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My 'basstasters' for Jazz pickups

#61
Amazing how much difference the other filtering elements can have: the body and neck woods, the string choices, bridge and witness points, the placement of the pluckers ... and even the finalized level of the recording. You can get pretty divergent results if say the body of two particular bass are strongly resonant at different frequencies.

So the only real test is on one's own bass, really ; }
 
#64
I've listened to both the Aero and Bart 9J clips and found the Aero's to be aggressively harsher in comparison to the darker, sweeter tone of the Barts. Based on solo tone alone, I'm leaning towards the Barts. But I was thinking...could the perceived aggressiveness/harshness of the Aero's make it perfect when sitting in the mix of other instruments? Conversely, could the Barts, whose tone seems less aggressive and sweeter, end up getting lost in the mix? Am I on to something? What's the best way to choose between these two pickups?
 
#65
DLM said:
I've listened to both the Aero and Bart 9J clips and found the Aero's to be aggressively harsher in comparison to the darker, sweeter tone of the Barts. Based on solo tone alone, I'm leaning towards the Barts. But I was thinking...could the perceived aggressiveness/harshness of the Aero's make it perfect when sitting in the mix of other instruments? Conversely, could the Barts, whose tone seems less aggressive and sweeter, end up getting lost in the mix? Am I on to something? What's the best way to choose between these two pickups?
Click to expand...

FWIW:

in my experience a solo tone is good for exactly that. It will tell you nothing about working to music except that it's a red flag it won't work as rarely will a solo tone work to music. It's also highly unlikely anyone would use a tone to music solo. Real solo - as in Jaco, not the typical brief little rests in music like the "solo" in Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl.

If you adjust a tone to a tune then play it solo it will typically sound airy, thin, and poorly defined. Pretty much the opposite of what you want for a solo tone.

I've also found in some 70 plus sets of pups that pups typically either do solo or do music, they don't do both. The older Ken Smith pups were known for that and I experienced it, by they aren't alone. Maybe 5% of the pups I've run across are that way.

Talking just pups, no effects, whatever. No doubt there are boxes out there that will produce whatever sound is associated with the button that's pushed.
 
#70
This thread has helped me decide on which Bartolinis I've been wanting to put in my Jazz Bass copy. I wasn't sure whether to go with the 59J or the CB. The CB definitely has the more open top end that people talk about it, but I think I prefer the darker timbre of the 59J. My primary bass (Carvin LB75) has a lot of brightness, and I want my J bass to be somewhat opposite of my Carvin. The 59J just seems to be darker with a smoother response across the whole spectrum. I think that I would be happy with either pickup, but after A/Bing them, I definitely prefer the 59J when compared to the Classic Bass pickup.

Before deciding to go with Barts, I had originally thought about going with a DiMarzio. I liked the sounds of the Ultra Jazzes, but thought that the other DiMarzios were way to thin and nasally sounding, especially on the slap passages.
 
#72
David,
Were the Bartolini clips recorded more clearly or better than the other clips, because the Bart clips sound so much more defined and louder than the rest, thats all, this also applies with the Antiquity II's.
 
#73
Manol said:
David,
Were the Bartolini clips recorded more clearly or better than the other clips, because the Bart clips sound so much more defined and louder than the rest, thats all, this also applies with the Antiquity II's.
Click to expand...
not deliberately :)
They were all recorded to same device, Korg PXR4. Sometimes I got the levels right, sometimes I didn't - on some of the clips I didn't realize until pickups were uninstalled / sold so couldn't re-record
 
#76
I just put together a jazz bass project and I used an EMG BQC preamp (compatible with passive pickups/18volt) and DiMarzio UJ's and it seems like the output is lower than my other basses. The UJ's sound good but I expected more headroom with an 18volt preamp. Any advice would be appreciated.
I also have a Squire P Bass Special that came with a Bart P pickup and a Carvin J pickup. I am impressed with the sound of the Carvin pickup, Carvins stuff is critized around TB a bit but this pickup in this bass sounds terrific.
 
#79
David,

thanks for the excellent work.
I especially like the Antiquity II.
Please tell me, how much noise did you get when running just 1 pup, beacuse I mostly play with the bass pup rolled back a bit.
If it's a big deal of noise, than I think I must go with the Nordies.

tnx again!
 

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