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Badass Bridge: Worth It?

#68
Ripper said:
I just put a BAII on my schools MIM jazz... I like it, but the action is ungodly high (DB+ action)!!! does anyone know what size allen wrench i need to lower the saddles? i grabbed the smallest one in my shop and it was still too big! so does anyone know what size it is? :help:
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The height saddles on the BAII adjust with a SAE type .050 allen wrench. They are the smallest size availible out of all the allen wrenches you'd be able to find in a hardware store.

IME, the BA gives you a ton of sustain, a little more brightness, and a "CLARITY" of the note you're playing that is just great. The low-end is there assuming you don't cut it or solo the bridge Pup, and the clarity of the note is almost guarunteeing that it will cut through the mix. I love em. I have on on a Geddy, and I have one on my Fernendes P-bass, and I had one on my Fretless MIM when it was still mine, and the BAII only made it better.
 
#69
Earwigger said:
IME, the BA gives you a ton of sustain, a little more brightness, and a "CLARITY" of the note you're playing that is just great. The low-end is there assuming you don't cut it or solo the bridge Pup, and the clarity of the note is almost guarunteeing that it will cut through the mix.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The odd thing is I could here the difference more in the mix than just stand alone. Seems impossible, but I changed the bridge out in the middle of practice, sounded a bit brighter with a bit better sustain, jumped back in the mix and BAM!..huge difference. I was using my T-40 a lot instead of the P bass due to the E getting lost. The BA II changed that. I also suspect that it's different form bass to bass. Lots of people say they don't hear any difference. To me there was an easily detectable diff. My Pbass is Ash but VERY light for a 77. Maybe it helps more on this as opposed to one of those 12 lb'ers you usually get form that era? :confused:
 
#70
That depends on what bass it's for.The Fender American series bass really don't need it,I think they are a good bridge.
My son has a mim jazz that needs a better bridge because the string height adjustment screws keep backing out and the saddles drop,one of the screws actually fell out and got lost, (they are just not milled to very tight tolerences)although I fixed it with a little loc-tite and it seems to work well.
I have a 51R.I P-bass that would not intonate well so I put a BAIII on it and all is well. My local music store had a longer wait time for the Fender Am.series bridge than the BA,so I went with the BA(because I'm impatient).the BA is a nice bridge(string-thru or top load,pre-cut saddles and machined well).did it change the sound?,not really,maybe a little more sustain,but thats NOT why I bought it..looking back now,I kinda wish I got the Fender just to keep all the parts Fender and if I decide to put the covers on,they'll fit over the Fender but not the BA. other than that,Im happy with the BAIII
 
#71
I have the BA II on my '80 Fender Precision (along with a few other mods such as Hipshot D-tuner and SD Quarter Pounder P and J Pickups), and I have to say it definitely is an improvement in terms of a brighter, clearer tone with great sustain. Also, this bass now has one of the most solid and lively sounding E strings I have ever heard on a bass, period.

Although the addition of the new pickups made more of a difference in the tone (of course), this bridge definitely was a good move - and by the way, I did NOT cut grooves in the saddles! The strings do not move, and the sound is perfect as - is, so I saw no reason to mess with it.

I recently put a BA II on my Rick 4003 (I had put a Schaller on it years ago), and it was also an improvement (mainly on the E string). This Rick's E string was always weak - for lack of a better term. Switching to the BA brought the output and sustain of the E more in line with the rest of the strings. The Rick is almost useable now... (Although with that customized P-bass, and my Spector Euro, it's never likely to see much playing - let alone recording - time!) I did have grooves cut in the saddles for the Rick, by the way.

All in all, I'd say the BadAss is 2 for 2. :)
 
#75
Similarly to Gastambide (above, #72) I did NOT file any grooves in the saddles of my BA II - the strings don't move around at all. I can't really say if sustain is any better than before, but the saddles DO tend to stay where they are set.

To answer the question, "Is it worth it?" I would have to confess; Not really. It was a fun experiment, but expensive ($100 retail price here in Japan).
 
#76
The mass of the bridge is the primary difference between stock and pretty much any other bridge you can buy. The heavier it is, the less the body soaks up vibrations, but this isn't always noticeable enough to make it worth it. The saddles make the second most important part, on a standard bent metal Fender bridge the saddles have no guides to rest their height adjustment screws in on the plate and they slide all over the place. If you play really hard you will lose a little bit more sustain than the average player. Is this noticeable or not? No idea, I still have the original on my J-bass but I plan on switching mine out, I just haven't decided what bridge to get yet. The final difference for bridges are in the saddle grooves (or rollers if you have a roller style bridge), and this is mainly for your p/ups. Different p/ups sometimes have different spacing between pole pieces, so the added touch of being able to adjust precisely where your strings rest over the p/ups can have an effect on the sound of your bass. Everything else is preference and marketing.

That being said, does anyone have experience with the schaller 463 bridge? I'm looking to switch my stock bridge out because I'm one of the aforementioned aggressive players.
 
#79
They way I look at a badass or any other high quailty increased mass bridge is that it improves a bass with problems but doesn't neccessarily make a bass that already has excellent sustain with the stock bridge "better". I've had a Badass on my 73 Jazz for 25 years. Back then I was young and didn't know anything but I "think" it improved the sustain. Fast forward to the age of Geezerdom and 55 basses later and I have a Fender Japan non-export 32" scale J bass with the "crappy" stock bridge and it has sustain for days, wouldn't think of changing anything on it. The sustain has more to do with the quailities of the wood and overall construction. But, again, if you have a bass that has a PROBLEM with abnormally poor sustain then a high-quaility increased mass bridge would be a reasonable course of action to try first.
 

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