I agree the SUB is better than an OLP. No doubt about it. I own two OLPs, a SUB and a Stingray this very minute, so I am aware of the differences. I pushed towards a SUB myself earlier, in fact.
But the OP is wanting an OLP. He thinks he has to spend too much for a SUB and an OLP seems like a much more economical option. And I can accept that. My personal experience is a bit different, in that I tend to go the whole hog and get preamps and pickups etc, and in the end I spend nearly as much on an OLP as in a SUB. Nearly, not quite as much. And the SUB still represents cash I can recoup easily, whilst the OLP will always be a cheap bass and will never be sold for much money. But the OP does not seem to care about that right now. Fine. Now let's look at the OLPs.
Some are not very nice, most are ok, some are very nice indeed. A Stingray and a SUB are better, we know that, but these are still pretty decent.
When I said that about your prejudice and misinformation, I meant about your spiel regarding cheap hardware and this and the other. It was grossly exaggerated.
You are right, in that cheaper hardware is not as good. Agreed. But does it work? In most cases yes, absolutely.
The tuners in an OLP do not need replacement. The bridge does not ned replacement, and the sonic effects of replacements have been grossly exaggerated too in general.
In fact, the only thing that an OLP is really let down by is the pickup. Ditch the original and put a decent alnico pickup, and especially if you wire it in parallel, you get a Stingray-ballpark type of sound. Sure, no preamp etc, it can't do what a Stingray does... but when you have the right pickup in the right spot, you get that type signature sound.
Forget the fact it is not a Stingray, the OP actually stated he does not care if it cannot sound exactly like a Stingray as long as it has a decent tone. Well, the OLP will do that.
My two OLPs get a lot of use. My Stingray is my favourite, but the OLPs are nice too.
I find the prejudice against cheaper basses a bit annoying, to be frank. I will not say an SX is better than any Fender, or an OLP better than any Stingray... The truth is that even these cheap basses are already pretty decent. The biggest difference is that when I get a Stingray, I can be pretty sure the frets are well seated and everything has been checked. I still need it set up 'though. When I get an OLP... I need to check them more thoroughly, and it's not unusual that they require some fret levelling... but this is something that gets taken care of when set up too. hardly rocket science.
I had my two OLPs set up very nicely for the mid sort of action I like, and had the edges of the fingerboard rolled... they are very nice players.
The one that has the pickup and preamp has seen more action, because I like to use a preamp. It's been gigged a fair bit. You could not pay me to sell it to you
The other one is passive, but with the SMB4A pickup and it sounds great as wel as feels great. I put flatwounds on that one. It's a monster. Only gigged one, when it had roundwounds, because I don't use flats live at the moment (although I still get it out for rehearsals sometimes, just for fun).
The Stingray is better, no doubt, I won't argue... but how much better? 100x? 10x? No. 3x? Not even that. 2x? Not even. At least if you only look at playability, functionality, reliability and tone.
In my playing life time I have heard a lot of crap about how you need to replace tuners and bridges and thsi and that... and most times it is not necessary.
Oh, I did replace the nuts, I forgot. Only one *needed* a new nut, as the E string was cut way too low. But I tend to replace plastic nuts for bone nuts when I get my first set up. But that's just me. It's a cheap addition.
Electronics? I would not replace anything if you want it passive. Not the best components, but if they work, leave them. Just rewire them to taste... you can go to one tone one vol configuration, with the pickup in series, or in parallel, or turn one know into a series/parallel switch or...
Better quality materials are indeed preferable... but it's an issue that has been exggerated and keeps being perpetuated, mostly from people with not enough real exprience who just read a lot ;-)
The OP can get an OLP for $150, and he does not have $350 for a SUB but does have an extra $80 for a pickup... and he likes the idea of tinkering with wiring etc... The SUB will still be the better bass, but the OLP will not be garbage and you seemed to imply that.
The other comment I disagreed with was about your saying you would not conceive paying $80 to improve a bass that costs $150.
Why exactly not?
I'll put an extreme example: you get a fantastic bass, say it is a Stingray that somehow missed all the logos, so nobody can ever know is a Stingray, but it is of Stingray quality... except it has a crap pickup. You get it for $20. Would you leave it as is, as it's only a $20 bass... or would you spend $100 in a great pickup? That would give you a great bass for $120.
What I'm saying is, to me, what matters is teh end result. If you end up with a good bass that sounds great, at a total cost of $XXX.XX, and $XXX.XX turns out to be a reasonable price for a bass that feels and sounds as good as that particular bass... then it's good.
I once bought a Jazz bass clone for £40. It was amazingly nice. I even liked the pickups. I gigged with it. Loved it. Then I put a John East J-Retro preamp on it, which cost me £130. Some people who take into consideration the cost of the bass say it is a crazy notion. I see, however, that for £170 I have a hell of a bass.
My active OLP cost me £135, plus SMB4A pickup £55, plus STC-3M3 preamp £70. Total £260.
I could get an active 2EQ SUB for £300-350 at the time.
The SUB is better... yes.
Although:
1) I had fun doing the OLP
2) The OLP with its 3-band preamp has a different type of sound, a more modern-like Stingray type.
Of course, if I end up having to sell... I would get my money back on the SUB. But the OLP... I'll be lucky to sell it for more than £150-170 even with those additions.
I still vote SUB
But let's be realistic about the "improvements" a cheaper bass really needs.
