Those who have changed PUPs and pre-amp ... was the change noticeable?

#61
Geri O said:
If you are referring to me, that’s okay. I’m not going to defend my choice of an alternative pickup or preamp in a bass, new or otherwise.

The Mike Lulls play wonderfully. I’ve said before that my M5V Jazz is perfect the way it came, I have no desire to change anything about it (yet, and if that changes, so what?). The P5 plays wonderfully and feels awesome. But came with a more-mellow P pup than I like. Hence the change to the Nord I spoke about earlier.

Sorry if that rubs you the wrong way. But we all like what we like, right.
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I wasn't referring to anyone in particular. I just think it's a little silly to buy a high end bass if you don't like the sound.
 
#62
Every time that I've changed pickups on any bass or guitar there has been an immediately noticeable change. IMO it still generally is recognizable as the same instrument, but with a different coloration. The severity of the difference typically seems to depend on how severely the pickups differ in type. For example, changing the stock passive Carvin jazz pickups on my LB70 to vintage-style jazz pickups from Aero was a subtle change but one that I felt really took the bass from very good to "special" -- basically, a similar overall sound but better. In contrast, switching out the stock Fender single coil in the bridge my MIM Telecaster for a SD Hot Rails mini humbucker made a more drastic change to the overall sound.
 
#64
tercesyrev said:
Considering gutting my bass and upgrading pick ups and preamp. I have an Ibby with the Bartolini BH-2 pups and Ibby active pre-amp. Sounds pretty good, modern ... but restricted.

Not asking what do I replace them with but rather did you notice a big enough change in tone and presence to warrant the expenditure?

Let me know...
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I change pickups, necks, bridges, strings, preamps, batteries, and more all the time ... sometimes it is better and sometimes it is worse ...

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#65
tercesyrev said:
Considering gutting my bass and upgrading pick ups and preamp. I have an Ibby with the Bartolini BH-2 pups and Ibby active pre-amp. Sounds pretty good, modern ... but restricted.

Not asking what do I replace them with but rather did you notice a big enough change in tone and presence to warrant the expenditure?

Let me know...
Click to expand...
tercesyrev said:
Considering gutting my bass and upgrading pick ups and preamp. I have an Ibby with the Bartolini BH-2 pups and Ibby active pre-amp. Sounds pretty good, modern ... but restricted.

Not asking what do I replace them with but rather did you notice a big enough change in tone and presence to warrant the expenditure?

Let me know...
Click to expand...
Yes
 
#66
You will typically nortice a difference in the sound, assuming you pick something that's actually different in some meaningful way. If you don't change anything meaningful - say you take out stock Fender pickups, and replace them with pickups from someone that follows the exact Fender recipe (fiber bobbins and all that) with about the same number or turns, well, you may not hear a difference in some cases.

Aside from the issue of whether or not it's noticeable is whether or not it's a step forward. Anyone who's changed more than a few pickups and always liked the sound better is either lucky or in a bit of denial - if you change enough pickups, you will eventually find that you took a step backward. Hopefully you learn from that. I've learned things... several times. I have the leftover pickups as proof.
 
#67
Richard Cranium said:
I wasn't referring to anyone in particular. I just think it's a little silly to buy a high end bass if you don't like the sound.
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What’s unusual this time is that in the past, I’ve bought basses that didn’t play so well, but I really liked the sound.

This time around, I really love the way the Lulls play. Just one of them needed some tweaking to get the tone I was looking for.

Keep in mind, I bought both Lulls used and from the same player. Both were really good deals, making a mod to one of them not terribly irresponsible on the financial side....:D
 
#69
Richard Cranium said:
Sounds to me like a lot of people are just concerned about the brand name on their pickups. I mean, why would you spend thousands of dollars on a bass and immediately replace the pickups at added cost otherwise? Just my thought.
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It’s really no different than spending $40k on a vehicle and then spending $3k on wheels and tires for it. People like to make it theirs.
 
#71
I changed Bartolini humbuckers out on two basses with single coils. One with Nordstrand Big Singles ant the other wit Bartolini Singularities. Both basses totally came alive!! The Big Singles are a lot hotter than the Barts but both sound similar.
 
#74
Last year upgraded the stock electronics in my Ibanez SRSC805 to a Pope Flexcore preamp and US-made Bartolini MK5's. HUGE difference. Not saying the stock package wasn't good, but the flexibility and quality of the new setup took this bass to the next level. Also, I really like a single coil tone, so my new setup lets me switch between full humbucking to single coil with a switch....love that!
 
#75
Richard Cranium said:
Sounds to me like a lot of people are just concerned about the brand name on their pickups. I mean, why would you spend thousands of dollars on a bass and immediately replace the pickups at added cost otherwise? Just my thought.
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I think it depends on where youre looking to end up and what you prefer. A truly custom bass can easily be $5,000-8,000 so if you can grab something used that you like the feel and look of... and then upgrade the electronics... you're in a better place than having spent all the money up front for custom.
I had a friend in another band that loooooooved musicman basses... he just preferred the look and feel to everything so thats all he bought. He picked up a used stingray HH for about $1200 and immediately pulled the pups and preamp out. Tossed in some proper Barts and an NTMB preamp. Its crazy how good it sound now. It sounded awesome before but the versatility of the bass is just unreal at this point. The best part is that he was able to get back almost all of the money for the upgrades by selling the stock pups and pre to a very excited owner of a sub bass and a router.
It all depends on preference... Ive loved every modulus quantum ive ever tried but if i ever buy one... those emgs are getting yanked on day 1.
 
#76
There are many different preapms and they have many different characters. I prefer East preamps and yes - they are worth the money to me. Audere makes a good product also IMO. You need to shop around. You can get what you are looking for. Whether it is worth the money is subjective and only you can decide that. Some folks wouldn't take a top shelf preamp for free. Others would spend $1000 for a slight gain without reservation.

One other thought is to wire the bass passive and use one of the many nice outboard preamps.
 
#77
tercesyrev said:
Considering gutting my bass and upgrading pick ups and preamp. I have an Ibby with the Bartolini BH-2 pups and Ibby active pre-amp. Sounds pretty good, modern ... but restricted.

Not asking what do I replace them with but rather did you notice a big enough change in tone and presence to warrant the expenditure?

Let me know...
Click to expand...
I didn’t do pre-amp change as they are passive. However, night/day difference with pup swap.
 
#79
I’ve only ever changed pups on inexpensive beater basses where it makes a big difference. If I pay more than $500 I better like everything stock or I’m usually not buying it. I’m not into modding unless something is broken, but that’s just me. I think most of your sound comes from your hands and then after that you can tweak your amp or mess with effects pedals.

I think too many players tend to focus on gear instead of improving their musicality. Myself included.
 
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