Bartolini!

No reason why not. Bartolini pickups are standard on the GT-7. Barts are known for their warm sound, and IMO simply have no equal.

Bartolini pickup pricelist here:

http://www.bartolini.net/pdf/PriceList%202001a.pdf

 

Bartolinis rule. RULE!

 

I love Bartolini pup's and have them in both of my basses.

 

I'll join the chorus of Bartolini backers. I have an 8S in my P-Bass and it's excellent.

 

how are the midranges on barts?

 

I guess I'll be the first to post a mildly dissenting reply. I've recently aquired a Jazz style bass with a set of 9Js, standard passive setup, two volumes and a tone. The acoustic sound of the bass is gorgeous, both warm and detailed with just the right amount of midrange. Plugged in, however, it's merely warm. The lows are still there, but not as tight. The low mids are subdued, the high mids are just freakin gone. Nothing. The high end is mostly there, but it doesn't pick back up early enough to be much use. I've been told that barts really shine when used with active electronics, maybe that's so. But this set has completely colored the sound of a wonderful Jazz, not in a good way. I know some people love these, but if you've got a bass that's warm enough already, and passive, you may want to think twice about the effect of the "bartolini sound".

mike

 

Yeah, the "deeper" winding on Bartolinis is probably too warm of a sound for slap or aggressive fingerstyle on a bass with no preamp. However, for the tired old hacks of the bass world (Precision, Jazz, and MM pickups), Bartolini offers many replacements in a huge variety of windings.

 

Actually, I don't slap, and I'm not looking for an agressive sound with this bass, it's strung with TI flats currently. All I want would just be an amplified representation of the bass's acoustic sound. I like a nice warm vintage-y sound, that's really what this bass will be used for, is traditional, basic bass sound. I've got a G&L for when I want a rock/active sound, and an active jazz-style on the way as well, this bass is merely for flatwound fingerstyle. Unfortunately, the amp gets to hear the sound of the barts, not the sound of the bass. I'd be perfectly okay with a bit of coloration, really no pickup is immune to it. But I've never had a set of pickups that so comletely dominated the sound of the bass. I would probably love these pickups in a heavy ash 70s fender, they would tame the high end a bit and warm up the lows. But for a bass that sounds good and warm to begin with, they're serious overkill. I guess I'll be looking to trade them pretty soon. Anybody have any experience with the Fender custom shop 60's jazz pickups, or Duncan antiquity II's?

mike

 

I feel that barts dont belong in every bass, to me they are very specific for the bass and the sound you want. They sound good but to me they really color the sound more than most of the high end pups but sometimes this is good depending on the bass. If I really want to hear the "sound of the bass itself" I use emg's I feel they give you the most "honest" sound. Some people hate them and some people love them and they are I guess an aquired taste but they sound good to me. They are clean sounding and more hi-fi but imo you get to hear more of YOUR bass and not just more bass. my .02

 

well after all the dissenting replies i'm back again with a definate plus for barts. have bartolini j passive's in my mtd beast and do enjoy the sound quite a bit. They are a good pickup, but i've noticed that they seem to be a bit more sensitive in how they respond to different amps, some amps sound good when they recieve a bart signal and some, well just don't. thats something i think is overlooked, how pickups match with an amps tone.

 

Again, a good point. I played the bass through 4 different amps though, and the results were much the same with each. It was suggested on another forum that they may be most happy when the bass is designed with them in mind, or when you've got a good active preamp in your bass. And I do want to emphasize again that I don't so much dislike these pickups, it's more that I dislike what they do to the tone of this particular bass. One of the problems with the internet is that we have so much access to word-of-mouth reviews of products we pretty much have to try sight-unseen. Or would that be sound-unheard? I almost never hear anything but gushing, glowing reviews of barts, they've always been portrayed as almost infallible soundwise, and they obviously are more limited in application than many people make them out to be, hence my posting a warning. Just beware that these pickups can significantly color your sound.

mike