Charvel San Dimas 5 string PJ Sighting

[phillipkregg]

I know nothing about it myself, but this is the model in @LowEndLobster video of 3 best/worst that fell into worst category. Due to what others are alluding to… that the electronics are off and it is really noisy. Thread with that video - Lobster's Best and Worst of 2021

Edited to add: It does seem like a great bass if those issues got sorted!

Interesting!

Yeah, I suppose I'm more picky when it comes to playability and feel, and for me the San Dimas knocked that out of the park.

The preamp certainly wasn't as good as an FBass, MTD, or Sadowsky, but it also doesn't cost 4 grand. I think it was usable, but I'm sure everybody has their own opinions about those things. Felt like a solid platform though, and a preamp isn't a super expensive thing to swap out later on if you find it's just not working for you. I swapped out the preamp on my Fender Elite with a Sadowsky (Fender still can't make a good bass preamp IMO), and, to me, this bass honestly feels better quality than the Fender.

 

[Dave W]

Put some cream pickup covers on it and I'd rock the heck out of it!

 

[JW56789]

Looks great in that color, shocked it wasn't in Kawasaki dirt-bike green or hair-metal pink ! Interesting in that it's backwards to usual Fender practice where the 3-pole half of that 5-string P is usually under A-D-G.

 

[skyline_01]

Looks great in that color, shocked it wasn't in Kawasaki dirt-bike green or hair-metal pink ! Interesting in that it's backwards to usual Fender practice where the 3-pole half of that 5-string P is usually under A-D-G.

Reverse P seems to be all the rage, and the concept makes a lot of sense to me. Also, it seems that with this model they've moved the P pickup back toward the bridge pickup which should give it more clarity as well. I'm very interested in hearing this model through a good rig.

 

[JW56789]

Skyline, my experience, FWIW:

The idea was with the 'bass half' closer to the fingerboard, and the 'treble half' closer to the bridge, well you E and A was a bit too bassy, and the D and G was a little twangy. So, let's reverse them and get a little tighter E and A and a little warmer D and G.

I owned more than a few 80's BB's like that, and other PBass-style axes in the traditional layout, and I can't honestly say what I may have heard was an obvious difference between the two layouts, and if I heard any difference at all I'd think it would have been the pickups themselves and not the layout. Certainly not a night and day difference for me.

As always, your ears may hear things differently.

I just noticed this on the Charvel as it's a bit aggravating as the industry has STILL not settled on whether 5-string Precision pickups will 'standardize' on a 3+2 shell size, or a 3+3 shape/rout.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

The five string version looks great. I played the four string and thought it was nice: