And I've bought one of those sets. Those slick Bartolini quad-coils. Cheers Mo. Take care.
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Nordstrand Zen Blade
- Thread starter sikamikanico
- Start date
And I've bought one of those sets. Those slick Bartolini quad-coils. Cheers Mo. Take care.
I was thinking a BR at the bridge! .... Do what I have ever done since... forever... buy both (or three), try them out, sell the one you don't want! (I think I've sold dozens of pups here on TB)
@maurilio
Interesting. From a technical standpoint, would a Zen Blade mix well with a Big Rig?
They should drop right in. But, you should measure the CAP pickup, to be certain.
Wonder if impedance would be close enough to interact with stock volume pot halfway properly.
I haven't played the Zen Blades. But, I think the parallel mode is fairly reigned in on output. The series mode is probably fairly high output (though not as high as the Big Blades, which I have played in one of my own basses). it shouldn't cause issues with the pre-amp, as far as function. However, its gonna be YMMV whether or not the EQ modes sound good.
Worst case, you could wire them up passive.
vvt maybe.. didn't know you could wire these ser-par.
guess a dpdt switch would do it.
Thanx Toptube!
the ones on the sr300 seem to be around 4 3/8 by 1 3/8, so i suppose the bart size would fit but have slight gaps on the sides.
trying to decide between zens, big singles or big rail blades.
not sure if i am gonna delete the pre right away. p
These are pretty good videos to compare the big singles and the big blades (each video has a sample where the pickups are spit to singles). Keeping in mind that actually playing these through an amp, the impact will be a lot larger. The big blades have a massively pokey, punchy mid range. I have referred to them as a battle axe. Zen Blade should be similar, but a bit smoother. I haven't played Big Singles. But I have played Big Splits. They aren't quite as massvely pokey. But, they have a toothy, chainsaw sort of growl.
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Just talked to Carey, and he said "Great Idea!"
I'm gonna try that! I've got two Big Rigs I already love, but I want to try the Zen Blade in the bridge.
I have another bass with Big Single in the neck and Big Blade in the bridge, and I LOVE that. It was a definite improvement in tone, for what I'm after, switching the Big Single bridge to the Big Blade. More output, more bottom, chimier highs, and a thicker low mid punch.
Just a word on the switching possibilities for the Zen Blade: A while back I specified series-parallel for a build and got series, single coil, and parallel. At first I thought the single coil option was a mistake because it sounds very similar to parallel, but the more I try it, the more differences I notice.
Compared to parallel, single coil mode has the same output but sounds leaner in the bass and has a cleaner attack and a slight high-mid ping. It sounds more single-coil-y. Duh. It's a great sound for a punchy fingerstyle and I now use it a lot.
Exploring all switching options of the Zen Blade is highly recommended.
Compared to parallel, single coil mode has the same output but sounds leaner in the bass and has a cleaner attack and a slight high-mid ping. It sounds more single-coil-y. Duh. It's a great sound for a punchy fingerstyle and I now use it a lot.
Exploring all switching options of the Zen Blade is highly recommended.
So it sounds like the way most everyone is talking about the series/parallel option in the context of the two coils of a single pickup. Anyone done series/parallel in the context of two pickups? As in, the two pickups running in parallel with each other versus one pickup loading the other?
Or is that what everyone has been talking about and I'm just misunderstanding?
Got a couple sets of Zen Blade 6 pups coming in a week or two for my basses, and just wanna make sure I'm wiring them up in the way that makes the most sense.
Or is that what everyone has been talking about and I'm just misunderstanding?
Got a couple sets of Zen Blade 6 pups coming in a week or two for my basses, and just wanna make sure I'm wiring them up in the way that makes the most sense.
There isn't a wrong way to do it. Do what makes sense, for you! The only limiting factor is how many holes do you want to have, for switches and knobs?!
series vs. parallel, between the coils of an individual pickup, usually results in a large difference in sound.
But, series vs. parallel between two pickups, can also be a large difference. Especially if those pickups also have switchable coil configs!
