Do Bartolinis sound this bad on a regular basis?

[ToneMonkey]

My experience with Barts is that they reward a light touch and can sound really bad if you’re the sort of player (like myself) who plays (digs in) with a heavier touch.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

There are passive Barts in this Basses Loaded six string from the 80s and I like how they sound very much. Nice full spectrum with a sweet complex upper midrange. Growley if you dig-in.

 

[scuzzy]

real barts are amazing pickups. great range of tone pending the ones you choose. ibby barts....suck. well, they aren't great.

 

[non]

speaking from experience.
i have a 2012 ibanez sr600 that came with "bart" mk1 pickups and a ibanez preamp. i could never get rid of the "clank" and thinness the pickups would pick up from the strings. if i eq'ed it out the remaining sound was dead sounding. i love the ergos of the sr600 so i upgraded the preamp to a bartolini hr 5.4ap/918. that seemed to help the problem so i put in some bartolinis mk4 pickups. that warmed things right up.
this set up sounds really good. it does sound a little compressed but in a good way. tight and punchy.
so bartolinis (at lest real barts) do not sound bad.

 

[HearNoStevil]

I love Bartolinis. Absolutely love them.

I'd have them in more basses if they matched them aesthetically. I have one '74 Jazz (my fave, as it is) that has Barts in it. However, usually I don't find Barts match the Fender design/style to my eyes (from a purely visual standpoint). Fender style screams for exposed polepieces. But, that '74 sounds perfect with Barts, so they stay.

It's the same thing with Barts in a Rick; they sound great, but look funny.

Similar to exposed polepieces on a Spector. It just looks wrong.

But in more modern basses, Barts look "right" and more importantly, usually sound great.

 

[arbiterusa]

they're good pickups they just don't have a distinctive personality in my experience

Agreed on the "Ibanez" Barts (the MKI). Cort uses them too. I stripped out the active electronics in my Corts and went with those MK I Barts passively. They sound great and I love that they don't have any personality, as you can use them in any musical situation.

 

[bassgrackle]

My MTD barts are huge in the mix and great solo. Just don’t try to use any mild dirt. They blow up and you instantly become a metal guitarist.

 

[littlebun]

Ok, this can turn into a polarising debate, however, I just watched this comparison

(the title/intro is a joke, FYI) and I only have a question:

Doubting that woods can make such a dramatic difference (and in fact a maple neck is on average snappy and lively) how come those Barts sound so crap and devoid of life compared to the Nordstrands?
I mean, exposed poles aside, I doubt someone can actually defend the tone difference on an objective basis. It downright plays 10 times worse and I was even listening through the TV speaker on a Chromecast... It's something you can easily pick blindfolded, and basically agreed at the end of the video too.

I have to say I have one of those very first BTB made in Japan "Premium models" (705ol, made in 1999 when the line came out, alongside the 1000 series) which had the "Ibanez dfr" pickups or similar. They were the ones before Barts were the norm in BTBs, but I've read somewhere that they were ghost-built or licenced by Bartolini. I can't confirm that at all, might be BS, but if there's something I didn't like about that bass was the output/tone presence (I wouldn't mind a low volume output as long as the tone is good, that's not the point at all) and hearing this comparison brings me back memories of that BTB when I played alongside, say, a Fender or a bass with a different pickup design. I wouldn't be surprised if there's the same house behind.

Are there great, punchy present examples of Barts or is it a brand whose trademark sound has always been such and dull by design?
I can expect a bit of backlash from Bart fans (if there are) and I'm open to everyone's opinions, but please do watch at least 2 minutes of that video to get what I mean.

I have Barts in my Tyler Bass--they are Tyler spec Barts. Full sounding, warm and articulate. They aren't bright, or anywhere near as trebly as other pickups. They have a finished tone like you hear in a mixed recording. Gank and grunt not so much.

 

[micguy]

I had 2 projects in construction during lockdown - both 5 strings. I often get pickups from Nordstrand, but they are actually selling a lot right now, and lead times got pretty long there for a while - they had troubles adjusting to lots of orders and being locked down at the same time (understandable). The pickups that I could get (in stock on the web) in the size to fit the routes I had on those 2 basses were....Barts - I tried 4 pickups - 3 different models. I TRIED to like them, I modified the circuits around them, I swapped different pickups to different locations, I got really creative about using them in different circuit topologies.

Now, a few months later, both of those basses have...Nordstrand* pickups in them (still with relatively unique circuits). Nordstrand got back up and running at a decent pace fairly quick (good for them!). Yes, those were "real" Barts that I tried. They just don't voice their pickups the way I like them - the articulation that I love wasn't something I could drag out of them, no matter how hard I tried. And I really tried.

*One of the pickups is the Dingwall Designed pickup, made by Nordstrand. It isn't as articulate as the Nordstrands, but it's got enough, and has its own vibe which fit the objectives of that build.

Can Bartolini make pickups with articulation? I'm sure they can - when I was much younger, I had some Bartolini guitar pickups (laminated core humbuckers) that would bite your head off - they were TOO articulate. But today, of the 5 string hum cancelling pickups they make in P2 sizes, nothing they make is voiced like I like it. There are no doubt people who love what they make - I'm just not one of them.

 

[InhumanResource]

I'll give input on at least the Barts in Ibanez. Those are Barts in collab with Ibanez and are going to be unique to Ibanez, not true Barts you'd buy from California. With my experience on the SR line, they are decent pickups. They do the job, but I would argue that, at least the Ibanez Barts, seem to lack any defining characteristics with the active pre-amp. In passive mode, they won't be as clean or even, but you can certainly get a little bit more dynamic sounds from them, as well as a bit of a P bass growl. In my experience, the Ibanez Barts (specifically BH.2) are kind of similar to the DiMarzio Model Js, but darker with a little more bass and low mids. Both sound closer to one another than they do to a P bass in my opinion.

I want someone else to chime in for the Cali made Barts, but for the Ibanez Barts, they're good pickups they just don't have a distinctive personality in my experience, which is probably what makes them sound worse.

I've had the Cali models (pups and preamp) in a Lakland Skyline and had the same impression as OP. Kinda lifeless, no oomph in a band setting and midrange voicing that sounds somehow "hairy."

I've tried Bart equipped ibanez, carvin, and a bunch of other things with kind of the same result. Honestly I don't know how they make it into so many higher end models and would much rather see EMG or plain old passive single and double coils than these things.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Ok, this can turn into a polarising debate, however, I just watched this comparison

(the title/intro is a joke, FYI) and I only have a question:

Doubting that woods can make such a dramatic difference (and in fact a maple neck is on average snappy and lively) how come those Barts sound so crap and devoid of life compared to the Nordstrands?
I mean, exposed poles aside, I doubt someone can actually defend the tone difference on an objective basis. It downright plays 10 times worse and I was even listening through the TV speaker on a Chromecast... It's something you can easily pick blindfolded, and basically agreed at the end of the video too.

I have to say I have one of those very first BTB made in Japan "Premium models" (705ol, made in 1999 when the line came out, alongside the 1000 series) which had the "Ibanez dfr" pickups or similar. They were the ones before Barts were the norm in BTBs, but I've read somewhere that they were ghost-built or licenced by Bartolini. I can't confirm that at all, might be BS, but if there's something I didn't like about that bass was the output/tone presence (I wouldn't mind a low volume output as long as the tone is good, that's not the point at all) and hearing this comparison brings me back memories of that BTB when I played alongside, say, a Fender or a bass with a different pickup design. I wouldn't be surprised if there's the same house behind.

Are there great, punchy present examples of Barts or is it a brand whose trademark sound has always been such and dull by design?

I can expect a bit of backlash from Bart fans (if there are) and I'm open to everyone's opinions, but please do watch at least 2 minutes of that video to get what I mean.

That bass is so dead

 

[bassrique]

My Barts sound "vintagey". I thought that was popular these days.

 

[wmhill]

I love the real Barts, the non-production ones made for whoever are hit & miss. Just like the Duncan designed, or whatever the cheaper EMGs, they are all about a price point. I've used them without issue since the mid-1990s. Besides loving the sound, the encased pickups are a must for me- I won't consider anything with exposed pole pieces, just something more to rust/corrode after a few months of gigging. I think some folks don't like the fact that the Bart's are not super hot. That's not an issue for me, I look for tone more than volts. To each his own, I've never found a Duncan (Bass pickup) that I didn't hate, I've liked some Dimarzio, EMG, Agular (but not enough to buy one). Never played a Nordequiped bass. I found the Fender replacement pickups to be probably the worst I have tried.

 

[Chickenwheels]

Pedulla basses have always sound good to me, especially the fretless models.

 

[SgtHulka]

The Bart's I had on my late 90s Tobias Killer B were something special. A massive humbucker and a jazz bar. They sounded nothing like that video demo.

 

[mikeluch]

I have Barts in my 2004 Lakland 4-94 and love them. Nice and smooth. I have recorded with this and always seems to just have it for me.

 

[subtlestew]

Pedulla basses have always sound good to me, especially the fretless models.

A Pedulla MVP with Barts I had years ago sounded amazing, and I recently acquired the Ibanez Adam Nitti sig 5-string (ANB205), also with Barts, and it is a great-sounding jazz-style bass just as the MVP was. Nitti (supposedly) selected the pickups himself for the Ibanez - I think he made a fine choice.

 

[P A U L]

I put a pair in my Warmoth Jazz. I wired the 2 pickups in series, & w/ a single volume pot (1M). Wiring them in series gives them a nice mid bump, which gets a growl easily. Totally passive bass & it sounds very vintage jazz, but w/ a hot, yet clean signal...

I recently bought an Ibanez SR-705F, w/ a pair of Bart's & a piezo. It gets an almost upright sound. Good for old Motown type stuff.

I probably wouldn't use the fretless for funk/pop, but, it works for everything classical to rock & old school jazz.

I have other basses that are hi-fi, it you want to call it that. Hi-fi is good for some stuff, but not everything. Sure you can dial back tone, but, you don't necessarily get the warm tones in the hi-fi bass, that you get in the one that doesn't seem so...

Using terms as good/bad, are subjective. They are not markers of any qualities. You do not set standards based on such terminology. I say good, you say bad... ...

It's all good! ...

 

[M0ses]

IMO if you don't like the sound of your Bartolinis it's probably because you have your amp gain set too low. They have lower output but other than that there is no deficiency in tone.

 

[sonojono]

I'm torn about what to do with my SR500L. I like it but I want more out of it and I don't know if I want to spend that much buying Nordy's and a new pre. In fact, I don't know an inexpensive pre that would go with the Nordy's.

Inexpensive pre? Audere.