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Bartolini Vs Nordstrand On Board Preamp

KRyPToNiTe19

KRyPToNiTe19

Guest
Mar 8, 2012
13
1
#1
Hey Guys,
I'm tossing up between getting a Bartolini 5.2 A/P and a Nordstrand 3B-5a, what would you recommend?

Currently I always want a fair bit more low end and a tiny bit of extra midrange 'bite'. A really silky smooth top end boost could be nice sometimes too.

Also open to something different to those two options, I just want a 3 band eq, volume, tone sweep and an active/passive push pull pot.

Waddaya reckon?
 
Last edited:
#10
KRyPToNiTe19 said:
Hey Guys,
I'm tossing up between getting a Bartolini 5.2 A/P and a Nordstrand 3B-5a, what would you recommend?

Currently I always want a fair bit more low end and a tiny bit of extra midrange 'bite'. A really silky smooth top end boost could be nice sometimes too.

Also open to something different to those two options, I just want a 3 band eq, volume, tone sweep and an active/passive push pull pot.

Waddaya reckon?
Click to expand...

Most of what you're describing sounds like the Bart NTMB.

Between the two the Nordstrand is more transparent and the Bart slightly more voiced to be a bit more warm sounding. But the Bart has a lower bass EQ point (30 Hz vs 50 Hz) a higher treble EQ center point (10 kHz vs 4.5 kHz) and more boost/cut. So I think when you start adding in bass and treble the Bart gets more modern sounding where the Nordstrand is a bit more subtle and (for lack of a better word) "vintage".

When you say "tone sweep" are you talking about a traditional passive tone knob? If so, Bartolini doesn't incorporate those in their preamps. Nordstrand does but not on the 3B-5a.
 
#11
FIRST, I love the bart pre, but it has a way lower treble freq. then of the specs. I did tons of comparisons (with analyzers) and the bart hit the high treble only when almost all the way boosted…. the bart has a "odd" behavior in the way it affects its frequencies
on the nord pre you can manipulate the treble freq with caps. the pre installed on my personal basses have a cap for a higher treble when boost and stock when cut
 
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#13
OK so over the past number of years I've been using the Bartolini 5.2 harness in all the basses I've built when I wanted a 3 band EQ. For the latest bass I just completed, I decided to aim for New & Different, and dropped in the Nordstrand 3B-5B.

Both are great preamps, as mentioned above - the Bart is a bit more flavored and the Nordie seems a little more subtle - maybe somewhere in between my Audere-equipped bass and the ones with the Bartolinis. Maurilio's finding about the treble setting on the Bartolini is spot on with what my ears tell me, you really need to crank that treble (especially when using series humbucking pickup configuration) once your strings start to lose that sparkle. A few of my instruments have three-way toggles for parallel/series/single and you really hear a much more open sound without that big lower mid extension on the parallel/single settings, which can help if that sparkle is an important part of your sound. The three-way midrange switch on the Bart is nice (250, 500, 800), especially if you have a rig that really lets the midrange speak...250 gives some of the big fat bottom without being muddy, 800 for Jaco, it's a nice option.

I've only had my Nordie-equipped bass for about two weeks thus far, but I pretty much think the 3B-5B matched to a set of dual coils is a major, major win in the versatility department. Between the master tone control on the Nordstrand (ala the Sadowsky VTC) stacked on top of the EQ and pickup combinations, you can easily spin up a ton of tone types. It's a bit more complex of a setup than what you're looking at in terms of specs, but the tone sweep coupled with the EQ alone is a beautiful thing. I view the Nordstrand as a sort of a best of both worlds marriage of the Sadowsky and Bartolini preamps.

Lonnybass
 
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#15
I've never heard the Nordy pre but you say it's a a bit more subtle than the Bart correct? I don't own a Nordstrand anything but do have an older Fodera Pre in a P/J P-lite that I find is more subtle than the Bart pre's I have a Tobias Killer B5 and an Elrick Gold4 that I think are the NTMB pre's if I'm correct. Is there any similarities to the Audere or J retro pre's? I would love it if someone could come up with some sort of chart comparing these different pre's so you could just visually look and say get an idea of what to expect from a given preamp since its kind of a crap shoot. For myself I started my preamp journey With the Bart in my Tobias then put a J retro in a parts Jazz then found the Fodera on CL and put it my Fender P-Lyte which became my main 4string until I got the Elrick. Also have Audere 4 bands in A Drozd and a Fender Precision. So I think what we need is a Preformance Chart for lack of a better term to look at and see what a persons tone goals are and how best to arrive at that decision. Just thinking out loud here. So to get back on topic what is the Nordstrand most like tone wise? Whew ....shut up Kirk. See what happens when I don't have a gig on a fri. Nite. Lol
 
#16
Kirk Bryant said:
I've never heard the Nordy pre but you say it's a a bit more subtle than the Bart correct? I don't own a Nordstrand anything but do have an older Fodera Pre in a P/J P-lite that I find is more subtle than the Bart pre's I have a Tobias Killer B5 and an Elrick Gold4 that I think are the NTMB pre's if I'm correct. Is there any similarities to the Audere or J retro pre's? I would love it if someone could come up with some sort of chart comparing these different pre's so you could just visually look and say get an idea of what to expect from a given preamp since its kind of a crap shoot. For myself I started my preamp journey With the Bart in my Tobias then put a J retro in a parts Jazz then found the Fodera on CL and put it my Fender P-Lyte which became my main 4string until I got the Elrick. Also have Audere 4 bands in A Drozd and a Fender Precision. So I think what we need is a Preformance Chart for lack of a better term to look at and see what a persons tone goals are and how best to arrive at that decision. Just thinking out loud here. So to get back on topic what is the Nordstrand most like tone wise? Whew ....shut up Kirk. See what happens when I don't have a gig on a fri. Nite. Lol
Click to expand...

This made for an epic early Saturday morning read with my coffee while the kids watch Barney. :-)

Amongst my various instruments, I've got a range of different preamps...Audere 4 band EQ, several with Bart NTMBs, Sadowsky, Aguilar and now the Nordstrand. Unfortunately no Fodera/Pope in there yet. In answer to your question about the similarity of the Nordstrand to the Audere - yes and no.

Yes, in that you have an upper mid and lower mid option on both of them, at very musical frequencies depending on your playing style. For example, boosting the lower mid adds some really thick bottom end, and cutting on the high mid sets up a nice smiley face EQ for slap/percussive playing. Nordstrand also gives you the option to use caps to select different lower mid frequencies if you want to experiment (I believe Audere offers the same thing but I haven't tried it).

Obviously they differ in that the Audere offers independent control over upper/lower mids, whereas the Nordstrand has a switchable selector knob for one or the other. For my fretless, I found that the Audere setup works really well, but for my overall fretted fingerstyle/percussive tone preference in general I like some muscular warmth and presence. The Audere seems to be more subtle, whereas the Bartolinis and Sadowsky seemed to have worked really well for me and my typical tone style. And this is why I think the Nordstrand (3B-5B) in my new bass is really the best of those two worlds. Similar to what a lot of Sadowsky players have found - with the bass and treble knob up about a quarter of a turn, you can pretty much just use the Vintage Tone Control to adjust your overall sound in the mix. Add on top of that the benefits of a selectable midrange option and all punchy warmth that the Bart affords. It's a nice combination. Carey did a great job engineering this thing.

Lonnybass
 
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