Do Bartolinis sound this bad on a regular basis?

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Bartolini pickups sound so terrible that I have them in most of my basses. I've even installed them on purpose in basses with better pickups just to get that terrible sound which is all I deserve.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

I bought a set of Bart 9J1 fro my Jazz bass to replace the US Vintage (Geddy Lee). I thought they sounded good but too clean and smooth and I lost that raspy dig in growl. I ended up putting the Fender US Vintage pickups back in finding out that they are my favorite Jazz bass pickups.
Now I do have a fretless with a mystery set of Bart PJs, not sure what model they are but they definitely have more treble and growl to them. Especially the bridge pickup which is killer. I wish I knew what model they are.

 

[Leonid Nidis]

With barts it always sounds boring,dietetic,like eating raw tofu Im talking the US made too.
If the bass is very aggressive or has a lot of character(like a stingray I used to have) barts balance that out nicely.

 

[Turxile]

Listening to the video in the originals post, yes the 1505 sounds better there. However here is another video where they are being played side by side. The Bartolinis sound much better than the Nords in this one to me.
You can scroll to 12:00 when Nathan King tries to figure out why the 1505 lacks bottom end...

 

[jwr]

I've always loved Barts. That's my preference actually. Michael Tobias uses Barts almost exclusively I believe and every one of his basses I picked up sounds crazy good. I have nothing but positive things to say about the brand even in my Jackson 4 string I got for 200 bucks. They just sound right.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

...I was even listening through the TV speaker on a Chromecast...

I really don't like it when people say this. You mean that your TV speakers are able to accurately reproduce any sound? Whilst suggesting that they can't. It's like someone saying, "even my wife can hear that's out of tune." Well can she? She potentially hasn't got a musical bone in her body. I'm not sure that your TV speakers are qualified?

 

[squarepeg]

I have Bartolinis in 3 of my 4 basses (the 4th has Lace Sensors). I like the way they sound.

 

[EmaTheMirror]

I really don't like it when people say this. You mean that your TV speakers are able to accurately reproduce any sound? Whilst suggesting that they can't. It's like someone saying, "even my wife can hear that's out of tune." Well can she? She potentially hasn't got a musical bone in her body. I'm not sure that your TV speakers are qualified?

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I also used other cans/speakers too. It probably wasn't necessary, anyway, as we know each other's subtleties and nuances in a way I wish I could do with my wife. They can even reproduce as low as 500hz, as far as I hear.

The funny thing is that in a real live or different context I might even get a different perception or opinion, that's also one of the reasons why there's a question mark in the thread. Sometimes, it's also the way gear interacts or begs to be tweaked, but I trust the fact that the preamp is the same and set the same ways for A/B.
I get what you mean though, and that's sensible indeed.

 

[kleinenenten]

Listening to the video in the originals post, yes the 1505 sounds better there. However here is another video where they are being played side by side. The Bartolinis sound much better than the Nords in this one to me.
You can scroll to 12:00 when Nathan King tries to figure out why the 1505 lacks bottom end...

That’s good for my reasoning for using Barts. I play bass, and want that to be accentuated. I’ll let guitars handle the treble. I switched to flats for that reason, actually. I found the hat every time the guitars and bass were just sloppy and in each other’s frequencies, no matter how I EQ’d. Flats put me in the mix better and still let me be heard. I’d like to see them in a band mix. (Heavy, if possible, since that’s my style.). Which one sounds better then?

 

[zon6c-f]

So this is a topic that @rojo412 and I often discuss.

Beginning with the caveat that good tone is subjective to one’s years, I find a Bartolini’s are awful. When you’re playing in your bedroom alone they sound really smooth and creamy and warm and actually quite good. But once you try and play in a room full of musicians they’re useless to me. In fact I call them Fartolinis because you just can’t get any output and punch in a way that you need it.
there’s something about the way they’re voiced where the sound is compressed so you can’t dig into them and expect to get louder dynamic range. They are just kind of voiced to be steady Eddy which isn’t very interesting or musical to me.

Now that said, I’ve been able to resuscitate a few High end instruments (specifically
modulus basses) that had Bartolini pick ups by ripping out the Bartolini preamp’s that came with them. Pairing the Bartolini pick ups with a better preamp has done wonders. I’ve done this now in a couple of instances where the preamp’s have been replaced for John East units, and Aguilar units. The before and after is night and day though I am sure I would be happier with non Bart pups as well.

Listening to this video it’s pretty apparent that the Bartolini’s just don’t hold up to the Nordstrand pick ups. Nordstrom’s pick ups just have much more life and dynamics in them. At least in my experience.

Have modified my Ric with Bart Js
No issues ever.
Have Bart soap bars in my Zon as well as Bart 9V preamp; as much headroom as 18 volt in other Basses.

 

[drumvsbass]

Bartolini's are not all made equal. That's for sure. Tried some PJ barts in an older bass of mine, and was very disappointed. The Barts in my Zon's on the other hand...

 

[gigetto]

I have the true America bartolini in afr ibanez and sound is as similiar as neck jazz on steroid

 

[DWBass]

Do Bartolini's sound this bad on a regular basis?

NO.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

You can scroll to 12:00 when Nathan King tries to figure out why the 1505 lacks bottom end...

They have bottom-end, but sometimes it's covered up by the highs.
All one needs to do is cut the highs & Voila!

I stopped watching Anderton's videos when they hooked up a Rickenbacker 4003 for Rick-O-Sound, but they fouled it up by using a mono AB-Y box & they had only one pickup selected for the entire demo
They also mistakenly told folks that the Ibanez Atlas neck is thicker than the Ibanez SR4 neck, which is false, because they have the same dimensions.

 

[BassinCT]

Bartolini's are not all made equal. That's for sure. Tried some PJ barts in an older bass of mine, and was very disappointed. The Barts in my Zon's on the other hand...

+1

The short answer to the OP’s question: No.

Even within the categories of Original and Classic lines, they offer single, split, reverse split, dual (series or parallel), quad, etc. and they all cover different sonic territory. Add to that the newer B-axis, which takes things in a completely different direction. The models offered as standard in Ibanez, MTD and others are yet a different flavor.

 

[Nobis17]

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 put a set of after market jazz bass bart pups in a MIM jazz bass in the 90s and they sounded incredible. fast-forward to 2015, I had a ibby SR900 with the factory barts, and they were ok, but not what I remembered from the 90s. I have read a lot of dislike for the MK1 pups that were/are in some of the ibbys.

 

[EmaTheMirror]

I put a set of after market jazz bass bart pups in a MIM jazz bass in the 90s and they sounded incredible. fast-forward to 2015, I had a ibby SR900 with the factory barts, and they were ok, but not what I remembered from the 90s. I have read a lot of dislike for the MK1 pups that were/are in some of the ibbys.

So I guess we have a pattern here. It's kinda meh that a brand can be potentially associated to their most frequent featuring products if they don't give it justice.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

They sound alright in this demo:



the guy talks a LOT & I stopped listening when he referred to the jack as in INPUT jack

 

[LowEndLobster]

how do you function in day to day life when one hand is a crab

Asking the real questions ;P

 

[wraub]

After a month of using my amazing non-Bart equipped P bass, I played my Bart-equipped J bass last night and was again struck by the range of sounds available from passive Barts... clarity and warmth with distinctively Jazz bass snap. It's a really solid recording instrument, and live (iirc ) I just turn up the amp a bit. No issues with audibility at all.