Nordstrand Big Blademan - Ultimate Stingray Strange Pickup Guide 2022 Edition - LowEndLobster Builds
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- Опубліковано 3 гру 2022
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ULTIMATE STINGRAY STRANGE PICKUP GUIDE 2022 ED. VIDEO LINKS:
Intro & Preamp Install: • Ultimate Stingray Stra...
Norstrand Big Blademan: • Nordstrand Big Bladema...
Turner Multicoil 4: • Turner Multicoil 4 - U...
Norstrand Bigman: • Nordstrand Bigman - Ul...
Delano Hybrid 4: • Delano Hybrid 4 - Ulti...
MEC M 60104: • MEC M 60104 CB - Ultim...
BONUS Pickup: • Novak BS-DS Bisonic - ...
Comparison & Wrap Up: • Comparison & Finale - ...
Hey Everyone! We're starting this Stingray Strange Pickup Guide with an awesome pickup from Nordstrand Audio, the Big Blademan. With a ceramic design and two zen blade J pickups underneath this music man housing, this pickup is going to produce some powerful, clear, bright tones. Let's check it out paired in series and parallel with our DiMarzio 500k push/pull pot and the Trickfish IPA onboard preamp.
Big thank you to Trickfish Amplification for providing their IPA preamp for this video series. Find more about that preamp here: www.trickfishamps.com/shop/in...
Nordstrand Big Blademan: nordstrandaudio.com/products/...
Delano Hybrid 4: www.delano.de/hybrid_4/hybrid...
Nordstrand Bigman 4: nordstrandaudio.com/products/...
Turner Multicoil 4: www.turnerpickups.com/
MEC M 60104 CB: shop.warwick.de/en/parts-for-...
This bass and all my other basses with rounds are strung with SIT Foundation Nickel Plated Stainless Steel 45-105(125) unless otherwise noted. Check them out at sitstrings.com/
Info on my signal chain, setup and more: • FAQ: My Signal Chain, ...
Discord: discord.gg/dzrFMzD
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Instagram: LowEndLobster
Reverb Shop: reverb.com/shop/lowendlobster
Whoa! So compared to stock I feel like the treble shifted down. It's not as brittle but still really present. And this has so much more mids that the scooped setting has a lot of mids still. Big fan of this!
you have to really listen super close to tell a difference. The stock music man pickup seems to have a higher bandwidth in the upper register and the nordstrum seems to have more emphasis on the extreme low end. it is very subtle difference.
I heard the kitty! Also the Nordy seems kind of hi-fi or more "open" than the stock pup, but both sound quite good.
Would LOVE LOVE LOVE for you to take this same process and technique, and apply it to available 5-string aftermarket pickups for Stingray type basses.
That's a killer sounding pickup, aggressive but very tasteful.
Top of the morning to you Lobster! Pickup sounded killer!! The low end has a great oomph. :) love it!
Killer pickup. You can hear the attack of the note so much clearer. Maybe I should have gone for this one... but let's wait for the rest of them to be tested :) Thanks Lobster.
This is going to be a great series
I installed the Big Blademan 5 in my Sterling Ray5 earlier this year, along with the Nordstrand 3 band pre-amp to give it mid controls. I get a lot of compliments on my sound with it playing live, cuts through the mix very well. And for about $400 in upgrades, and a total of $700 into the bass, its on par with the American Ernieball. I have it wired in Parrell.
I put a set of Zen Blades in an '03 Schecter Stiletto Deluxe. Crazy fast bass with clarity and punch. One thing I did notice was some hiss in the setup. I fixed that by using a Nordstrand pre-amp with a passive tone control. Just roll the highs back about 15%-ish like you normally would on a darker passive bass and she sounds like a million bucks.
If you check Nordstrands preamps there are 2 that have the full-time passive tone control(ie. passive tone and preamp at the same time) wired up. I used one of those.
Awesome demo and review, lobster. 😎🤘🏻🎸 that pickup sounds nice. It has a loud clear tone. I’ve been curious about nordstrand’s big blade series of pickups and truthfully I like what I hear from these pickups. I would consider getting a set of big blade pickups if I ever need to upgrade one of my basses. Also the bass sounds great when played with a pick. Great tone for metal. 🤘🏻🎸
Have to admit I am not a fan of MM pickups wired in series, but the Big Blademan sounds amazing this way!
Man, that is a nice sounding pickup! So much fatter and smoother then the stock pickup! Nordstrand makes really good stuff. I have a Yamaha Broad Bass with the Nordstrand PJ hum-canceling set and the Nordstrand 2-band boost only preamp. Great electronics!
Great idea for a series of vids. Really interested to hear the rest but if I’m totally honest, I couldn’t hear enough of a difference to justify the swap on this one. Hoping for greater things to come!
Sweet sounding Nordy! That’s one hell of an opener.
But it was totally upstaged by that pickguard 😁
I never have been able to tell much difference between series and parallel no matter the pick-up.... I also think the stock pup sounds pretty good...
I think the most interesting thing to me in this and the previous video is how much that new pre-amp improved the stock pickup.
very good sound !!!
Great work!
I´d love to see you install and demo a Herrick split P pickup. Very good and more mellow sounding MM pickup. That would be awesome!!
Very great sounding pup! To me it has more clarity, and more burp to it,
This series was a great idea, Lobster. Except for the fact that you are probably going to make me spend more money. Wiring those stock pickups to parallel was a huge improvement, but they really pick up a lot of string noise now, and are overall a bit harsh. That Nordy really helps out a lot with that. Can't wait to here the others in comparison.
I like the stock better. Great video comparison!
Definitely more Clarity & Punch, in the mids and treble areas of the sound, with the new N'strand pickup.
❤️❤️🎸🎸👍
Love the pickguard! I am contemplating putting an active EMG pickup in my RAY 5. Here the thing, I'm might try it as an passive EQ. I have that in my 78' Jazz bass. I got them because of 60 cycle hum, now I would get them for the tone. If I don't like that I'll put the BTC preamp in. I very much welcome your feedback'
I skimmed the comments and didn’t see this mentioned:
The Big Blade Man has 2 J-Blades in it, not Zen Blades. Zen blades are hum-cancelling side-winder pickups. The J-blades are regular single coils with the blade.
Outside of that, so far I like the BigBladeMan over the multi coil pickup. The BladeMan also works well with the 500k volume pot. The Nord JC preamp designed to be used with these also utilizes a 500k volume pot.
Thanks for the correction on the pickup type!
Big improvement over stock
The pickup is definitely an upgrade ! 🤔😎🎸🎶
The stock PU (in Series) sounds much better with the Trickfish preamp than with the stock preamp. For a less expensive mod, you can only replace the stock preamp
Wow! Just NOW seeing this. Still has that stingray sound but not with all that “sizzle” (that I call it) on the top. Sounds more mellower than the stock. Might replace the MM classic 5 string with that pickup! Great demo Lobster!🤨🎶🎸👍🏾
Lobsteeer! You need to try the Big Blademan with a Lusithand NFP. Been eyeing that setup for a while but I've seen nobody try it 🥲 looking forward to the rest of the pickups!
I have a NFP and the pickup handy :). We have the technology
@@LowEndLobster (puts on sunglasses) YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH 😎
@@LowEndLobster
Now, you need the soundtrack music from The Six Million Dollar Man. 🤪😀❤️❤️🎸
There is quite the variety when it comes to MM-style pickups. I wonder if you will be checking the Bartolini quad.
As on might expect, improved response with the Nordstrand pickup. Also some noticeable noise too, I suppose everything has a cost.
Nordstrand really gets a great tone from ceramic magnets, as in example here. Nothing to improve on, where most makers get a tinny or thin sound; not here. Makes me rethink my avoidance of ceramic magnets.
@lowendlobster are you sure they're two zen blades? The Nordstrand product description says this pickup is just two jazz blades. Zen blades are sidewinders
Morning Lobster!
Morning BCC!
Sounds real good 1 little thing when you were playing finger style on the pick up feels 2 me like the strings are 2 close too the pick up thats all .keep on grooving
Hi L. What is the bridge you are using on this bass? Looks nice
Lobster. If my stingray pickups only has 3 wires can I still convert it from series to parallel?
Lob,
Are Musicman Basses meant more for (hard) rock and funk ?
Would love to get my hands on a pair of Big Blademan, as well as the accompanying JC-3b pre-amp! I'm so sad I sold my Warwick Corvette $$ Proline. It would have been the perfect platform for that electronics combo.
You're not the only one who's been thinking about a $$ with that pickup/preamp combo...
@@kharybaker868 I'm sure many have ever since Warwick released their Justin Chancellor video! Would be interesting to know which (if any) songs he used the Warwick on Fear Inoculum. I do still have an urge to buy a new Warwick, but right now I'm thinking of buying a G&L L-2500 Tribute instead. I feel that they have the same kind of punch/growl, but with much more pleasant highs. Super versatile as well! It could save me enough money to buy one, or two, other basses to use for more specific tones (e.g a shortscale with flats and a fretless jazz maybe).
@@nj1255 and of course you absolutely can't go wrong with a G&L. I'm determined to have one in my collection in the future.
Trickfish IPa or Aguilar OBP3 ?
Lobster, I have a question: do you use any kind of High-pass filter in your recording rig? I'm using Sennheiser headphones that go all the way down to 20Hz and whatever bass I play at home, I can hear the loose low frequencies that need controlling/mitigation... yet in all your reviews those frequencies are absent.
It's probably the practice amp that I play through. My goal is to play through an inexpensive practice rig representative of hobbyists and bedroom players to best demonstrate what their experience would be. My little orange amp definitely has some build in (and sadly non adjustable) compression.
@@LowEndLobster Ah that explains it then. I like your mindset on the rig - it also goes to show that you don't need to spend thousands to get decent sound. Your rig especially sounds excellent. Doesn't colour the sound with the classic "boxy" cheap amp sound and the only thing it seems to do to the original sound is rid you of those unruly ultra low frequencies.
Thank you for your reply, review and everything else Lobster. Maybe some day I'll post a video to show you what I've done with my custom bass, I think you'd like what I did. It even has removeable counterweights to fine-tune the balance on the lap :)
Wow, the difference is dramatic! I really like this one. The output is too high for my needs (much hotter than in my other basses - just like the original SUB pickup, which is an issue at gigs) but the tone is great! I want to change the pickup in my SUB 5 some time in the future but, as you already know, the string spacing is narrower than in the US Stingray and higher Sterling models, which excludes most pickups. I don't really like EMGs so I was thinking about the Delano MC5 HE/S. As far as I know, it has bar polepieces so string spacing isn't an issue here. I'm also thinking about dropping a Delano JC5 in the bridge position of my fretless 5 (same issue with spacing - I replaced the original ultra low output pickup with a Polish-made Merlin and while it's a great sounding pickup the spacing doesn't match with the polepieces which makes the D string sound like one big dead spot). Do you have any experience with Delanos, especially these particular models, and if yes, what's your opinion?
I replaced my Sterling Ray5 with the big blademan, string spacing isnt an issue, because of the blades. I also replaced the preamp with a nordstrand 3 band one, with mid control. I didnt need to replace the housing, because it has a stack treble/bass pot. Bene very happy with the upgrades.
@@MJDardas thanks for the reply! Thing is, the Big Blademan is quite expensive - the difference between this and the Delano is quite big for an underpaid Pole ;-)
GamersNexus!
Really like your videos, but I never liked Nordstrand PUs ... and they are everywhere .... I don't get why. But people seem to like this sound ...
Personally I love their midrange presence, but I completely understand why some don't like them.
Not liking these. Too dark and muddy.
A lot of fret buzz.
I actually thought the stock pick up sounded better but not being in the room could alter what I think. EMG IS STILL THE KING