Hey all bassists, I'm new to the forum, so hello to everyone. I'm wanting to change one or both of the pickups in my Cort A4. It's currently decked out with Bartolini pickups and preamp -just what came stock. I want to get a real killer funky tone in the direction of Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten. I play only with fingers and love to slap. Also I play in a heavy rock band which i'm pushin the funk into, so I'll need something to make me heard through the mix of distorted guitars. I was thinking to change just one pickup so I could use the other stock humbucker for some of the heavier parts in the band, but if anybody has any better ideas i'm open to suggestion. Been looking at fender 60's vintage jazz, emg jazz, dimarzio area j... but very unsure which path to take... any ideas ? cheers all for your help
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A funkier pickup for my A4?
- Thread starter polish_kamikaze
- Start date
Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten have totally different tones, I don't think you nail both with the same bass. You need jazz bass (J/J) pickups for a Marcus Miller tone, or EMG pickups (P/J) for a Wooten tone.
However, the only direct fit for your bass is US Bartolinis (MK4), though I have no idea how your sound would change. With jazz type pickups, you would be left with large empty space around the pickups (they are much thinner than the MK1 soapbars). For other soapbar pickups, you'd need to enlarge the pickup routes on your A4. In this case I would choose this last solution and put EMG pickups (40P and 40J).
I think the tone of your current bass is not so far from modern/funk tone like Wooten's, and I've read that people don't dislike at all the MK1 pickups on the A4, but the MK1 preamp is not so good and maybe changing the preamp first for a better one would give you something you'd like. I'm gonna buy an B5 soon (same electronics as the A4), and I'm looking for a modern tone like you, but I'll change the preamp only at first (I'm getting a Noll 3-band with parametric mid EQ).
And last note: often guitarists play in a band just like if their were playing alone, with a full range sound, with loads of low end, which tend to overlap with the bass, so if your sound is lost among saturated guitars, try to convince them to lower a little bit their lows.
Hope this helps...
Hey,
I've changed the PU's of my A4 into US Bartolini's, and changed the preamp into the Aguilar OBP3 (act/pass, push-pull mid freq selector, blend, vol, t-m-b, 18V)
I found that the original pups and preamp are ok(ish...), but with a really good preamp and better pup's, the A4 becomes a sonic beast!
You can find more info and specs on Brian's website (http://www.bestbassgear.com).
I've changed the PU's of my A4 into US Bartolini's, and changed the preamp into the Aguilar OBP3 (act/pass, push-pull mid freq selector, blend, vol, t-m-b, 18V)
I found that the original pups and preamp are ok(ish...), but with a really good preamp and better pup's, the A4 becomes a sonic beast!
You can find more info and specs on Brian's website (http://www.bestbassgear.com).
DriesG, can u tell us wich exactly u changed? the mk4 barts? Can u describe the sound chenges? Thats all, tnx =)
MK4CBC-B (neck) and MK4CBC-T (bridge) US Bart's and Aguilar OBP3 preamp.
The switch on the A4 in orig config is an eq on/off switch, so it's always active. When i ordered the new pups and the OBP-3, i had it changed into a real act/pass switch, so i could choose to use the circuit or not... (I actually play it mostly in passive mode: no eq, just vol, blend, Markbass 12" combo and fingers
)Well, even in passive mode, the difference is huge: more overall output, better and more definition, tight low end, crispy highs, bigger dynamic range.
To me, it was a big improvement, because I found the original pups and preamp not good enough for such a nicely built bass! Since I've recently bought my '72 Fender Jazz, I'm thinking of making the Cort into a custom A4 fretless. It would have a great fretless tone, i guess.
Feel free to ask if you want me to be more specific..
Thnx a lot man!!! Thats all i wanted to hear, soon im gonna buy a4 - and when i have the chance i will upgrate it also =)
BTW if u ever upload some youtube video with A4 - pls send me pm
a lot of guys uploaded vids with b4 but very few with a4 and especially upgrated ones...
P.S. Today, totally random discover of Laguna bass - almost same as the Cort (dont know who's copy who lol) chek this out : http://www.playlaguna.com/ocean.cfm
http://www.playlaguna.com/models/index.cfm and a fretless one on ebay (cant find it on ebay again) but stored the pic site Laguna Fretless
BTW if u ever upload some youtube video with A4 - pls send me pm
a lot of guys uploaded vids with b4 but very few with a4 and especially upgrated ones...P.S. Today, totally random discover of Laguna bass - almost same as the Cort (dont know who's copy who lol) chek this out : http://www.playlaguna.com/ocean.cfm
http://www.playlaguna.com/models/index.cfm and a fretless one on ebay (cant find it on ebay again) but stored the pic site Laguna Fretless
BTW if u ever upload some youtube video with A4 - pls send me pm
Here's a video of one of my former bands playing a live gig @ Ancienne Belgique (brussels-belgium). I haven't got a video from myself soloing on the bass... Invalid Link Removed
With the upgrade, the A4 is really a great bass. But, like a wrote earlier, I've been playing my '72 Fender Jazz ever since I got it... (I even tried to sell the Cort... but will keep it to make it fretless).
Thnx for the video man!! Very cool live i enjoyed it, great sound and playing!! Cya around, take care! =)
Thanks for all the responses guys. I'm definitly gonna go for the upgrade to US bartolini soapbars, but i'm just wondering what preamp to choose. I'd like to be able to split one of the pickups to get a singlecoil sound for starters, but in terms of the rest i'm not sure. What do you guys recon will be the best choice for the tone i'm goin for? -i don't think i use the eq all that much right now cause there isn't that much variation, i tend to go for just getting a couple different sounds and stick to that. when gigging or jamming i tend to jus play and maybe switch to settings i figured out before, never really changing stuff on the fly, jus like to enjoy the pocket that I sit in if ya catch my drift
Also was the sound difference in being able to swith the bartolinis from active to passive?
also amp wise, i'm using a ampeg svt3 with ampeg 4x10 & 1x15 with a boss gt6b
Also was the sound difference in being able to swith the bartolinis from active to passive?
also amp wise, i'm using a ampeg svt3 with ampeg 4x10 & 1x15 with a boss gt6b
I don't think you need a preamp to split the pu's. You'll have to add another (custom) switch.
The sound doesn't change dramatically when switching from passive to active. If you get an 18V circuit, you can boost/cut an incredible amount of low/mid/high. In passive mode there's no eq: just vol and blend. I mostly play it passive and use a bit of eq on my amp (Markbass CMD121), just to fit the acoustics of the room... Even in passive mode, the US Bart's are very versatile, 'warm' sounding, punchy mids and clear treble.
Can you share your wiring diagram? I am modding my Laguna Ocean with the same changes. Thanks.MK4CBC-B (neck) and MK4CBC-T (bridge) US Bart's and Aguilar OBP3 preamp.
The switch on the A4 in orig config is an eq on/off switch, so it's always active. When i ordered the new pups and the OBP-3, i had it changed into a real act/pass switch, so i could choose to use the circuit or not... (I actually play it mostly in passive mode: no eq, just vol, blend, Markbass 12" combo and fingers
Well, even in passive mode, the difference is huge: more overall output, better and more definition, tight low end, crispy highs, bigger dynamic range.
To me, it was a big improvement, because I found the original pups and preamp not good enough for such a nicely built bass! Since I've recently bought my '72 Fender Jazz, I'm thinking of making the Cort into a custom A4 fretless. It would have a great fretless tone, i guess.
Feel free to ask if you want me to be more specific..
I sold this bass 4 years ago. The guys at Best Bass Gear can help you out with this. They even have downloadable wiring diagrams. Bass Wiring Diagrams - Best Bass Gear. If I remember correctly, I had vol (push/pull for act/pass), blend, pass tone, b/m/t and mid freq selection switch. Hope that helps.
