Swapping out the soapbars in my Tune TWB63 6er - what should I get?

[Alex]

Hey guys I've recently defeated my substantial GAS for a Bee Bass and have decided to switch out the electronics in my Tune, as they seem to be the weak link in my setup.

Here's a pic of the Tune:


It has an ovangkol top, what I think is a mahogany back, maple neck and a rosewood board. For the last three years I've strung it with the Roto jazz 77 flats. It has either 17.5 or 18mm spacing at the bridge.

I'm kind of new to the world of pups but from reading the FAQs and searching around I've kind of zeroed in on Delano, Nordstrand, and maybe Lane Poor but I'm not sure if they're still making pups? I know that Barts and EMGs are the 2 big brands but Barts are passive and I'm pretty sure I wanna go active, while EMGs don't sound versatile enough for me.

The tone I'm looking for is generally a big, fat, deep, punchy yet clear fingerstyle tone. I kind of have that now but the stock TUNE pickups give kind of an uneven response and lose a lot of definition on the B string. I also need a lot of versatility as I generally use the aforementioned tone in my funk/rock/fusion/etc band, but I also slap often, and do a lot of solo stuff and harmonics that requires that "sparkling" clear tone, as well as also playing in my school big band and gigging with a jazz quartet on the side.

I guess the first obstacle is figuring out what is actually possible to put into my TUNE now. The soapbars on my TUNE are ~28-29mm x ~130-131mm and I don't think that control cavity space will be a problem since the one in my TUNE is huge and houses two 9volts. I checked the Delano website and it seems like they have nothing that fits my bass. Same with Nordstrand. There must be some way to customize them?

Also - I know I need to look into preamps but it seems like the Aggie OBP-3 is kind fo the consensus best choice for modding jobs. Anything else I should look into?

Thanks for all the help guys

~Alex

[Alex]

Anyone?

[smeet]

Don't know about Delano or Lane Poor. Nordstrand will probably make custom pickups for you in whatever dimensions you want, but I don't know how much extra they charge for that. You can contact them from their website. http://www.nordstrandpickups.com/bas...signature.html

BTW, I think all of these pickups except for EMGs are actually passive. The preamp is what makes the setup active, but the pickup itself is passive.

For preamps, I would also look into the Audere and the East. I think the Audere has the most transparent/passive sound of all of them.

For what it's worth, I'm getting Nordstrand Big Singles and the Audere pre in my 6-string, to replace Bart soapbars and NMBT pre.

[DavidRavenMoon]

What size are those pickups in the Tune?

[Alex]

Originally Posted by DavidRavenMoon

What size are those pickups in the Tune?

about 131mm x 29mm.

[doctorjazz]

+1 for EMG's (and some Alembics) being the only real "active" pickups. Everything else is just passive with an active preamp.

I'm a big fan of Bartolinis, but that's just me. And about the active/passive thing, the vast majority of the time I see Barts they're on a bass with an active preamp.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Originally Posted by doctorjazz

+1 for EMG's (and some Alembics) being the only real "active" pickups. Everything else is just passive with an active preamp.

I'm a big fan of Bartolinis, but that's just me. And about the active/passive thing, the vast majority of the time I see Barts they're on a bass with an active preamp.

Alembic invented the active pickup! You don't have to have the electronics in the pickup, and in fact it's often better not to.

To me, if the pickup does not work without the preamp (because it's low output/low impedance), it's an active pickup, even if the preamp is outside of the pickup (i.e., Alembic and my pickups).

I agree that passive pickups with a preamp is an active bass, not an active pickup.

The reason you see Barts with preamps is traditionally they were medium output pickups. The best way to get a full range tone is make a low output pickup and boost it up with a preamp.

I bought my first Bart in 1976 when they were called Hi-A Pickups.

[bassandbeyond]

The pickups in your bass are indeed passive, and so can be replaced with any passive pickup/active preamp combination. The problem you will find is that the pickups for TWB basses are a very nonstandard size. I've never encountered a replacement pickup that doesn't require routing out more wood and/or leaving big, ugly gaping holes on either side of the new pickups. I had one friend who did that to his Kingbass, and it didn't sound any better with the Bartolinis he installed, in my opinion. You might want to start by just replacing the preamp and see if you like the sound with the original pickups. Good luck, and let me know if you find any cool pickups that are a good fit.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by bassandbeyond

The pickups in your bass are indeed passive, and so can be replaced with any passive pickup/active preamp combination. The problem you will find is that the pickups for TWB basses are a very nonstandard size. I've never encountered a replacement pickup that doesn't require routing out more wood and/or leaving big, ugly gaping holes on either side of the new pickups. I had one friend who did that to his Kingbass, and it didn't sound any better with the Bartolinis he installed, in my opinion. You might want to start by just replacing the preamp and see if you like the sound with the original pickups. Good luck, and let me know if you find any cool pickups that are a good fit.

Well after emailing Nordstrand and looking at many other sites, it seems like I'm going to have to get some custom pups. I guess I could route out the extra 3 or 4mm of width in each pup cavity but that would just get ugly and it also wouldn't solve the problem of the abnormal length of the pickups; 131 mm which is at least 10mm longer than any other 6er pickup I've seen. I don't see there being any other way than custom. Hopefully it won't hit my wallet too badly.

EDIT - it seems like I may have to route out the extra width. Has anybody ever done this? How did it work out?

[fullrangebass]

Villex can do custom sizes so you don't have to route out any wood (at least that is my experience with 4 sets of pickups and one very custom sized set of pickups)

[Robear22]

Originally Posted by bassandbeyond

The pickups in your bass are indeed passive, and so can be replaced with any passive pickup/active preamp combination. The problem you will find is that the pickups for TWB basses are a very nonstandard size. I've never encountered a replacement pickup that doesn't require routing out more wood and/or leaving big, ugly gaping holes on either side of the new pickups. I had one friend who did that to his Kingbass, and it didn't sound any better with the Bartolinis he installed, in my opinion. You might want to start by just replacing the preamp and see if you like the sound with the original pickups. Good luck, and let me know if you find any cool pickups that are a good fit.

I had the exact bass that you have and I was considering an upgrade also but I would also encourage you to switch the preamp first. I believe the pickups on the Tune are fairly good it is the preamp that is the culprit for your displeasure in your tone. I actually played one that had a preamp change and it was like night and day. New pickups can make a difference in a passive bass moreso than in an active bass where it is a combination of pickups and pre. An Aguilar will really fatten up your tone.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Robear22

I had the exact bass that you have and I was considering an upgrade also but I would also encourage you to switch the preamp first. I believe the pickups on the Tune are fairly good it is the preamp that is the culprit for your displeasure in your tone. I actually played one that had a preamp change and it was like night and day. New pickups can make a difference in a passive bass moreso than in an active bass where it is a combination of pickups and pre. An Aguilar will really fatten up your tone.

I would consider this but one of my main problems with the Tune electronics is that the bridge pup sounds really artificial and it sounds horrible when mixed with the neck pickup, which I am forced to use almost exclusively. A new preamp wouldn't solve this problem, I'm pretty sure.

EDIT - btw guys I've pretty much decided on Nordstrand Fat Stacks. I think I'm going to route out an extra 3 or so mm to make room for them and get some custom wooden pup covers.

[DavidRavenMoon]

Originally Posted by Alex

I would consider this but one of my main problems with the Tune electronics is that the bridge pup sounds really artificial and it sounds horrible when mixed with the neck pickup, which I am forced to use almost exclusively. A new preamp wouldn't solve this problem, I'm pretty sure.

You don't know how they are processing each pickup. A new preamp could indeed make a big difference.

it would be very simple to bypass the preamp and listen to the pickups to see what they actually sound like.

New pickups through a bad preamp wont wound much better.

[Alex]

Oh I'm gonna drop in an Aggie OBP-3 as well. Can't see it not sounding awesome after that.

[alexofc69]

Originally Posted by Alex

Oh I'm gonna drop in an Aggie OBP-3 as well. Can't see it not sounding awesome after that.

I think just adding the OBP3 to the stock Tune pups would get you what you are looking for.
How do you like the Tune bass?? Ive been thinking about getting a five string Tune.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by alexofc69

I think just adding the OBP3 to the stock Tune pups would get you what you are looking for.
How do you like the Tune bass?? Ive been thinking about getting a five string Tune.

Wait a new preamp would make the bridge pup not sound artificial anymore?

I guess I'll but the aggie and see how it sounds, and then if the bridge pup is still bothersome order the nords.

[bassandbeyond]

Just thought I ought to point out, for those of you who don't already know, that there are two different companies making "Tune" basses now, one in Japan and one in Korea.

Alex's Kingbass is obviously a Korean one, because he mentioned it has a rosewood fingerboard. Japanese Kingbasses all have ebony boards. Cosmetically, they all look similar, but the Korean basses have some different (cheaper) woods and hardware, and they also sell at a lower retail price. I'm not an electrical engineer, but as far as I can tell, the Korean Tunes use the same pickup and preamp design as the original Japanese basses. Currently, only Korean Tunes are available for retail sale in the U.S., but you can check out the Japanese ones at

http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~tune/

[capnsandwich]

I know for a fact that Lane Poor won't do custom jobs, since they're no longer in business. Too bad. They made awesome pups.

If you take your bass to an actual luthier you could probably drop any pup you want in there since he'll know what he's doing when he routs out the pup cavity. I have a guy here in town that's done an awesome job dropping in a pair of quad coil Bartolinis in my Tobias Toby Pro. Now he's got my Lakland and he's putting in a pair of Nordstrand Big Singles and adding an extra battery box in the back for an 18v preamp. That's too much routing for me to trust myself to do. I got to leave it to someone who knows what he's doing.

[fullrangebass]

Originally Posted by capnsandwich

I know for a fact that Lane Poor won't do custom jobs, since they're no longer in business. Too bad. They made awesome pups.

The closest I've ever found to Lane Poor pickups (sound-wise, and then some) are Villex pickups.

[capnsandwich]

Originally Posted by fullrangebass

The closest I've ever found to Lane Poor pickups (sound-wise, and then some) are Villex pickups.

I've heard of them but never heard them. I'd like to hear a sound clip if you have one.