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Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas worth it?

#103
Since i never touch the tone control myself, i remove the tone pot on my Passive mod Pro Mod PJ yesterday. Entire tone become slightly louder and squeeze out tiny amount of zingy top end.

Play through on Ampeg RB112 stack combo, with the SGT overdrive engage make the bass tone sound fuller , meaty and less zing . Now i can get vary of tone from Charvel PJ with blend pot tweak along with SGT grit on and off.

Bye bye tone control and active onboard preamp ...... plus zero spend on 9V batteries.
 
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#104
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#106
So I know a lot of people complain about the preamp on this bass. I don't personally find it that bad, but I am curious if the grass is greener and maybe a tad more versatility would be nice. Is swapping the preamp really that big of an upgrade?

What preamps/controls have people been installing that work well in this bass besides the Darkglass that was shown in the LowEndLobster video?
 
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#107
Yahboy said:
Update on my Pro-mod PJ.

The roasted neck are rock steady, i believe those reinforce rod are help a lot too.
My action setup on compound radius fretboard a bit different compare to my others bass guitar, i found both EA string set 1.6mm and DG string 1.5mm ( 17th fret check point ) give me the best fretting feel from 1st fret till last fret.
Unlike 2 Fender player P that i return previously , this bass has are no dirt, wood dust, paper shim or paint left on neck pocket , meanwhile has very nice and clean factory cavity shielding paint work on this unit too.

The tuning machine look pretty same to the set on Player Bass, but feel better quality for me.
Remove the bridge, i can feel it completely different compare to old day both full brass Baddass bridge and China Squier CV himass bridge. So far so good, nothing special .
Playing feel are nice and very close to my Squier Mattfreeman P bass. The neck profile also very close to my cheapo Bacchus J, not slim and skiny Fender J neck profile.

The bass tone are fine, nice and sound like PJ voice, but lack aggressive compare to my previous MOD Squier PJ which has same Dimarzio pickups set but passive ( 500K volume pot + 250MN blend pot ).
Seem Charvel did some tone tweak/bake in voice and make Dimarzio Model PJ sound different as usual.
The passive mode has warmth ,smooth and round tone. On active she sound crispy and crunch. No such blank, lifeless, dull and boring tone like Yamaha TRBX 500/600 YGD pickups and Ibanez bass with BH1/BH2 pickups.
Output on both mode are different , hot on active mode, but problem solve and become equal volume after fully dial back the preamp trim pot .
Honestly, i dont think the stock preamp sound suck at all, with just dial up tiny amount on both treble and mid knob, it sing with nice clarity along with right amount of growl . After the tweak, i can get 6 different usefull voice from it . Once again, stock onboard preamp not bad at all.

The only notable weak point are hiss found on active mode, getting worst once turn up both Treble and MID EQ knob. Not hum city as the lobster shown. After check carefully, i dont think it is cause by factory shielding issue. I success solve the problem with 2 wires connect from each pickups cavity to main cavity. Simple and work flawless.

View attachment 6989755

I dont think this bass worth for $1K , if compare to my CIC Squier Mattfreeman P and Bacchus BJB1RSM. But no others PJ with same price tag (or lower) has stuning look like this Charvel.
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Hi!! Looks Spectacular.

I'm thinking geting one myself (maybe white or the natural) but I'm confused about the neck width front to back and overall feel. Is It slim? Is It chuky?
For example from a Fender American P or J

Thanks!
 
#109
I recently got JJ V
But I find preamp makes noise as some user complained about it.

So I swapped it to 2band preamp, added passive tone control, and go for 2volume from 1 volume 1 balancer. Also I changed Dimarzio PU to Haeussel JB5 today and finally I am satisfied.

I felt this bass has a potential to be a great one when I bought it and I am right about it.
But equipped electronics aren’t good IMO
 
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#110
yutakesan said:
I recently got JJ V
But I find preamp makes noise as some user complained about it.

So I swapped it to 2band preamp, added passive tone control, and go for 2volume from 1 volume 1 balancer. Also I changed Dimarzio PU to Haeussel JB5 today and finally I am satisfied.

I felt this bass has a potential to be a great one when I bought it and I am right about it.
But equipped electronics aren’t good IMO
Click to expand...
Most noise with the oem preamp can be solved by just turning down the gain trimmer on the inside. And those area Js are pretty great, imo.

Anyway, glad you like the bass. Enjoy!
 
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#115
domer said:
I see that this bass in mystic blue is currently on sale for $499 at Adorama, very tempted to jump on this.

Invalid Link Removed
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I say GOPHER IT!

I love mine. I bought my blue one from Sweetwater, and the next day the white one went on sale for $500 at Adorama so I bought that, too. Both needed some additional fretwork but nothing too bad. Once that was done they took setups well and are great playing basses.

I bought an Audere that I think I'll stick in the blue one, and see what I think about it at that point. I'll say that the pickups aren't a good volume match with each other. The P is WAY louder on both basses. Rolling the blend knob is almost like a volume knob, so it's kinda trash for wanting to just quickly change tones on the fly. I'll probably end up completely gutting both of their electronics, aiming one towards wearing rounds, the other to flats.

1741112889630.png
 
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#116
Another data point here--

Went to GC to buy some strings, saw a Mystic Blue 4 string on "Clearance" for $499. Saw Lobster's video, and all the hand-wringing about the preamp a year prior, and figured for $499, I could swap the preamp our, or just convert it to passive, if it was that noisy.

It isn't noisy in the slightest, no 60Hz hum, no hissing, absolutely silent. And I wouldn't call it colored at all. Just a little extra sumpin'.

For the first time, I don't feel compelled to upgrade anything on this instrument, Charvel/Fender absolutely nailed it (for me). Talk about a versatile instrument. I would have been every bit as happy with it had I paid $1000 vs $499. it really is that well executed, I can't find anything to nitpick about it other than the excess wiring/birdsnest in the cavity, and that the preamp is potted, I really wanted to do a bit of amateur circuit analysis.

If anyone has any pictures of the stock preamp that hasn't been potted, I'd love to see it!:hyper:
 
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#117
Adorama is currently selling the Black and the White models for $499 with free shipping, using custom URLs that came from a store sales email (otherwise invisible on the website):

White: Invalid Link Removed

Black: Invalid Link Removed
 
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#118
Fernando Costa said:
I have one of these basses, it's a great instrument. There is no bass on the market with so many good features for this price. With all due respect to Lobster and your great review - as always - I think that instrument had issues. Mine has absolutely no noise, and the preamp isn't bad, it's just average. As a precaution I shielded the cavity and rearranged the wiring which is really a bit chaotic. It's very easy to do. The only "cons" of this bass are the tuners, like all Fender MIM tuners, they are very bad. Replacement hipshots do the trick. It is worth the investment because the bass is very cheap.
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Hi! Hipshot HB7 right?
 
#119
MoWBass said:
Hi! Hipshot HB7 right?
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superheavyfunk

Post in thread 'Reflections on the Charvel San Dimas Pro Mod IV (kinda long)'

superheavyfunk said:
Did you get the kickass bridge? I’m curious as to whether the kickass saddles would fit on the existing Charvel bridge, since they’re very similar in design.


As an update, I was wrong about this. I’ve since installed USA ultralights on my 5J. If you buy a set of 18” adapter bushings direct from Hipshot, they fit very nicely with a little bit of electrical tape around the business before installation!
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I’m back again to update this post - I should probably have started my own thread, since this one is basically dead lol

Anyway, the stock bridge is made by Kluson. I haven’t been able...
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