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barts & Kents & ampegs

Discussion in 'Pickups & Electronics [BG]' started by sxride, Nov 19, 2005.

  1. Nov 19, 2005 #1
    sxride

    sxride

    Nov 19, 2005
    North New Jersey
    hello all,

    good morning. just in need of opinions and suggestions. has anyone tried the bartolini mm5cbc and/or kent armstrong hmbn1. what are the differences in output, sound and noise.

    i know that there's a big price difference. obviously the barts are always a safe bet but i read that on the MM series the output has actually lowered and it's a little too "clean", is that true? I read the KA has a more beefy sound, but does it distort is my concern. unfortunately i cant find much reviews on these. My play list is more 80% rock/alternative and maybe 20% funk. It would most likely go through an ampeg head & an 8x10. By the way I am still in the hunt for an affordable 8x10. I was told the 8x10 would get the sound i need. Anyone selling thiers? or would you suggest another brand & speaker configuration with same or better, more affordable sound.

    i'm looking for a strong low tone sound, highs when needed. good sustain and drive. but yet clean.

    the pick up is going into an inexpensive bass with a MM type pickup on the bridge and a J on the middle/neck. what brand J pick up do you think will go well the MM? i would like to wire the pick ups with a switch to run them separately and mixed. the bass has good tone quality and resonance, neck feels great that's whay i picked it up but i know the pickups aren't that well made.

    thanks a bunch, i know its such a newbie post but i promise not to post soo much :) any takers?

    SXRIDE
    North NJ 07109
     
  2. Nov 22, 2005 #2
    luknfur

    luknfur

    Jan 14, 2004
    DIXIE
    FWIW:

    Don't play 5's and never had an KA MM or the Bart classic MM, I've had many MM's and several Bart MM's, and a couple LP's. I don't see 5's sounding any different from 4's. At least not from the 5's I've put into 4's. I've read at least one comment that the Bart classic's sound more like LP's than the non-classics. Really splitting hairs at any rate and to my ears there have been 3 basic sound from MM's to date: Barts/LPs; ceramic, and alnico 5. To my ears the alnico 5's are definitely the more raw, aggressive toned of the lot. The ceramic in between but brighter, and the Barts more refined, hi-fi sounding - and yes lower output.

    The output is not that significant and not an issue unless you're short on amplification. Definetly nothing a preamp wouldn't more than compensate for regardless.

    MM's are humbucking so noise is not an issue unless you run them single coil - and bart makes a triple (and quad in classic for that matter) as does Nord so you can have humbucking "single" operation.

    The signal that comes out of the speaker varies considerably with a myriad of variables, all of which can be altered to probably bring any choice of the MM's into a functional range to suit your needs.

    J's the same. Though not required, it would probably be a good idea to use the same make J as MM. You should have no trouble getting a matching rec from a distributor but if you use two different makes you'd probably be lucky to get a rec from the distributor on that.

    Sustain is also a combination of variables but if the bass has decent resonance then there's your sustain. I don't recall sustain being significantly different between the various MM pups. FAQ at the top of the forum has Dimento's MM experiment will address that. There are lots of MM & J pup reviews had from a google search.

    I would search the TB amp forum for ampeg information and google search.
     
  3. Nov 23, 2005 #3
    sxride

    sxride

    Nov 19, 2005
    North New Jersey
    thanks :)