NBD: 70’s Classic Vibe

[Isaac_James]

Oh, yes, new pickups can certainly hurt. They may shift the sound in a direction you don't like while costing you and arm and 1/2 a leg.

Work with the controls. Solo the neck pickup. Roll the tone down about 1/2 way. You may find you simply need a new setting to get the tone you want. At the very least you may learn more about what you don't like about your sound and be better informed when you're trying to find different pickups.

I agree with all of this but the bass in question only has one pickup.

Pots, wires, caps - Of all the things you can change on a bass to alter the sound, I put these dead last. I don't know how wire can be junk. The cap may be junk in that it's actual value is out of spec but unless you turn the tone pot down it won't matter. Junk pots? Perhaps. If they work and are not scratchy, new pots are unlikely to sound better.

The value of the pots can affect the sound. 500k pots instead of 250k will allow more top end to come through. But that's really the only thing in there that makes much of a difference. I cannot hear a difference between a tiny ceramic cap or an orange drop or paper in oil. If it provides resistance then it's all the same.

The issue I most commonly have with pots isn't tonal, it's that they turn too easily if I brush a finger against them. I like a little more (physical, not electrical) resistance in the turn. That doesn't affect the sound at all though.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Personally, I would upgrade the pots with a better quality and replace the pickups with some Fender Pure Vintage 63 pickups to give it more of that Fender sound signature and more bass authority.

Nevertheless, this bass is already very good as is if the neck is straight.

 

[C Stone]

No issue with my 60's CV P's pickups or my 70's Jazz pickups but my 70's P seems thin and less "hot", so you can try to raise your pickups, I did and it sounded fuller but I am heavy handed so it didn't work for me, if you have a lighter normal touch (less aggressive)
it might be worth trying. I would suggest the Tonerider TRP1 pickups they are wound a bit hotter than vintage P-Bass pickups and won't break the bank. Congrats on your new bass!
Amazon.com

 

[DWA2469]

I think a good upgrade any bass could use is cavity shielding (if it isn't already). <$10 Amazon copper tape does the trick, and there's plenty of info about shielding on this forum.

Another would be lighter tuners, but be sure to measure and check dimensions first. Gotoh and Hipshot are good brands.

A visual upgrade for me at least would be a different pickguard. Not a fan of tort on that body…

The guy I bought it from put it on there he had the original black one. I plan on putting it back on.

 

[DWA2469]

Oh, yes, new pickups can certainly hurt. They may shift the sound in a direction you don't like while costing you and arm and 1/2 a leg.

Work with the controls. Solo the neck pickup. Roll the tone down about 1/2 way. You may find you simply need a new setting to get the tone you want. At the very least you may learn more about what you don't like about your sound and be better informed when you're trying to find different pickups.

Pots, wires, caps - Of all the things you can change on a bass to alter the sound, I put these dead last. I don't know how wire can be junk. The cap may be junk in that it's actual value is out of spec but unless you turn the tone pot down it won't matter. Junk pots? Perhaps. If they work and are not scratchy, new pots are unlikely to sound better.

Oh, and one more thing - Nice Bass!

Solo the neck pick up? it is a P=Bass

 

[DWA2469]

I have that same bass. I shielded the cavity with conductive tape because the room I play in is very noisy.
After that, I ended up replacing the pickups with an EMG GZR (which comes with a solderless harness, so pots are also new) and I'm quite happy with them. I also strung it with flatwounds (Labella low tension)

Thanks this is what I was looking for

 

[DWA2469]

If the stock copper wire is junk, you could go with this to improve conductivity.

View attachment 7187122

Thanks I may just do that!

 

[Carl Hillman]

That’s an interesting color. It’s not lemon. It’s not lime.

It’s lymon.

 

[MdC64]

Nice bass. I had a 2019 model but sold it to fund another bass.
It sounded great as is but one of the wires detached from one end of the pickup and the copper wire started to unravel.
I replaced the pickup with a Wilde P-46 and kept the stock harness.
I found that the P-46 was a big improvement over the stock pickup.
The guy that bought it was very happy with the overall feel and sound of the bass.

 

[jschulman]

In my personal experience, newer Squiers sound and play fine, but the QC is not great. I bought two Classic Vibes back to back (a 40th Anniversary P and a 50's Strat) and both had bad soldering - the Strat's input wire came off almost immediately, and the P's tone knob wasn't wired at all. Both were fixed and play fine now but those kind of issues from new instruments are discouraging, especially if the buyer doesn't know how to or care to solder. If I ever bought a Squier again, I'd give it more than a once over to make sure everything was kosher.

 

[John K]

It should sound good out of the box, so to speak. But , if you want to switch PUPS, I LOVE the new dimarzio Billy Sheehan Relentless P Bass ones. Nice growl!

 

[darwin-bass]

I agree with all of this but the bass in question only has one pickup.

Oh, duh. I didn't open the pic all the way before positing. I had "Jazz Bass" in my head. But it is a P bass

 

[darwin-bass]

Solo the neck pick up? it is a P=Bass

Yes, I see that now. I'm dumb and I'm not afraid to admit it

 

[darwin-bass]

If the stock copper wire is junk, you could go with this to improve conductivity.

View attachment 7187122

Wait, is today April 1 already???

 

[Old Fart]

Personally, I would upgrade the pots with a better quality and replace the pickups with some Fender Pure Vintage 63 pickups to give it more of that Fender sound signature and more bass authority......

This ^^^ I am a big fan of this pickup. Better pots would add reliability and perhaps functionality. 500K CTS "audio" pots. 0.47 uF capacitor. Cavity shielding. Lighter tuners. I like a Parchment PG on pastel bodies (Seafoam Green, Sonic Blue, etc.) but black would probably be best to match the black blocks. Precision basses are not supposed to have block fret markers, but they do look nice IMO.

 

[Isaac_James]

This ^^^ I am a big fan of this pickup. Better pots would add reliability and perhaps functionality. 500K CTS "audio" pots. 0.47 uF capacitor. Cavity shielding. Lighter tuners. I like a Parchment PG on pastel bodies (Seafoam Green, Sonic Blue, etc.) but black would probably be best to match the black blocks. Precision basses are not supposed to have block fret markers, but they do look nice IMO.

Surely you mean 0.047uF? That's the standard value for most bass tone pot caps. I agree 100% about the 500K pots and the shielding though.

 

[DWA2469]

This ^^^ I am a big fan of this pickup. Better pots would add reliability and perhaps functionality. 500K CTS "audio" pots. 0.47 uF capacitor. Cavity shielding. Lighter tuners. I like a Parchment PG on pastel bodies (Seafoam Green, Sonic Blue, etc.) but black would probably be best to match the black blocks. Precision basses are not supposed to have block fret markers, but they do look nice IMO.

I saw someone say in a review video about 4 years ago, the reason Squire did the blocks was because a lot of guys in the 70's would put Jazz Bass necks on their p-basses. Not sure if that is the reason but sounds plausible?

 

[ghostdog93]

I'll just agree with everyone else who said: new strings & proper setup, followed by new pots if yours aren't working correctly.

As someone who has spent way too much money "upgrading" a dozen or so Squier basses over the years, I get the need to tinker. It's fun. But unless you're playing or gigging for a living, I've found the "improvement" in swapping pickups to be negligible, at best.

I'd swap in a Stellartone ToneStyler instead of new pickups, if I was dying to spend some $$$. But that's just me.

 

[Bassdoggydogg]

I picked this up locally. Got a really good deal on it with a HSC. Needs a set up but feels really good. Can some of you recommend some harness and pick up upgrades that would work well for this bass?

Go to this thread and message the guy for his old SB-1 pick ups: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/nbd-all-ja—-and-no-—zz.1669551/


Hopefully you two can work a deal out, and if you do, then you'll thank me later.

 

[oldcatfish]

How does it sound as it is?

A pickup change is only going to make it sound brighter or darker, a little louder or quieter. A new harness or pots will add little to no change in the overall sound that you might hear playing at home by yourself, if at all.

In other words, what perceive problems are you trying to solve?

I disagree. Pickup changes (along with tone pot changes) can make a HUGE difference. I recently had the pickups changed in my Squier VM jazz bass from the original Duncan Designed ones, to the Fender ultra noiseless ones. The bass sounds completely different than it did before. I actually liked the original ones much more than the Fenders, but I absolutely hate single coil hum…so I just used a parametric eq to find which frequencies to boost and which ones to cut to get the tone where I like it.