Pickups for an Ibanez fretless?

[Orco87]

Recently purchased an ibanez sr400fl. It's a great bass and is sounding better as I learn to play it better. Recently put on TI flats and I really am lovin' this bass. My only issue is that the stock pu's kinda suck.

It's active electronics w/ mas. vol, blend, (smaller knobs) bass, mids, treb., and it's a P/J configuration. I usually have the blend to the p-pickups cuz the j pickup just sounds horrible. Also, I'm used to simple passive electronics (w/ the exception of my t-40 )... not feelin' that whole blend thing.

I would like a nice low end, but I don't want scooped mids, and would like my high's to be heard, but not overwhelming. I would love for this to be good for tapping or harmonics, but mainly for just layin' down the main groove. I guess I'm just saying I wish to be heard evenly throughout the spectrum (although I wouldn't mind a phat low-end).

I've done a search w/o finding much info regarding pu's for a fretless p/j config. Also I've listened through a lot of the PU's and read the reviews on most of the ones stickied. Just lookin' for some further info and reviews as regards since this is a fretless bass.

Any recommendations as to what PU's I could put in this? Also, what pre-amp would be a good swap-in? I know a tad about the market and differences in pickups, but not much at all about the pre-amps.

[Orco87]

bump....

[Orco87]

Ok, just cuz I don't have a 62 fender jazz re-model score from ebay doesn't mean no one has no knowledge of this bass....

SD 1/4 pounder's? Dimarzio? Bartolini? Help?


bumpity bump....

[62bass]

Originally Posted by Orco87

Ok, just cuz I don't have a 62 fender jazz re-model score from ebay doesn't mean no one has no knowledge of this bass....

SD 1/4 pounder's? Dimarzio? Bartolini? Help?


bumpity bump....

Calm down Orco. You're not being discriminated against.

The SR400 is a decent bass. You could probably get an improvement in sound by replaceing the pickups. I like Seymour Duncan Basslines. If it was my bass I'd take out the preamp, wire it up passive with a Quarter Pounder for the P and a noise cancelling J pickup from SD for the bridge. Then you'd have a very good sounding passive bass with lots of tonal variations and no hum or noise to worry about from the J pickup. That's only what I'd do. Others will advise you differently. There are a number of preamps on the market that would fit in there. Some are pretty expensive. Since I usually set the preamps on my active basses flat, all I care about is that the preamp doesn't distort the sound from the pickups. Lots of preamps will serve that purpose. Most have way more EQ than I need. I prefer a good passive circuit anyhow.

If you can find a Raven Labs preamp you might be able to wire it in the cavity. They're designed to drop into a P bass without modification. It'll fit the cavity in your bass but the controls may not line up with your existing ones. It's designed for one pickup but you could put a blend control into the circuit before the connection to the preamp. I have one of them in my old P bass. It works beautifully and runs off 2 lithium watch cells that last for ages. The Raven Labs preamp is discontinued but they turn up often. I paid $120 Canadian for mine new. It's very simple-a volume control and a tone control that boosts bass as you decrease treble, or decreases bass as you boost treble. It's all I need. My amps have all the tone shaping I need beyond that.

The point is--how much money do you want to spend to upgrade the bass and will it be worth it in the end? Resale value will be very low if you don't like it.

[Orco87]

Originally Posted by 62bass

Calm down Orco. You're not being discriminated against.

The SR400 is a decent bass. You could probably get an improvement in sound by replaceing the pickups. I like Seymour Duncan Basslines. If it was my bass I'd take out the preamp, wire it up passive with a Quarter Pounder for the P and a noise cancelling J pickup from SD for the bridge. Then you'd have a very good sounding passive bass with lots of tonal variations and no hum or noise to worry about from the J pickup. That's only what I'd do. Others will advise you differently. There are a number of preamps on the market that would fit in there. Some are pretty expensive. Since I usually set the preamps on my active basses flat, all I care about is that the preamp doesn't distort the sound from the pickups. Lots of preamps will serve that purpose. Most have way more EQ than I need. I prefer a good passive circuit anyhow.

If you can find a Raven Labs preamp you might be able to wire it in the cavity. They're designed to drop into a P bass without modification. It'll fit the cavity in your bass but the controls may not line up with your existing ones. It's designed for one pickup but you could put a blend control into the circuit before the connection to the preamp. I have one of them in my old P bass. It works beautifully and runs off 2 lithium watch cells that last for ages. The Raven Labs preamp is discontinued but they turn up often. I paid $120 Canadian for mine new. It's very simple-a volume control and a tone control that boosts bass as you decrease treble, or decreases bass as you boost treble. It's all I need. My amps have all the tone shaping I need beyond that.

The point is--how much money do you want to spend to upgrade the bass and will it be worth it in the end? Resale value will be very low if you don't like it.

Thanks for the reply, I know it's not discrimination, I'm just at a computer w/ internet all day and am able to check these things entirely too often. As much as I'm grateful for the advice given, I'm looking more for something that is a drop in replacement. You did bring out a point though about "is the bass worth it?" That is something that is keeping me from putting in a large lump sum for an amp and pickups. That's kinda why I wanted to start w/ pickups first. Just wondering what pickups would be good for a fretless bass, or if it really even matters as regard to pickup type and any of em' would work just fine?