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Bartolini P/J pickup help

G

gyellow

Dec 16, 2003
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#1
I have an Ibanez Sr-400 with the pj combo pickups in it. I love how this bass plays but hate that ever since I bought it the J pickup has had a problem with the E string's output being considerably higher than the other strings. The only way I can find to fix it is to change the pickups out for some new ones, and I wanna put a set of bartolinis in it.

I had just a few questions about this.

1. I heard that I'll have to route the bass for the pickups to fit, and was wondering how much it needs to be routed and where?

2. What might this make my bass sound like? I haven't ever heard a bass with bartolini pj pickups in it and was wondering what kinda tone they have?


Thanks for any help.
 
#3
gyellow said:
I have an Ibanez Sr-400 with the pj combo pickups in it. I love how this bass plays but hate that ever since I bought it the J pickup has had a problem with the E string's output being considerably higher than the other strings. The only way I can find to fix it is to change the pickups out for some new ones, and I wanna put a set of bartolinis in it.

I had just a few questions about this.

1. I heard that I'll have to route the bass for the pickups to fit, and was wondering how much it needs to be routed and where?

2. What might this make my bass sound like? I haven't ever heard a bass with bartolini pj pickups in it and was wondering what kinda tone they have?


Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

FWIW:

You can raise the string, drop the pup, or change strings to try and compensate. At the extreme end you could probably try various tapes in layers over the poles of the E just to check effect. I'd go to harmonycentral and look under their reviews for similar problems or a reviewer you can email and get feedback. You might post a new thread under TB basses froum to see if anybody with a 400's had a similar problem. My guess is the bass was not designed that way and the problem can be remedied from the aforementioned. But I've never had a 400.

If you like the tone of your bass, I'd do everything I could to not change pups. You can go through a lot of pups trying to get a tone you want. Barts are decent but they're not for everyone. In general they put out a clear, refined tone that lacks rawness and vintage-like character. So probably if you like a hi-fi, active-like tone, you won't be disappointed.

Bartolini website list dimensions for their pups. I put a set in GSR 190 and had to add maybe a strong 1/16th to the length of the routing, width was fine. Any standard J pup seemed a bit longer. Just make sure you don't get the longer Fender version J, or it'll be more like a strong 1/8".
 
#4
Hi
The problem might be in phase. I had similar problem with my bartolini pj set. J pickup was 94J quadcoil and the bad thing is that this pickup only works with another 94J in Jazz bass combination. It was out of phase with bartolini P (8s model) pickup and the D and G string sounded quieter than E and A. I was mad!!!
Check the model of your pickups!
Does the problem happen only when J pickups works alone or in mix with P?
Good luck!
 
#5
Actually, the problem's with the stock pickups in the bass. And it's most predominant when I use the J pickup only, but is still noticable until I turn the blend past the mid point towards the P pickup. And I thought it was really strange as it's only the E string that's louder, the rest of the strings are perfectly balanced with each other. I'm thinking of getting the bartolini set to try and fix the problem. I can't think of anything else it would be other than the pickup.
 
#6
You are probably right. I have Ibanez SR 1300 and I replaced it's original Ibanez AFR pickups with Bart PJ set. I ordered pickups separately and because of that I had a problem with sound! If you want to go for Bartolini be shure not to buy 94J bridge pickup as it is only for jazz bass replacment. There are other models of Bartolini J pup that will work fine with any P pup.
Now I have EMG PJ set on my SR1300 and I think this is the right choice if you want ultra modern sound (Vic Wooten uses them on his Fodera Monarch), but if you want warm and more natural sound with nice mid, the Bartolini is No. 1!
 

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