Q-Tuners are good for NOTHING!

Simply put, these are the quietest, most transparent pickup’s I’ve ever experienced – period!



What follows is for the benefit of others considering the Q-Tuners. Sorry if it rambles a bit.

A few years ago I was searching for a new 5-string bass and settled on a Yamaha BB-405. It’s a solid chunk of alder with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. Cost aside, I tested quite a few basses and found I liked the way it played better than the other “name” brands. It’s weighted nicely, isn’t too heavy and has a great feeling 24-fret neck. The fact that it’s one of the least expensive 5 strings helped cinch the deal.

But there was a problem – Yamaha had to cut corners somewhere and they did it in the electronics. It comes stock with a pair of single-coils that act as quasi-humbuckers when both pup’s are set the same, but even then there is an audible hum. When the volume on the pups is set differently, say more neck than bridge, the hum becomes overwhelming. To my ear, even when set optimally, the stock pups are muddy – particularly noticeable on the low B where there is hardly any definition to the notes between B and E.

So I Googled on pickups and found Talkbass. After hanging around a while I learned a couple of things:

1] The single most important factor in determining the sound of an electric guitar is the pickups. Wood type, neck thru or bold-on mean little to nothing. This has been confirmed in discussions with several luthiers. Basically if you are comfortable playing it, the rest is window dressing [and marketing bs].

2] Many pickups “color” the sound a particular way. There is a “jazz” or “p” or soapbar “sound” that is what some people actively seek out.

I believe sound “color” should come after the instrument in the effects and amplification part of the signal chain. IMHO it’s the responsibility of the instrument/pickups to deliver the players performance as transparently as possible. Not everyone will agree, but that’s what makes the world go around.

Enter the Q-Tuners. There’s a thread on the Knuckle bass that expounds on its virtues, so I won’t belabor the point. As an aside, I did get the opportunity to check out the Knuckle at Accugroove’s booth at NAMM and was quite impressed with it and the sound of the Q’s.

I took the plunge and ordered a set of Q-Tuner BXL’s in December after chatting with a number of references Erno @ Q-Tuner passed along. Their website isn’t very helpful and I was a bit apprehensive because they are not a straight replacement being considerably bigger than the stock pup’s requiring the body to be routed. I received the pup’s on Monday [Feb 14th], dropped them off at my luthier’s on Tuesday and had the guitar back on Wednesday.

I’ve been experimenting off and on and so far I couldn’t be happier. They are dead quiet – even when cranked all the way up they introduce absolutely no noise whatsoever - keeping in mind this is by ear only, I don’t have a scope handy. They provide note definition to spare – my low B string plays beautifully with clarity to even the lowest note. All strings are “bright” – something that caught me a bit off-guard at first – the “muddiness” I was experiencing before is completely gone.

Summary:

Since the BB-405 is fundamentally a Jazz clone, I don’t think it unfair to compare the two. A 5-string Jazz was selling for around $2,000 [Canadian pricing] when I bought the BB, so I’ll use that as the benchmark. Here’s how a Q outfitted BB works out:

BB-405 - $500
D’Addario Chromes [stock strings are garbage] - $80
Q-Tuners - $300
Luthier installation - $200
-------------------------------
Total BB-Q-405 = $1,080
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Aside from the fact that IMO the BB-Q plays and sounds better than any stock Jazz, I’ve got $920 still in my pocket to spend on other stuff. Not sure I could sell the bass and get back what I spent on it, but that’s not the point. I have a beautiful playing and sounding instrument for ½ the price of a comparable name brand and highly recommend Q-Tuners to discerning musicians looking for the best pickups money can buy.

Besides, I think they look pretty cool on the BB.



PS – Paul, thanks for re-thinking the “sig” policy.

 

Prices are from L&M on Granville. Thanks for the kudos. I built the pedals with a buddy [Dave] last winter - they're Pigtronix proto's.

Cheers - Verne

 

I recorded some arp's etc. with the stock pup's and will be doing the same with the Q's for an A-B. I'll link to the clips once they're done.

Skip had mentioned he was working on a single-Q Knuckle - so you're the lucky one. He builds beautiful guitars and the Q's sound awesome in them.

 

At the time I bought the BB I was looking at a Jazz 5 with a sticker price of $1,998. I have no doubt you can find a cheaper one or a better deal, etc. but...? On the Chromes, if it's really important to you I can dig out the sales slip - but I'm not really sure what point you're trying to make here.

At the risk of getting my fingers slapped by your new policy [remember, you brought it up] check out www.Pigtronix.com to see where we're going with that stuff. Those are our prototypes.

 

Okay – here’s an MP3 that compares the stock Yami BB humbuckers to the Q-Tuners.

The only way you’ll be allowed to listen to this is if you sign away your rights to making any comments on the, ahem, playing. All I’m doing is running through the diatonic 7 arps, starting with the D# on the A string, dropping to the E then starting the arpeggio’s over on the low B. I thought this was the best way to get the best range as it goes from the low B to the C# on the G. There’s some bleed through from the drum track that I hope you don’t find gets in the way.

Other than the pickups, everything is the same. There are 2 sessions – first is stock, second [after a pause] is the Q-Tuners. They were both recorded within a week of each other with flat EQ into Ableton Live, imported into Cubase SX and output to MP3 format. The only thing that was applied was a Waves C4 to boost the signal and a limiter at the end of the chain.

Have a listen and let me know what you think.

Q-Tuner Pepsi Challange

You realize it's a beautiful spring day here and I've been trying to get out for a walk on the beach...

 

Not yet, but the BB-Q has just been born!

I was going to put in an RMC piezo bridge so I could get MIDI happening, but Q-Tuner threw a tizzy. They went on about how much hotter the Q's were than standard passives and how they wouldn't work, etc. From my limited tests so far, the Q's have about the same output level as the stock hums - the only "claim" they made that hasn't panned out.

I'm still considering going piezo/MIDI but with a Hipshot whammy bridge. I talked to them at NAMM and they said they could customize one so the RMC saddles would fit. My imagination is limited only by my budget.

Hey SMASH - NJAMS is currently the only place in Canada selling Pigtronix. I did the industrial and graphic design, electronics are done in NY and manufacturing in China. Send me a PM if you want to chat further.

 

The pole pieces are set as supplied by Q-Tuner. I've got the wrench and see where to fiddle but could use some advice. Skipp [sorry I missed you at NAMM] perhaps you can help - turning them which way does what? Clock-wise makes them go up or down and with that how should I expect that to effect the sound?

On the output level, all I know is I recorded both sessions with my desk set exactly the same way and I have done nothing to one clip that wasn't done to the other. There is a huge difference in dynamic range, but as you can hear and see on a waveform both appear to peak around the same level. However, I didn't swap out the stock Yamaha wiring or pots, which are pure crap, and may be causing some signal degradation, but this would apply equally to each set of pups.

Regardless, I'm ecstatic with these pups - mission accomplished.

 

Crazy but fun. Thanks for the advice, I'll play around and see what I get.

What's the "optimum" distance between strings and pups?