Bartolini Pickups

[cleary]

Bartolinis are passive pickups.

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I thought the same, but I saw a guy called Mark Scotland playing this weekend gone. He had active bartolini J pickups in his fender jazz, running so hot he plugged straight into the EFX return.
I had a chat to him about it, and he said he can (and has) recorded direct from the bass.

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[DWBass]

What preamp do you have? I have the same picukps in my 5501 and they are stellar, and VERY bright. With an Audere preamp they were unbearably bright. Replaced it with a Bart and now they are only 'bright as heck'. I normally run the treble at about 75%. Also, what strings do you use? I use nickel rounds.

Bart 5.2AP but I suspect something happened to the pre because it was a lot brighter when I first put the pickups in there. But it's ok. I typically slap a lot more on my Fender than I do with the Lakland. Nothing gives me the booty I like more than single coils. Strings? D'adds XL Nickel Rounds Brights.

 

[darwin-bass]

Here's my short Bart story.

Some years ago I bought 2 used MIM Jazz bases; A fretless with DiMarzio Ultra Jazz (DUJ) PUs and a fretted with Bartolini Jazz PUs. The DUJ sounded both deep and bright, very full, very modern. The Barts were more midrange. Neither bass sounded good. I swapped necks and found the Barts were much better for fretless and the DUJs were the cat's meow for the fretted bass.

I also found the DUJs were much more prone to hum than the Barts. Or put another way, the Barts were much better at bucking noise.

I sold both MIM basses and ended up putting Bartolini pickups in my Warmoth J bass.

 

[Petezzz]

I don't like it when the treble is too high and you can hear too much clickety click of the strings against frets. Prefer a happy medium. After all bass is not a lead instrument and usually doesn't want to be too prominent - unless the bass line is meant as a feature. Thats why I like the 'natural' sound of Barts which still have plenty of presence.

 

[MIMike]

This is REALLY a subjective topic. I love Bartolini's and bought my first set more than 25 years ago. I have never done a lot of side by side comparisons, but I've owned a few basses over the years. What I have learned, in a nut shell, is that I don't like active EQ, but the Bartolini's seem to be great either passive or with active electronics. I've had Alembics (my least favorite of all), Seymour Duncan (nothing special IMO), EMG (I take back my Alembics assessment, EMGs are my least fav) and Dimarzio (love the old humbucking J's in my fretless right now).
I only have P's or J's, so I don't have any experience with soap bars or anything, but in my Fenders, I love the Bart's (which by the way sound great when recorded direct). I do still have an old MM Sabre, but why would you want to change a pickup or preamp in a MM? Based on my lack of love for the actives in gigging situations, the MM gets very little use (but you can't ignore that awesome sound).
That's my $.02...well, maybe more like a nickels worth.

 

[Munjibunga]

Bartolinis are passive pickups.

They do make active pickups. Mike Pedulla has them build some proprietary ones he puts in some of his basses.

Anyway, There are quite a few Bartolini pickup models. I like some, and others not so much. I don't know the model numbers, but I liked the ones in my (former) Zon, Roscoe and Pedulla basses, but the ones in my Laklands, no. That's why there are Nordstrands in my 55-94. I've become a fan of dual-coil pickups over the years, particularly the Fodera/Duncans and the Nordies. I have Nordstrand dual coils and an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp in my LeCompte VB5, and they hit the spot for me.

 

[DWBass]

I agree. Didn't like the particular models they had in the Laklands. If they used a brighter set or Classic Series set, it may have been a more pleasing sound. At least to me.

 

[GuyForrest3rd]

I've got the Classic Brights in my Fretless J bass right now with a bart NTMB pre, and i love the response it gives. My p'up ranking consistently puts Barts at the top, with Delanos and Nordstrands close behind. My only problem with Barts is the output. I play a wide range of styles, and when I go to play rock or metal (really anything that's aggressive or groove-oriented) they don't punch the way that a hot Delano or a quarter-pounder would. If I may suggest a boutique, Rio Grande makes some killer pickups for a variety of tones. I have a Robin Jaywalker (Rio Grande's main builder ran Robin Guitars) with a Muy Grande in the bridge and a Vintage in the neck, and it is killer. The Muy Grande Jbass pickup is deliberately oversized and overwound, and can do any tone I ask of it from mellow to precise, warm to bright, aggressive to soft. I don't have a video up of mine but there's bound to be one somewhere.

 

[Crazy_Jake]

Bartolinis are my favorite pickups. I had a 70s jazz bass with original HI-A pickups that was awesome and all of my custom basses are equipped with barts classic series bass pickups. I enjoy their warm round tone over emgs and others. No noise to speak off, pickups are strong and provide a good amount of gain, and last but not least I like the no exposed pole look.

I like dimarzios too, but they are a bit brighter sounding but good none the less. my second choice for replacement pickups or for something to drop in a custom.

My main bass - Lado Solo has a Hi - A Jazz pickup and a Dimarzio P pickup. Love the sound and have not been able to duplicate it on any other instrument

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

If I was ranking them, Bartolini would be #2, losing out only to Alembic.

I couldn't agree more. IMO Alembic's pickups are in a class by themselves.

But overall Bartolini pickups are my favorite. My 3 favorite basses (Ristola, Lull, and Roscoe) all sport Barts, and in no way do any of the 3 basses sound polite.

For a period correct vintage Fender tone, I'd look to other brands; Duncan, Nordstrand, Fralin, etc, etc, for a Hot Rodded Fender tone, DiMarzio is my first choice, for an enhanced Fender tone with much more clarity, I've had great results with EMG's.

 

[CaneyBoniface]

 

[PawleeP]

If I was ranking them, Bartolini would be #2, losing out only to Alembic. Following them I'd put, roughly, Seymour Duncan, Joe Barden, Dimarzio, then all the others in a huge muddled heap. I have heard exactly 3 basses (not bass models - individual, unique instruments) sound good with EMGs, but those 3 sounded great. MECs rank somewhere below Duncan Designed, EMG select, and the like. I've actually installed EMG Select pickups on purpose, whereas MECs exist solely to fill in the pickup routing on the bass. IMO.

No experience with some of the other brands talked about here, so can't comment.

what are MEC's?

 

[NecroticImbecil]

what are MEC's?

They come in Warwicks, only in Warwicks, and Warwicks only come with them, unless the cu$$$$$$$$tom shop models have another option. The early Warwicks, I have heard, had other pickups. I have yet to find an instrument with them pleasing to my ears. I've heard some warwicks with other brands of pickups sound excellent.

 

[LoveJackBruce]

They have their own tone. Warmer sounding than EMGs.

I did a side by side test of an Ibanez SR-5000 with US made Barts, and then some of my pickups. The onboard preamp was set flat, and the bass was recorded direct into a Roland digital mixer. Nothing was changed between tests.

The Barts are first, so you will get an idea what they sound like.

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I personally loved the Barts. Thanks for the demo. PS: Are the Barts the Classic series?