from them.

[Kitsapbass]

These two are virtually opposite. I'm not a big fan of either, but if I were forced to choose between the two, EMG hands down. I have a Bartolini pre with Bart p/u's in my main bass, and I really can't wait until I can replace them with the NYC p/us by Basslines.

[metallicafan18]

Originally Posted by Kitsapbass

These two are virtually opposite. I'm not a big fan of either, but if I were forced to choose between the two, EMG hands down. I have a Bartolini pre with Bart p/u's in my main bass, and I really can't wait until I can replace them with the NYC p/us by Basslines.

How are they opposites? What are their tonal differences?

[Kitsapbass]

Well, if you tend to like EMG's, you refer to them as clear. If you don't, you call them brittle. Especially if you are running them with 1 9v battery, very compressed sounding. With 2 9 volt batteries, they open up. With Bartolini's, if you like them, you tend to refer to them as warm. If you don't, they're muddy. In the bass I have them in, I find that it has a midrange frequency that I don't care for. Maybe if I had a 3 band eq, it wouldn't be so bad - but with what's in there now, and the bass's natural sound (walnut body, so kind of dark-ish sound, with an oil finish, even more so), I'm not a huge fan. On other basses, maybe they're great - but it really isn't my cup of tea. What's funny is that before I bought this, I was debating getting some Bart's for another one of my basses. Not now - I'm thinking about either Basslines or some Joe Barden's. I'm most likely going to get Aguilar preamps for all of my basses (Tobias, Guild, Self built P) so I can have some consistency of tone.

[pin_head_47]

What kind of pickups are you using, and what bass is it going into? Are you planning on using it with the stock pups? The preamp should be matched to the voice of the pickups, so either or neither may be right for you. Also consider aguilar, they're very popular around here.

[metallicafan18]

Originally Posted by pin_head_47

What kind of pickups are you using, and what bass is it going into? Are you planning on using it with the stock pups? The preamp should be matched to the voice of the pickups, so either or neither may be right for you. Also consider aguilar, they're very popular around here.

I have a Schecter Stiletto Custom-5. If I get the EMG preamp, I will get EMG40DC pickups. If I get the Bartolini preamp, I will get either the XXM45C or XXM45M pickups.

anymore help?

[PJ all day]

I was looking for a pre amp to go with a set of emg PJ's

[Kitsapbass]

After re-reading your posts PJ, I would have to recommend the EMG pre, out of the two brands you mentioned. However, I know a LOT of people who are using the Aguilar preamps (OBP1, 2, or 3) with those pickups. I have the BTC in my old Guild. It's okay (not a huge fan of EMGs), it does the job.

[PJ all day]

ok thank you