Hamilton Mackenzie Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 EMG active pickups Vs Bartiloni for a Jazz Bass I wouldn’t touch active pups on a six string guitar, but people seem to rave about the active EMG’s for the JB is there a pay off in terms of dynamics or “naturalness” As a newbie bass player, I was wondering if there were some generalisations accepted about active pickups, and possible compromises to tone? many thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 The first question is, why you would not put low impedance pickups to a guitar? If the answer is based on a feel, keep the lo-Z pickups out from your bass, too. You are a guitarist by heart, and you are not able to try anything newer than what was done in 1950's. Keep it that way. A pickup itself is a simple high impedance unit: a coil and a magnet. You can change the impedance of the coil by using a battery operated preamp. Now the placement of the preamp is just a bit different with EMGs, as they put the preamp inside the pickup. (I use the word lo-Z to describe these so called "active" pickups, because it tells more about the behaviour of the transducer, than "active". "Passive" is hi-Z.) You can buy an Artec preamp for 15 quid or a Sadowsky for 300 and connect it in the control cavity, but the idea of the preamp stays the same: you change the output Z from hi to lo. It does not matter whether your pickups are barts or S. Duncans, the output will be lo-Z if there is any battery powered preamp after them. The impedance also changes to low, when you use a pedal after your bass or that 6-string thing. It is not dangerous, just technically a bit different. Every signal turns to lo-Z latest in the amp. Can you live with that? Soundwise you need to try to find your own path. It is possible to sound very dark with a 4 band eq in the instrument and vice versa. If you need lots of versatility, try an EMG system with their preamp (BTS?), or buy a John East and turn the knobs until dawn. If you do not need any settings, take all pots away and use only the amp's eq (or a desk in the studio) to sculpt the sound of your fingers. The choice is yours and yours only. There are many options. No technology equals certain sound per se. And "naturalness" is just an adjective with no relation to technical acoustics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ead Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 Hi Hamilton, are we talking about a Lag bass here If so I can tell you that the EMGs open out the sound a fair bit compared to the Barts that were the original fit items and are pretty warm sounding in nature. Bear in mind everybody hears things differently! You don't need to worry about the preamp and loads of knobs to twiddle as the EMGs come with the volume/volume/master tone controls as are currently the case with the passive Bartolini setup. The only evidence is the need to locate a battery in the control cavity (for which there is plenty of room). I think I have a pic of how I set it up. When I first got the bass I bought some EMG MJs as I prefer a more lively sound and the EMGs provide that. They stayed in the bass until I came to sell it when I returned it to the standard set up. If you want a chat about it please PM me and we can exchange mobile numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamilton Mackenzie Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 Thanks for the info, I do appreciate it. I put my bass through a soul food boost pedal, and it “opened up” the sound in the same subtle yet magical way that it does for regular guitar. The Barts can stay for now, and I’ll learn to appreciate what I’ve got before I give in to gear lust 😍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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