Can MEC MM Style Passive PUs be replaced with Bartolini MM Style Passive PUs?

[Spyral]

Hello,

I recently purchased a Warwick Corvette $$ LTD 2009, and I am loving it, it's just great.

However, this bass has MEC Music Man style passive pickups with exposed magnets. I have a very aggressive attack when I'm playing and this causes me to occasionally tap the strings (the E string usually) to the magnets on the PU, producing an awful pop or bang or sound.

I would like to replace them with Bartolini Music Man style passive pickups as they do not have exposed magnets, so I would not encounter this problem.

However I don't know much about this kind of thing, so I'm curious, what would be the effect on the basses tone were I to make this switch? Would the electronics still work the same? (ie: could each pickup still be set to series, parallel or single coil using the three way switches; same as the MECs?) and could these be installed without having to cut/sand/change the body in any way? Would this switch be an upgrade? a downgrade? just an even swap?

Thanks in advance for any help, I appreciate it.

S

[Stealth]

If the MECs are passive, then changing them with Bartolinis will be a drop-in swap. Equal size, very similar wiring (the colors differ - check with the Bartolini site for the proper color code), and as far as I know you can split, serialize or parallelize the same way you do with the MECs. The electronics remain the same.

Upgrade or downgrade? Depends on whether you like the tone.

[staccatogrowl]

Hi, Rube Goldberg here, with a couple of comments and ideas.

1) You have a good question.

2) You have a good answer from Stealth.

3) Have you considered that your string hitting the MM replacement pickup, although lacking exposed pole pieces, could still produce the undesired noise?

4) As an experiment, touch a screwdriver anywhere on the top pickup surface. My experience is that you'll hear the touch, with or without exposed pole pieces.

5) A possible solution? Place two thin pieces of felt or rubber on the top of your existing pickup, in or near the near the area where the string hits, not covering the pole piece. This simple solution might help you avoid the need for the pickup swap.

Best!

[Stealth]

If you're using felt or rubber, you can also cover the poles themselves. Those materials aren't ferromagnetic so they don't affect the tone at all.

[Mousekillaz]

or just lower the pick ups