Guy I played with in the early 80's had a Japanese Yamaha BB. Seemed like a pretty awesome bass.
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Cheap Bass Reality Check
- Thread starter Pocket Dave
- Start date
Guy I played with in the early 80's had a Japanese Yamaha BB. Seemed like a pretty awesome bass.
- Apr 22, 2016
- 780
- 1,221
- 49
- Disclosures
- Breaking even is the new making money.
So, prior to having a custom bass built last year, I have routinely swapped out pups / pots on almost every bass I've ever had, because like you, I've been pretty unsatisfied with most stock pups, and then they always need to be set up to get the action I like.
I kinda just feel this is a routine thing from my point of view with any factory bass. For me it's about the neck, the fretboard, and the balance. If you can achieve this at a lower price point, I think you win at GAS haha.
Outstanding budget cheapo bass I ever own on current day under 300 bucks. Bacchus BJB1RSM.
Bought a cheapo Gamma P here for 4 large. Added a Hipshot Detuner, Dunlop Straplocks, EXL170 strings, GZR pup, a hand-painted pickguard, and most importantly, the knobs that brought down Talkbass.
This bass will now melt your face without prejudice.
This bass will now melt your face without prejudice.
Nice "set" of fretless basses. I like your customizing.that's all i play these days = cheap axes that i can convert to fretless (neck swaps) + upgrade hardware/electronics. i'm on a 'lightweight' kick (old age) so that's part of it, too. i've never played better instruments (in terms of 'feel')! you couldn't buy anything comparable off the rack.
i used to have custom axes made 'just for me', but after i realized that no matter the source, i was always modifying/adjusting those to suit me, anyway. i got the idea (edit: from others!) that a cheap bass with 'great bones' could be altered to fit me even better --- for way less than a custom-built, and for about 1/2 the price (or less) than a quality off-the-rack. and they're all personally "customized" as part of the fun (or frustration!)
these parts-axes started with lightweight glarry-branded bodies:
View attachment 4822871 View attachment 4822872 View attachment 4822875 View attachment 4822877
i think they look pretty good, but the way they play for me is the real deal!
So....(and correct me if I have it wrong),
this is just a roundabout way of saying that with some electronics upgrades, a squire is every bit as good, same or better than an equivalent Fender and there's no reason to spend 10x the $ for a decal and what amounts to basses that are made with the same materials, to the same specs, with the same tooling and by hourly line workers with the same level of skill (?)
The answer is, yes. Many others feel the exact same way and it's been talked about many, many times.
Or, was it just a -check out my upgrades- thread,...but disguised as a question?
I dunno, not sure what the actual question is.
As for the bass,...nice upgrades and kudos for getting the same result for a fraction of the $. That's always a win.
this is just a roundabout way of saying that with some electronics upgrades, a squire is every bit as good, same or better than an equivalent Fender and there's no reason to spend 10x the $ for a decal and what amounts to basses that are made with the same materials, to the same specs, with the same tooling and by hourly line workers with the same level of skill (?)
The answer is, yes. Many others feel the exact same way and it's been talked about many, many times.
Or, was it just a -check out my upgrades- thread,...but disguised as a question?
I dunno, not sure what the actual question is.
As for the bass,...nice upgrades and kudos for getting the same result for a fraction of the $. That's always a win.
I've had almost the identical experience as you. Picked up a Squier VM for $150 and spent a few $ on it. The first money I spent was about $100 for a professional level/crown/setup. Money well spent making the Squier feel like a much more expensive instrument than the one that came from the factory. Like you, a Gotoh hi-mass bridge, but I don't think it made much of a difference from tone or sustain. The two upgrades I did were to replace the pickups with Aguilar Noiseless pickups, and a year or two later I rewired with a push/pull knob for both series and parallel... An easy but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOD! Along the way I put in a drop-D tuner. I think I have about $500-$600 total in this instrument and know I couldn't find anything better in this price range or even higher. While the Squier CV's stock sell for around $450 now, and have better pickups than the older ones (mine is a 2010, i think), one would still have to do a level/crown/setup to match what I have. The heaviness of the Squier isn't such a big deal because the weight is in the body and counters neck dive.
Along the way I was seduced by 5 string basses as I needed *one* for musical theater, which often wrote low D's and C's. I ended up with 3, but that thats a whole 'nother story.
IMO there really isn't anything that more expensive basses offer me to warrant spending a LOT more money, at least for a Jazz style 4 string bass. Would I like to own a Sadowsky or a Sandberg, or Fodera or FBass? Fender?I don't see the value in the upper end Fenders that I couldn't get out of a well picked, well upgraded "cheaper" bass. Other than weight I'm pretty much there with my Squier except for it being exclusively passive. But a John East or Audere preamp for under $200 would change that [I have an Audere Pro-Z in my MIM Jazz5].
Would a "high end" bass spoil me? I don't know. Beyond the Fender MIA basses that one might find at the LGS, I hadn't had any experience with them. Perhaps the saying "what you don't know can't hurt you" is applicable?
Thanks. The question was whether it would be worth going one step higher with a new, lighter-weight bass. It's been answered and I've decided to suck-it-up with the extra weight and a better strap.
I've played some better-playing basses that sounded good enough to maybe not feel the need to change pickups, but so far they've been $2k USD+ used custom shop and boutiques. Hard pass for now.
The right strap makes a helluva difference with heavier basses. Getting the right width is important (I like 3.5" straps) and making sure the distribution is even. Some wider straps don't distrubute the weight evenly. I had to check, but my Squier has the strap I've posted below. At the time they were selling for $12 and I have several of them as every guitar and bass has its own strap. The 3.5" is a little wide where it sits across my neck, so being a single ply leather I was able to cut out a "crescent" about 1/2" wide to give relief to the vein in my neck that I've illustrated below. I've worked the daylights out of it to make it subtle (because it's cheap leather) and it's taken on a beautiful texture [not bad for A $12 strap]. I do have other padde straps, which are more expensive and distribute pressure well and live on my Ibanez BTB and Fender Jazz5. One thing about padded straps is that the padding is ofen smooth to the point of being "slick". I tend to sand the inside padding to scuff them up so they aren't sliding around. The single ply straps are suede on the indisde and don't slide around at all. Almost all my other guitars and basses have the same or similar strap to the one below because of both price and comfort.
Nice Bacchus for "short" money - congrats. All the Bacchus' I see on Reverb are $900 or more.
OP UPDATE ‐-‐--------‐---------------
I went a different direction yesterday, and decided not to trade up the Squier J - I really love that bass - and, instead, traded a guitar head I haven't used in years for a new MIM Fender Player P with maple neck/fingerboard. I just finished a two hour setup involving new D'Addario nickel 50-105's, tweaking neck relief & string height, pickup height and intonation.
It was kind of doggy out of the box, but now plays and sounds nice.
Will probably grab a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder split P this afternoon and may drop it in before tonight's gig just because I like the QP J pickup in my Squier bridge a lot.
Anyone have any issues or feedback on this pickup in a P?
Thanks again for all your comments.
I went a different direction yesterday, and decided not to trade up the Squier J - I really love that bass - and, instead, traded a guitar head I haven't used in years for a new MIM Fender Player P with maple neck/fingerboard. I just finished a two hour setup involving new D'Addario nickel 50-105's, tweaking neck relief & string height, pickup height and intonation.
It was kind of doggy out of the box, but now plays and sounds nice.
Will probably grab a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder split P this afternoon and may drop it in before tonight's gig just because I like the QP J pickup in my Squier bridge a lot.
Anyone have any issues or feedback on this pickup in a P?
Thanks again for all your comments.
OP UPDATE #2 --------------------------------------------------
Spent an hour yesterday afternoon putting in the new SD Quarter Pounder P pickup. Holy cow. THIS is the P-bass sound in my head.
Spent an hour yesterday afternoon putting in the new SD Quarter Pounder P pickup. Holy cow. THIS is the P-bass sound in my head.
G&L L-2000 Tribute, factory B-stock, direct from G&L.
$300
Haven't changed a thing, other than strings.
My band did a set at a local open mic at one of the better venues in town last week as the owners wanted to have a listen to us before offering a gig. I was debating which bass to take as open mics are one of the best places to steal instruments as nobody takes any notice of people walking out with instrument bags. I decided to take the Dodgy-Ray despite my concerns with the fragility of the pickup switch figuring if it clapped out on me I could borrow a bass and if it got stolen I wouldn't be devastated.
Everything went well and we were offered a gig as soon as we got off stage.
As I was at the bar getting a beer an older bloke approached me saying how much he liked the sound of my bass and asked what effects I was using. When I told him that I was straight into the amp, with a DI straight to the desk, he couldn't believe it. When I told him the pickup was a $25 no-name bargain just wired in series he was really surprised. That price is NZ dollars which is about $15 USd.
This made me happy and sad..... happy that something so cheap has turned out so well.
Sad that I've gotten more compliments on this mutt than just about any other bass I've played.
Prior to this I was seriously thinking about getting a Seymour Duncan MM pickup to see what the difference is but now I'm leaning towards saving my money and enjoying this el-cheapo bass as is.
The Dodgy-Ray
Everything went well and we were offered a gig as soon as we got off stage.
As I was at the bar getting a beer an older bloke approached me saying how much he liked the sound of my bass and asked what effects I was using. When I told him that I was straight into the amp, with a DI straight to the desk, he couldn't believe it. When I told him the pickup was a $25 no-name bargain just wired in series he was really surprised. That price is NZ dollars which is about $15 USd.
This made me happy and sad..... happy that something so cheap has turned out so well.
Sad that I've gotten more compliments on this mutt than just about any other bass I've played.
Prior to this I was seriously thinking about getting a Seymour Duncan MM pickup to see what the difference is but now I'm leaning towards saving my money and enjoying this el-cheapo bass as is.
The Dodgy-Ray
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Since the introduction of the CNC, most of the time today's cheap bass will be as good, if not better, than the majority of midrange basses from 3 decades ago. I'm not saying they will sound better, but in a general way, IME/IMV they will be a better platform for upgrades for way less money.
Having a marginal experience with a soldering iron and electrical/electronic stuff will be just the enough for one to be capable of swapping pickups, circuitry or preamp or even further. Things are changed...
Having a marginal experience with a soldering iron and electrical/electronic stuff will be just the enough for one to be capable of swapping pickups, circuitry or preamp or even further. Things are changed...
I've owned a few now, and still own a couple, but my players are all Ibanez SR and BTBs. The most expensive, the BTB, was ~$1200 new and all the others well below that, either new or used.
If you're interested in a boutique, what I'd love to happen is for you to borrow one for a couple of weeks and be able to take it at least to a rehearsal, if not a gig. I think that would kill GAS for many people beyond a modest, well set up bass. You might also find your dream instrument, so either way, it's a win. But then at least you know.
