• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Bartolini BH2 and Ibanez bass

#121
Interesting thread. ;)

If I am not mistaken, some of you have rewired the BH2s as parallel humbucker instead of series, then (normally) blended together in parallel. Judging from my limited experience with dual coil wiring and also what I'm hearing from clips with the pickups wired in their stock series configuration, they *should* be much more balanced with quite a bit more treble (admittedly much needed), although lower output.

For those who tried it, was that the case with your experience?

Also, by any chance, are the outer coils/inner coils humcancelling with each other? I think this should not be considered a given with these pickups.

Reason I'm asking is I have my eyes on a nice used bass with these installed and I'm trying to figure if I'll be able to get usable tones out of it without spending a fortune on a better sounding retrofit. Plus I'm a sucker for experimentation. :D
 
#122
jesterbass said:
Interesting thread. ;)

If I am not mistaken, some of you have rewired the BH2s as parallel humbucker instead of series, then (normally) blended together in parallel. Judging from my limited experience with dual coil wiring and also what I'm hearing from clips with the pickups wired in their stock series configuration, they *should* be much more balanced with quite a bit more treble (admittedly much needed), although lower output.

For those who tried it, was that the case with your experience?

Also, by any chance, are the outer coils/inner coils humcancelling with each other? I think this should not be considered a given with these pickups.

Reason I'm asking is I have my eyes on a nice used bass with these installed and I'm trying to figure if I'll be able to get usable tones out of it without spending a fortune on a better sounding retrofit. Plus I'm a sucker for experimentation. :D
Click to expand...

Friendly bump for anyone that has a) wired bh2 pickups as parallel humbucker, b) tried using single coils (outer/inner) for hum cancellation between pickups. I'd greatly appreciate your input.
 
#123
Ach said:
BH2 sound way better when wired in parallel, I would probably say that BH2 (in parallel) sound as good as the US Bartolini Classic Bass pickups (wired in series
Click to expand...

Lol I can't even figure out which wires belong to the pickups. I'm used to wiring in a Strat or a Jazz bass etc. This is much more complex. How did you do it? (edit: this is for an SRMS805)

ibz control cavity.jpg
 
Last edited:
#126
jesterbass said:
Interesting thread. ;)

If I am not mistaken, some of you have rewired the BH2s as parallel humbucker instead of series, then (normally) blended together in parallel. Judging from my limited experience with dual coil wiring and also what I'm hearing from clips with the pickups wired in their stock series configuration, they *should* be much more balanced with quite a bit more treble (admittedly much needed), although lower output.

For those who tried it, was that the case with your experience?

Also, by any chance, are the outer coils/inner coils humcancelling with each other? I think this should not be considered a given with these pickups.

Reason I'm asking is I have my eyes on a nice used bass with these installed and I'm trying to figure if I'll be able to get usable tones out of it without spending a fortune on a better sounding retrofit. Plus I'm a sucker for experimentation. :D
Click to expand...


I have tried all of thise with BH2 (see here Bartolini BH2 and Ibanez bass).

Both of your assumptions are correct:
1. BH2 in parallel sound noticebly less mid heavy (=less muddy), and have better high freq presence.
2. Inner/outer BH2 coil pairs are noiseless.

Also 3: double check that your BH2 pickups put in the correct order (mine were reversed), the pickup with higher resistance should be installed in the bridge position. This change alone makes the individual pickups already more usable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kaster Troy, nanbanpapa, Aidil and 1 other person
#127
rawrOOO said:
Lol I can't even figure out which wires belong to the pickups. I'm used to wiring in a Strat or a Jazz bass etc. This is much more complex. How did you do it? (edit: this is for an SRMS805)

View attachment 4795558
Click to expand...

Okay, so here's what you need to do to re-wire the BH2 pickups in parallel: See those fat black wires, -- those are coming from the pickups, each of them has four leads: black, white, red and green.

You need to do the following for each of your pickups:
1. Solder Green+Black and solder them to ground of your balance pot (marked as "GD" on the balance pot circuit board).
2. Solder White+Red and solder them to "BR" (or "NK" for the neck pickup) pad on the balance pot circuit board.

Also, something you can try without soldering to change the voicing of the preamp: unplug the connector from the "BEQ3" on the side of your preamp (marked with the red sharpie), and plug it into the connector marked as "VM3" next to it, it will make the bass sound less nasally.
20220828_150232996_iOS.jpeg
Untitled.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Progressive10, CavinTan, HeavyDuty and 7 others
#129
Ach said:
Okay, so here's what you need to do to re-wire the BH2 pickups in parallel: See those fat black wires, -- those are coming from the pickups, each of them has four leads: black, white, red and green.

You need to do the following for each of your pickups:
1. Solder Green+Black and solder them to ground of your balance pot (marked as "GD" on the balance pot circuit board).
2. Solder White+Red and solder them to "BR" (or "NK" for the neck pickup) pad on the balance pot circuit board
Click to expand...

Hey Ach, YES!!! You rule thank you for this.

Something I was trying to figure out - did you use a chisel tip, or a very small pointy tip for your soldering iron? I feel like the tip I’ve got on mine is going to be too big for a little PCB joint like this. If your iron does variable temperature, what temperature did you use? I haven’t done much PCB soldering and don’t want to mess up the board!

Thanks again, this is so helpful
 
#130
rawrOOO said:
Hey Ach, YES!!! You rule thank you for this.

Something I was trying to figure out - did you use a chisel tip, or a very small pointy tip for your soldering iron? I feel like the tip I’ve got on mine is going to be too big for a little PCB joint like this. If your iron does variable temperature, what temperature did you use? I haven’t done much PCB soldering and don’t want to mess up the board!

Thanks again, this is so helpful
Click to expand...

I prefer using the flat tip at around 300C/570F (see the specification of the solder wire which you use). Flat tip has wider area which helps transfer the heat faster. The point tip is better for tiny components soldering, but it does not transfer the heat that well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rawrOOO
#131
Ach said:
I prefer using the flat tip at around 300C/570F (see the specification of the solder wire which you use). Flat tip has wider area which helps transfer the heat faster. The point tip is better for tiny components soldering, but it does not transfer the heat that well.
Click to expand...

Hey just finished the parallel wiring, came out great thanks again Ach! I even got it working on the first try, which is kinda uncommon for me :D

Now I'm restringing it with Rotosound steels
 
  • Like
Reactions: KaraQ and Ach
#132
Ok so I did the +6 mod, changed the pickups to parallel wiring, and changed the strings to Rotosound steels.

It's seriously like I returned the bass to the store and came home with a completely different bass lol. It's much more hi fi but not Spector or Fodera like at all. This thing is MEAN. Like what you think an SRMS805 is going to sound like really! Becuase stock it sure doesn't sound like that. Ibanez should just put a series/parallel switch on it from the start, people would flip out hearing this thing at a store. It's got this almost Tobias thing going on but way filthier.

I'd say the downsides are that I was hoping the mega 1khz thing that happens when both pickups are on would be tamed but no not really! If anything it's more intense now since there's more high mids. I tried the other preamp voicing and didn't like it but I think it'll give it another try. Still it's so easy to just notch out 1k in whatever tone I'm using.

With the on board eq flat it's still got just a touch of mud and some absolutely ferocious treble but without it I think it'd be too clean so OK COOL. Cleans right up with the preamp anyway by nudging down the bass and treble just off center.

So yeah, if you just got this bass totally go for these mods and it won't sound all weird anymore haha. Series wiring was kinda cool too but I'm not sure when I'd want it. Maybe I'll put in a switch sometime.

Thanks to Ach and anyone who helped figure it out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ach and Snert
#133
rawrOOO said:
Ok so I did the +6 mod, changed the pickups to parallel wiring, and changed the strings to Rotosound steels.

It's seriously like I returned the bass to the store and came home with a completely different bass lol. It's much more hi fi but not Spector or Fodera like at all. This thing is MEAN. Like what you think an SRMS805 is going to sound like really! Becuase stock it sure doesn't sound like that. Ibanez should just put a series/parallel switch on it from the start, people would flip out hearing this thing at a store. It's got this almost Tobias thing going on but way filthier.

I'd say the downsides are that I was hoping the mega 1khz thing that happens when both pickups are on would be tamed but no not really! If anything it's more intense now since there's more high mids. I tried the other preamp voicing and didn't like it but I think it'll give it another try. Still it's so easy to just notch out 1k in whatever tone I'm using.

With the on board eq flat it's still got just a touch of mud and some absolutely ferocious treble but without it I think it'd be too clean so OK COOL. Cleans right up with the preamp anyway by nudging down the bass and treble just off center.

So yeah, if you just got this bass totally go for these mods and it won't sound all weird anymore haha. Series wiring was kinda cool too but I'm not sure when I'd want it. Maybe I'll put in a switch sometime.

Thanks to Ach and anyone who helped figure it out.
Click to expand...

I did that same mod then added a Dark GLass pre amp and it is killer now !! not trying to spend ur $$$ lol !
 
#137
Ach said:
I have tried all of thise with BH2 (see here Bartolini BH2 and Ibanez bass).

Both of your assumptions are correct:
1. BH2 in parallel sound noticebly less mid heavy (=less muddy), and have better high freq presence.
2. Inner/outer BH2 coil pairs are noiseless.

Also 3: double check that your BH2 pickups put in the correct order (mine were reversed), the pickup with higher resistance should be installed in the bridge position. This change alone makes the individual pickups already more usable.
Click to expand...

Are you positive there's a different pickup for neck and bridge? There should be no -F / -R designation on them (or similar), just the same pickup code. At least that's what I saw on Ibanez's parts catalog and on numerous ads. Is it possible that they just pick two pickups that happen to have reverse winding and magnetic polarity, all without any marks on the pickups?

Anyone with their BH2s off their bass that could go through the trouble to show us how they're marked?
 
  • Like
Reactions: downlowuponit
#138
On mine the pickups measured almost exactly the same. The neck was just a tiny bit louder but it so slight that it didn’t seem worth uninstalling them to switch them around.

Oh also, I should have added this in describing the work I did on the bass - the frets we’re TOTALLY rusted over! Brand new bass with rusty frets… ok. I figured it probably sat in a shipping container on a boat somewhere for a few months. I polished em up and they came out like new.
 
#139
I found the Ibanez parts catalog site. On the menu: Search by Model -> Electric Bass -> Keyword Search -> All Series -> BTB. If you search, you pretty much get all the BTB basses. If you search the page for e.g. 845V, there are indeed generations, 1P01, 1P02, 1P03.

Ibanez parts catalog

Concerning the BH2, on all three generations a single pickup code is mentioned for both neck and bridge: 3PUBH25A4-FB

What is mind boggling is how @Ach mentions these pickups have hum cancelling inner and outer coils. I have no reason to doubt it, it's more like I wonder how this is possible with a single part number.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back