Vester Clipper II new pickups

[brianthebass]

Hiya all - I have a Vester Clipper II 5 string bass - they are cheap and cheerful but I love the fret board, action and lightness of it - I am wondering if a pair of new pickups would improve the tone and overall sound of the instrument - I have a more expensive 5 string which sound deep and rich in tone but keep going back to the Vester for it's feel - I play rock and blues through a Hiwatt 200w valve head and a 2 x 15 enclosure and have around 50 gigs per year - any ideas please? Thanks

[Shaggy]

Upgrading pickups are almost always the single best way of massively improving tone /response of an electric instrument.   

With the Clipper being a Warwick "clone" I guess EMG's or MECS's would be appropriate, but my choice would be Bartolini's - they just seem to work great in any bass.   A decent active circuit upgrade  (pretty cheap these days) would then get the best out of the pickups.

They look like nice basses, and anything through that Hiwatt is gonna sound huge! 

[brianthebass]

Yep - I have seen good reviews for Bartolini's - can you define a "decent active circuit pickup" please? Thanks

[brianthebass]

typo - active circuit upgrade

[brianthebass]

the Vester is already an active bass with all the wiring in place

 

[Shaggy]

11 minutes ago, brianthebass said:

the Vester is already an active bass with all the wiring in place

 

Yes, that was the point - the original circuit might be perfectly acceptable; but if you're going to fit high grade pickups then  something like an East circuit is going to complement the pickups to get the very best tone out of them.    As there no rush, you'll get boutique bargainaceous gear here on BC for the price of generic new  - I had some Barts on here for peanuts that I put into an MB1 Squier P/J that absolutely transformed it into a bass as good as any big-name equivalent.

[brianthebass]

Thanks very much - I will check out BC for those parts - and you are right - anything through the Hiwatt 200w valve head sounds deep and punchy - I have had it for 30 years and apart from carrying it in and out of gigs it is a real honey - thanks again 

[SICbass]

Good advice there from Shaggy. Just to re-emphasize his mention of the active circuit, John East stuff is highly recommendable.

[brianthebass]

There are loads of Bartolini 5 string pickups available - given that I play rock and blues can anyone narrow the choices for me ? Thanks

[Bolo]

The original Barts J  dual coil 5 look good for your wants and needs, shoot them an email and find out what they recommend.