I bought these Aguilar Super Splits from a TB'er for a great price, and I'll be installing them tomorrow:
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Here's how my BTB looks now:
The pickup change took off about 11 ounces off the weight of this bass! Now, according to my digitial bathroom scale, it weighs in at 8.8 lbs. I don't know how totally accurate that is, but it's definitely lighter and better sounding!
The pickup change took off about 11 ounces off the weight of this bass! Now, according to my digitial bathroom scale, it weighs in at 8.8 lbs. I don't know how totally accurate that is, but it's definitely lighter and better sounding!
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FWIW - I replaced the preamps in all my EHBs and am now a much more happy camper. ;-)
I have a Noll TCM 3 band EQ in my EHB1000S with the BH2s and a parallel/series switch. This gives a great versatile bass that also goes into "muddy" or "vintage" territory.
I have a Delano Sonar 3 band EQ with adjustable mids in my EHB1000S fretless with Nordstrand Zenblades. Awesome fretless sound and very usable also in passive mode. I installed a series/single coil/parallel switch but found atm that series/parallel is enough. Maybe with more experience I will find use for the single coil mode.
I have an East Uni Pre in my EHB1005SMS with Zenblades and just installed it. There are so many options with the East Pre that I want to spend much more time to give a statement on how I like it.
Overall my experience with the Ibanez Pre is that I don´t like it anymore after hearing the basses with better preamps.
I actually like the BH2s with a better preamp and I find the series/parallel switch to be very useful. In passive mode I prefer the parallel setting and in active mode the switch gives added versatility.
I have a Noll TCM 3 band EQ in my EHB1000S with the BH2s and a parallel/series switch. This gives a great versatile bass that also goes into "muddy" or "vintage" territory.
I have a Delano Sonar 3 band EQ with adjustable mids in my EHB1000S fretless with Nordstrand Zenblades. Awesome fretless sound and very usable also in passive mode. I installed a series/single coil/parallel switch but found atm that series/parallel is enough. Maybe with more experience I will find use for the single coil mode.
I have an East Uni Pre in my EHB1005SMS with Zenblades and just installed it. There are so many options with the East Pre that I want to spend much more time to give a statement on how I like it.
Overall my experience with the Ibanez Pre is that I don´t like it anymore after hearing the basses with better preamps.
I actually like the BH2s with a better preamp and I find the series/parallel switch to be very useful. In passive mode I prefer the parallel setting and in active mode the switch gives added versatility.
I would totally have tried the EMG if they had the casing option... anything bass is small scale, I feel like swapping low end barts (Ibanez, Cort, some Laklands ffs) seems pretty common.
As it is now, the cheap chinese humbuckers fit perfectly and sound good, so I am in no rush to get the Norstrands of my dreams.
My guess is I found someone selling Wilkinson B stock (resin fingerprints on case, but invisible when installed). One of their products seems identical and the case was plain on that model. So I got lucky and got "fair" pups for cheap
As it is now, the cheap chinese humbuckers fit perfectly and sound good, so I am in no rush to get the Norstrands of my dreams.
My guess is I found someone selling Wilkinson B stock (resin fingerprints on case, but invisible when installed). One of their products seems identical and the case was plain on that model. So I got lucky and got "fair" pups for cheap
Installed the 2x3 switches for pickup config today- north coil/parallel/south coil for both pickups.
Both north coils together and both south coils together sounds sweet, but all other combinations sounds like a p-bass with a severe cold with special mention to both pickups in parallel, which sounds like a guitar with very large strings playing through a set of airpods from 2 feet away. Running only the bridge or neck pup in parallel alone also sounds like garbage
Did I do something wrong or is there just some weird phase cancellation thing going on? any ideas? I followed the color schemes and diagrams a few pages back:
North start to 1 Green
North finish to ground White
South start to ground Black
South finish to 6 Red
1 2 3
4 5 6
Green to 1
Red to 6
bridge 5 to 2
2 to balance neck or balance bridge
Both north coils together and both south coils together sounds sweet, but all other combinations sounds like a p-bass with a severe cold with special mention to both pickups in parallel, which sounds like a guitar with very large strings playing through a set of airpods from 2 feet away. Running only the bridge or neck pup in parallel alone also sounds like garbage
Did I do something wrong or is there just some weird phase cancellation thing going on? any ideas? I followed the color schemes and diagrams a few pages back:
North start to 1 Green
North finish to ground White
South start to ground Black
South finish to 6 Red
1 2 3
4 5 6
Green to 1
Red to 6
bridge 5 to 2
2 to balance neck or balance bridge
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I can't help with the wiring of the switch. But your description reads as if the pickups were connected out of phase.
Indeed they were. I was following the seymour duncan schematic and it turns out it's not quite right. I've fixed it now and will give a 'review' of the process at some point
So here's the full guide for anyone interested- the schematic bartolini provides here: https://bartolini.net/wp-content/uploads/Docs/PickupWiring4Conductor.pdf
-is what will give you the correct wiring HOWEVER the wire colors in the BH2 are as follows:
Neck side coil: Green (start) - White (hot)
Bridge side coil: Black (start) - Red (hot)
So for each switch that is black and green to ground, white and red to miniswitch, hot output to neck or bridge on the balance pot, relating to the pickup you're currently wiring. The bare shielding wire goes to ground as always.
My mistake was using the SD schematic, which shows green (north start) going into the switch- the bartolini schematic makes it clear why that's wrong; obviously you'd want to hot/finish part of the coil to go into to switch, not the start
I wonder how a reputable manufacturer like SD would get that wrong, but oh wellDrilling out holes for the switches was a cinch, just start small and increase the diameter of your drill bits until desired size. I totally eyeballed the positions and didn't even bother to remove any wires, I still think it came out pretty good. I'd say even a novice with a bit of handy flair could do this in a couple of hours.
So for the low low price of wire, 2 miniswitches (and admittedly a new gas solder I convinced myself I needed for this), I have 9 sound options for less than a single Nordstrand, Delano or Bart pickup.
And what options indeed! I also wonder what they were thinking leaving this in series as default (more output=better caveman ides probably), because boy the BH2 really lives in parallel mode. Gone is the bloated midrange and a shiny treble is blooming in. That said, what I really dig here are the single coil pairing options. They're all tonally distinct, meaty, growly, and real loud. They're not much noisier than parallel either, also a plus. Every flavour of jazz is in there, and both south coils together specifically has a real mean grind to it that I'm absolutely here for.
Huge thanks to everyone providing insight in this thread, especially Ach, the wiring color info saved me a ton of headache and having to get an ohmmeter from work
I think the lack of clarity on the BH2 is an Ibanez wiring/preamp issue more than a pickup one. My solution on my BTB: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ibanez-3emp3ld-preamp-tone-suck-solution.1632418/
Everybody says these pickups suck. I frickin' love them. They 're thick and chunky. I installed them fully passive on an SR605 with an Ash body (originally with split coil MK1s) and the tone is fatter than an elephant's ass. If you hate your BH2 5-string soapbars, please sell them to me, I 'd be eternally grateful.
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Interesting. This might prove a worthwhile upgrade, i'll check this out at some point.
Now, to be fair, since i replaced the Barts pickups for Nordstrands, have the sound i was looking for : more modern, open and cutting through. And though there might be better options for the preamp - wheter upgrading it or replacing it - i must say that the stock one does the job for my needs.
I've owned an EHB1005MS for a week and have already rewired the BH2s to single coils (hated them stock -series-, criminally muffled/scooped -scoopDEAD-). Just didn't wire outer/inner, but both neckside coils (barely makes it to P position in neck pickup, also prefer the fattest bridge tone I can get). Doesn't hum at all, and it's the tone I liked the most, after trying all combinations, also parallel (ultra clicky/zingy). This guy's video helped me get the colors right.
This last week has been an intensive course on BH2s/wiring/replacements/etc. It's my impression these pickups are the weak link in this otherwise awesome bass. I'm also awaiting delivery of one of those 26€/$ Guyker blade sets. Will report back on that, hopefully with sound clips. Could even 3D print pickup covers for them if they work better than i expect (I don't expect anything beyond cheap generic single coil tone, which I will definitely like more than the BH2s in either series or parallel).
This is how my neck PU sounds single coil. The tone opened up significantly, like a blanket was lift from over my amp, I can totally live with these now, sounding completely "regular" single coil (as unnatural as I found the BH2s in series, they're surprisingly normal in single coil). Also there's less compression and no overdrive going on (which I got when boosting lows/low-mids too much with stock wiring). I personally don't seem to have a problem with the VariMid onboard, I've always found my desired tone easily with VariTones in any Ibanez bass I've played with one.
This last week has been an intensive course on BH2s/wiring/replacements/etc. It's my impression these pickups are the weak link in this otherwise awesome bass. I'm also awaiting delivery of one of those 26€/$ Guyker blade sets. Will report back on that, hopefully with sound clips. Could even 3D print pickup covers for them if they work better than i expect (I don't expect anything beyond cheap generic single coil tone, which I will definitely like more than the BH2s in either series or parallel).
This is how my neck PU sounds single coil. The tone opened up significantly, like a blanket was lift from over my amp, I can totally live with these now, sounding completely "regular" single coil (as unnatural as I found the BH2s in series, they're surprisingly normal in single coil). Also there's less compression and no overdrive going on (which I got when boosting lows/low-mids too much with stock wiring). I personally don't seem to have a problem with the VariMid onboard, I've always found my desired tone easily with VariTones in any Ibanez bass I've played with one.
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Sounds nice! Interesting that the single coil wiring doesnt sound muffled/scooped as the standard humbucking configuration is.
Is there space in the cavity for 2x DPDT on-on-on switches? If so, why not wire your pickups for series/single parallel switching? Of course, you would need to drill another hole unless you went for a quad pole switch, which do exist. Obviously your switching would work on both pickups at the same time.
That'd probably be my preferred solution (I've done MANY coil tap switches, I even have an EB-0 with a series/single/parallel switch for the mudbucker). Thing is it's cramped inside the cavity. Still you'll surely be able to put a couple small 2PDT/3PDT switches in there. I haven't done it because there's nothing that will work for me in these BH2s other than single neckside coils. I have tested any combination and really I don't have a use for either series or parallel (equally useless for me, makes the bass sound generic a/f), the neckside coils in singles is the only option I sorta' liked. Bridgeside coils are OK, but sound gets NASAL when combined (same with inner coils). I even have the necessary switches in my spares box, just decided not to install them, they'd be useless to me, stuck in single coil forever.
Case in point: I DON'T LIKE "MODERN" SOUNDING PICKUPS, what many people call modern, I find GENERIC, couldn't care less for the "Bartolini tone". I've owned and hate Dead-lanos too, for the same reasons, VERY similar "near death" experience. I mean, I got this used for cheap, but the EHB1005MS is priced around 1300€ new 'round here. IDK about you, but I definitely wouldn't pay 1300€ for dead pickups.
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