MTD KZ5 - What Pup's to get?????

[Slappersgotoheaven]

So, I just purchased this one and love...love....love....the feel of it, but the pup's are really the weak point of this bass. Compared to my Lakland 55-01 with Bart's (Mk-1) the Lakland has a ton more output and more spank. I was thinking about Nordstrand Big Splits or Big Singles, but I also like Bartolini's. What are your goto pup's??????

[MykeMyke]

I've heard you can send them to Michael Tobias and he'll put bart pups and electronics in it.

I've put barts in mine and an aguilar opb-3 in it .

[Slappersgotoheaven]

I've heard you can send them to Michael Tobias and he'll put bart pups and electronics in it.

I've put barts in mine and an aguilar opb-3 in it .

What barts did you put in? I was looking at the MK5's. How much difference did the aguilar make compared to the stock pre?

[DWBass]

Either US Barts or Nordies. I put Nordie Big Splits in my Lakland. I wanted US Barts but they were back-ordered for the longest so I gave in to Nordies. They sound good but I miss that Bart sound and eventually I will replace them with the Barts.

[floaded27]

I put Nordstrand Big Singles and a Nordstrand pre. A big step up from the stock electronics. Not as hot as the Aguilar pre but warm with some tonal flexibility.

[musicmandan]

It might not be the pups. Change the pre and pups one at a time and see if you get the sound you want. I have the same bass. Started with an aguilar3 and it sounded great. After some problems with that I switched to a bart. Still sounds great. The pups are original.

[Slappersgotoheaven]

Thanks for the resposnes everyone! Here is an update that I wanted to share. Last night I sent an email to MTD through their MTD USA website. I got a response within 30 minutes of sending the email. What makes this cool is that the email actually came from Michael Tobias. I will say that this is First Class Customer Service! He suggested that I get in contact with a company in Florida that has special order Bartolini pup's and pre's that are made specifically for MTD Z's. I am going to call them this morning to see what they say.

[Musicman_00]

I have been looking into SGD Pickups. SGD-lutherie.com sound clips sound very clean. He sells pre's but don't know a lot about them. BassMods pre's ( I have on in my Ibanez) sound awesome. Clean. Very clean. has a gain control and comes in a lot of different configurations, comes pre soldered so all you have to do is solder the pickups to the pre. (if you know how to solder)

[Slappersgotoheaven]

Just a quick update on this one: I really just wasn't happy enough with the bass to really justify putting $300 or more into changing out the pup's and pre. So, I sold it. I think that was the shortest time frame for me keeping a bass. The same day I just went ahead and ordered me another Lakland 55-01. I really like my Laklands.......