Considering of changing Thumb'90 NT Bartollini for other pickups?

[albertforns]

Hi all

I have a Thumb 6 NT from 1990, and it sounds quite good, no problem.

I am wondering about changing the original pups it still have. Anyone has tried other pups with this kind of bass? Can you tell if the bartollini it have may be kindly replaceable for other like EMG?

Thanks in advance!

 

[broken thumb]

I have a 1998 thumb 4 nt that currently has EMG j-set, with the 18v mec 3band eq and was pondering going to a completely passive set up. Now the bass sounds great as is, but I run the bass with the eq bypassed exclusively (I don't care for the tone the preamp imparts). I will tell you that the EMG pickups are as hi-fi as Ive played and have great clarity and depth and plenty of mid-growl, but I have found it imposible to achieve a nice round dub tone from them. Granted the thumb is probably the furthest thing from the classic Fender design, and may never achieve a vintage tone regardless of the pickups installed, but I cant help but wonder if passive pickups and no preamp would make the thumb more versatile.