I've seen quite a few bassists complain about the noise on earlier models, but it seems the issue's been taken care of judging by recent reviews.
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Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas worth it?
- Thread starter thorstiborsti
- Start date
Do you know of anybody who’s compared a Before and After? Mine just came in off of a backorder.
What do you mean exactly? Do you mean a preamp comparison or a noise shielding comparison? Or something else?
I got my San Dimas PJ V in Black last year 2022. Needed a back up to my main basses for those gigs where I didn't want to take the expensive poopie, or extra humid and hot gigs. When I got it, the neck is great, middle between my Fender AMII P V and my Fender Ultra Jazz V string spacing wise. But it did suffer from the dreaded noisy preamp, and didn't really feel like the bass had a lot of life in it. ( tried multiple strings brands to see and experiment) Since I already had a P and J, and I know those sounds by heart, I decided to install a Darkglass Tone Capsure preamp and 18V mod, and boom. It brought it to life. Punchy as hell, but I would admit more modern sounding that a lot of people would like. which is is fine by me. So I would recommend from a neck comfort and playability stand point. You will need to be the judge regarding the preamp. For me neck comfort is priority one since if the bass is uncomfortable to play, then I'm not gonna play it. the sound can be changed with the right components to fit the sound in your head.
Just a friendly reminder to everyone: There is a trimpot on the preamp. This controls the overall gain.
IME, basically all of the preamp noise can be dialed out simply by lowering the gain on this so that the level of the pickups when passive is the same as the level when the preamp is active.
IME, basically all of the preamp noise can be dialed out simply by lowering the gain on this so that the level of the pickups when passive is the same as the level when the preamp is active.
Sorry, I meant the preamp comparison. I saw Lobster’s videos about the shielding. Good stuff there.
That’s very helpful. I kind of like the baseline preamp level being higher, as when you use a fairly clean amp tone, the bass has more punch and pizazz. I also like knowing that I can plug into a high level or low level input and be able to switch the bass to match.
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Lobster has a vid where he swapped out the preamp for a darkglass tone capsule and bully tha kidd has one where he swapped out the pups and the pre with some EMG stuff
I just picked up a white 5. Thanks for the head's up!
I’m noticing that the A string on my San Dimas 5-string seems down in level compared to the adjacent strings, when I use the bridge pickup alone. The pickup is the stock DiMarzio. Is this unevenness likely an artifact of my terrible noob technique and playing dynamics?
It could be a product of one or all of a few things: Maybe your pickup height needs adjusting, maybe your amp can’t reproduce the lowest lows, maybe it’s technique or it could be the strings.
I’d suggest experimenting with one or all of these things and see what happens
Sorry, I should have said: The A string is my middle string. (My low string is a B for now.) Both the E and the D are usually louder, as are the B and the G… but only with the bridge pickup.) Is it normal to have to hit a string harder than the lower-tuned string next to it, to get the same volume on the same notes?
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Maybe I’m confused. You’re using a 5er or a 4 banger? I’ve got a 5er, myself. The ‘A’ is my middle, as you can see in this pic (sorry it’s upside down!):
The pickup poles are radiused, so technically, the middle string should be the loudest, if all of the strings were perfectly flat. Have you had your bass set up, professionally or otherwise?
Five-string bass. The middle is an A. The bass is brand new and bone stock; nothing has been done to it except tuning and wiping down the strings since I got it.
Then it definitely sounds like your problem is what I described. You should have your bass set up asap. I’ll bet that corrects the problem and also makes it easier to play.
Oh wait, I think I’ve been reading your post wrong all this time. You’re saying that your A string is quieter?? If that’s the case, I have no clue what the deal is.
It's really, really good. For the money I don't know if I've played a better 5, ever:
- Outstanding B string. Clear and usable up to the 10-12th fret.
- Great neck. Is this the standard Mexican Fender 5 neck shape? Not too big, not too small.
- Mine is on the lighter side - Dave's said 9.4lbs, but when I weighed it was 9.1. There is some neck dive.
- I like the preamp! I evened out the gain vs. passive via the trim pot and I really like how the blend/treb/mid/bass all work together.
- There is definitely some noise in a small office full of electronics, but on a gig with my bar band it was totally fine.
Glad to hear that you like it. It seems like a sweet spot in PJ 5-strings. Mine is right about 9.4 pounds and feels decently balanced. The neck feels thinner than I expected; it’s noticeably thinner than my Sterling RAY35 but about the same width. I’m very happy with mine so far.
