Best Bass Pickups and Bass Preamps

[Art1606]

What do you think is the best/better bass pickup and preamp?
I have one bass with Nordstrand and another with Bartolini. The Nordstrand is definitely better I think. Thinking about upgrading the Bartolini with something else. Not sure which one to pick. The model with Bartolini is Ibanez SRSC805
Here's the general and short list of pickup brands. Is this good idea to get matching preamp or there could be mix? Would be great to know what others think:
Aguilar
Bartolini
DiMarzio
EMG
Fender
Lakland Pickups
Nordstrand
Seymour Duncan
Victor Wooten EMG Set
...
The new Ibanez model comes with Aguilar, for example - SR2405W. It sounds great in videos:

 

[mustBmtd]

Try being a little broader and not just the ones off the to of your head. There's Audere, Mike Pope, John East, Glockenlang, Delano, Bass Mods, Tone Monster. There's even more.

 

[two fingers]

Hey I think I missed you when you joined. Welcome to TalkBass!!!!

What kinds of sounds are you into? Just like amps, strings, or any other part of your signal chain, certain brands excel at "vintage" tones amd others concentrate their efforts on "uncolored" sound.

Two things stand out to me. (Full disclosure I'm in a passive phase right now.)

To me, a mid frequency sweep is a must. If you can't really dial in your mids, what's the point of a preamp? At the very least, a switch with a few mid frequency choices can help.

That being said, the most transparent preamp I ever worked with was a Sadowsky. That sucker doesn't color your tone at all. It just boosts frequencies. The Vintage Tone Control (I think that's what it's called) is nice too.

 

[ctmullins]

The allure of sussing out a group consensus of what’s best is compelling, but flawed:

• “Best” is subjective - different for different people
• “Best” is contextual - different for different situations
• You seem to be ignoring the rest of the package - instrument woods, strings, processing, amp, cabinet
• You’re overgeneralizing - every one of those manufacturers makes a wide variety of pickups, with a wide variety of tones

What is objective is the quality of the products made by those companies - they’re all pro-grade, so definitely value for money.

You can mix and match pickup and preamp manufacturers, no problem. Pay attention to their documentation for details (such as using active EMG pickups with an Audere preamp).

 

[kcducttaper]

As others have alluded to, it's kinda a personal preference thing. That and you haven't mentioned what model pickups/pre you've got. I'm assuming MK-1 pickups and the Ibanez preamp per the current Ibanez SRSC805 page.

I have a 2009 Ibanez SR755 that came stock with Bartolini MK-1 pickups and Bartolink MK-1 preamp. It seems like the preamp is the weak link and the pickups are fairly decent, so I'm in the process of yanking the pre on that and sticking in an Aguilar OBP-3. To my ears, the Bartolini MK-1 preamp sounds fairly scooped. It has a warm woolly tone that is very smooth, but isn't terribly defined and can often be lost in a mix IMO. After 10 years of playing it, I ultimately wasn't satisfied with the tones I was getting any longer and decided to upgrade my preamp to something better. I chose the Aguilar because every Aguilar loaded bass I've heard sounded great. Aguilar doesn't make a mid sweep - only a mid selector, so I kinda wish I'd gone with something with a mid sweep like Fingers mentioned. Either way, you can't go wrong with any of the big name brand's mid to high end pre's. Just do some research and find one that has the features you want with a sound you like (youtube can be your friend here) and have at it!

 

[gigetto]

One of the most used for versatile bass is Delano HB splittable and Glockenlang 3 way in alternative Aguilar

 

[Art1606]

Hey I think I missed you when you joined. Welcome to TalkBass!!!!

What kinds of sounds are you into? Just like amps, strings, or any other part of your signal chain, certain brands excel at "vintage" tones amd others concentrate their efforts on "uncolored" sound.

Two things stand out to me. (Full disclosure I'm in a passive phase right now.)

To me, a mid frequency sweep is a must. If you can't really dial in your mids, what's the point of a preamp? At the very least, a switch with a few mid frequency choices can help.

That being said, the most transparent preamp I ever worked with was a Sadowsky. That sucker doesn't color your tone at all. It just boosts frequencies. The Vintage Tone Control (I think that's what it's called) is nice too.

Hi, Thank you for welcoming me. I'm a beginner in all that and not great at terminology. In general, i'm looking for passive/active tone and something brighter than Bartollini MK1. Thank you, Art.

 

[Art1606]

As others have alluded to, it's kinda a personal preference thing. That and you haven't mentioned what model pickups/pre you've got. I'm assuming MK-1 pickups and the Ibanez preamp per the current Ibanez SRSC805 page.

I have a 2009 Ibanez SR755 that came stock with Bartolini MK-1 pickups and Bartolink MK-1 preamp. It seems like the preamp is the weak link and the pickups are fairly decent, so I'm in the process of yanking the pre on that and sticking in an Aguilar OBP-3. To my ears, the Bartolini MK-1 preamp sounds fairly scooped. It has a warm woolly tone that is very smooth, but isn't terribly defined and can often be lost in a mix IMO. After 10 years of playing it, I ultimately wasn't satisfied with the tones I was getting any longer and decided to upgrade my preamp to something better. I chose the Aguilar because every Aguilar loaded bass I've heard sounded great. Aguilar doesn't make a mid sweep - only a mid selector, so I kinda wish I'd gone with something with a mid sweep like Fingers mentioned. Either way, you can't go wrong with any of the big name brand's mid to high end pre's. Just do some research and find one that has the features you want with a sound you like (youtube can be your friend here) and have at it!

Thank you very much. Please let me and others know what is your experience with Aguilar preamp when you upgrade. This would be very interesting to know. Thanks, Art

 

[Art1606]

One of the most used for versatile bass is Delano HB splittable and Glockenlang 3 way in alternative Aguilar

Thank you. I have never heard of Delano HB or Glockenlang. I'm a beginner with all this. Thanks again, Art.

 

[onda'bass]

Very subjective subject. My fav isn’t even on the list so....ymmv

 

[Art1606]

Very subjective subject. My fav isn’t even on the list so....ymmv

I cannot edit my post for some reason. As i wrote, my list is short. You are more than welcome to add to my list. Thank you.

 

[Ric5]

for preamps I like the John East j-retro and the Audere 4 band

 

[Ric5]

For aftermarket pickups I like some of the Seymour Duncan line

Also these days I am really liking the cheap stingray style replacement pickups. Most can be wired single/series/parallel and they can be bought for $12 to $30 range on ebay

New MM Bass Pickup Humbucker Pickup Closed Style for 4-String Musicman Bass 600685810507 | eBay

 

[skyline_01]

A nod for Nordstrand here. I outfitted my fretless Ray "hybrid" (SUB Ray body/guts, US fretless Stingray neck) with a new pickup and pre and it made a night and day difference. Yes, I am an endorser but they didn't influence this post.

I also had an Aguilar OBP-3 in a Lakland 55-01 I used to own. The MK-1 pre just seemed weak to me but the Aggie livened up the sound and made it a lot more usable for me. I sold the bass before I could upgrade the pickups, but I had wanted to go with Nordstrands in that size (Big Splits, Big Singles, Fat Stacks). It would have been a killer combo.

 

[HardNHeavy]

so far im using Barts, SD and Dmarzio's, all passive on 3 different basses..they all sound great imo..Guess i'll have to feed my "gas" and build more with these other pickups everyone has mentioned

 

[claudel]

My faves:

Q-Tuner BL-4 & ACG/East EQ-01

Rautia Multi-Coil - TBird size

Sounds great passive. Might buy an ACG EQ02 if there's ever any more but it really doesn't need it.

 

[arbiterusa]

What do you think is the best/better bass pickup and preamp?

EMG - for what I do. If I were in a Rush cover band I would need something a lot different.

 

[Passinwind]

My faves:

Q-Tuner BL-4 & ACG/East EQ-01

Cool and interesting setup all the way around! Did you DIY the rack, or...?

Still enjoying the BL-4s on one of my fretless fours. Finally got around to fitting some roundwounds on that bass, which answered a lot of questions for me, in a good way.

 

[mikewalker]

For aftermarket pickups I like some of the Seymour Duncan line

Also these days I am really liking the cheap stingray style replacement pickups. Most can be wired single/series/parallel and they can be bought for $12 to $30 range on ebay

New MM Bass Pickup Humbucker Pickup Closed Style for 4-String Musicman Bass 600685810507 | eBay

yeah, it's surprising how nice some of these 'almost-free' pickups actually are. I have a no-name passive "Mikro"-scale 'Stingray' that came out of a shop in Taiwan, and its no-name 'MM' pickup positively smokes a whole lot of expensive name brand pickups, in terms of tone, output level, and hum-resistance.
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[claudel]

Cool and interesting setup all the way around! Did you DIY the rack, or...?

Still enjoying the BL-4s on one of my fretless fours. Finally got around to fitting some roundwounds on that bass, which answered a lot of questions for me, in a good way.

I bought that set of Q-Tuners to build a bass around when I only had the Warmoth neck on hand.

Never wanted to change them out. I added the ACG-01 a year or so ago and it seems to work pretty well with the Q-Tuners.

If I ever decide to go active on the Jr I might take the plunge and try to build one of your designs, but building things is difficult for me any more.

Rack is homemade, mostly.

If I'd had a clue what the hardware, screws, parts, patch panels, cabling and crocodile vyanide would wind up costing I'd have thought twice, but it was fun building it.