New Pickups/Preamps for Lakland 44-02

[socialleper]

I've had a 2005 44-02 for a number of years that I really like the tone of, but was never super thrilled about the finish (blonde wood, maple neck.) I recently had the chance to buy a used 2006 model with a black body, rosewood neck, and a tort pick guard a la Geezer Butler. It's a hot looking bass but the Lakland LH3 electronics suck something awful (beyond being carelessly wired by whoever worked on it last ). I'm not getting the breadth of highs and lows that the 2005 with Barts has, nor the mids that help it cut through the mix. And yes, I've played around with ALL the half dozen or so mid settings. Oh, and the D string doesn't have the same volume as the rest.
So its time for a refit.
My first instinct is to just put the same model Bart pre and pickups that they used in the 2005 in the 2006. First, I never realized Bartolini had quite so many models, so I'm not 100% sure what I need to get. Second, I wonder if I couldn't get a little more zip out of something else.
I'm contemplating a Seymour Duncan SMB4D in the bridge and either a STK2J or SJB3N in the neck.
If I wanted to dump a whole lot into it I could also go with a Delano JMVC 4 FE/M2 in the neck and a MC4FE in the bridge.
Lastly I'm thinking about dumping the LH3 pre and going to a Aguilar OBP3.
For the MM pickup to work right the tech that works on it says it needs to be a "4 conductor" connection.
I think I've ruled out Nordstrand because they are a little mild mannered for me.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

 

[socialleper]

This is a short clip from a show my band played last year at the Whiskey. Despite being shot on a smart phone it actually did a great job of capturing my tone. The lows are tight without being boomy and there is a smooth articulation without being clanky or glassy. Sort of a Jimmy Bain tone when he was with Rainbow and Dio. That's more or less what I'm going for in a bass that is naturally a little darker than the one in the video.

It's loud, drunk metal. Don't judge it too harshly.

 

[Tyrrell]

I put the delano pickups and preamp in mine and it made a world of difference. With the lh3 I would almost disappear when slapping. Now all tones are very even the low notes on the b string sound much better too.

 

[mmbongo]

I put Lace Sensor Man O' War pickups in mine and kept the LH-3 pre. HUGE improvement, those Lace Sensors are spectacular...especially the neck pickup. It's one of the few J pickups that I've found useable by itself.

 

[socialleper]

I put the delano pickups and preamp in mine and it made a world of difference. With the lh3 I would almost disappear when slapping. Now all tones are very even the low notes on the b string sound much better too.

Which Delanos did you go with?
Did it keep the lows tight?

 

[socialleper]

I put Lace Sensor Man O' War pickups in mine and kept the LH-3 pre. HUGE improvement, those Lace Sensors are spectacular...especially the neck pickup. It's one of the few J pickups that I've found useable by itself.

Those aren't too pricy either. I'll look for some clips on YouTube.
Did you find the tuning of the high and bass freqs on the LH3 satisfactory? It seems like the bass adjustment on the LH doesn't do squat compared to whichever Bartolini model is in the 2005 44-02.

 

[birminghambass]

I have those Delanos in my 4402. Fantastic upgrade. You can replace the switch with a series/parallel switch, super easy.

 

[mmbongo]

Those aren't too pricy either. I'll look for some clips on YouTube.
Did you find the tuning of the high and bass freqs on the LH3 satisfactory? It seems like the bass adjustment on the LH doesn't do squat compared to whichever Bartolini model is in the 2005 44-02.

Well, first let me say that I do feel that a Bartolini preamp would be better than the LH-3 but I'm not sure by how much. It sure won't be a downgrade, that's for sure. I just never felt a huge need to replace the LH-3 as it does what I need it to do, and I give Lakland props for including an output gain control which preamps like Aguilar and Delano failed to include. That's why I'll always stick with the LH-3, Bartolini, or Nordstrand preamps.

My 44-02 has never been as bright as my other basses, no matter what pickups I had in it. I always run the bass and treble boosted about 75% to match my Roscoe and even then my Warwick and Spector have more sparkle, but I cut treble on them as they are overly bright for me. I think it's just the bass, since pickups don't really change that and bypassing the pre doesn't make a huge difference from flat. I don't mind it though, since it weighs around 7.5 pounds and feels like an old broken in pair of jeans.

Now, the Lace Sensors are the 4th set of pickups I've had in my 44-02 after the Laklands, Barts, and SGD's. I found the Laklands pretty weak, and the SGD's just lacking a little something in this bass. The Barts were great, but I think their neck single coils are too compressed sounding and I liked the MM humbucker better in my Warwick so it got moved there. Then came the Lace Sensors..holy moley they sound great. The humbucker is more Fendery than Music Man-ish and the neck pickup is just huge sounding, plus they are noise cancelling by design, without being 'humbuckers'. The MM pickup is really different from other MM pickups, as there is not a huge difference between series, split, and parallel like with a Bart MM pickup. In fact I'm pretty much leaving the MM split now which makes a killer jazz type sound without all the hangups of a Fen**r Jazz

I did some overdrive clips with the neck pickup, the first part is clean before getting into the overdrive. You can kinda get a feel for the punch of the Lace Sensors.
http://www.talkbass.com/threads/overdrive-help.1130464/page-3#post-16890031

 

[birminghambass]

IMO the coil selector switch was not incredibly useful, I much prefer a series parallel option.

 

[socialleper]

I have those Delanos in my 4402. Fantastic upgrade. You can replace the switch with a series/parallel switch, super easy.

Which model of the Delano pickups did you use?
I find the coil selector one of the basses more interesting features. It lets me get a Musicman or jazz bass tone.

 

[birminghambass]

The large pole split coil jazz (FE ) and the matching ceramic MM dual coil (MCFE), not the dual split coil.

 

[Tyrrell]

That is the same pickup combo I have plus the delano pre amp I can post a few clips tomorrow.

 

[socialleper]

I tried finding out from Lakland what pickups and preamp were used in the 2005 44-02 but they said it was custom. What's with that? Pedulla said the same thing when I asked them about the electronics in my Rapture J2.

 

[mmbongo]

I tried finding out from Lakland what pickups and preamp were used in the 2005 44-02 but they said it was custom. What's with that? Pedulla said the same thing when I asked them about the electronics in my Rapture J2.

Probably custom Barts, a lot of companies go that route. Roscoe uses them too.

 

[Tyrrell]

when i got up this morning i made some quick clips I just played some riffs on the spot. You can hear the string hit the pickups a few times i just need to lower them a bit.
The first riff is everything flat pickups in the middle, next everything flat humbucker, then i tried to play with a pick which i am not good at i flipped the switch to jazz bass mode and left everything flat then played the same riff with the bass and treble cranked, then humbucker flat humbucker bass and treble cranked. last I played on the b to show you some low notes all flat both pickups equal humbucking mode, then I cranked just the bass.
All DI no extra eq or compression i just normalized the files for volume matching.
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here are the pickups in a mix i did crank up the bass a little extra this is recorded through a compressor di from ag500 and miced with a tube condenser. no additional eq

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[socialleper]

when i got up this morning i made some quick clips I just played some riffs on the spot. You can hear the string hit the pickups a few times i just need to lower them a bit.
The first riff is everything flat pickups in the middle, next everything flat humbucker, then i tried to play with a pick which i am not good at i flipped the switch to jazz bass mode and left everything flat then played the same riff with the bass and treble cranked, then humbucker flat humbucker bass and treble cranked. last I played on the b to show you some low notes all flat both pickups equal humbucking mode, then I cranked just the bass.
All DI no extra eq or compression i just normalized the files for volume matching.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

here are the pickups in a mix i did crank up the bass a little extra this is recorded through a compressor di from ag500 and miced with a tube condenser. no additional eq

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Thanks man! I will give these a listen later. The firewall at my work blocks a bunch of streaming media sites.

 

[socialleper]

Probably custom Barts, a lot of companies go that route. Roscoe uses them too.

What's weird about that is when something comes with EMGs, you know exactly which model, same with guitars that have Seymour Duncans. The Ibanez basses that come with Barts tell you what is in them. I would think this would be a selling point.

 

[socialleper]

when i got up this morning i made some quick clips I just played some riffs on the spot. You can hear the string hit the pickups a few times i just need to lower them a bit.
The first riff is everything flat pickups in the middle, next everything flat humbucker, then i tried to play with a pick which i am not good at i flipped the switch to jazz bass mode and left everything flat then played the same riff with the bass and treble cranked, then humbucker flat humbucker bass and treble cranked. last I played on the b to show you some low notes all flat both pickups equal humbucking mode, then I cranked just the bass.
All DI no extra eq or compression i just normalized the files for volume matching.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

here are the pickups in a mix i did crank up the bass a little extra this is recorded through a compressor di from ag500 and miced with a tube condenser. no additional eq

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Great clips!
That really does have the raspy highs I thought Delano pickups had. Of course they are also one of the most expensive options out there.
So does the MCFE have the proper "4 conductor" wires to do same front-both-back arrangement as the original setup?

 

[Tyrrell]

Yes that is how mine is wired.

 

[birminghambass]

Nice clips! I have Delanos but use the stock LH3 preamp, your setup sound way brighter and more aggressive (what I want! ). Did you try the Delano pickups with the stock pre first?