ebenezer Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 I have a john east uni-pre 5 incoming, also, i am looking to upgrade the pickups!....there lies the problem!.....nobody makes a replacment in the same size. Any of you lovely people got any ideas as i don't want ugly gaps as it will look proper pants Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakester Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 I thought Bartolini used to make Yamaha replacement pickups to fit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebenezer Posted March 8, 2021 Author Share Posted March 8, 2021 Ah, cheers, have to look into that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakester Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Had a look and couldn't find it on the main site, but did find this (which is probably what I was thinking of before): http://contact.bartolini.net/support/solutions/articles/5000657120-yamaha-basses-pickups-and-electronics Which suggests there are some which fit with a bit of infilling at either end. EMG 45's might also fit, again with the infilling, though I think they're 6-string pickups. Nordstrand can probably do you some custom ones to fit directly, but likely to be £££.. https://nordstrandaudio.com/pages/custom-options Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 There is a German workshop called Bassculture (www.bassculture.de ) that are making pickups and they can put them into wooden housing carved to exact size. At least they did that 10+ years ago for my Ibanez SR3006 which also had a pu sizing that limited options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebenezer Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 Cheers guys......any more info/ideas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazed Posted March 10, 2021 Share Posted March 10, 2021 I don’t know how true this is .... take it as you would if you overheard a conversation in a pub, I was on talkbass earlier and seem to recall reading someone mentioned that Aero made replacement TRB 6 replacement pickups. i guess it’s possible they do a drop in for a 5 string as well? Alternately and again for a 6 string TRB - which also don’t have a direct replacement available - someone had used an Emg standard size which left a gap at either end of the pickup but they had 3D printed some black “ears” to neatly fill the spaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebenezer Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 I suppose alternatively, I could use the stock pickups and snip the wires from the dummy hum cancelling coils...I know this will introduce him though Mmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikay Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 The stock pickups sound pretty good to me so I'd def try that before swapping them out. I love my TRB5 series 1 (been one of my mainstays for over 20 years now) but every so often I wish it had a regular mid control rather the 3-way switch. I'd be interested to hear how the stock pickups sound with the Uni Pre if you do decide to go down that route. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 Alun Armstrong seems to make most things... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkHeart Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 What kind of finish does it have? If it`s a natural wood, could you not get matching pickup covers made that would cover unsightly gaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebenezer Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 Cheers guys, yes i think Armstrong could make the pickups!.....may look into that.....as for the finish, it is high gloss trans blue.....i suppose as mentioned, i could get ebony ends made to fill in the gaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CookPassBabtridge Posted March 16, 2021 Share Posted March 16, 2021 Depending on whether you like the look of them or not...you could get some wooden pickup covers made which wouldn’t be too expensive. A dark wood like ebony would look reasonably close to a regular pickup housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ba55me15ter Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 I thought I should weigh in here with my recent experience. I've just fitted a John East Uni Pre 5 to my Mark 1 (slap-cut) TRB5. Went in fine although you do have to enlarge two of the pot holes in the body which is a little scary! The stock pickups are single coil with a dummy coil for eliminating hum which relies on the circuitry in the stock preamp, so the default position is just to attach the signal wire from the pickup (red) and leave the dummy coil signal wire (white) disconnected. This is what I did and indeed it does work, BUT you will get hum when the pick-up pan is anything but central. I went and foil-shielded the pickup cavities but it was still a problem. Then...after reading a bit about dummy coils I started experimenting and discovered that if you connect the dummy coil signal from the opposite pickup to the pickup signal connection, voila! - hum cancellation! Unfortunately you do get an associated drop in signal level but it is definitely worth it (the pickups are pretty low-output to start with too). Sounds great though. Having discussed this with John East he's thinking about producing a little plug-in module that would buffer the dummy coil input to prevent that signal drop, with maybe a trimmer for adjusting the cancellation, basically emulating the original Yamaha circuit. I'll report back any progress on this, but if it happens I'll be more than happy to keep the stock pickups. In the meantime I also cut a scratchplate to fit over the "slap cut" as ironically I find it anything but helpful when slapping as my fingers like to knuckle-pivot off something when I'm popping like on every other bass I have. It works very well though could be even thicker. Pic attached. All this has done wonders for this bass as the build is absolutely top-notch (original preamp excepted!). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebenezer Posted July 29, 2021 Author Share Posted July 29, 2021 Really wish I had kept mine, ah well !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ba55me15ter Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 Update to this, decided to take the plunge and replace the pickups with Bartolini M55CBC. Definitely worth it. Together with the Uni-Pre it's now an absolutely top class unit - dead quiet! The sound is a lot fuller and low / low-mid rich, with some lovely bark from the bridge pickup when solo'd. The pickups fit with around a 4mm gap at each end. I cut some 5mm-thick black EVA foam (a few quid on eBay) and stuffed it in the gap and it looks pretty smart. You will need a foam block behind the new pickups to push them out a bit and I've got some longer screws on order so I can raise them a bit further (stock screws are 30mm, ordered 35mm). Screws holes don't match up so you need to create new ones on fitting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted October 10, 2021 Share Posted October 10, 2021 (edited) Came late to this thread.... A BC member, John, has a TRB5 with pick ups from Goodfellows. He brought that and a Yamaha TRB 6 string to various SE Bashes - sounds monster... Edited October 10, 2021 by TheGreek 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebenezer Posted October 18, 2021 Author Share Posted October 18, 2021 I thought John east was going to design a mod to use the original pickups with the uni-pre? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ba55me15ter Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 He did indeed mention doing that but I think it's pretty far down his list of priorities at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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