zbass1976 Posted July 11, 2019 Posted July 11, 2019 I'm a recent proud owner of an older model Spector NS-2000/5 bass. It came stock with EMG HZ pups and an EMG BTS preamp. I'd like to upgrade the electronics -- either just the pickups or the preamp, or maybe even both. With this bass, I will predominately play rock, acoustic rock, and some alt metal music. Anyone with NS-2000 or Spector experience have any suggestions for me? Thanks in advance! Quote
roman_sub Posted July 12, 2019 Posted July 12, 2019 (edited) Congratulations on your new bass IMO the classic Spector rock tone is achieved via combination of 2 things : (active) EMG pickups and fresh round wounds... plus the Spector bass of course! Is there something you feel is missing from the existing tone of your bass? You may find active pickups provide you with the biggest upgrade potential, via added punch / more hi-fi sound - but only if that’s something you may feel is missing from the HZs. EMG BTS should be a fine, clean preamp, so I’d probably leave it. Personally I prefer EMG P/J combination to the EMG DC humbuckers, but depends on what you like... but I cannot overstate the importance of fresh strings to get the Spector growl! Edited July 12, 2019 by roman_sub 1 Quote
cetera Posted July 12, 2019 Posted July 12, 2019 If you want the classic Spector sound then I'd say upgrade the neck pickup with an EMG 35P4 and the neck with either a EMG35DC or an EMG35J. Alternatively just put a set of two EMG 35DC pickups in it. http://www.emgpickups.com/bass/extended-series.html Your tone will come alive with these! 1 Quote
zbass1976 Posted July 12, 2019 Author Posted July 12, 2019 I'm seeing quite a bit of EMG DC recommendations. I may try those. Since my bass has the passives right now, would it require a ton of modification to install actives? Quote
cetera Posted July 12, 2019 Posted July 12, 2019 Not really. If your BT has the easy clips you should be able to pretty much drop them in. I prefer to give mine to a proper guitar tech to do though... 1 Quote
zbass1976 Posted July 12, 2019 Author Posted July 12, 2019 12 minutes ago, cetera said: Not really. If your BT has the easy clips you should be able to pretty much drop them in. I prefer to give mine to a proper guitar tech to do though... Yeah, I'll end up doing that, I was just making sure I wouldn't need to do any body modifications or anything crazy like that. Lol 1 Quote
zbass1976 Posted July 12, 2019 Author Posted July 12, 2019 32 minutes ago, cetera said: If you want the classic Spector sound then I'd say upgrade the neck pickup with an EMG 35P4 and the neck with either a EMG35DC or an EMG35J. Alternatively just put a set of two EMG 35DC pickups in it. http://www.emgpickups.com/bass/extended-series.html Your tone will come alive with these! I imagine I'd need the EMG 40s instead of 35s for my 5 string, correct? Quote
cetera Posted July 12, 2019 Posted July 12, 2019 2 minutes ago, zbass1976 said: I imagine I'd need the EMG 40s instead of 35s for my 5 string, correct? Yes, sorry - forgot it was a 5-string! 1 Quote
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