Do you like the sound of the bass un amplified? If you don't it's likely not the pickups fault
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Nordstrand Big Singles... I'm not digging the tone
- Thread starter SpeakerBoxxx
- Start date
Everyone's experience is different, but mine was that I pulled a Sadowsky pre out of my jazz bass after it had been in there since 2008. I like Sadowsky preamps - my ears tell me they lend a caffeinated vibe to a bass' tone. But this bass was already high strung and the Sad was a bridge too far in the tonal direction the bass was already pointing.
I dropped in a nice Emerson VVT pack with an oil and paper capacitor and the bass sounds really nice. Maybe a bit more vintage, but to my point above I could always get the Sadowsky tone back by way of one of their pedal preamps.
Yep, completely agree. A friend of mine upgraded an MIA Fender active Jazz IV with those Big Blades and just for the fun of knowledge we put my John East J-Tone 01 in it, some solder modifications of course as the jack connector is not located at the same place. He bought a John East preamp after the first rehearsal he played with it, he found it was the perfect match, way better than the stock Fender active preamp.
Not particularly helpful to OP, but this is so interesting to me. I have Big Splits and an OBP3 in one of my basses and it's the most aggressive-sounding bass I own, including a Dingwall. In contrast I've always found the NTMB to be very sterile and polite.
Just shows how subjective these terms are, and how many other factors there are in the tone of an instrument.
Hi Everyone,
Sonia here from Nordstrand. If you are having issues getting through to customer service, feel free to DM me here on Talk Bass. Or tag me in the comments. Or email me directly. [email protected]. Things have really amped up around here and with all of the snow this past season we lost some of our customer service for a bit and we are constantly trying to catch up. If you hang out on the Acinonyx TB page you will see I am pretty active there.
Just like any product, our pups are subject to different tastes, tone is dependent on wood type, strings, position, rig and the hands that are playing it etc. Some people love the tone of our pickups, (we have so many variations, its hard to believe any one couldn't find something they like!) but some like barts tone or EMG etc. You would be surprised how many people call us saying they love another manufacturers pup, and do we have anything like that? Please, go buy the pups you like! We are not here to force our pups on anyone if they have a different preference. We will lead you in the best direction even if it is another manufacturer. There is a lot of chatter here about different things. If you still have a questions, send me a message.
Sonia here from Nordstrand. If you are having issues getting through to customer service, feel free to DM me here on Talk Bass. Or tag me in the comments. Or email me directly. [email protected]. Things have really amped up around here and with all of the snow this past season we lost some of our customer service for a bit and we are constantly trying to catch up. If you hang out on the Acinonyx TB page you will see I am pretty active there.
Just like any product, our pups are subject to different tastes, tone is dependent on wood type, strings, position, rig and the hands that are playing it etc. Some people love the tone of our pickups, (we have so many variations, its hard to believe any one couldn't find something they like!) but some like barts tone or EMG etc. You would be surprised how many people call us saying they love another manufacturers pup, and do we have anything like that? Please, go buy the pups you like! We are not here to force our pups on anyone if they have a different preference. We will lead you in the best direction even if it is another manufacturer. There is a lot of chatter here about different things. If you still have a questions, send me a message.
True, not particularly helpful to OP. Just felt strongly about the lack of aggression in the OBP3. I have EMG 40DCX with their BQC preamp and that is also pretty polite compared to my Lane Poor MM and Bart NTMB pre. The Lane Poor originally had the OBP3 paired with it and that completely lacked aggression. Just my strange 2 cents. I think that preamp and pickup combinations can sometimes give unexpected results. Definitely can be an expensive rabbit hole to go down.
I'm more leaning to the pre-amp as the issue.
I've owned lots of Nordstrand pickups in my 17 years of playing.
While I prefer the Big Splits over the Big Singles, I've never played a Big X equipped bass that I didn't like the tone of.
But that's me.
we all have a "great tone" in our heads, and it's always a fun chase.
Those warm/wooly blades are also fantastic jazz-style pickups, and they can fit into the standard jazz-pickup form factor.
I've owned lots of Nordstrand pickups in my 17 years of playing.
While I prefer the Big Splits over the Big Singles, I've never played a Big X equipped bass that I didn't like the tone of.
But that's me.
we all have a "great tone" in our heads, and it's always a fun chase.
Those warm/wooly blades are also fantastic jazz-style pickups, and they can fit into the standard jazz-pickup form factor.
- Aug 21, 2003
- 11,621
- 18,707
- Disclosures
- A-Designs Mike Lull GK Tsunami Cables GHS Strings RMI Basswitch Nordstrand Pickups Darkglass
Here is a good example of Big Singles in series
Since you're in SoCal, you could just go to there shop in San Bernadino for a surprise visit
Lately there calls and emails have been on the decline. I've had people I know try calling but no answer, till they went on here and made a thread about having been sent the wrong pickups they ordered to which one of the workers at Nordstrand responded
I have no beef with Nordstrand, I love there pickups and preamps. Just wish they can do better with communication like they were before.
I'm sure the system works well enough to place an order to buy another set of pickups. Service after the sale is getting worse all the time-by many companies.
that is why Im here. Trying to improve what is a tough situation
Barts as being bright seemed like a strange comment to us too. Ears are different too!
- Aug 21, 2003
- 11,621
- 18,707
- Disclosures
- A-Designs Mike Lull GK Tsunami Cables GHS Strings RMI Basswitch Nordstrand Pickups Darkglass
I carefully build, and measure every aspect of a design, before I start a bass project. I know where I prefer my pickup locations. I have several builds, dating back to the early 80's. My Avatar pic, is my 1994 maple bass with 3 Alembic WMXY pickups and the Stanley Clarke tone circuit. The bass sounds amazing, and it should, with what that circuit cost- even at my then dealer cost. I don't think I could duplicate it now- even if the combinations were available, it would cost around 3K for the circuit. Really. I have a similar instrument with EMG's and it. too- has a killer tone, but slightly different.. it's also maple, with the neck and bridge pickups in almost exactly the same location. My last build of that shape and pickup location positions, is two piece Alder with a two piece flamed maple top half. Both pieces are the same thickness, it's not a top and back. I decided to make an 'art' piece, as well as keeping with my design elements. I opted for a now rare bare aluminum set of Lace Alumitones, passive just volume, blend and tone. Aluminum Hipshot bridge, and satin Sperzels, it came out just as I planned.
No matter what I did, I just could not get into them. I listened intently, to both the bass into my headphones, and on live recordings. It sounded great in the mix, but I really did not like the tone of the pickups- they have EVERY frequency in the spectrum, going on, all the time. That, is actually amazing. If you want cut, and grind- man, there's really not many pickups that have that quality, passive. They have a 'harshness' in the mid, that could not be EQ'ed out, after I installed a preamp. But I'm old school- used to conventional wound pickups. I swapped the Alumitones for EMG's, and the full BQC circuit.
A noticeable improvement, but there is something about the mids coming from THIS particular bass, that the EMG's did not change.
I decided to try passive set of Bartolinis. I installed the BD5CBC dual coils, with a three position mini switch for each one, and an Audere preamp. The bass has a significantly different, and better tone now, than it has ever had. The SWITCHING, is a big part of this - the options make this bass one I'll take to gigs, as opposed to trying to think if it'll work for the music I'm going to play. There is still a mid harshness, and I think it's really just the sound of this particular combination of woods and the stainless frets. What is a bit inconvenient- is that we never know what even the best pickups, and preamps are going to sound like- until they're installed in our basses. That, can get costly.
No matter what I did, I just could not get into them. I listened intently, to both the bass into my headphones, and on live recordings. It sounded great in the mix, but I really did not like the tone of the pickups- they have EVERY frequency in the spectrum, going on, all the time. That, is actually amazing. If you want cut, and grind- man, there's really not many pickups that have that quality, passive. They have a 'harshness' in the mid, that could not be EQ'ed out, after I installed a preamp. But I'm old school- used to conventional wound pickups. I swapped the Alumitones for EMG's, and the full BQC circuit.
A noticeable improvement, but there is something about the mids coming from THIS particular bass, that the EMG's did not change.
I decided to try passive set of Bartolinis. I installed the BD5CBC dual coils, with a three position mini switch for each one, and an Audere preamp. The bass has a significantly different, and better tone now, than it has ever had. The SWITCHING, is a big part of this - the options make this bass one I'll take to gigs, as opposed to trying to think if it'll work for the music I'm going to play. There is still a mid harshness, and I think it's really just the sound of this particular combination of woods and the stainless frets. What is a bit inconvenient- is that we never know what even the best pickups, and preamps are going to sound like- until they're installed in our basses. That, can get costly.
Attachments
oh, sorry, I was saying my comment wasn't helpful to the OP. Yours was far more relevant.
My experience with Nordstrand has been very positive. I have three different style pickups on different basses and love them all. I have Big Splits on two custom basses, an MM5.2 on another custom built and CND P/J on my Ibanez SR655. All sound great and all record very well. I have good had communication with them for advice. It wasn't immediate but it was helpful. I'm a big fan.
I reached out to Nordstrand in regards to custom pickup covers and they responded in a way that made it feel like they were agitated with me. Lol
Over the years, I've built lots of different basses. Two of which, I specked with Nordys in them and two basses with Barts. I like them all, I'm not dissing one brand over the other. Bart's sound different to Nordys because they use different magnets in their construction.
I like the Big Singles a lot, but I also like Bart Jazz PU's too. They sound very different. It depends on what one is looking for…which I think was the original question.
