So I have and old cheap Yamaha bass that has been discontinued I love the feel of it and the way it plays but the tone of the instrument is pretty low quality. I was wondering if it would be worth putting in nice pickups to try and improve my sound or if i should just buy a new bass entirely? I got the bass for $200 used and wasn't sure if putting $100 pickups would be overkill?
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beginners question about basses
- Thread starter shaftske
- Start date
I bought a used Yamaha fretless 4 a few years ago just to have a fretless to dub around with. It's a P-Bass copy all the way and is in good shape and plays well.
Well the tone was not that great, the controls were scratchy and one day the PUP
died. I bought a Fender P Bass pickup for $60 and 2 controls for $10.
Did the work myself and the sound improvement was worth the $70.
Well the tone was not that great, the controls were scratchy and one day the PUP
died. I bought a Fender P Bass pickup for $60 and 2 controls for $10.
Did the work myself and the sound improvement was worth the $70.
Maybe try new strings first if you haven't done so already. Cheaper, and can have a huge effect on sound. What is it that you are trying to achieve?
Its not a bad idea. You might even keep your nice pickups, and if you sell the Yamaha later put the stock ones back in it.
If you love the feel of the bass, I'd say that new pickups aren't a bad idea, and probably cheaper than buying a whole new bass that you may not like playing as much. What strings did you put on? If they were rounds, you can get the sound warmer by using flats. You could also see what happens with your tone by using a preamp - I got an MXR DI box used for about $50 and just run it into my amp, it helps my tone a lot.
"Old cheap Yamaha bass that's been discontinued" probably means an RBX260 or 270. My first bass was the former and have played the latter and yes, the pickups suck in both of them. I switched the pickups (and tuners) out and it sounded a million times better.
A $200 bass that feels good in your hands makes a great project bass, good for swapping out pickups, bridges and tuners while learning the basics. A project bass can also be a good keeper after you have progressed to other basses. If money is not an issue, I wouldn't let it go.
