Actually - I have both.
I curerently have EMG Selects sitting in a drawer, and Bartolinis in my Warwick Corvette.
I've tried the Selects in the Corvette too.
They aren't "bad" as such. They have an excellent build - very nicely epoxy potted with good shielded cable, nice covers and low noise for a single coil. They're Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity, so when both pickups are on full they cancel out the hum and are dead quiet. I must say the build quality is far better than some of the much more expensive pups I've tried (see list below).
Output is good for passive pups - quite high (not that that really matters - that's what your gain knob is for
).
Tonally, I would say they have slightly muted highs, and decent lows and quite a pronounced low-mid hump. I find the low mid hump to make them sound a bit "woofy" to my ears, and I think they could be described as less than articulate when run flat. The mids lack focus in my opinion, and because they are so strong they take over a bit.
Some EQ'ing can get them sounding pretty nice though. It could take some fiddling though. I can easily get them sounding good with the Enhance knob on my NC210 combo or the Parametric EQ.
Having said that, I do vastly prefer the Bartolinis in my Warwick. They're easily the best pickups I've tried (have owned Fender USA Vintage, Seymour Duncan Basslines Classic Stacks, MEC, DiMarzio Ultra Jazz, and the EMG Selects).
The Bartolinis however cost significantly more then the Selects.
I think the EMG Selects are excellent value pickups for the money, and whilst they sound fairly good - if money was no object they would not be my first choice for the "best tone".
