Pickup reccomendation for Yamaha BBG5?

[kesslari]

I love my BBG5 in terms of its playability.
But the stock pickups leave something to be desired.
Actually, they get a very decent sound, but solo'd they're noisy.
For those unfamiliar with the bass, 5 string, medium string spacing, 2 J-type pickups.

I'd prefer not to have to rout the bass.
I don't feel the need for onboard electronics - I'm pretty much a neanderthal, put the tone up on full, back pickup on full, add front pickup as needed to fill in the sound depending on the song/style.

EMG's - they sound like EMG's. The good thing is that a $400 bass with EMG's sounds pretty much like a $2000 bass with EMG's. But that's not the sound I want.

Bartolini's? My old Tobias had them. Great sounding pickups.
How are they these days?

Duncan? Used to make great guitar pickups. Not sure about his bass pickups.

I've been out of the flow of equipment for quite a while, so I don't know what else is out there.

Recommendations?

Thanks!

[kesslari]

Bump.

Any input, folks?

[IanStephenson]

no answers.... I've really found this to be a great bass to play, having bought it just for noodling round on, I've really enjoyed playing it, but like you I found the sound lacking. The stock pickups sometimes sound OK, but they really lack punch ad drive - a little thin, and weedy.

I spent ages tring to figure this out about a month ago, and didn't come up with a solution - I'd love to get and answer for this too (you probably posted at a bad time - I've been away from TB for about 5 days, as I suspect a few other people have too)...

I was worried about finding something that would work with the wide string spacing, but still fit in the existing routing. 5 string jazz pickups seem a bit more confusing, as there are different pickup sizes. I think I figured that Barts were a good safe choice - they do an L/L option which I THINK would drop in. The Duncans were WAY too wide to fit.

Love to get some sugguestions here too...

I guess what I really mean is "+1 bump"

Ian

[kesslari]

I'm really thinking Barts at this point. Looking into it further.
I'll let you know if I take it a step forward...

[daveze]

Sounds like you're after some form of hum canceling pup. You've got a pretty good summary of the slightly more traditional pickup manufacturers.

- Fair summary of the EMG's, bear in mind that you'll need to fit a battery somewhere if you opt for the real EMG's. My experience with Yamaha's is that they have a tiny control cavity;
- Bartolini are still around and produce very highly regarded pickups;
- Seymour Duncan do make very good bass pickups, again you may need to fit a battery if you opt for the active variety;

A few other popular pickup manufacturers around here are:
- Nordstrand Guitars. Carey is a member and there's a whole stack of folk that speak very highly of his pickups;
- Di Marzio. Really quite cheap jazz pickups (in particular) that have tremendous sound;
- Aero. Quite expensive but very highly regarded, used by folk like Fodera;
- Lindy Fralin. Highly regarded jazz and p pickups, has a model that is stock in the Joe Osborne basses from Lakland;
- Delano. German company, a friend has a quadcoil in his Warwick that he raves about;

There's really oodles more and I doubt I've helped much with deciding. If you do a search, there's a very solid jazz pickup tone review and most of the guys that I mentioned are probably happy to help you decide on what you need for your tone.

Josh D

[kesslari]

Think I'm going to go with the Bartolinis - 59CBJD1-L1/LN1

Was thinking about Q-Tuners, but the extra expense and hassle of routing the bass out (rather than a more direct swap) seems like a safer, cleaner way to go.

[kesslari]

The Bart CBJD1 Classics fit this bass like a glove.
Very articulate pups. I'm liking the tones a lot. Nice and full, with just enough snot on the bridge pup.

[IanStephenson]

Just to drag this back up (though it sounds like JK's bass has moved on now...), I finally got round to replcing the pup's in my bbg5.

In the end I went with Seymour Duncan SJ5S-70/74. I know I said above that the SD's were too big - I was looking at the Quarter Pounders at the time. It turns out the 70/74 models fit perfectly.

These are the single coil versions, so there's a bit of hum - maybe I should have gone with the stacked/blade versions, but not too bad. They sound great... much fatter, and more solid. I'm really happy with them, and can't wait to get the upgraded bass out on a gig.

One minor note - the polarity of the pickups is opposie to the stock pickups, so if you're just replacing one you'll need to flip the phase (which will probably screw the hum cancelling between N and B). I replaced the pair, and all us good.

Ian

[fretlessman71]

kesslari, when you put the Barts in your Yamaha, did you have to make it an active system, or were you able to leave it completely passive and keep the V V T knob config?

[kesslari]

I left the controls the same, and kept it passive.

[fretlessman71]

And there's more than enough top end? That's the reason I want to switch the p'ups in the first place.

[kesslari]

I think so. I honestly don't remember, other than that I liked the sound a lot.
I sold that bass shortly after making the switch, to buy my dream fretted (older Tobias Classic).

[fretlessman71]

I had an older Toby Classic 5... low 1000's if I recall. Yep, there's yours, in your avatar. (sigh) What a great bass that was.

Kinda leaning towards the Seymours because quiet basses and I don't get along so well, and it sounds like they might be a little more organic sounding. But we'll see.

[Bass_masta16]

I like Duncans, and EMG's are great too.

[liam_g]

Dead thread ... but I just found a used BBG5 for cheap, and have now ordered the Barts that Kesslari used to throw in it. Looking forward to this!

Cheers,
Liam

[kesslari]

Post what you think once they arrive! I'm pretty sure you'll dig it.

[liam_g]

Hmmm ... the tone is great, but these seem to be extremely low output pickups. Much lower than the Bartolini P pickup I use in my passive fretless P, and also much lower than just a stock passive jazz or P. Looks like I'm going to need to think about throwing a preamp in there.