Basslines Steve Bailey Fundamental Fretless

the specs are featured in the Seymour Duncan webpage.

I bought the whole package, but only installed the bridge pickup with the preamp in my HUAMANI 5 string bass

I happend to like the sound the Bassline Bailey gives, yes its an active pickup but are really flexibble and you dont have lots of problem with the dinamic ishue.

One thing I have to say is when using my small combo, the preamp engaged while give good round harmonics but I dont like the mid section, but .... and this is a big BUT, when using my Aguilar DB750 and my gs112 cab... its another story it sound really sweet and also when doing home recordings using the ampeg svt plugin

You can hear some stuff in myspace>
http://www.myspace.com/franklindayala

The Steve Bayle Basslines fundamental fretless has a modern sound, probably not what most bass players seek with a fretless but at the end its a really good sound.

5 string capable humbucking pickup in a Jazz Bass envelope. It can run happily on 9 or 18 volts.

This is an update of my review. Same bass and so on. I find I still like it and it appears the happiest it has ever been has been with a change to Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats.

With the string change the tone is way more classic fretless with upright leanings. For the kind of things you would play on fretless the tone works great. The surprise is doing funk and so on as it works.

Tonally pretty well balanced, particularly the B string seeming connected to the rest of the bass.

I play this thing mostly via a BBE BassMax preamp into a house system with in ear monitors though it likes my SWR Redhead and Mesa rig. The people at the board are notorious tone divas and hate most everybody's bass tone. They have given the thumbs up for the bass with the flats on it. That is a way of saying it falls nicely in the mix, is smooth, and not particularly peaky.

Definitely sold on this setup in this bass for what I do. Yes, there are quieter tone circuits, but as I never go for extreme boost situations it is not a problem for me. The whole assembly is definitely tuned for the fretless vibe and it seems really likes flatwound strings.

The installation instructions are somewhat less than stellar and I wish they were more assembly friendly. Not for a total newbie or someone lacking patience.

Pickup features: humbucking active JB PU's integrated with fretless eq
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Custom 5 string fretless Jazz Bass
Position: middle
Pickup being replaced: Really both PU's
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Steve Bailey
You musical style(s): Jazz, pop, occasional funk and R&B
Reason for pickup change: Boredom and interest in a tailored for fretless EQ section.

Perceived output level: Very smooth. It works well for fretless and is very broadband.
Tone: balanced
Sonic evaluation: This does work better than the EMG's it replaced. I do like the pull pot "fretless" pre-emphasis feature. It quickly gives you the typical fretless tone thing with the tone controls even flat. The tone controls are useful, though the thing is a little bit noiser than EMG tone circuits. This goes through an SWR Redhead, a Mesa 400 Plus, or direct into a monster PA. Seems to work in all these modes. While it can do the typical Jaco bridge pickup thing, the tonal variety and balance lets you explore a whole lot more viable places than that, not to discount that classic tone.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Fretless is probably not the metal head pickup. Really does work for funk, albeit a bit quirky in a nice way. It covers all the types of things I would use a fretless for nicely.

Comments: I do think I would replace the assembly (PU's and tone circuit) with the same thing if lost. I will tell you if you want quiet idealized Jazz Bass in a studio tone, the EMGs will probably make you happier. The Basslines Steve Bailey set though is far more interesting and a bit bigger sounding, more than compensating for the little bit of noise increase. I think it is my "grail tone" for the moment, particularly since I have finally found a string set that particularly clicks with it for what I hear in my head. Okay, it is personally a 10, but eccentric enough (I happen to LOVE ECCENTRIC!!!) that I have to think of all the "normal" bassists and give it an 8 for their sake.