# BTB676 opinions...



## chimp_spanner (May 20, 2011)

Hey guys - seen a BTB676 as new up for grabs for a very good price. I tried one out in a music store yesterday and despite all the warnings about the sound of the pickups, they seemed fine to me. Of course, I didn't get to try them through my own setup at home. So does anyone have any more comments on this? I like sorta crunchy/slightly distorted bass tones, so how would it handle this? As I say, I tried it clean and it sounded great to me :]


----------



## MF_Kitten (May 21, 2011)

Thepickups are Bartolini, which is a good pickup company i believe. I would think they can do the job. The bass player from After the Burial uses a BTB tuned to low F i believe, and it sounds great. I know they are comfy as hell, and they look amazing, anyway. If you want EMG pickups or anything else in there, it's just a routing job. The Bartolinis are narrow, so you won't have the "large gaps around the pickups" problem.

I would go either BTB or Dingwall Combustion. Both are awesome.


----------



## HaMMerHeD (May 21, 2011)

The Bartolini MK series of 6-string pickups are 4.25" long and 1.33" wide, which is just a hair smaller than the EMG 45 series 6-string bass pickups (which is 4.5" x 1.5"), so if you decide to change them, it'd be a quick and simple route job for any qualified luthier.

At any rate, the Bartolini MK1/2 series are bart's imported pickups, made in Korea for Ibanez and Cort. Bartolini offers direct replacement American made pickups, the MK6 series, for about $225 per set.

They sound good to me, but some people don't like them. Obviously, tone is a highly subjective beast, so there you have it.


----------



## MaxOfMetal (May 21, 2011)

Yeah, I see the Bart MKs getting bashed all over the place......on the internet. I've yet to really hear them sound "bad" in person. I certainly like them, just as much as their USA couterparts that I've used before. 

As for the BTBs, I never really got along with the body and neck shape from a preference point of view, but they're certainly built really solid. It's a shame they usually get lost in the shuffle of all the different SR basses.


----------



## Kali Yuga (May 21, 2011)

I'm also looking into BT676s a bit, but I would probably put some active EMGs in it for DI recording.


----------



## Enselmis (May 27, 2011)

A friend of mine has that exact bass and loves it. I've got an Ibanez with the Bart MK pickups and I can't imagine why people wouldn't like them. Oh well.

Seems like a great choice to me!


----------



## isis07 (May 31, 2011)

I'm using a Ibanez BTB510e that I believe has the same Bartoloni pickups and a similar eq system as the 676. I believe I'm going to change out the pickups in mine for some Nordstrands fat stacks, but I've always found the barts to be pretty versatile and great with a some distortion/light crunch.

Here's an okay sounding youtube vid of my BTB running through a Pod X3 for some crunch and into an Ampeg SVT-3 if you're curious.


----------



## adrock (May 31, 2011)

^^^ dude. i'm really into that. a lot. it's like isis meets periphery. definitely keeping my ears open for your guys


----------

