Better pickups for the Rockbass?

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Sorry if this topic was made before. Too lazy to check out the forum history. :d

Anyway, just wanna ask if anybody here has changed the stock MEC pickups to some EMG's or Barts. Just curious if it made the sound of the bass better or worse. I just don't understand people from other bass forums when they bash MEC's. In my honest opinion, I think it sounds very nice.
 

Nachobassman

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I think MECs sound very nice and clear, and are responsible of an important part of Warwick´s "Sound of Wood". I don´t think they are worst or better than EMG´s, Barts or whatever, they are different, they delliver a different tone than other brands. You want to change how sounds your RockBass, well, change the pups.

I think MECs are a good match for the "exotic wood" combo that German Warwicks have, so, as RockBasses are made with more "tradicional" woods (maple necks, rosewood fretboards, etc.) I think they will deliver a more traditional kindda tone out of them.

My 0,2 cents.

Salud!
 

BassPlyr Randy

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I like the sound of my RockBass with it's stock MEC pups. I think they sound wery clean and in my opinion they are probably a big reason that the RockBass has a familar Warwick sound to them at all. As it was pointed out, the german made real wicks tend to use more exotic woods and while a RockBass doesn't sound like their German counterpart, there is a certain similarity to their sounds and that has to be attributed to electronics, most namely the pups.

I have heard of Wick players that have swapped out thier pups for barts and emgs and have been happy with the sound. I have no doubt that if you are looking for a different sound that changing out a RockBasses pups with another quality pup such as barts, emgs, sd's or whatever would sound fine. It would just be a matter of finding the right pups to produce the sound you are after.

To me, its no different then the RIC debate. A lot of people like putting barts in their Ric's. Ive heard quite a few Rics that have had Barts installed and they sound great, but I think they lose a little of that Ric sound. So my 4001 has the original Ric pups, but I think I am going to go with Barts in the Rickenfaker I am restoring. It's simply a matter of different sounds and what sound you're after.
 
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I've also heard people say that MEC's arent good pickups,but when you ask them to elaborate on why they think this,they usually have no idea.They're usually just repeating something they've read or heard from some other dingbat,rather than gone to any effort to research & draw their own conclusions.Then there's the experts who label an entire brand as dark.Like Bartolini.Alot of morons say Barts sound dark,but they have an entire range of pickups,some warm,some bright,some in between.So whenever I hear someone say something like this,it instantly tells me,that person doesnt really have much of a clue.
Ask yourself if you can actually hear a pickups characteristics.I know I have a hell of a time being able to pick the differences between one pickup & another.I've tried a Stage 2 with Seymour Duncan pickups & preamp & I couldnt hear any difference whatsoever to my MEC equipped Stage 2.This might've been different if I did a gig or a recording with the SD stage 2,maybe not.
One things certain.Why would a high end builder who focuses on building the best possible product it can,only to skimp on what some consider the most important factor in an electric instrument.It's electronics.The same company that worked with Jonas Hellborg,to build a no compremise amp system,when every other manufacturer in the biz,turned him down,because of costs.

*Luke.
Talkbass has loads of this sorta garbage if you're interested in that sorta thing ;)
 
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i like mec pups i think the active ones sound great.and the passive ones sound good in a ash bodied vet,i don't like the pass as much when there in a bubinga bodied vet though.i don't like the pre amp in the rock bass vet i didn't like the high end so i put passive mecs in it and i like it better.but my son has laid claim to it so he fools with it.he likes having the same bass as me.and i don't have a heart attack watching him beat up my bass.
 
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*Luke.
Talkbass has loads of this sorta garbage if you're interested in that sorta thing ;)

Yeah, I know about that. That's one of the reasons I do not join that forum. But sometimes when I search something in the net I sometimes browse the discussions. But that does not mean I believe everything they say.

Anyway, to hell with changing pickups. As long as you love the sound, it's going to be good right? Like what you've said in previous topics: most can't even tell is a bass' sound is a Squier or a Fodera. How much more if it's the same bass but with only different pickups? :d
 
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Yeah, I know about that. That's one of the reasons I do not join that forum. But sometimes when I search something in the net I sometimes browse the discussions. But that does not mean I believe everything they say.

Anyway, to hell with changing pickups. As long as you love the sound, it's going to be good right? Like what you've said in previous topics: most can't even tell is a bass' sound is a Squier or a Fodera. How much more if it's the same bass but with only different pickups? :d

Well put my friend.
Imho,the only real reason to change your electronics is coz they've failed,or the change will do the bass a definate advantage.
I agree with you about tb.Too much hearsay/urban legend being passed around as correct information.But thankfully,the,"swap out those crap MEC's for EMG's"crowd seem to have been disbanded.
 
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i't funny i have had a coulpe of bass's with emg's and i don't like them but what i have and like is mecs with a emg preamp.the bass sounds good.but then again there in a warwick.
 
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As much as I dig TalkBass, its hard to overlook the "flavor of the month" flakes. There's always a certain make of bass (MTD, Roscoe) and a certain make of amps (Aguilar) and cabs (Epi, BagEnd) and efx that everyone there HAS to have. Its like a status symbol, like a piece of flair some kid wears on their uniform at some crappy upbeat restaurant to some of those guys, its kind of sickening.

Warwick uses MEC's because they voice the tone of the bass the best, like Curtis said in his Streamer review, wether in passive or active, the tone was the same. Why? Because its the sound of the wood shining through.

And as far as the "EMG's are better than MEC's" crowd... Probably the same guys who hate Bartolini because they're "too dark."
 

Florin

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MEC is mr Vlado Hansal's company. Mr Hansal was doing the pickup for old FRamus basses and guitars, so he is part of the Warwick history. Think MEC as Warwick pickups... The factory is 300m away from Warwick.
 
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I agree with the whole tone of the thread. I've got no problem with MECs. As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If people want to start swapping parts around that's fine, but they should first take a step back and think... what is it about the tone that I don't like, and whether the part swapping is going to fix it. Some people just like to tinker... I used to a bit, but I just can't be arsed with it now
 
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Hi!
About pickups. I want to replace Mec pickups to Delano on my Vampyre RB, have already order them and Delano's preamp Sonar 3, so, when the installation would be complete, i can answer a lot of question about is new sound and replacing pickups.;)
 
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I love my MEC pickups. They're stellar quality, and I really like the tone.

In my various Corvettes over the years I've tried alot of different pickups, from Fender, EMG, Bartolini, DiMarzio, and others and always come back to the MECs.

:d

I do like my Bartolinis - 9CBJD jazz pickup set. They're lovely. I would consider putting them in my Passive Corvettes purely because of the noise sometimes present with the passive MEC Jazz pickups. I like the tone of the passive MEC J's very much - just that sometimes the noise (which isn't present with the Active J's) bugs me.

:d
 
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I really like Barts, I do - my favs by far. But I must say, the MECs are badass! I wouldn't change them for the world! I'd rather go the other way when hunting for a different sound and change the onboard preamp instead ;)
 
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