Hope it gets sorted and you get to enjoy it! As usual, lots of informed quality advice and ideas.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Although 250k pots are the norm for J basses, that model came stock with 500k pots, at least the earlier ones did that had the Duncan Design pickups. It also came with a tone capacitor that I do not the value of. Every time I messed with the electronics on mine like trying 250k pots or a .05 or .02 capacitor it never sounded good. I recommend trying to get it back to original as possible or replace everything including pickups.
EMG JV52 is an option... I put these in the same bass as yours @Mili
While I really like the sound of stock pickups, I get annoyed with the single coil hum so, I changed them out for these and strung it with DR Sunbeams. Perfect now for my needs. Give it a whirl if your other options aren't working out.
JV52 SET
The EMG JV52-HZ Set is a new passive vintage style pickup designed by EMG founder Rob Turner. The front/neck pickup has Alnico 5 pole magnets and the bridge pickup has Alnico 2 pole magnets making for one of the most unique J sets on the market. What makes this passive J set unique is how quiet it is. This is due to design with the coils being side by side creating a hum-canceling effect. The combination of The Alnico 5 and The Alnico 2 magnets make for very open rich harmonic sound, and welcomes a broad range of EQ. The JV52 will satisfy anyone looking for a noiseless early to late 70’s tone. Easy solderless installation, just plug and play!
While I really like the sound of stock pickups, I get annoyed with the single coil hum so, I changed them out for these and strung it with DR Sunbeams. Perfect now for my needs. Give it a whirl if your other options aren't working out.
JV52 SET
The EMG JV52-HZ Set is a new passive vintage style pickup designed by EMG founder Rob Turner. The front/neck pickup has Alnico 5 pole magnets and the bridge pickup has Alnico 2 pole magnets making for one of the most unique J sets on the market. What makes this passive J set unique is how quiet it is. This is due to design with the coils being side by side creating a hum-canceling effect. The combination of The Alnico 5 and The Alnico 2 magnets make for very open rich harmonic sound, and welcomes a broad range of EQ. The JV52 will satisfy anyone looking for a noiseless early to late 70’s tone. Easy solderless installation, just plug and play!
I'm in agreement with those who advised to first check the wiring and fix it, especially at the tone knob, as well as removing the aluminum plate under the bridge. Also, at the advice of @Killed_by_Death I put B500K as volume pots and A500K as tone pot into my three Squiers (they all came with A250K).
"Too many" black wires at the "1" point in the photo looks normal and and to me also looks like factory soldering. I have the same '70 'natural' VM Jazz, as well as a PJ VM Precision and Standard Precision Special - and the wiring for all three of these had two extra black wires soldered to the pot(s) that on other end were screwed to the body cavities which had shielding paint. Unfortunately the shielding paint was useless and had no connectivity so I shielded cavities using copper foil with conductive adhesive.
Don't rush to change the pickups because with a lot of Squier basses the bridge pickup route is often a little smaller than usual, so if you get a replacement pickups without measuring you might up end with having to go through more hassle. With that natural '70 VM Jazz I also got a set of DiMarzio AreaJ from the previous owner as a "bonus", and while bridge AreaJ fits the VM Jazz, it does NOT fit in Standard Precision Special and VM Precision. So if you decide to replace pickups, pay attention to measurements, especially for the bridge one!
"Too many" black wires at the "1" point in the photo looks normal and and to me also looks like factory soldering. I have the same '70 'natural' VM Jazz, as well as a PJ VM Precision and Standard Precision Special - and the wiring for all three of these had two extra black wires soldered to the pot(s) that on other end were screwed to the body cavities which had shielding paint. Unfortunately the shielding paint was useless and had no connectivity so I shielded cavities using copper foil with conductive adhesive.
Don't rush to change the pickups because with a lot of Squier basses the bridge pickup route is often a little smaller than usual, so if you get a replacement pickups without measuring you might up end with having to go through more hassle. With that natural '70 VM Jazz I also got a set of DiMarzio AreaJ from the previous owner as a "bonus", and while bridge AreaJ fits the VM Jazz, it does NOT fit in Standard Precision Special and VM Precision. So if you decide to replace pickups, pay attention to measurements, especially for the bridge one!
It's 2015, I think it has fender designed pickups and all pots are Alpha A250k.
Nice tip
, I thought this problem is only with Affinity series...
Unfortunately they are A250KOhm and i found it completely useless for blending.
With that soldering job it's a miracle you hear anything out of the bass at all, don't assume that the bass will sound dark once it's fixed. No need to go with different pots or anything it's just not wired right. If you have a soldering iron get to work, if not take it to a tech or buy a new harness online. And remove the aluminum foil, it's not hurting anything, but its pointless to be there.
Actually I'm working on it right now. I removed aluminum foil and made a good contact with a piece of copper foil.
The bridge ground does not need to be fancy. In fact ime you need to unravel the wire strands and fan them out so it allows the bridge to sit flush.
I have one of these CV70's Jazz Bass bodies.
Just stripped off (heat gun) the THICK poly and ugly brownish staincoat on it and without that finish the bass sounds great. Very lively under that ugly finish..It would have looked better with just a CLEAR coat but I guess they were going for an aged kind of look.... yuck.
Good luck with yours...
Just stripped off (heat gun) the THICK poly and ugly brownish staincoat on it and without that finish the bass sounds great. Very lively under that ugly finish..It would have looked better with just a CLEAR coat but I guess they were going for an aged kind of look.... yuck.
Good luck with yours...
Very well could be. I had a pole of the jack touching inside the cavity where they had overzealously painted shielding paint. It had no highs which sounded dark. The lows were muddy which added to it. The company discovered that mine was a run of basses that a particular employee had performed the same shielding job.
Before we discovered this we replaced the pickups which so happens I’m very happy with!
My point? Grounding issues take a way highs so it can sound dark and unresponsive.
Your bass is going to sing!
If you’re not adept at this a luthier can do your work in no time.
Ah yes... buying used. I love buying used for the price but the problems you may inherit can be... ...an adventure. 
I have bought many a "plays great. doesn't get sound through amp" instruments and with 30 minutes and soldering iron, it was up and humming.
I have bought many a "plays great. doesn't get sound through amp" instruments and with 30 minutes and soldering iron, it was up and humming. 
A few weeks back I asked JimmyM what he thought about EMG GZR-P pickups, as my old ‘71 sounded dull, dark, and thin regardless of the string set used. The EMGs woke the beast up, like going from a dark room straight out into a bright sunny day. 100% impressed, and the whole solderless thing is a monster bonus. Can’t say about the EMG Jazz pickups, but man do I love the whole no soldering gun thing.
All those prewired kits are cool, I guess, but I've never used one. I will however agree that iffy wiring should be cleaned up and properly done. I recently completely replace all the wiring in a VVT bass and total cost was about half the Emerson prewire things and that included CTS solid shaft pots, wire, and a couple of capacitors since I was dealing with a set of P90 copies and didn't really know which way I'd want to go with the tone cap. I already had the wire but even adding the cost of both rolls it was still less than half the cost of your average prewire and I now know there's no compromised pots from excessive heat, no cold solder joints, and no experimental or just plain incorrect wiring schemes. I'd pull the foil from under the bridge for no other reason than the chance of corrosion from dissimilar metals. If you've got any mung growing under there make sure to clean it out good before putting the bridge back on.
Right there witya Brutha! I have had geezers on my P and Aerodyne for a few years and they’re all flawless. Big fan of EMG
A couple of my active bass’s came loaded EMG, too.
Ok my friends, Now i have an Extremely Happy NBD because of you.
I fixed the problem (Specially thanks to @eastcoasteddie and @Crater ). Result is very very satisfying. Now I'm in love with this Bass so i named it Woody.
I can't thank enough to you guys.
I made a comparison track. First part is finger style, everything is maxed, second one is pick style and third one is pick style, bridge pick up soloed.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I fixed the problem (Specially thanks to @eastcoasteddie and @Crater ). Result is very very satisfying. Now I'm in love with this Bass so i named it Woody.
I can't thank enough to you guys.
I made a comparison track. First part is finger style, everything is maxed, second one is pick style and third one is pick style, bridge pick up soloed.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Great name! I call mine Acer.Ok my friends, Now i have an Extremely Happy NBD because of you.
I fixed the problem (Specially thanks to @eastcoasteddie and @Crater ). Result is very very satisfying. Now I'm in love with this Bass so i named it Woody.
I can't thank enough to you guys.
I made a comparison track. First part is finger style, everything is maxed, second one is pick style and third one is pick style, bridge pick up soloed.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I'm thinking the previous owner made some mods because the darker tone is more favorable for his ears. You probably want to take some of the above recommendations, and remove the modifications, and go from there. Sounds like your ears favor something more common to the factory tone.
