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Bartolini MK-1 Preamp , Why is this considered a poor preamp?

M

markdavid

Jun 29, 2007
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#1
Hi All ,

Will be adding a new bass to my collection soon and have noticed that a lot of the mid range Ibanez and Cort basses have this preamp , reading up on this I have found that people generally consider that this is not a brilliant preamp but none of the posts have actually said why , so my question is , what makes this a poor preamp?
 
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#2
markdavid said:
Hi All ,

Will be adding a new bass to my collection soon and have noticed that a lot of the mid range Ibanez and Cort basses have this preamp , reading up on this I have found that people generally consider that this is not a brilliant preamp but none of the posts have actually said why , so my question is , what makes this a poor preamp?
Click to expand...
Although I don't have an extensive experience, I used that preamp for a while on a Lakland 44-01. I don't know why people are saying it's bad, I didn't find anything "wrong" with. Perhaps a bit too much hiss when treble is cranked, but I don't know who would do that during "normal" playing.

MK1 preamp is usually accompanied by a pair of MK1 pickups, and together they have a different tone than the ones most people are familiar with (P or J). To my ears it has a sharp tone, too far apart from the warm vintage tones associated with classic basses. That is probably why most people think it's bad, to me it's not bad, just different.
 
#3
This preamp colours the sound way too much while set all-flat. It adds lot of high end sizzle, but losts some lows and mids, so it's harder to cut in a live situation. But it sounds great for solo, such a piano-like tone!
 
#4
I have the MK1 system in my 55-01. I found the tone to be a touch harsh. I also found that some of the pots had a significant jump/drop in volume from 8-9. I've never had any difficulty cutting through in a live situation, but it is difficult to get more mellow tones out of it. I like passive tones, and when using an active bass I like to get smooth bassy tones, that the MK1 sometimes has trouble producing. What it comes down to for me is that I am not sure that I wouldn't rather have no preamp in that bass than the MK1, but I don't have the guts to take it out and go passive.

That said, it's not a bad preamp at all, and is superior, in my opinion, to many of the preamps in similarly priced basses. I think for some reason, the MK1 system is usually compared to better systems like the American Bartolini, and the Aguilar.
 
#5
Unfortunately, around here things can tend to be very polar regarding preferences. In many cases if someone doesn't think something is the 'best' then the resulting answer will be 'it sucks' or 'it's horrible'. When in actuality the preamp may have been fine for most uses, but that person either wanted what they considered 'the best' or they convinced themselves that there was some intolerable tonal flaw in the preamp that is keeping them from getting the perfect tone that cause the heaven's to open up and grant them instant fame and fortune, and that's often excuse enough to upgrade.

There's very few if any preamps from the major name brands that are universally agreed to be poor. I personally think that way to many times people think that a stock preamp, pickups, etc must be poor in order for the manufacturer to save money and hence make more money.

The thing to keep in mind is that for every Talkbass member here complaining about something that's 'poor' or 'horrible' there's a thousand or more bass players out there that are completely happy with their stock basses.
 
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#6
I have the mk-1 on my cort a4 and while I am not exactly a gear head, I find that it has performed fine for me through tons of different amps and venues. I agree that the treble tones can be a bit intense. I find that I tend to favor the neck pick up, otherwise it tends to pick up too much ambient stuff from my picking technique, I'm fairly sloppy especially on fast lines. However it can produce a variety of sounds. My friends who have played all have said the tone is really solid.
 
#7
mysticmaven said:
I have the mk-1 on my cort a4 and while I am not exactly a gear head, I find that it has performed fine for me through tons of different amps and venues. I agree that the treble tones can be a bit intense. I find that I tend to favor the neck pick up, otherwise it tends to pick up too much ambient stuff from my picking technique, I'm fairly sloppy especially on fast lines. However it can produce a variety of sounds. My friends who have played all have said the tone is really solid.
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Hi mysticmaven - a 4 year old thread resurrected but never mind :smug:

I bought a Cort A6 early this year and thought the same, but I figured I'd take the plunge and put in a Bartolini 5.4A/P pre and a set of MK6CBC pick ups in it - the best choice I could have made, really bought the bass to life and turned a good instrument into a great one IMO.
 
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#9
I have this preamp in my fretless Cort B4, and I have to say that I've always thought it suited the instrument rather well - I roll the treble off a bit, slight bass- and mid-boost, and favor the bridge pickup. And really, it sings and sits very well in a gig or recording situation.
I would suspect that, with my settings and it being a fretless, it might be better voiced in this application than with a fretted (my fretted and fretless settings are really set up differently, as I have different goals with each). I can see me not being happy with this preamp in a fretted instrument.
Of course, this is just me. Other opinions will be plentiful.
 
#10
Eilif said:
I've never had any difficulty cutting through in a live situation, but it is difficult to get more mellow tones out of it. I like passive tones, and when using an active bass I like to get smooth bassy tones, that the MK1 sometimes has trouble producing.
Click to expand...

I don't have any trouble on my 55-01. Just dial down the mids a little, and the treble quite a bit, maybe boost the bass. I can get everything from smooth and mellow to bright and aggressive.

I have had two 55-01 (both stock) and two 44-01. I succumbed to the Talkbass conventional wisdom that the preamps and pickups aren't good on the 44-01s and replaced them with US Bart MK4 and preamp on one and Nordstrand DCs passive on the other. I spent a lot of money, and while both sound good I don't think they sound that much better than the stock electronics. The 55-01 I have now will remain stock. I have compared it to my remaining 44-01 with Nordys and in a live situation it sounds pretty much as good. I know, blasphemy here.....

I really like the sound of the stock 55-01 with DR Hi-Beams. They seem to be the perfect compliment to the pickups, IMO.
 
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#16
markdavid said:
Hi All ,

Will be adding a new bass to my collection soon and have noticed that a lot of the mid range Ibanez and Cort basses have this preamp , reading up on this I have found that people generally consider that this is not a brilliant preamp but none of the posts have actually said why , so my question is , what makes this a poor preamp?
Click to expand...

I don't know that it is a bad preamp per se, but I found it underwhelming in my BTB: wooly, dark, and just undefined. Despite all the EQ options, My bass sounded like it was alternately muffled or clanky.

I removed the MK-1 preamp and replaced it with an Aguilar OBP-3. This really brought the bass to life, and I haven't bothered to replace the stock pickups. Some folks have no issue with the MK-1 electronics package, but they didn't work for me. You should probably try before you buy.
 
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#17
hamfistUK said:
How dare you suggest on TB that the Nordstrands are not the answer to all the problems of life ! outrageous.
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Absolutely Hilarious!!!:p. The Nordy Sheeple here are almost Jonestown Devout, and everyone else is somehow a lesser player if they prefer anything else....LMFAO

I have salvaged more than a few sets of MK1 pickups and preamps, and they sound great. Nice modern edged sound, and very clear!!



:cool:
 
#18
dwjazz54 said:
I have this preamp in my fretless Cort B4, and I have to say that I've always thought it suited the instrument rather well - I roll the treble off a bit, slight bass- and mid-boost, and favor the bridge pickup. And really, it sings and sits very well in a gig or recording situation.
I would suspect that, with my settings and it being a fretless, it might be better voiced in this application than with a fretted...
Click to expand...

I have both a fretted and fretless SR506 which both use the MK1 pickups and pre-amp, and the fretless sounds way better than the fretted IMO. Also, I use the exact pre-amp EQ as you, but usually just barely favoring the neck pickup :cool:.
 
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#20
Anthbass said:
I don't know that it is a bad preamp per se, but I found it underwhelming in my BTB: wooly, dark, and just undefined. Despite all the EQ options, My bass sounded like it was alternately muffled or clanky.

I removed the MK-1 preamp and replaced it with an Aguilar OBP-3. This really brought the bass to life, and I haven't bothered to replace the stock pickups. Some folks have no issue with the MK-1 electronics package, but they didn't work for me. You should probably try before you buy.
Click to expand...

I had the Mk-1 pre on my SR506 replaced with an OBP-3 today and I'm both relieved and thrilled at the improvement. Tighter lows, more definition and presence, and plenty more highs (to be used prudently). The big test will be when I gig with it tomorrow.
 

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