Quote:
Originally Posted by bassmanT  |
It's pretty hard to up grade a tribby to a USA. The differences are VERY subtle (I own both). And they involve things not easily "upgraded" like grain in the wood or choice of wood. I've noticed my Tribby has just a tad more hum in spite of me having shielded it with copper foil compared to the conductive paint of the USA. Why the USA is better I have NO idea! I like the tone and feel of the USA just a tiny bet better, but I assume that this is due to all manner of subtle construction ways built into the bass. It's a tiny difference anyway.
The idea that you can just change the pickups or bridge on a Tribby and turn it into a USA is pretty much misguided. It's ALREADY about as close to a USA as you can get without actually buying a USA.
If you want to mod a tribby to make it "better" I would strongly urge you to look into the "K-mod" which adds a kind of single coil thing. And if that's not enough you can look into adding a series parallel switch (this is not like the one on the bass which is series/parallel for the two pickup coils in each pickup, but rather series/parallel for neck and bridge pickups however set. And if that doesn't quite give you enough mods, look into "phantom power" through a TRS cable so you don't need batteries. A decent tech should be able to help you do these things.
And if you do these things your Tribby will be like my Tribby. Of course my USA has these mods too so it's still "slightly" ahead.
