Thoughts on Bartolini pickups for J Bass Wiring mods?

anglindkc · #1 10-05-2010, 10:53 AM

I have a MIJ 60s RI Fender Jazz that I am going to mod a little. The pickups sound too bright and don't have the bottom I want. Before you say get a P bass, I have a '76 maple neck P with dimarzzios from the same time period. Love the sound, I know my Jazz is going to sound different, but I want it to sound nice and thick, not like a strat with big strings. HELP! Any wiring mods you might share would be great too.

maturanesa · #2 10-05-2010, 01:26 PM

Bartolinis for Jazz Bass dont give a thick/fat sound without an active preamp. I owned a pair. They have low output and a clear bright tone in passive mode. Also, they cant be wired in series, like fenders, they just work on parallel. Maybe the dimarzio model j would be better for what you want, or going active by adding a preamp and boosting the lows.

west*coast*bass · #3 10-13-2010, 12:43 AM

Tonight I put a set of Bartolini 9J1 S/L's in my Fender 70's RI Jazz. These pickups have way more bottom end than the stock pickups that were in the bass before, not sure which pickups maturanesa had in his bass but these are excellent sounding pickups. And yeah, I'm passive - there is plenty of output and a nice thick tone.

Check them out...

**garmenteros** · #4 10-13-2010, 05:13 PM

I have bartolini classic series j pickups in my custom 5 string and they give a nice round tone which is what I strive for. The bass (which has a moses graphite neck) isn't bright and has a nice tone. I find them to be excellent pickups. Let me know if you'd be interested in soundclips... I have a few lying around I did in garageband...

Kwesi · #5 10-13-2010, 05:25 PM

Great pickups. I had a set of Bartolini 57CBJD-1s in my FMT before I swapped them out for some (more expensive) Delano's. The Delano's didn't sound particularly better nd the only reason I didn't keep the Barts was that I didn't feel like cracking my bass open again, lol. I had Bart jazz pups in my old Schack fretless and I wish so badly that I hadn't sold it.

noahw1 · #6 10-13-2010, 05:57 PM

[quote=maturanesa;9802665]Bartolinis for Jazz Bass dont give a thick/fat sound without an active preamp. I owned a pair. They have low output and a clear bright tone in passive mode. QUOTE]

I'm not sure that they don't give a thick/fats sound without an active preamp but I agree that they have a low output. I swapped out my jazz pups in a yamaha bass i have and found that i had to turn up the volume to get the same level i had before.
The barts do sounds really nice though. Nice, warm and round. Very smooth.

Greg Clinkingbeard · #7 10-20-2010, 10:45 PM

The Classic Bass pups sound much better to me than 9J's. They don't have quite the bottom of the 9J's but are still warm and full with a very natural tone. Closer to single coils.
They work better than 9J's passive due to higher output.
The 9J's are still great pups but that was my experience.

SnakeKappele · #8 10-20-2010, 10:57 PM

I put a Bartolini 9CBJD1 in my passive P/J and it has a nice low end on it. This is the Classic Bass Deep Tone humbucker version.