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  #1  
Old 11-05-2008, 09:11 PM
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Replacing my MEC strips

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So I don't know a whole lot about pickups, but can anyone tell me what my choices are to improve the tone I get from my current MEC pickups on my Warwick Corvette?
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Old 11-05-2008, 09:15 PM
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Most any jazz-style pickups will fit, and pretty much every company makes some. EMG, Bartolini, Nordstrand, DiMarzio, etc.

What is it that you don't like about your current tone? Or rather, what do you wish you could make your current bass sound do better?
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  #3  
Old 11-05-2008, 10:19 PM
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I recently swapped in a pair of DiMarzio Model J's in my passive fretless Corvette.

No more single-coil hum! They sound very good, similar to the MECs.

It's a simple swap. The MECs have springs below them, which I didn't want under the DiMarzios (the DiM's look more fragile underneath). I used foam.
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Old 11-05-2008, 11:03 PM
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I replaced my MM style MEC's with ceramic Basslines and was quite happy with the change.
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  #5  
Old 11-06-2008, 01:24 AM
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EMG on my corvette and it give me the sound i after. Complete different tone than my fender jazz with dimarzio on it
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  #6  
Old 11-06-2008, 11:49 AM
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Many Warwick types report that the MEC pups are OK (they are of course based on the EMGs), but the pre amp is not that good, and that changing this makes much more of a tonal difference, getting rid of the 'glassy, brittle' nature of the hghs in stock tone.I'm going to change mine soon, but I'm undecided to what yet.
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  #7  
Old 11-07-2008, 08:50 AM
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David Schwab

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I had a Warwick in my shop for a setup recently, and was curious about the pickups, since I always read about people changing them.

I was very surprised how nice the bass sounded. With the preamp I got everything from super bright Stanley tone, to thick dub, which is what the owner plays.

This bass had the passive MEC pickups. I don't know what model bass it was... I think it was a Thumb, but it actually made me like Warwicks, despite the baseball bat neck.

I don't think the MEC pickups are based on EMG's. They are two different companies, and MEC is very capable of designing their own stuff, just judging from the MEC preamp I saw. Totally different construction techniques.
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Old 11-07-2008, 11:10 AM
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I liked the tone of the passive MECs in the Corvette fretless. Just didn't like the single-coil buzz.

Even with both at the same volume they didn't cancel each other like other basses.
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  #9  
Old 11-07-2008, 11:32 AM
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David Schwab

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The bass I had here must have had hum canceling pickups. They were very quiet.

This was the bass:
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Last edited by SGD Lutherie : 06-21-2009 at 09:32 AM.
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