Product: Bartolini ZBS-80
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
11/30/2005
at
04:14pm
by
Dave T.
Features
:
Pickup features: Passive Full Size Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: 20K ohms, but still has plenty of highs
Instrument
:
Model of guitar or bass: Custom Strat Style
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: None, New Installation
Other pickups on guitar: Dimarzio Hot Mini Humbucker (neck position)
Artists using this pickup: Me!
You musical style(s): Blues, Classic Rock, Eighties Metal
Reason for pickup change: Nothing Replaced, New Installation
Sound
:
No Opinion
Perceived output level: Hot, but not over the top
Tone: Trebly W/500K Pots, Balanced W/250K Pots
Sonic evaluation: The ZBS-80 was tested in a homemade Strat style guitar, with a mahogany body and neck, and an ebony fretboard. The ZBS-80 surprised me in that it had the brightness of a vintage design, with the drive
of a high output model. The brightness was a bit much for both clean and distortion, and I was a little disappointed at first. Then I changed out the 500K pots for 250K pots using a .01 tone cap. This
smoothed out the top end, fattened up the midrange while the low end
remained clear and tight. This is a very interesting pickup and I do like it, as nothing else I've tried (and I've tried a lot) sounds quite the same. If your looking for something different, this might be for you, for me it's a keeper. Also, It must be said, that Phil Bergeron at pickupcentral.com went above and beyond the call of duty in helping find the right pickup. Great prices and awesome customer service, I highly recommend them!
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This is a very interesting pickup in that it has a much wider frequency response than most high output pickups. It reminds me a little of a Bill Lawrence L-500XL, but with more midrange character. I also have a pullpot on the tone control to switch the pickup from series to parallel making this pickup even more versatile. Wired up this way, I think this pickup could cover almost any style of music, and could also work well in the neck position.
Overall Rating
:
8
Comments: With the 250K pots installed, there is nothing I dislike about this pickup. I would purchase this pickup again, as I find it quite unique in sound, and compliments the more traditional sounding pickups in my other guitars. Pickups in my other guitars include Dimarzios, Duncans, Bardens and Shadows. I play mostly through custom Strat style guitars, and a variety of TUBE(Fender, Marshall and Laney amps)amps. I've been playing for 25 years, hope this review helps. Thanks Phil at pickupcentral.com
