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Squier Vintage Modified Precision V: who's got one?
- Thread starter Chef
- Start date
An update on my P/J conversion:
I finally played the Squire in anger, at a venue where the sound crew know me well. They had shared my only discontent with the Squier from day 1: While it always sounded quite nice, it never had the "bark" and pronounced, hollow upper mids that I expect from a good P-bass.
I ended up not having to use the J pickup at all, because they agreed that the neck pickup finally had the extra bite that we'd been looking for all along.
The solution?
Replacing the stock pots.
This was not because they were noisy, or because of magical thinking: it was simply that both were below normal tolerance. The tone control was only 200K, and the volume control was less than 225K. Clearly, off-shore manufacturers don't hold their pots to very tight tolerances.
That meant that in some situations, the pickup was seeing a load of less than 100K. No wonder it was muddy and I couldn't hear a big difference between the Squire and Fender pickups...
I installed new pots during the rewire. Please understand that the size and brand of the new ones is neither here nor there- what really matters, is that all three checked out at comfortably over 500K.
Bingo! Lots of punch and definition.
Wearing a fresh set of D'Addario XL's, it's at least as aggressive as a good pre-CBS Fender.
Your bass may not sound as dark as mine used to, but if it's suffering from the same problem, you'll get a MUCH bigger change in tone from a pot swap than from any aftermarket P-bass pickup.
I finally played the Squire in anger, at a venue where the sound crew know me well. They had shared my only discontent with the Squier from day 1: While it always sounded quite nice, it never had the "bark" and pronounced, hollow upper mids that I expect from a good P-bass.
I ended up not having to use the J pickup at all, because they agreed that the neck pickup finally had the extra bite that we'd been looking for all along.
The solution?
Replacing the stock pots.
This was not because they were noisy, or because of magical thinking: it was simply that both were below normal tolerance. The tone control was only 200K, and the volume control was less than 225K. Clearly, off-shore manufacturers don't hold their pots to very tight tolerances.
That meant that in some situations, the pickup was seeing a load of less than 100K. No wonder it was muddy and I couldn't hear a big difference between the Squire and Fender pickups...
I installed new pots during the rewire. Please understand that the size and brand of the new ones is neither here nor there- what really matters, is that all three checked out at comfortably over 500K.
Bingo! Lots of punch and definition.
Wearing a fresh set of D'Addario XL's, it's at least as aggressive as a good pre-CBS Fender.
Your bass may not sound as dark as mine used to, but if it's suffering from the same problem, you'll get a MUCH bigger change in tone from a pot swap than from any aftermarket P-bass pickup.
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Cannot find a gold anodized aluminum one (need to go custom made).
Anyone with a tort PG on his/her CAR Squier VMP5?
Picture please...
Anyone with a tort PG on his/her CAR Squier VMP5?
Picture please...
Typically audio taper for tone. A linear taper pot for volume will give you a more gradual volume change around the sweep.
Attachments
Neagle Luthier
See if he'll source another material for you.
Very tempted to get a mint green pickguard made for my white V. I love a good tort, but the stock plate is pretty dull.
I agree, I was thinking Mint for my white one as well. Have you located a good source for Mint Green?
Most likely going to go with Link Removed (I'm in the UK) and send my existing plate to use as a template.
When I did my 4 string, I got a pre-made plate (some Chinese brand from Amazon) that was close, but I still had to spend a chunk of time filing the pickup and neck cutouts, and filling and drilling a couple of screw holes. This time I'd rather just spend the money and have one that'll fit pefectly.
When I did my 4 string, I got a pre-made plate (some Chinese brand from Amazon) that was close, but I still had to spend a chunk of time filing the pickup and neck cutouts, and filling and drilling a couple of screw holes. This time I'd rather just spend the money and have one that'll fit pefectly.
The one in my post fit perfectly. Better than the original in fact at the neck heel.
Here you go: Fender Squier VM Precision Bass V 5-String Pbass Pickguard. 3 ply Mint | eBay
The same seller has pickguards in 6 different colors for the Squier VMP5.
Fender sells the tort one (saying it's for USA and MIM fivers, not for Squiers, but maybe because of the truss rod notch only).
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As tedsalt mentioned, Audio is normal for tone controls.
Volume is a coin toss.
I prefer Audio for normal volume adjustments with just one pickup active.
However, it makes the blend between neck and bridge too touchy in “PJ mode”.
Linear slows down the sweep at the top of the pot. If you’re like most of us, 90/10 bridge/neck and neck/bridge are favourite blends. That’s hard to dial in, if the volume pots are audio taper.
I used audio in all three positions. In retrospect, audio/linear/audio might have been a better choice:
- I’m using the bass in P mode a lot more now that I got the missing treble back, so I’m liking the Audio taper on the neck pickup volume control.
- However, I almost never play on just the bridge pickup by itself. I use it mainly as a blend with the neck pickup.
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So for my VMP5 (one split "P" pickup, not a P/J), I understand I need two (V+T) CTS 500K audio taper pots + one 0.047uF cap.
The main thing is to avoid wildly out-of-spec components like the tone pot that came on mine.
If you want to be Fender-correct, you would actually use good quality 250K's. 500K not really needed with a single P pickup, unless you want some extra bite and clarity.
Same guy. Thanks for the recommendation - I've just pulled the trigger on a mint pickguard from him.
I'd happily have got one made from scratch, but my next few gigs are just slightly too close together to take the risk of sending my existing guard off as a template. And I can't wait until the end of July, dammit!
Will post some pics when my minty boy arrives!
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Picked up a VMJ5 locally 2nd hand this afternoon. Looking forward to plugging it in and comparing to the P5.
