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The Soundgear Club

#2,201
moeroncuban said:
Just need some suggestions here...

I just arrived home from our worship services and I took my SR590 and SR500 to play...

The 590 has the p/j pup configuration and the 500 the two Bart's in them... For some reason the Bart's were sounding way too "tin-ny"
for me even after about 25 minutes during sound check and fiddling with the tone knobs... so I went with the 590 for all the services...

Anyhow....

I was talking with our sound engineer and he was saying the same thing about how the 500 was sounding this morning.
Long story short, he recommended that I should consider putting flat wounds on her before changing out the pups or even selling the bass...

Any suggestions on flat wounds to put on the SR500? I know that there are a gazillion of them out there....

Thanks everyone...

:)
Click to expand...

I also play in my church worship band with an SR500 through a GK MB115 direct linked to the PA. I came from a rock band using round wounds on a Dean Q Edge 4 and found that sound was not what I wanted. I initially put Earnie Ball rounds on the SR500 and knew right away it wasn't the sound I wanted in church. I decided to make a radical switch and went to the D'addario chrome flat wounds and have found that I love them. On the bass pre-amp I have the treb and mid slightly lower than center and the bass slightly higher. I have the PU selector all the way forward and the mid-cut switch flipped back. This is the sound I want. The bass booms in very mellow way, the mids cut through the rest of the band very subtley, not in the rocky/punchy way, and the highs are there with a crisp sound, but not twangy. If I need a little more punch I just turn up the mid knob as far as I need to.

TLDR: flat wounds are going to be on my SR500 for a long time, I love them.
 
#2,202
mr_flood said:
I also play in my church worship band with an SR500 through a GK MB115 direct linked to the PA. I came from a rock band using round wounds on a Dean Q Edge 4 and found that sound was not what I wanted. I initially put Earnie Ball rounds on the SR500 and knew right away it wasn't the sound I wanted in church. I decided to make a radical switch and went to the D'addario chrome flat wounds and have found that I love them. On the bass pre-amp I have the treb and mid slightly lower than center and the bass slightly higher. I have the PU selector all the way forward and the mid-cut switch flipped back. This is the sound I want. The bass booms in very mellow way, the mids cut through the rest of the band very subtley, not in the rocky/punchy way, and the highs are there with a crisp sound, but not twangy. If I need a little more punch I just turn up the mid knob as far as I need to.

TLDR: flat wounds are going to be on my SR500 for a long time, I love them.
Click to expand...

Thanks SO SO much for the settings tip! :):):)
i actually ordered a set of those flat wounds just yesterday afternoon!
I love my SR500 and really was trying to find a way to keep it.... hopefully this is my answer! We do a lot of Jesus Culture, Lincoln Brewster songs in our services and i was sorta bummed that i couldn't find the tone ( just yet ) with my 500 yesterday... thank God i took my 590 with me as well and with the p/j pups in that one it felt really good... :)
Some on here say that the Ibanez CAP pups are a bit better than the MK-1's..... is that a real fact?

That could possibly be yet another route that i could take...

Thanks for your suggestion and help!

Blessings! :)
 
#2,203
Music is so subjective it's just not possible to give a fact that one pickup is better than another. It all comes down to what you like and what your tone goals are. And there are many many variables from the amp and speaker cabinet that make up the rest of your rig, to how you play, who you play with, what style of music, what volume, what types of rooms etc.
Several of us have noticed that the Barts are tinny, but some people absolutely swear by them and neither opinion is wrong. It's all good - the question is: is it right for you? Just try to listen to as many basses with those pickups as you can - youtube, the one you have, others in stores etc. Try out as many as you can with your own rig.
 
#2,204
PDGood said:
Music is so subjective it's just not possible to give a fact that one pickup is better than another. It all comes down to what you like and what your tone goals are. And there are many many variables from the amp and speaker cabinet that make up the rest of your rig, to how you play, who you play with, what style of music, what volume, what types of rooms etc.
Several of us have noticed that the Barts are tinny, but some people absolutely swear by them and neither opinion is wrong. It's all good - the question is: is it right for you? Just try to listen to as many basses with those pickups as you can - youtube, the one you have, others in stores etc. Try out as many as you can with your own rig.
Click to expand...

+1

This.

That said - I opted to go with Ibanez' CAP Extended Frequency pickups due to all the above reasons - through my rig, playing style, etc, I felt the MK1's were just too bright for my needs. Through other rigs & for other players, they may be perfect, but I am really happy after the pickup change.
 
#2,205
stingray69 said:
+1

This.

That said - I opted to go with Ibanez' CAP Extended Frequency pickups due to all the above reasons - through my rig, playing style, etc, I felt the MK1's were just too bright for my needs. Through other rigs & for other players, they may be perfect, but I am really happy after the pickup change.
Click to expand...

Thanks for chiming in brother. I've heard so many good things about the CAP pups.... Where can I find these? Through Ibanez themselves?

Thanks !
 
#2,206
PDGood said:
Music is so subjective it's just not possible to give a fact that one pickup is better than another. It all comes down to what you like and what your tone goals are. And there are many many variables from the amp and speaker cabinet that make up the rest of your rig, to how you play, who you play with, what style of music, what volume, what types of rooms etc.
Several of us have noticed that the Barts are tinny, but some people absolutely swear by them and neither opinion is wrong. It's all good - the question is: is it right for you? Just try to listen to as many basses with those pickups as you can - youtube, the one you have, others in stores etc. Try out as many as you can with your own rig.
Click to expand...

Big +1.

I, for one, am sticking to the Barts. I like the "tinny" sound, and I've found (in my limited use of them) I'm able to dial in a lot of sounds (all of which I enjoy). Don't let that influence your decision though; it's your decision after all. Try everything, go for what suits your needs best.
 
#2,207
moeroncuban said:
Thanks for chiming in brother. I've heard so many good things about the CAP pups.... Where can I find these? Through Ibanez themselves?

Thanks !
Click to expand...

No problem, I just gave the Ibanez part number to a local Ibanez dealer and they ordered them up for me.

verycoolname said:
Big +1.

I, for one, am sticking to the Barts. I like the "tinny" sound, and I've found (in my limited use of them) I'm able to dial in a lot of sounds (all of which I enjoy). Don't let that influence your decision though; it's your decision after all. Try everything, go for what suits your needs best.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't even necessarily call the Barts "tinny". Personally, I think they are beautiful sounding pickups. As PDGood stated, it's about your rig, your style, and your personal tastes.

I should also add that I can't stand the traditional Foster horns in any of my bass cabs - I think they sound very harsh. So I always replace them with higher quality Selenium tweeters - much like you find in high quality PA cabs and studio monitors. Therefore, my high end is already extended in my cabs and my Gallien Krueger MB-500's high frequency knob is centered at 7Khz. So combined with MK1's with their extended high frequency voicing, it's a bit overwhelming through a setup like mine.

All that said, PDGood's advice is dead on - SO much comes down to one's personal rig, style, tone goals. If I had different cabs, different head, the MK1's would most likely be perfect for me. :cool:
 
#2,209
stingray69 said:
I wouldn't even necessarily call the Barts "tinny". Personally, I think they are beautiful sounding pickups. As PDGood stated, it's about your rig, your style, and your personal tastes.
Click to expand...
I don't think they're too "tinny" (hence the quotes). Personally I like a little more high end, so I have no problem with it.

stingray69 said:
I should also add that I can't stand the traditional Foster horns in any of my bass cabs - I think they sound very harsh. So I always replace them with high quality Selenium tweeters - much like you find in high quality PA cabs and studio monitors.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a very interesting system.
 
#2,211
verycoolname said:
I don't think they're too "tinny" (hence the quotes). Personally I like a little more high end, so I have no problem with it.

That sounds like a very interesting system.
Click to expand...

No worries - I think I followed your drift earlier. ;)

I've just always dug a full range tone from my stage cabs. Foster horns seem most efficient in the 1-2Khz range, which works for some just fine but those frequencies seem harsh to me. The Foster horns just drop off too early for my tastes. :cool:
 
#2,212
Cool rig, Stingray. It's great that you're aggressively pursuing your tone goals.

I'm going down a similar road. I love my Audiokinesis cabinet which is basically a studio monitor made for the road. The highs on that baby are pristine. It has the equivalent of a parametric built inside the cabinet to flatten the peaks caused by the horn - making it an amazingly clean, flat cabinet. If anything, it is a smidge too pristine so pickups like Barts just add even more sparkle to the highs and you wind up with too much of a good thing.

On the other hand, the very cheap SRXs have a much lower treble frequency and much more aggressive upper mid sound - making them pair up nicely with that cabinet. The LMlll adds a touch of warmth (as much as a ss amp can) and it all works amazingly well together.

If I had a different rig, I'd probably prefer a different bass, but this all works together.
 
#2,213
stingray69 said:
No worries - I think I followed your drift earlier. ;)

I've just always dug a full range tone from my stage cabs. They seem most efficient in the 1-2Khz range, which works for some just fine but those frequencies seem harsh to me. The Foster horns just drop off too early for my tastes. :cool:
Click to expand...

You can never be too careful! Just making sure my point was coming across. :p

And I bet it sounds great! My dad has a friend who builds/modifies his own amps/six-string guitars, always thought it'd be interesting to try.

I think the coolest part is that it's your ideal tone (again, the subjective thing). It's awesome you're modifying things to get the sound you want, good on you.
 
#2,219
PDGood said:
Cool rig, Stingray. It's great that you're aggressively pursuing your tone goals.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a cool rig you have there yourself! :cool:

verycoolname said:
I think the coolest part is that it's your ideal tone (again, the subjective thing). It's awesome you're modifying things to get the sound you want, good on you.
Click to expand...

I've always been a tone tweeker - trying any & every mod from basses to cabs - narrowing down what works for me and my tone needs. It's just in my nature.

There's no right or wrong to it - just what works best for each individual.
 
#2,220
kleinenenten said:
Hey! You're in St. Louis too! Which local dealer did you go to? I've never replaced the electronics in my basses before, any places/people around you'd recommend?
Click to expand...

Actually I live on the IL side, work in MO. So I went with Swing City in Collinsville, IL. Good folks there and they ordered it right away.

As far as a STL repair place with a great reputation, I would recommend LS Electronics - they are great at what they do. They are authorized repair people for Ampeg, GK, many others. Very experienced techs who do fret levels, repairs, and I've used them when I felt a bit out of my comfort zone trying to install a Glockenklang bass preamp in the past. Always a great experience working with them.

I believe the owner of LS Electronics is also an electronics engineer who helped develop & design some of the Ampeg amp circuits at St. Louis Music Electronics back in the day (before LOUD Technologies) and when Ampeg was still a St. Louis based company (SLM Electronics). Anyway, highly qualified to do any guitar or amp work.
 

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