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Squier Vintage Modified Precision V: who's got one?

#441
J vs P comparisons don't really hold with 5-string Fenders.

I have a Mexi Jazz V downstairs right now. The neck is 1 7/8" wide at the nut, and a hair under 7/8" deep at the first fret. At the 12th fret, it's just shy of 2 5/8" wide, and 1" deep.

In contrast, my VMP5 is the same width at the nut, but a 16th shallower at the first fret. The shoulders of the Squier neck fall away a little faster, almost a soft V, which makes it feel a little less of a handful than the MIM Jazz. It's the same story all the way to the 12th fret.

Weight-wise, the Fender is a porky 10lb 5oz, while the Squier is a sleek 8lb 6oz (it lost 6oz after I installed a set of licensed Hipshot Ultralights).

I can't compare them electronically, given that the Squier is stock, and aside from being a Jazz, the Fender has Duncan QP's and an Audere preamp. Acoustically, they sound surprisingly close to each other. Unplugged volume is almost identical. The difference in brightness (the Squier has a little more harmonic complexity) is easily explained by the fresh light-gauge balanced tension D'Addario nickel rounds, vs the thicker, well worn-in regular tension nickels (EXL170's) that are on the Fender.

In this case, it's the Precision that feels a little sleeker and easier to play.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
It's good to hear that the neck is sleek and easy to play. My hands aren't too big and add the minimal weight it sounds like a good purchase. I'm still wondering about the low B. And after a view reviews from this forum I've noticed Fenders tend to have floppy B's.
What is your experience with the low B? Or is it a matter of the right string gauge?
 
#442
Perroid said:
Thanks!
It's good to hear that the neck is sleek and easy to play. My hands aren't too big and add the minimal weight it sounds like a good purchase. I'm still wondering about the low B. And after a view reviews from this forum I've noticed Fenders tend to have floppy B's.
What is your experience with the low B? Or is it a matter of the right string gauge?
Click to expand...
I find the B string to be tight. Has a really great tone and sustain. Right now I'm using 1 year old GHS Precision Flats but I'll be putting TI Nickel Flats on as soon as my D string arrives.
 
#443
I'm really enjoying this bass now. B string sounds tight enough for me. Not flabby at all.

Slot on the B string saddle wasn't wide enough to seat the string, so I widened it with a 130 nut file. Now it allows me to drop the saddle lower and get proper action on the B string without shimming the neck. Out of the box, B string had high action with the saddle dropped all the way.
 
#445
Perroid said:
...My hands aren't too big and add the minimal weight it sounds like a good purchase. I'm still wondering about the low B. And after a view reviews from this forum I've noticed Fenders tend to have floppy B's.
What is your experience with the low B? Or is it a matter of the right string gauge?
Click to expand...
If weight is a concern, you might want to haunt the Sweetwater site. It took me three tries to find a VMP5 that was under 9lb. These guys vary a fair amount...

Likes and dislikes around B strings tend to be subjective:
  • Some people just want a nice fat B, that balances well for loudness.
  • Some want piano-like growl.
  • Others care more about perceived string tension
IME, most B string issues come down to setup. The bridge saddles mustn't move around or rattle while you're playing, close attention needs to be paid to the string path over the saddles, action and pickup height, etc.

I've laid hands on three VMP5's so far, and they all had a good B. I would rate this bass well ahead of the Fender Am Deluxe P5 I owned a few years ago. A 34" P-bass is never going to growl like a 37" Dingwall, but the B string on the ones I've sampled has been perfectly in character with the rest of the instrument.

I have been particularly pleased with the last couple I set up with Balanced Tension D'Addario Nickel rounds from Bass Strings Online. I believe that BSO are actually assembling these sets by hand, as the B string came in a separate envelope, and the D'Addario catalog still only shows them for 4-string basses.

There are two sets available- 45-145, and 40-130. At less than $25 for a 5-string set, they are an absolute steal:
Invalid Link Removed

With the heavier set, the nut must be adjusted to accommodate the .145 B string. The overall string pull ends up about the same as OEM, but the B is much more balanced in stiffness and tone. If you have an aggressive attack, you'll probably want these.

I'm using the lighter set on my own bass. The only setup required, is to back the truss rod off slightly because of the lower tension. I prefer the tone (and the ease of play) with these.
 
#446
Thanks guys!

I will definitely buy one when the next paycheck arrives. I think I'm going for the Olympic White one. It will make a nice pair with my black SUB Ray4.
As far as strings go I'll need to do a bit of research as I'm in The Netherlands and I usually order my stuff from Thomann.
Finally found a decent fiver that's real bang for the buck thanks to this awesome community. You guys rock!
 
#447
I dont have one of these yet but I do have a pro tone 5 and an earlier precision 5 with the jazz pickup pair. And I have had great results with the circle k balanced 136 and 142 string sets.I was trying to deal down the price on a 3 tone burst from Sweetwater but by the time I got offer a discount it was gone .
 
#448
Hi guys, i received my fender american P5 pickup this morning. I installed it this afternoon. I needed to file the pickguard a little, the pickup was to tight and barely could be adjusted in height.

It really improved the overall tone. Low end was better and tighter. The highs are there but sweeter. The mids are great too! I'm really happy with the pickup upgrade.

Next step, d'addario balanced tension light strings.

My VM P5, is simply one of my best purchase in the past years.
 
#451
Congrats. This bass is a real sleeper with new pickups. :bassist:

bassman74 said:
Hi guys, i received my fender american P5 pickup this morning. I installed it this afternoon. I needed to file the pickguard a little, the pickup was to tight and barely could be adjusted in height.

It really improved the overall tone. Low end was better and tighter. The highs are there but sweeter. The mids are great too! I'm really happy with the pickup upgrade.

Next step, d'addario balanced tension light strings.

My VM P5, is simply one of my best purchase in the past years.
Click to expand...
 
#452
Anybody here installed a hipshot vintage bass bridge on his VM P5?

It looks like a drop-in replacement part. The .708 version uses 4 of the 6 holes from the original squier bridge.

I installed one on a 4 string mim jazz bass in the past and it improved the punch and tightness of the low end.
 
#453
elBandito, how did you evaluate the original PUP? Did you gig through it, record, etc. I only ask because I have full American P5 electronics but have not installed as I'm pretty happy with the stock VMP5 tone. If there is a compelling reason to change them out I will, otherwise I'll just hold onto the P5 stuff until something fails.
 
#455
Thumper said:
elBandito, how did you evaluate the original PUP? Did you gig through it, record, etc. I only ask because I have full American P5 electronics but have not installed as I'm pretty happy with the stock VMP5 tone. If there is a compelling reason to change them out I will, otherwise I'll just hold onto the P5 stuff until something fails.
Click to expand...

PM me if you wanna sell them.
 
#459
FWIW, I just installed a Babicz on my VMP5. As you can see the outer strings don't line up between the poles but to my ears that makes no audible difference. I would like to say that the bass sounds better but IME it always does when you take tension off of the strings and bring them back up. I'll report later if I hear a permanent difference. I will say that making adjustments is wonderful with this design.

For those thinking about adding one to theirs: I lined up the front of the Babicz with the front of the OEM bridge. This puts the screw holes about 1/4" behind the existing holes which is fine because none of them are common with both bridges anyway. If I ever put the OEM bridge back on the new holes will be partially visible. Since I have read that some have broken off the heads of the screws that are supplied with the Babicz I went to Ace Hardware and bought #6 x 1" stainless steel screws. No worries now.
 

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#460
http://www.talkbass.com/index.php?t...sion-V:-who's-got-one?.1011452/#post-15823310

The original pickup is ok. Imho it is a little to arsh sounding mostly in the highs. The only reason why i switch for the american pickup is because of it's brightness. I didn't like how the highs and mid were responding when rolling off the tone pot.

I switched to a 0.1 capacitor, it sounded sweeter to me in the highs and the mids were less nasaly.

When i installed the american pickup, it sounded warmer, it has plenty of mids and highs, and the lows are tighter more define, which helped an already great sounding b string
 
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