Help with pickups vs quality wood $$ decision

[frankz]

i put this in the essex club but then decided since i didnt have and essex bass might not be right place for it... anyhow anyhelp is needed and appreciated.. thanks

Just looking for a tad of advice... ive been reading on these forever and like the idea (never seen or touched one) anyhow looking to get a new 4 string and will have a few bucks come school starting.. was wondering for those who play essex and other higher end basses?

was wondering would i be better off trying to find like a used G&L for 500$ and have to play it stock... or getting an essex one of the models with the heavy bridge and better tuners and then putting in a set of killer pickups.. barts Nordstrand or frailans .. bass holding its value is not an issue for me as I would have no plans on selling it

music i play is hendrix style blues and some traditional..

rig is (current bass BTB 5 string with the crudy ibanez pickups)
sans amp sansamp bass di .. usually turned off just use for boost
going into ART prochannel
into crown 402
into '77 acoustic 601 215 cab with eminence 3015's sometimes add 4 10 cab for punch or use 4 10 alone for smaller things

so question is (actually two)
if only like 500$ to spend get an essex and going crazy on the electronics (thats the fun part)
or is the wood quality and such of higher end basses enough of a factor going that direction..
im a guitar player switched bass so while have read tons about gear have very little experience with diff set ups

other question is also thinking (wrong thread i know but the essex will be played thru it)
getting either a sansamp svt (the multichannel one) or the bddi the standard multichannel one.. any thoughts on those two pedals

including vid of music to get idea of style.. and well just got vid done so im stoked

Invalid Link Removed this one is sorta promo one


http://youtu.be/-IqN2aBOwW4 .
and this one is whole song little wing... yep amos is a baddass
Rev. Horton Heat Show w / Troubled Times opening - YouTube

peace

also setup for essex i could do so dont count that in cost considerations and such

 

[SirRolfe]

was wondering would i be better off trying to find like a used G&L for 500$ and have to play it stock...

You make it sound like a bad thing haha. All G&L's, including the Tributes, come with USA pickups and bridges. The saddle lock bridge and MFD pickups are as good as/much better than any upgrade you could possibly put in an SX (this includes Duncans, DiMarzio's, etc).

Save yourself the time and get the G&L in my opinion.

 

[frankz]

havent really played the g&l basses much at all and i dont think really even thru an amp.. my only experience with gl is my strat.. old american made legacy.. didnt care much for the pickups it came with but i put in 3 G&L telecaster neck pickups (asat) i believe and it really came to life..

right now i know i just dont like the sound i have at all.. love the feel of the bass ibanez btb500 series i believe but its not one of the ones with barts.. ((do you think a gL 5string would have to be the korean tribute i think its called would be an upgrade?))
if i chucked out 500$ or so id probably have to get a 5 string more lack of transposing ability than actual need

think i would feel better with a G&L but like for example do they use solid wood for the bodies or ply.. guess i could google it. but that was a selling point for the sx was the alder body.. but again do different kinds (qualities) of alder sound different.. for example would they use cheaper grades where as g&l would use a better grade..

just one of the things ive been wondering about is in top end basses.. is it a dif quality of say "alder" than say a lower end of bass would use although its the same breed of tree.. besides looks..

also mabey this is a question....is their a test to kinda get a feel for the quality of the wood they use.. (like watermelon thumping) anything that a person looks for when they walk down a long row of basses at a store..

 

[frankz]

Also i should just ask... any recommedations for a btb 5 string playing in a hendrix blues type band we play loud and usually go a bit for overkill .. again its not one of the btbs with barts its some other type..

im open to passive pickups as i dont like dead batteries
also like to tinker so if the preamp is one of the weak spots that can be changed also
schools starting so ill have a bit left over and looking to fix some weak spots in rig

 

[frankz]

and one final question so i can get them all over with and not rebump the thread every day...
i have an acoustic well 2 of the 4/10 cabs but one has a blown speaker.. any recommendations for something in the under 75$ per driver.. looking to change out all 4 of them OR possible just changing 2 of them like top right bottom left with a couple of high end 10s and using the other 2 10s as passive radiators

can you do that or does it make the cab too big internally.. for 2 speakers.. and if you can what would 2 drivers to use.. like in the $100+ range

 

[klokker]

You make it sound like a bad thing haha. All G&L's, including the Tributes, come with USA pickups and bridges. The saddle lock bridge and MFD pickups are as good as/much better than any upgrade you could possibly put in an SX (this includes Duncans, DiMarzio's, etc).

Save yourself the time and get the G&L in my opinion.

+1. I'd start with a quality build.

 

[rymiraflores]

havent really played the g&l basses much at all and i dont think really even thru an amp.. my only experience with gl is my strat.. old american made legacy.. didnt care much for the pickups it came with but i put in 3 G&L telecaster neck pickups (asat) i believe and it really came to life..

right now i know i just dont like the sound i have at all.. love the feel of the bass ibanez btb500 series i believe but its not one of the ones with barts.. ((do you think a gL 5string would have to be the korean tribute i think its called would be an upgrade?))
if i chucked out 500$ or so id probably have to get a 5 string more lack of transposing ability than actual need

think i would feel better with a G&L but like for example do they use solid wood for the bodies or ply.. guess i could google it. but that was a selling point for the sx was the alder body.. but again do different kinds (qualities) of alder sound different.. for example would they use cheaper grades where as g&l would use a better grade..

just one of the things ive been wondering about is in top end basses.. is it a dif quality of say "alder" than say a lower end of bass would use although its the same breed of tree.. besides looks..

also mabey this is a question....is their a test to kinda get a feel for the quality of the wood they use.. (like watermelon thumping) anything that a person looks for when they walk down a long row of basses at a store..

The (argueable) effects of so-called tone woods are hugely overstated...70% of your sound is purely electronics, 29% technique and possibly 1% wood.

 

[bassbenj]

so question is (actually two)
if only like 500$ to spend get an essex and going crazy on the electronics (thats the fun part)
or is the wood quality and such of higher end basses enough of a factor going that direction..
im a guitar player switched bass so while have read tons about gear have very little experience with diff set ups

other question is also thinking (wrong thread i know but the essex will be played thru it)
getting either a sansamp svt (the multichannel one) or the bddi the standard multichannel one.. any thoughts on those two pedals

including vid of music to get idea of style.. and well just got vid done so im stoked

GUITARIST! No wonder you are so lost! Learn this first: Bass players are the ones who KNOW SOMEHING! Stop take a deep breath and LISTEN!

1. Your "promo" video is "private" so nobody can view it! Good one!

2. Your second video has the worst audio I've ever heard. But I get the idea.

3. Either SX or G&L will work. Best will be:
A. A Used American made G&L (got mine $600)
B. A New G&L Tribute in ASH (not basswood) (got mine about $600) Used even better.
C. New SX 5 string ash body with the better hardware (what are they now? Something over $200?) (Got SEVERAL of those!) By the way SX in Alder has great (though mellower) tone.

The difference in wood will be the American G&L will have wood to die for. Both the tribute and the SX will come with 3 piece bodies in reasonably decent wood. (no entry level plywood here). The main difference is that the SX will give you a very nice passive (or active if you choose to add the preamp) Jazz-style clone bass. It will have single coil pickups which sound clear (but hum) and all the rest of the Jazz bass stuff. Price will be RIGHT inspite of some necessary tweaking.

The G&L uses two humbuckers. (A really GREAT mod is the single coil "k" mod to let you go more toward a jazz tone) The two pickups are hot and bright and give you a versatility that can't be beat. The bass is BOTH passive and active depending on the switches. EQ is passive too so doesn't quit in passive mode. It really can be tailored to just about any sound you want. Really hard to beat. Either the SX or the G&L are great...so hard to choose... so I just bought them BOTH!

As the usual Noob the first Essex thing you think of is to spend a bunch of cash on new pickups. STOP RIGHT THERE! SX factory pickups are great and getting new ones is a total waste of time and money unless you find them too bright for your taste. Almost everyone loves them best!

For your music I'd recommend the possible expense of an Audere preamp to turn it active, though most of us prefer to keep the SX passive which it does quite well. HOWEVER, expect to buy new strings, to install copper shielding, do a total setup and maybe (if left passive) install new pots when the originals start to get noisy. Tweaks on an SX is the standard thing!

As for pedals, I'd say remember you are not playing guitar anymore and leave them off until you really start to NEED one. The SVT pedal is a good one especially if you are taken with the Ampeg sound and want it without the rest of the Ampeg. Otherwise I don't know...

For your music look into a bass-converted "badder bass monkey" at some point. And please use it TASTEFULLY!

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Good luck

PS. Yeah I play guitar too!

 

[SGD Lutherie]

rig is (current bass BTB 5 string with the crudy ibanez pickups)

If you like the bass get new pickups.

so question is (actually two)
if only like 500$ to spend get an essex and going crazy on the electronics (thats the fun part)
or is the wood quality and such of higher end basses enough of a factor going that direction..

There's really no low quality wood. As long as it's a hard wood it will work fine for an instrument. Soft woods even work fine. Fender used pine on the first Tele, and the early parker Flys had douglas fir bodies and basswood necks.

Some of the import instruments use less common woods, but this is because the more common woods are getting harder to get.

I've updated some SX instruments and the woodworking is fine, but some of the hardware could be updated to something better.

The pickups aren't actually that bad sounding considering how funky they are. So new pickups will take it up a notch.

But even a low end Ibanez is probably a the same or better built bass than an SX.