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PJ bass recommendations?

#81
Stranger Danger said:
A PJ really needs an active circuit to sound good in my opinion. That’s why the Spector is so legendary. You basically played the very best PJ. Anything else will not be as good.

What scares you about an active bass?
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Just never liked messing with batteries. Given that I just ordered a Stingray Special 4 banger, I’m gonna have to get over it haha
 
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#82
Moving Pictures said:
My go to PJ, which I play way more than I expected to, is a Fender Boxer reissue.
View attachment 5340465

Light, sounds great and has a comfortable neck. You still see them on Reverb for a decent price.

your story about the boxer is the same as mine. It has worked its way into my gig and practice rotation like an 80s earworm from New Order. It has that “cut through the mix” quality that much is made of around here.

I also recommend you look at the Yamaha BB series. They punch well above their price point.
Click to expand...
 
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#84
sgiacomo said:
What is your go to production PJ? Not opposed to custom just probably out of my price range

Thanks! View attachment 5340409
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I have a couple PJs, though both of mine are fivers, which made the search harder. My primary for over three years now has been the Sire P7. Yes, made in Indonesia, if MIA is a must-have for you then ignore this whole post. Like all active Sires it's fully active/passive, and by that I mean when you turn off the preamp (simple toggle switch down by the 3-band) you still have volume, blend and master tone, which is rare. I personally keep it passive most of the time, setting up the 3-band (with semi-parametic mids; noice!) for a bit of scoop and zing, then switching to active for certain songs that need that extra edge to the tone.

The 4-string version of the P7 in alder, with traditional maple neck/fretboard, is very affordable, I'm seeing about $650 from most retailers. I personally didn't like the tort pickguard they put on the alders, so I chose one in swamp ash with white pearl guard. Those aren't sold as P7s anymore, the closest substitute is the P8 which also upgrades to a rosewood fretboard on a roasted maple neck, and those sell for about $900 as a four-banger.

My newest bass was purchased to update my look on stage, moving from country-rock-blues (for which the P7's traditional Fender look fits right in) to harder rock/metal styles. Again needing a fiver personally, I got the Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas PJV in platinum pearl. It's an understated and still traditional style, basically a dinky P-bass minus the pickguard, it'll look right at home in just about any genre. The four-string's available in many more colors, honestly even given those additional choices I still would have gone white or black. They all have roasted maple necks/fretboards.

The bass is active/passive, but unlike the Sire the passive mode's more an emergency option; you lose all tone control (and with stock preamp gain, set using the internal trimpot, quite a bit of volume as well), so the expectation is to stay active, and if your battery starts going mid-song you can pull the volume pot and finish out in passive mode before swapping axes and/or dropping in a new battery. Four-string models sell for right at a grand, my fiver was a hundo or so more.

I realize you're playing a Fender Am Pro now, and I don't have a MIA recommendation primarily because I play fivers, and Fender simply doesn't make a PJ fiver in Corona unless you go full-on Custom Shop. There is the American Elite PJ in four-string, they sell new for about $2200, a pricepoint that has never much interested me even (especially?) when I still played fours on the reg.
 
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#85
American Performer mash up.

upload_2024-2-5_10-46-32.jpeg
 
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#88
Liko said:
I have a couple PJs, though both of mine are fivers, which made the search harder. My primary for over three years now has been the Sire P7. Yes, made in Indonesia, if MIA is a must-have for you then ignore this whole post. Like all active Sires it's fully active/passive, and by that I mean when you turn off the preamp (simple toggle switch down by the 3-band) you still have volume, blend and master tone, which is rare. I personally keep it passive most of the time, setting up the 3-band (with semi-parametic mids; noice!) for a bit of scoop and zing, then switching to active for certain songs that need that extra edge to the tone.

The 4-string version of the P7 in alder, with traditional maple neck/fretboard, is very affordable, I'm seeing about $650 from most retailers. I personally didn't like the tort pickguard they put on the alders, so I chose one in swamp ash with white pearl guard. Those aren't sold as P7s anymore, the closest substitute is the P8 which also upgrades to a rosewood fretboard on a roasted maple neck, and those sell for about $900 as a four-banger.

My newest bass was purchased to update my look on stage, moving from country-rock-blues (for which the P7's traditional Fender look fits right in) to harder rock/metal styles. Again needing a fiver personally, I got the Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas PJV in platinum pearl. It's an understated and still traditional style, basically a dinky P-bass minus the pickguard, it'll look right at home in just about any genre. The four-string's available in many more colors, honestly even given those additional choices I still would have gone white or black. They all have roasted maple necks/fretboards.

The bass is active/passive, but unlike the Sire the passive mode's more an emergency option; you lose all tone control (and with stock preamp gain, set using the internal trimpot, quite a bit of volume as well), so the expectation is to stay active, and if your battery starts going mid-song you can pull the volume pot and finish out in passive mode before swapping axes and/or dropping in a new battery. Four-string models sell for right at a grand, my fiver was a hundo or so more.

I realize you're playing a Fender Am Pro now, and I don't have a MIA recommendation primarily because I play fivers, and Fender simply doesn't make a PJ fiver in Corona unless you go full-on Custom Shop. There is the American Elite PJ in four-string, they sell new for about $2200, a pricepoint that has never much interested me even (especially?) when I still played fours on the reg.
Click to expand...

Having played both Sire P7 and Charvel San Dimas, which do you think is a better value and better overall quality? THanks
 
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#94
Jeff Scott said:
I'd say the former.I tried various things to try and mitigate that thin G string;

Replaced the tuning keys (Hipshot Ultralites)
Replaced bridge (BA II)
Replaced P pickup (SD Vintage P)
Replaced J pickup (Classic Stack Jazz)

The G string was still rather thin and weak sounding, so I attribute that to either (or both) the neck and/or the body.
Click to expand...

It's a beautiful bass, I can't blame you for trying!
 
#96
filler83 said:
Having played both Sire P7 and Charvel San Dimas, which do you think is a better value and better overall quality? Thanks
Click to expand...

Good question, and not one I think I can fairly answer just yet. My San Dimas was a Christmas present, so less than two months old and not yet gigged, meanwhile the Sire's been my beer and burgers for three years and dozens of gigs. If you had to press me for an answer right now on which is "better" I'd say Sire. IMO it is the clear winner in feature set and thus value for price, and has a lot to offer over the Charvel in fretting-hand comfort, with the bound board and ball-end frets making shifts supremely comfortable.

However, I don't think that's completely fair to the Charvel, which while more expensive brings a lot of its own pluses to the party, including a certain je ne sais quoi to its tone, a perfect blend of round, fat bottom end, with a low-mid push that insists on being heard without being objectionable, and depending on your setup, a "go ahead, make my day" repressed-rage growl. All of this, I'm sure, is in the Sire's pre somewhere, but with the Charvel it just showed up and dared me to do something about it from the first pluck. The fretwork isn't as refined, but the neck itself is a beautiful buttery block of roasted maple, and - bonus - you get Fender's actual headstock scroll, no Bullwinkle profiles to be seen:

4034219
 

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