Photo looks cut-in-half. Still, half a P-bass > no P-bass!
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Fender Ultra Precision bass
- Thread starter mickebas
- Start date
Sorry my phone and TalkBass don't like each other. Weird things keep happening with my posts.
After shielding the Fender V, decided to do all my Ultra basses. As one can see, no shielding on my Cobra Blue Jazz either on one of their flagship models. Starting to work on my 2020 Ultra Plasma Burst PJ tomorrow. Pics to follow.
2020 Plasma Burst Ultra Precision. All shielded. Oddly enough there was already some shield tape behind the pick guard. This bass buzzed only a bit which went away if you got the right position in the room, now its dead quiet.
Again, annoying for the Ultra series of basses to have to do this, but it is worth the effort!
Again, annoying for the Ultra series of basses to have to do this, but it is worth the effort!
Thank you very much! I really love the color and from what I've been able to research and what I was told this is a rarity of a bass. Apparently it was the last year that fender made ash wood bodies.. now all they offer are alder wood bodies.
New strings today, replacing the set of Dunlop Super Bright Nickels that I put on at the start of the year when I bought the bass (they’ve worn in nicely, sounding very mellow). The music store was out of the same strings (and sent me a medium scale by mistake) so I’m trying a set of the Super Bright Steels instead! Quite zingy at first, hoping they will settle in soon, pretty similar character to the Nickels which was what I was hoping for!
The first half the year I was using the bass in passive mode only and was very happy with the sound! Started experimenting a couple of months ago with the preamp for some settings on the Infinity which has morphed into using the preamp 99% of the time (treble rolled mostly off, a slight mid bump and decent bass bump). Really happy with with tone I’m getting out of this bass!!
I also made a couple of sets of custom knobs out of some Marri (Australian hardwood) that I had. Since I’m happy with the treble and mid settings I made a knob that just controls the bass and passive tone respectively, leaving the mid and treble untouched. Much prefer how these knobs look over the stock chrome knobs.
The last major change was replacing the strap locks with a set of Schallers as I was having continuing issues with the installed Fender straplocks coming loose out of the bass. The Schallers has a slightly larger screw and feel much more secure, as well as being an improved design over the originals!
Well, a month later and a few changes…
A bit of work with some Cricut vinyl over the original pickguard! Pretty pleased with the results!
Dunlop Super Bright Steels have mellowed in nicely too, similar character to the Nickels. Definitely a nice feel under the fingers but I need to switch back to the nickels to see which one I prefer!
Biggest change has been going back to passive mode, to the point that I’ve removed the batteries from the bass!! Did some A\B test recordings and there’s just a certain “organic and growly” feel to the lows and mids that I missed with the preamp on! Given that I’m using preamps on my pedalboard I’m not missing the onboard preamp! Where is everyone else at with preamp/no preamp for the Ultra?
Last big change was getting an Origin Effects Bassrig Super Vintage last week for my birthday, and it’s kicked the Infinity off the board! Using the Hyperluminal compressor in front of the SV and it sounds great! I guess P-bass into SVT is a sound that I really like!
As it has been since I got the Ultra, still feels amazing to play, action sits nice and low with minimal to no fret buzz and is just all around a lovely instrument to play!
A bit of work with some Cricut vinyl over the original pickguard! Pretty pleased with the results!
Dunlop Super Bright Steels have mellowed in nicely too, similar character to the Nickels. Definitely a nice feel under the fingers but I need to switch back to the nickels to see which one I prefer!
Biggest change has been going back to passive mode, to the point that I’ve removed the batteries from the bass!! Did some A\B test recordings and there’s just a certain “organic and growly” feel to the lows and mids that I missed with the preamp on! Given that I’m using preamps on my pedalboard I’m not missing the onboard preamp! Where is everyone else at with preamp/no preamp for the Ultra?
Last big change was getting an Origin Effects Bassrig Super Vintage last week for my birthday, and it’s kicked the Infinity off the board! Using the Hyperluminal compressor in front of the SV and it sounds great! I guess P-bass into SVT is a sound that I really like!
As it has been since I got the Ultra, still feels amazing to play, action sits nice and low with minimal to no fret buzz and is just all around a lovely instrument to play!
I haven’t really had any concerns with mine, it is a little bit lower in output than the EMG Geezers I have in another bass but nothing that I find to be an issue. I have plenty of preamps and gain stages on my board so overall volume is not a problem. I’ve been pretty happy tone wise with the Noiseless P (I’ve removed the preamp and J pickup from my Ultra), not really sure what I would replace it with!!
I think it's because the split p is in the "wrong" position, more neckward when compared to a Precision. It drove me crazy, but then I'm someone who can't play 24 fret guitars because the shifted neck pickup sound bugs me. In either case, I can't tell a difference when someone else is playing. So my philosophy is that, if it doesn't bother you, play on! But if it does, move on because there's no fix for it.
Love that pickguard!! Will you share what colour & where you purchased it from? Thanks.
So, if the pickup was installed on a Precision body, you think it would make a difference? Only asking because I'm thinking of putting a set in my parts Precision until I read, they are "weak" sounding.
I think so. And that is based on putting another Precision pickup into the Ultra and thinking that I had the same problem with it tone-wise, whereas it was fine in another Precision. It's hard to be conclusive though because my experience was with one Precision Ultra and while a have a Precision Ultra split P, I have never tried putting it in another bass.
