Out of the box, I felt the pickups were poorly balanced compared to my 4 string P's. As mentioned, highs were harsh and the lows lacked definition. I thought something was wrong with my pickups, but I guess it's normal. New pickups still sound raunchy running trough ampeg svt350 with 8x10. I love it. I don't think you will be disappointed with the swap.
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Squier Vintage Modified Precision V: who's got one?
- Thread starter Chef
- Start date
Well I couldn't take it any more I contacted Nik at musicians friend and worked out a deal on a 3 tone burst . I wish I could have got one through sweetwater as they post the actual weights. But I seem to remember most of the sunburst ones are on the lighter side from what I read. So let's see upgrades before it even gets here. I read about a capacitor change ? Which one and what are the benefits? And lighter tuners which ones? And what size 9/16 or 11/16? I just couldn't pass up that sunburst and a maple board to boot. I have a pro tone 5 in red , and a 20th anniversary squire precision in shoreline gold . so that will give me three squire precision basses . think I will pass on the shoreline gold to someone else its 10 pounds and gives my shoulder some pain.
I would recommend that you concentrate on setup and getting to know the instrument before making any changes. Many of the changes people do are just that- changes, not necessarily upgrades.
Once you've got the nut shaved down a bit, adjusted the pickups and action to your liking and decided on a string type, then you can start fine tuning for your target tone with confidence.
Friends agreed with me that the VMP5's I've had through my hands were too dark in stock condition. Others on this thread feel that it's too bright and harsh.
A 0.1uf cap is much larger than OEM. It will darken up the tone, all the way down into the mids. Lower-value pots will also darken it up to some extent.
Going in the other direction, I found that shaving a substantial amount of the finish off the back of the neck, will make it sound a little brighter and more open. So will disconnecting the tone control (use a push-pull pot for a stealth installation). Lightweight tuners help as well.
The Gotoh vintage style lightweight tuners will drop straight in, with only minor mods to the mounting screw locations. However, they are expensive, and a little hard to find.
Hipshot Ultralites give the best overall weight reduction (6oz), but the ferrules have to be shimmed. Some people use tape, but I use strips cut from aluminium pop cans. The Licensed versions available on eBay work well, and the lower price is a better fit at the Squier's price point. You want the large-post version.
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Yes of coarse set up and fine tuning will come first , i like a satin style finish on the back of the neck and one of the first things I do after set up , if im keeping the bass will be to knock down the finish.I use circle k balanced strings on all my basses but my dingwall.so those will go in if its a keeper .I am hoping it will fill the old school gap im looking for . My pro tone does this pretty well. as far as tuners I just dont want to have heavy neck dive. Tone van always be adjusted with my amp .and as far as tone i hope it lands in between my pro tone and my dingwall.
Its funny to me that for some 32 years I have been playing bass and it seems every bass I have had has been some kind of jazz style bass. I have had in the past a couple of basses with p pickups the thing is with all my basses I rarely use the bridge pickup by itself always I Favor the neck pickup and at the most run the bridge pickup at 3/4 . When I first started playing five string basses.I always felt the necks were to wide , but in reality it corrected my playing style. Not allowing me to roll my thumb over the fingerboard. Moving to a five opened up a whole new world to me and finally getting a dingwall really let me hear what a b string could sound like. Im not expecting that kind of clarity and precision out of the VM P5 .but for old school rock and roll and blues it could be a better fit.and with just the p pickup there will be nothing to fiddle with.
Funny, that's exactly where the P5 sits in my arsenal. Plus there's the nostalgic aspect- I played a '64 P-bass for 13 years coming out of college. It was my only bass, and a trusted companion in all sorts of adventures!
I just got an email that mine came in!!!!!!! I'm using this baby for a progressive rock three piece. This will be my first 5-er, however I have owned about 4 6 string basses, so I’m not too, too, new to the low b. I will say this I am worried about the articulation of the B string. I know it’s all relative. I plan to play to it before I “mod” it, but did you guys find the string/pick-up/intonation to be a real issue. Is it silly to want to play it stock? Some of the clips sound good pre upgrade. Like Steve said they just sound different.
Well I just got ups confirmation that mine was dropped off at my house. Still have 4 hours of work till I get home to check it out .I have my fingers crossed that it will be a keeper.
I love mine so far! The neck is, as of right now, amazing! the tone is good, however limited to a few sounds on its own (a little bit muddy but not bad with some eq). The only thing that I need to do for sure is some basic set up stuff. I’m going to get some lower gauge rounds and a neck black pearl pic guard. My question to you five string vets is: what’s a good size set of strings, and will I have to have nut work done? I want higher tension when I tuned the b to a c# and e to f, it felt pretty good.
You probably either want the circle k balanced 142 set or the daddario 145 balanced set for that type of tension. I personally dont mind raising the action on the B&E strings and go for lower tension string sets myself, a little wobble doesnt bother me. Plus I go back and fourth between a dingwall and my pro tone 5 so if I had heavier tension on the parallel fret bass it would bug me .dingwalls feel very light in tension and balanced.
You and Steve have been killing me with your Dingwalls hahahaha, I want a Super p, or heck even a super J real bad. They are great basses. I’ve only gotten to play one once. That neck was scary good.
Thanks man I will try out those Circle Ks. I’m planning on getting a set for my Bass Vi as well.
We really should start a club.
People some time shy away from circle k due to price , but IME they last a long time which offsets the cost IMO plus I have a tube I made of pvc filled with denatured alcohol and over night brings them right back . So I have got over 6 months out of a set
Well I am blown away with my new three tone burst, no dead spots! And it only took 1/4 turn on the truss rod to get rid of a little too much relief. Dropped the action just a little and was able to intonate in about 10 minutes total.the only thing that I found wrong was the bass side pickup screws were installed at an angle tilting the pickup down towards the bridge . I removed them and drilled pilot holes straight in, then adjusted the pickup as per usual and bam!!! I an happy . The bigest plus is on my digital scale it weighs in at 8 pounds 9 ounces I dont know how I got one so light. But I won't complain. It really does have that p bass tone in spades andI find the B string nice and tight .
Nice, you definitely got a good one.
My Oly white was 8lb 12oz out of the box, so you are definitely at the low end of the scale. I've seen them at 9 and change on Sweetwater...
I wish they would come out with one in seafoam green.either way I dont think one will be enough for me. I already am thinking of adding an abm bridge and lighter tuners in black. And change out the knobs too . It really is hard to believe this quality at this price point. The factory set up was actually really good not a low or high fret to be found.I played it through my gkmb800 fusion paired with a schroeder pl12 and it just kills it , classic grindy p bass tone for days. I am going to experiment with a couple orange drop caps at different values to see any advantage.I did pick up a second stock pickup on here and am debating making it a dual p. That could be cool as well. But for me I really need a quick release bridge that doesnt let the saddles move around , so bridge and tuners are top of my list.
All right, you guys have convinced me these are the real deal. ordered one on Saturday (3TS) and should be in my sweaty little mitts on Thursday! can't wait!
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