Let's see you basses that seem rather unassuming at first glance but actually pack a punch whether it be through upgraded electronics under the hood, sound/build quality from factory that one would expect from a much higher end bass or whatever else you think constitutes it being a "sleeper" bass.
In car terms, a sleeper would be a stock looking Prius with a turbo motor swap under the hood making lots of power and chuchu noises.
A "factory sleeper" would be a version of a boring car that the manufacturer has tuned with go-fast goodies from the factory like a GMC Typhoon, Taurus SHO or an RB26 Stagea.
I'll start with my girlfriend's "factory sleeper" Brownsville bass that blew my mind a couple years ago.
At the time I was playing a Schecter with active Seymour Duncan electronics, great build quality, high mass bridge, brass nut, etc. When I first saw the Brownsville I figured it was just another cheap jazz bass copy, which it sort of is, and wasn't very interested. After fixing a loose wire and doing a full setup, I tested it out at the church I was playing with and "Wow" is all the band leader and I could say. It was very light (under 8lbs) and well balanced, the neck was slim and played effortlessly, the deep cutaways made accessing all 22 frets a breeze and it sounded better than the Schecter. Jokingly but not really joking, the band leader suggested I start bringing the Brownsville instead of my bells-and-whistles Schecter. In addition, I haven't had to adjust it since setting it up 2 years ago. I tossed in some SD Quarter Pound pups which were only a slight upgrade over stock and replaced the pots which were it's weak point in addition to maybe the tuners. If you can find one, they're still usually <$200 which is a steal for what you're getting. Oh, and I sold my Schecter.
I'd also consider my '87 MIK E-series Squier to be a bit of a factory sleeper with build quality and features one might expect to see more from a Fender not a Squier: Gotoh tuners from factory, metal plate shielding, a body I suspect is actually a MIJ body and may even have been from a batch of bodies used for both Squiers and Fenders due to the heel truss rod access route, and a maple/rosewood neck that has no business still being as good as it is. I tossed in the old Brownsville pickups last weekend and it definitely has some umph now.
A part of me wants to route the body and swap over the pickups and electronics from my active contemporary HH jazz bass...
Enough of mine, let's see yours
In car terms, a sleeper would be a stock looking Prius with a turbo motor swap under the hood making lots of power and chuchu noises.
A "factory sleeper" would be a version of a boring car that the manufacturer has tuned with go-fast goodies from the factory like a GMC Typhoon, Taurus SHO or an RB26 Stagea.
I'll start with my girlfriend's "factory sleeper" Brownsville bass that blew my mind a couple years ago.
At the time I was playing a Schecter with active Seymour Duncan electronics, great build quality, high mass bridge, brass nut, etc. When I first saw the Brownsville I figured it was just another cheap jazz bass copy, which it sort of is, and wasn't very interested. After fixing a loose wire and doing a full setup, I tested it out at the church I was playing with and "Wow" is all the band leader and I could say. It was very light (under 8lbs) and well balanced, the neck was slim and played effortlessly, the deep cutaways made accessing all 22 frets a breeze and it sounded better than the Schecter. Jokingly but not really joking, the band leader suggested I start bringing the Brownsville instead of my bells-and-whistles Schecter. In addition, I haven't had to adjust it since setting it up 2 years ago. I tossed in some SD Quarter Pound pups which were only a slight upgrade over stock and replaced the pots which were it's weak point in addition to maybe the tuners. If you can find one, they're still usually <$200 which is a steal for what you're getting. Oh, and I sold my Schecter.
I'd also consider my '87 MIK E-series Squier to be a bit of a factory sleeper with build quality and features one might expect to see more from a Fender not a Squier: Gotoh tuners from factory, metal plate shielding, a body I suspect is actually a MIJ body and may even have been from a batch of bodies used for both Squiers and Fenders due to the heel truss rod access route, and a maple/rosewood neck that has no business still being as good as it is. I tossed in the old Brownsville pickups last weekend and it definitely has some umph now.
A part of me wants to route the body and swap over the pickups and electronics from my active contemporary HH jazz bass...
Enough of mine, let's see yours
