Bartolini MK1 Pickups and EQ...anygood?

[Ro_Maniak]

I'm thinkin o gettin an ibanez bass with Bartolini MK1 Pickups and EQ, are they any good?

[David Wilson]

I think the pickups are perfectly good, but the preamp is just ok.

[JDT]

I'm pretty sure I have the MK1's on my Cort B5. Not that I'm too experienced with pups/eq's, but my teacher also said they're good.

I can get a lot of different sounds from them, so I like them.

[Heffer_panacea]

Hi there, i also have a Cort Artisan, mine's a 4 stringer and have the same PUP's/preamp on it, and i find them really good, in comparison to the PUPs on my previous bass (Ibanez gsr200), y have an extended range of tones without getting noise at any volume, but i have read on this forums that CB series (bartolini) have extended range, and are replacements for the Mk1's.

[Warwickluvr]

I played a 6-string Ibanez with MK1s. I really liked the sound, but I don't have much experience with active basses. I definetly liked it though.

[EricTheEZ1]

I played an Ibanez a couple days ago with Bart MK-1s in it but it had a similar preamp to the MK-1 but with no passive/active switch.

I played a Cort B4 that had MK-1's and I know they use the same preamp. It sounded incredible. I really dig the tone the MK-1s have. It may have been amp differences, but both basses still sounded awesome.

-Eric.

[TheEmptyCell]

I've been playing an Ibaenz SR506 for the nearly two years, and it's equipped with the MK1 package.

My understanding is that the MK1 stuff is made in Korea. I really don't care. What I do care about is that it sounds good. The range of tones is great. I don't know the technically stuff, like frequency ranges, but I know that I can a wide range of tones from it.

My only real issue is that the low B is really muddy whilst E-C, now E-F, sounds crystal clear. So now, I string EADGCF, and everything is balanced.

[msquared]

The pickups are fine for the price you're paying. You won't find MK1s in a Nordstrand or a Dingwall but they don't suck or anything.

You ought to consider replacing the preamp at some point but even that isn't horrible.

[ny_chan]

My Lakland 55-01 comes with the Bart mk1 pups. Sounds good. If you read some Lakland threads, the mk1 pups seems comparable to more expensive pups. The mk1 preamps, however is just ok.
I've ordered mine with a Bart NTMB.

[lonotes]

My Lakland 55-01 came with the Bart MK-1 package. To me, it seemed a little brittle or harsh on the high end. Based on the number of people here, and on The Dudepit, recommending replacement of the preamp first, I planned on installing an NTMB. However, impatience got the best of me, and I dropped in a U-Retro Deluxe, that I had for another project. Since that time, I have seen no real reason to replace the pups. That's not to say that it won't happen in the future, but that's more of a what if rather than a real reason.

[Pilbromatic]

I find the MK-1 quite nice. Havn't used it too much (have a little) but I love the tone of my friend's one!

[spode master]

I play my BTB dirrect into a mixer and a clean power am. I think the tone is great and quite flexible.

[IanStephenson]

No problems with it on my Cort Elrick.

[keb]

The pre can be a bit hissy if you crank the treble, but that's about the only complaint I have for it. I don't tend to bump up the treble knob anyway though, since the bass has enough high end on the flat setting for my needs.

The pickups just seem fine and dandy, no complaints here.

[Rickett Customs]

(IMO) the barts (pups and electronics) work excellently with fretlesses, didn't like the fretted sound so much.

[CraigG]

The MK1s are decent and used in a lot of low to mid level basses. I believe I had the same configuration in my Cort Curbow 5 - though I upgraded to a Bart MK5 and Aguilar OBP3 pre shortly after buying it.

BTW, the MK1's are licensed to use the Bart name but are not actually manufactured by Bartolini (this according to an email I got from Bartolini when I tried to get some information about the MK1).

[VtheMech]

Originally Posted by CraigG

though I upgraded to a Bart MK5 and Aguilar OBP3 pre shortly after buying it.

how would you describe the change in sound? would you say it's warmer now?

[Ach]

I owned sr505 barts mk1 pups and pre, which i changed to EMG pups and pre.

Actually pups are ok, but pre adds a lot of high end.

[DickyT]

Originally Posted by Ach

I owned sr505 barts mk1 pups and pre, which i changed to EMG pups and pre.

Actually pups are ok, but pre adds a lot of high end.

Which EMG's are the same dimensions as the MK1's?

[Ach]

There are no EMG pickup sized MK1. Local luthier had been done a routing.