Any noticeable improvement in fitting a Badass to a Fender American Deluxe bass?

[1976fenderhead]

I'm going to have pickups and preamp replaced soon and wondering whether I should get a Badass in there while at it? Can someone who's replaced the same stock bridge tell me if it's worth it?

[RustyAxe]

Anyone who has done it will probably say "yes". But there are many of us who have played basses with aftermarket bridges who are just as convinced that it makes no difference in tone. Personally, I see no reason to replace the stock bridge on any of my Fenders.

[Grissle]

They react different to different basses, on my TBird there was no real change however on my Jag, wow! The B (BEAD tuning) string is simply incredible now. So unfortunately you won't know until you try it. But you may want to wait till all your other mods are done, you might like it how it is and not want to change anything else? Plus BA bridges are quickly becoming impossible to find.

[1976fenderhead]

Originally Posted by Grissle

Plus BA bridges are quickly becoming impossible to find.

Yeah, why's that? I heard the guy's sick? Is the company over or something?

[ironrat]

on my Pbass copy it made it brighter

and I use Chromes

[spiker]

I find the Badass improves the tension and stability of the strings and makes them more responsive after a hard whack of the fingers, this is because they are more solidly constructed than the stocks which are prone to saddles moving sideways (if you hit the strings as hard as i do).
The con to having a badass is that you'll need to spend a bit of time getting bridge saddle height downpat i've found. If you like low action it could take some time getting right, but it's not a big enough con to not buy the bridge. Get the bridge with pre-grooved saddles

[Sinclair]

I don't think it'll worth swapping the bridge.. (related to the Am Dlx series)

The saddles can't move on the stock bridge (grooves under the screws). They are threaded, so you can adjust the string spacing without a problem. And finally it's a string through body bridge.. you would need to replace it with a Badass III (3 mounting holes).

[Kirk Bryant]

I had a mexi Jazz bass that had both wolf tones and dead spots and when I bought a high mass (Pedulla) bridge from one of the guys I worked with @ Bass Player Mag. and put it on the Jazz all of those problems dissapeared.
With that discovery I modded almost everything on the bass and now it's one of the best sounding basses I own & I have 10.
So I think a high mass bridge can be a good thing. That said I do own more than one that has a "standard" type bridge.

peace....rock on......Capt Kirk

[Sinclair]

IMHO you can't really compare that MIM bridge with an Am Dlx..

Don't get me wrong - my HighwayOne has got a BadAss on it and it's great - but the stock Am Dlx one is great, too

[joeydavidson]

Originally Posted by Kirk Bryant

I had a mexi Jazz bass that had both wolf tones and dead spots and when I bought a high mass (Pedulla) bridge from one of the guys I worked with @ Bass Player Mag. and put it on the Jazz all of those problems dissapeared.
With that discovery I modded almost everything on the bass and now it's one of the best sounding basses I own & I have 10.
So I think a high mass bridge can be a good thing. That said I do own more than one that has a "standard" type bridge.

peace....rock on......Capt Kirk

I'm gonna look into getting a high mass bridge for my mexi jazz now.

[WildTrkey]

I think a high quality low mass bridge trumps any high mass bridge on the market. This can go on for days, but for everything you gain by slapping a badass on your Fender, there is something you lose in return.

[mongo2]

Try the BadAss and see if you like it.