Want advice on putting in bartolini bc5cbc

[Mr11]

I bought an Ibanez SR405 5-string bass. The setup was great and the looks are nice. It sounded nice in the store but now I think it is boomy, muddy, and lacks midrange. I considered returning it but thought I'd upgrade the pickups - this worked great on a low cost Rogue 5-string that I put EMG active PUs in (it sounds great!). After reading reviews I bought a Bartolini bc5cbc for the neck position. A couple questions for the forum... Should I take out the active electronics that came with the bass? The Bartolini is a passive pu, will it work OK with an on board preamp? What pickups do you like for a replacement in the Ibanez SR405?

[davio]

There's a difference between active pickups and active basses. An "active bass" just means that it has an active preamp. Active pickups are more rare (most of what you'll se in this category are EMG (non HZ-series) and a few others) and can go in an active or passive bass. Any active electronics will require a power source (usually a battery).

 

The SR405 uses passive pickups with an active preamp (pretty common). The new pickups should work fine with the existing preamp. I'm not a big fan of their "Style Sweeper" circuit and I'd probably swap the preamp for something else but they will work fine together. The tone will be a matter fo taste, though.

[Mr11]

Thanks! I'll let you know how it comes out.