If anybody wants one, pm me. My hit saved the template so he can make more anytime.
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2021 Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas Bass
- Thread starter P Cheen
- Start date
Cross-posted by me in another thread:
I recently bought one of the PJ V's in the TB Classifieds. It was described as mint, and while it's definitely not mint (scratch on the back, and a ding out of the wood next to the G string tuner on the headstock, plus a terrible packing job - crickets from the seller), it is a very impressive bass, and fortunately survived the journey.
What an insane value these are! Compound radius fretboard, rolled edges, Luminlay side dots, roasted maple neck, active/passive switch, knobs with detentes and embossed arrow indicators, wheel truss rod adjust, alnico magnet pickups, and a sparkle finish.
I've played it twice now at band practice, and the second time brought my MarkBass combo amp because the drummer had a new snare he wanted to try out. Normally, we're all in-ears. Punchy!!! Holy crap!! So punchy, with the EQ set flat, either passive or active. Lots of gain in either mode. Neither time nor at home have I noticed any noise from the preamp, dead silent, and the preamp is very usable. I'd call the tone definitely not vintage, there's a clank that wants to come through regardless of my attack, but it's a musical clank. It can be toned down via the EQ, and I'm sure I could remove it with a change of strings, but for now I like it so it's staying. I had to keep the volume on the bass adjusted fairly low in both passive and active mode, as the pickups seem to be quite high output.
The neck is the real treat with this though. I've never played a more comfortable five string neck. I'm not sure what the string spacing is, but it seems narrower than my Fenders, yet it plays very, very fast. My fingers on both hands know exactly where to go. No neck dive either, and overall weight I'd guess to be slightly over 9 Lbs, not bad at all for a five string.
For reference, I also own and regularly play two American Pro Precision V's (a Pro and a Pro II), a Stingray Special V, an American Deluxe Dimension V, and an MTD Kingston Saratoga V. All my other basses are IV's. My Pro II P V, which I love, regularly gets tone compliments from my guitar player, he doesn't want me to play anything else, but I can see the Charvel easily taking top spot for me due to the comfort factor, and the tones are all useful in what we play.
Anybody on the fence about these, time to check them out. Well worth the dough, especially if you're considering a Player/Player Plus, a Ray35, a Sire, anything else in that price range, or if you've been looking for a five string P bass. Don't be turned off by the reverse split coil - it's an improvement for a 5-string in my opinion, and the difference is similar to the difference you might experience just doing a pickup swap from stock to something else. Tight bottom, warm highs. Five stars.
I recently bought one of the PJ V's in the TB Classifieds. It was described as mint, and while it's definitely not mint (scratch on the back, and a ding out of the wood next to the G string tuner on the headstock, plus a terrible packing job - crickets from the seller), it is a very impressive bass, and fortunately survived the journey.
What an insane value these are! Compound radius fretboard, rolled edges, Luminlay side dots, roasted maple neck, active/passive switch, knobs with detentes and embossed arrow indicators, wheel truss rod adjust, alnico magnet pickups, and a sparkle finish.
I've played it twice now at band practice, and the second time brought my MarkBass combo amp because the drummer had a new snare he wanted to try out. Normally, we're all in-ears. Punchy!!! Holy crap!! So punchy, with the EQ set flat, either passive or active. Lots of gain in either mode. Neither time nor at home have I noticed any noise from the preamp, dead silent, and the preamp is very usable. I'd call the tone definitely not vintage, there's a clank that wants to come through regardless of my attack, but it's a musical clank. It can be toned down via the EQ, and I'm sure I could remove it with a change of strings, but for now I like it so it's staying. I had to keep the volume on the bass adjusted fairly low in both passive and active mode, as the pickups seem to be quite high output.
The neck is the real treat with this though. I've never played a more comfortable five string neck. I'm not sure what the string spacing is, but it seems narrower than my Fenders, yet it plays very, very fast. My fingers on both hands know exactly where to go. No neck dive either, and overall weight I'd guess to be slightly over 9 Lbs, not bad at all for a five string.
For reference, I also own and regularly play two American Pro Precision V's (a Pro and a Pro II), a Stingray Special V, an American Deluxe Dimension V, and an MTD Kingston Saratoga V. All my other basses are IV's. My Pro II P V, which I love, regularly gets tone compliments from my guitar player, he doesn't want me to play anything else, but I can see the Charvel easily taking top spot for me due to the comfort factor, and the tones are all useful in what we play.
Anybody on the fence about these, time to check them out. Well worth the dough, especially if you're considering a Player/Player Plus, a Ray35, a Sire, anything else in that price range, or if you've been looking for a five string P bass. Don't be turned off by the reverse split coil - it's an improvement for a 5-string in my opinion, and the difference is similar to the difference you might experience just doing a pickup swap from stock to something else. Tight bottom, warm highs. Five stars.
Anyone know the exact string spacing at the bridge and nut width? I'm getting different results in my research.
I've got the JJ V in Green, it came with a defunct preamp so got it on EBay cheap. So far i've put a Glockenklang 3 Band in it which has a passive tone control on the treble pot when switched into that mode, makes the passive mode infinitely more useable, sounds great with the stock pickups, so won't be changing those. I feel like it had neck dive, so swapped out the original tuners for some gold Hipshot ultra lights, now balances like a dream!!! Last night shimmed the neck as i'd maxed out the saddles on the bridge and felt it could go lower. It is now perfect, fast and low but with zero buzz. i'm so impressed with the comfort of this 5 string, i'd put it now on par with my old Roscoe Beck 5, and Xotic 5 strings.
In short if you can get one cheap and spend a little on it, it becomes a monster!
In short if you can get one cheap and spend a little on it, it becomes a monster!
It was posted in one of the threads about this bass over the last couple years. I think it was 18mm?
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread.
A small favour from someone who owns any of these basses (JJ, PJ, IV, V). Would you please be able to let us know where the pickups are placed, in relation to the open-string harmonics? As in, when you lightly touch the strings around where and directly above the pickups, which harmonics are playing?
For example, on my Flea Jazz Bass, the neck pickup sits between the harmonics 2 octaves + major 3rd and 2 octave + 5th up, with the back pickup screws sitting directly under the 2 octaves + 5th harmonic. The bridge pickup sit directly below the 3 octaves + 5th up harmonic.
I hope this makes sense! I haven't been able to find one of these in any stores near me, and this would be greatly helpful.
A small favour from someone who owns any of these basses (JJ, PJ, IV, V). Would you please be able to let us know where the pickups are placed, in relation to the open-string harmonics? As in, when you lightly touch the strings around where and directly above the pickups, which harmonics are playing?
For example, on my Flea Jazz Bass, the neck pickup sits between the harmonics 2 octaves + major 3rd and 2 octave + 5th up, with the back pickup screws sitting directly under the 2 octaves + 5th harmonic. The bridge pickup sit directly below the 3 octaves + 5th up harmonic.
I hope this makes sense! I haven't been able to find one of these in any stores near me, and this would be greatly helpful.
That is about the strangest question I've ever heard haha. No offence meant… I've just never heard anything like that before and have absolutely no clue how to answer. I guess I just don't know enough about harmonics and such. Hopefully someone else can help!
Ha. No offence taken. It just tells where where exactly the pickups are placed. Actually, even if someone has a tape measure and could measure from the 12th fret, that would be really helpful.
- Sep 3, 2006
- 4,358
- 6,117
- Disclosures
- Authorized dealer for Dingwall, Genzler, Phil Jones Bass, Cort, Traynor, Yorkville Sound
I posted in the other Charvel thread; didn't know if there was a main thread. Saw some earlier posts saying the 5-string was 35" scale. But the ones currently for sale at Charvel & SW are 34". Did they make 2 versions?
- Aug 21, 2003
- 11,619
- 18,701
- Disclosures
- A-Designs Mike Lull GK Tsunami Cables GHS Strings RMI Basswitch Nordstrand Pickups Darkglass
That's a holdover from a mistake on their early ad copy. The videos and posts about it are still around, even though the copy has since been corrected.
- Sep 3, 2006
- 4,358
- 6,117
- Disclosures
- Authorized dealer for Dingwall, Genzler, Phil Jones Bass, Cort, Traynor, Yorkville Sound
