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Upgrade from Bartolini MK1

B

BassOverdrive

Jun 13, 2008
60
1
#1
I play 6 string Ibanez SR506, it is the love my life atm. I could not love a human baby as much as that bass. It has Bartolini MK1 Active 3 Band EQ pickups, theyre great. I like Treble with my bass, kind of like Justin Chancellor's tone from Tool. Anyways, When I tap at the high frets, i kind of hear a ringing tone from it even if i hit down hard sometimes. Ill just get this a little bit of annoying fret, now im not sure if thats the Pickups being to strong or if the frets are causing problems and i should defret it. Either way, I was wondering if there was an upgrade from these pickups that may help this conundrum of mine, just has to have the same tonal range. Strings are D'Addario Super Bright Round Wound regular light guage ProSteels, dunno if that helps.
 
#2
You're looking at a pickup upgrade to solve a technique issue.

If you've got a string ringing when you don't want it to, then clean up your technique. If you want less treble... hmmm. You said that you want a tone similar to Justin Chancellor from Tool? Treble is your friend, then. :)

Become very conscious of what's making that ringing.. and get rid of it. :) The answer's in your hands, not the pickups.

-----------------------------------

edit (already)

or you need to get the action on your bass adjusted. If the fret buzzing happens no matter what, there may be an issue with the string action that can be fixed, again, without resorting to a pickup change.
 
#3
I'm not sure I understand when you say

Ill just get this a little bit of annoying fret
Click to expand...

If you hear a ringing when tapping, it's the portion of the string between your finger and the nut that's vibrating. You might notice some people wrap something around the neck by the nut, like a scrunchy. This is to help mute those overtones.

Or, do you mean you are getting fret buzz?

It's not the pickups causing this.
 
#4
yea i just wish i knew if it was my technique was thinking it was but wasnt sure. Its a little like a buzz yeah, I just have no idea how to make it go away, when i turn the treble down i dont get it, but its like the fret sends out rings on the high notes. Not sure if its technique or just what happens when you turn the treble high which is why i was considering defretting it
 
#9
oh i mean just find like a demo of what those pickups sound like or youtube. Wouldnt actually do a pickup change unless i was 100% sure about needing it, which I dont think I really do. Though if those pickups have more growl to it than mine do, im pretty sure my mind would change haha
 
#11
insanebassman said:
The pick ups are actually designed to be passive.
Click to expand...

Those pickups were co-designed by Bartolini and Ibanez. Ibanez told Bartolin what they wanted. The pickups are passive, but they were designed to be used in that bass with that particular preamp, which was also designed by Bartolini. Where would you get the idea that they were designed to used passive? It doesn't mean they can't be used passive, but they weren't designed to be used passive, otherwise that bass would be passive.

It's fairly easy to wire in a bypass switch for the preamp.
 
#14
DavidRavenMoon said:
Those pickups were co-designed by Bartolini and Ibanez. Ibanez told Bartolin what they wanted. The pickups are passive, but they were designed to be used in that bass with that particular preamp, which was also designed by Bartolini. Where would you get the idea that they were designed to used passive? It doesn't mean they can't be used passive, but they weren't designed to be used passive, otherwise that bass would be passive.

It's fairly easy to wire in a bypass switch for the preamp.
Click to expand...

I am actually looking at a schematic to do that now.

I have read about 10 articles about the MK1 pick up that mentions them being designed to be passive. I do not have links to them but it was from some tech heads. (Been reading crap for a few days.)

I am not sure the schematic is accurate because it is not directly related to the Ibanez, but just the MK1 set up itself. I could very well be wrong about the intent of the MK1... and I may just replace them. My goal is to get rid of the battery issues. I play 2 rehearsals and the sound is different unless I put in a brand new battery every time I play. I hate the dying off feel. I get a different response and it is irritating. My passive bass is the same every time I play.

Just a pain.

Would you have a schematic link that is more relevant to Ibanez's application.
 
#15
My point was that unless you are designing active pickups, no one designs a pickup to be passive... they just are. You want the pickup to sound great passive, because that's what the pickup sounds like. Then using it with a pre is the icing on the cake.

This is what Bill Bartolini said about the MK-2 pickups:

Bill Bartolini and Ibanez’s top engineers took two years to develop the fantastic MK-2 bass pickups and it’s a partnership that has pleased everyone, especially new BTB owners!

My relationship with Ibanez began in 1995 when they requested some samples. Ibanez started using our products on some models in 1996. In 1998 the (former Ibanez president) and I had a meeting at the Frankfurt Messe and I agreed to work with Ibanez on the Gary Willis Bass project. After sending Gary many samples he approved the pickup and the electronics for his signature instrument.

Since then, we have supplied Ibanez with many bass pickups and various electronics. Before this time, in the earliest years of our history, there was far more emphasis on neck-through construction and enhanced lows and low-mids. In the mid 90's the emphasis shifted to bolt-on construction with more mid and treble emphasis.

We always try to satisfy as many bass players and builders as we can, so we developed designs to satisfy the new requirements and tastes. Most builders were satisfied with an approximately equal tonality from bridge and neck pickups. The neck pickups were always a little brighter with slightly less output than the bridge pickups. But some builders and players preferred putting neck pickups at the bridge and bridge pickups at the neck intentionally. Ibanez was the first to ask for much deeper tone from the neck pickup while retaining a bright tone for the bridge.

When Ibanez asked for special pickups exclusively for Ibanez BTB series, they also asked me to try to blend the older enhanced lows and low mids with the newer, brighter tone in a narrower soapbar design. Could we go beyond what had been achieved in this direction?

The process of designing the final product is always a little bit like making a good salad: there are many ingredients, their characteristics are learned over many years and the final result depends on the mix. Our quad-coil design can yield many other tonalities but, in this case, the desired result was the deepest Deep Neck tone that balanced well with a Bright Bridge tone and retained this tonal balance with the Ibanez designed 4-, 5- and 6-string basses. After several tests and improvements, we reached our goal with the MK-2. Enjoy the wide tonal range!
Click to expand...
 
#19
It's easy... you want a switch that will disconnect the input of the pre from the pickups, and the output of the pre from the jack, and switch the pickups to the master volume control. Assuming the volume is after the pre. Now the thing to look out for is if the volume is after the pre, it's probably a low resistance for use at the output of the preamp, and that wont work with the pickups.

Now the question is why do you want to bypass the preamp? Just set it flat, or even roll off some high end and it will sound like the pickups without the preamp.
 
#20
it is the battery issue. Unless I buy a new 9 volt, or fully charge my rechargeable after every rehearsal, I get a different response from my total rig. I tested this without any pedals, even my tuner. I tested this on several amps. It happens every time. After I play for an hour and leave the battery in for a night then play again the volume is quieter, tone not as rich and response from my distortion is quieter. Everything is perfect if I recharge my battery or put in a new nice battery for the session it is used for. The problem is noticeable. Even my drummer can hear it when I go distorted in one of our tunes unless the battery is fresh. So, like the guitarists, I am looking into going passive. They play passive guitars so I am giving it a shot on my main bass.
 

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