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Used peavey foundation USA made. Pickups are either super ferrite singles, or VFL soapbar singles. The body isn't the same as a jazz, but the neck is, and the sound is similar. Fans consider it a "jazz bass on steroids"
The bridge pickup is maybe even a tad closer to the bridge than 70s spacing.
Definitely worth considering. They tend to go between $150-300 but I got mine for way less, being in the right place at right time.
If you can find one with the older style 2pc maple neck, they are extremely stable for such a thin neck (it is like a geddy Lee!)
This is mine, it is late 90s (post 1995), has the one piece neck, the 2 PC usually has a truss rod cover. Also this is the vfl soapbar type. Most peavey fans favor the older ones with the 2pc necks and super ferrite pickups, but this bass still kicks ass and I can't argue with the low price I got it for.
The bridge pickup is maybe even a tad closer to the bridge than 70s spacing.
Definitely worth considering. They tend to go between $150-300 but I got mine for way less, being in the right place at right time.
If you can find one with the older style 2pc maple neck, they are extremely stable for such a thin neck (it is like a geddy Lee!)
This is mine, it is late 90s (post 1995), has the one piece neck, the 2 PC usually has a truss rod cover. Also this is the vfl soapbar type. Most peavey fans favor the older ones with the 2pc necks and super ferrite pickups, but this bass still kicks ass and I can't argue with the low price I got it for.
OK, yes, I am an SX fanboy but at the sale price the Andromeda is very hard to beat! Just answer this question: what would a one piece ASH Jazz body (finished) and a ONE PIECE Maple Jazz neck (also finished) cost?
The Andromeda is actually worth the regular price, at the sale price I'm having a hard time not getting another one!
Here's a used SX at Guitar Center for $179. Happy hunting.
SX VINTAGE SERIES JAZZ Electric Bass Guitar
SX VINTAGE SERIES JAZZ Electric Bass Guitar
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I recently got one of the new headstock SX Ursa 2's. my third SX.
I gotta say, the new headstock models are really great basses for the money. I paid $160 for mine, including shipping and tax.
Frets are decent out of the box, maybe some minor leveling needed at some point but nothing that screams "fix me now!" I'm able to get the action as low as my MIM P, even without filing anything. Fret ends are nice, no sharp edges.
The tuners are fine, bridge seems ok but may swap to a high mass eventually. No immediate need.
Pickups are ok. Nothing special. I may swap but the sizes aren't standard (I think they use two bridge pickups), so some research is in order. In the meantime, I'm gonna do the magnet mod suggested in the Essex threads.
For $160, I have NO complaints. Heck, for $300 I'd still be happy. I have three main players, a MIA P that slays everything, a MIM P with EMG preamp, and the SX. The SX holds it own with the MIM, just depends on my mood which one I grab. Around the house, I find myself playing the SX more than anything.
I gotta say, the new headstock models are really great basses for the money. I paid $160 for mine, including shipping and tax.
Frets are decent out of the box, maybe some minor leveling needed at some point but nothing that screams "fix me now!" I'm able to get the action as low as my MIM P, even without filing anything. Fret ends are nice, no sharp edges.
The tuners are fine, bridge seems ok but may swap to a high mass eventually. No immediate need.
Pickups are ok. Nothing special. I may swap but the sizes aren't standard (I think they use two bridge pickups), so some research is in order. In the meantime, I'm gonna do the magnet mod suggested in the Essex threads.
For $160, I have NO complaints. Heck, for $300 I'd still be happy. I have three main players, a MIA P that slays everything, a MIM P with EMG preamp, and the SX. The SX holds it own with the MIM, just depends on my mood which one I grab. Around the house, I find myself playing the SX more than anything.
You can't go very wrong with either, to be honest. But they come with varied neck profiles, so best to try what you can.
I love Jazz basses for the sound but don't like the big and often heavy body or the thin neck... At one point recently I owned 7 Jazz basses, from cheap J&D and Squier to various Fenders including 75RI and roadworn models.
Finally I came to my senses and ordered a custom bass, a very light weight Precision style body/neck with Jazz electronics, and it's fantastic... and I've been selling all my Jazz basses.
Guess what I kept: a 23 year old Korean Squier Jazz, with a plywood body (I only discovered it when I enlarged the bridge pickup route to fit a DiMarzio set), battered (or 'roadworn')... which is a joy to play, it feels great and after some minor upgrades it sounds great too. It's not my #1 bass, obviously, but I use it and it's a great bass to take to situations like some festivals where it may be left unattended inside a tent... I'd be really pissed if it got stolen and I'd hunt down the thief until the end of the world (unless I got distracted along the way by hazelnut ice cream)... but it's not 'valuable' yet it's a very dependable solid bass that does what it has to do and has nothing to envy its more expensive cousins.
All this is just to say: SX and Squier basses, if you find one that fees right to you, they are very good value for money, and often you don't really need any 'upgrades'... I see people replacing bridges, tuners... I mean, fine if you want to, but they are perfectly functional as they are. Pickups is an area where you *may* gain something (the ones on my Squier were very naff), but most are ok. Not the best, but certainly fine for their intended use.
I'd go towards Squier more, however. They'll be more expensive, but you do get a better instrument for instance if you choose the "Classic Vibe" series. Those are seriously good instruments. They're not exactly 'cheap', but worth every penny, in my opinion. The Vintage Modified series are also very good. Not quite as good, but very good still. I had one for a couple of years and I have little to moan about. I just liked the CV series more.
So... I think the trick is probably finding one that *feels* good to you, roughly. Sharp frets you can deal with, uneven frets too, cut a new nut... all those things are trivial and unimportant as you can deal with that easily later. Just get the general feel right, how it balances, the shape of the neck, etc... The sound is important obviously, but again the worst that can happen is you get a replacement pickup set... not expensive, used... easy... you can probably do without changing that and just getting the right pot values and tone capacitor, and good strings, would do the trick well enough. So don't get too hang up about its sound through the amp at first... make sure it feels right, and that unplugged it still feels right and 'resonates'... if you get the basics right, then you'll have a solid bass that you can play in the best gig ever without hesitation.
True, many seem to have both pickups equal size while a 'standard' Jazz has a bridge pickup that is slightly wider. However it's very easy to fix with a file, care, and a bit of patience.
There's one just like this at the Sarasota Guitar Center (currently down the street from me) for $180.
I prefer SX to Squier. I have a Douglas (pretty sure it's all made in the same factory, I've seen some SX's with the same headstock shape), and it was better to me than a Squier equivalent.
I don't know much about Jazz basses, admittedly, but I feel like most Squiers are a multi-pieced construction that's not very methodical or desirable for their pricepoint. My Douglas is made in two pieces, but it's an off-set construction that puts all four strings and the neck pocket on one solid piece. Fit and finish isn't usually as nice as a Squier, and fret edges may be sharp, but the stuff is pretty good and workable.
I don't know much about Jazz basses, admittedly, but I feel like most Squiers are a multi-pieced construction that's not very methodical or desirable for their pricepoint. My Douglas is made in two pieces, but it's an off-set construction that puts all four strings and the neck pocket on one solid piece. Fit and finish isn't usually as nice as a Squier, and fret edges may be sharp, but the stuff is pretty good and workable.
Big Hoss
Up note, down note, blue note, brown note...
- Sep 5, 2014
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I own both Squier and SX basses. While I can't attest first hand to the Quality of the SX Ursa 2 (Jazz) 4 string. I have the 5 string model, a 4 string P, and a 4 string PJ. My 4 string Jazz is the Squier Affinity.
The fit and finish on the SX is a couple of distinct notches above the Affinity series J bass, on par with the Vintage Modified series. Good pickups, good tuners, not a great bridge but not a lousy one. Clone of the Fender stamped L bridge. It works... Only weak point I know of is the pots which are fine but some folks seem to have issues with them long term. My Ursa 1 (The P bass in my avatar) is going on 2 years old now with heavy use and no issue with the pots yet. A CTS wiring kit, if you are handy with a soldering iron, Amazon has a CTS wiring kit shipped for $25.00. FWIW, the Squiers have the same concerns.
Just FWIW, when I got the Squier Jazz, I proceeded immediately to fix the shortcomings of it that I saw. I swapped the pickups for the VM Duncan Designed pickups, do a full shielding job, swapped the bridge for the CV 60s High Mass bridge, polished the fret ends, and swapped over a much nicer pick guard. Since then, it's been a great player.
Aside from the fret end polishes, there really isn't anything wrong per se with the Affinity, I just preferred the components off of the other models, and the Jazz pickups REALLY had a lot of hum problems. Hence the shielding.
My SXes, the only modification I have done to them is swap out the pick guard for something I like, and swap in my favorite strings.
To give you an idea of which way I am leaning, the score right now is Squier 1, SX 3, 4 if you count the Hawk strat clone. My GAS right now is for an Alder Ursa 3 (PJ) fretless in 3 tone sunburst. If I could deal with a different finish, I could get one right now in black... Not my taste though.
The fit and finish on the SX is a couple of distinct notches above the Affinity series J bass, on par with the Vintage Modified series. Good pickups, good tuners, not a great bridge but not a lousy one. Clone of the Fender stamped L bridge. It works... Only weak point I know of is the pots which are fine but some folks seem to have issues with them long term. My Ursa 1 (The P bass in my avatar) is going on 2 years old now with heavy use and no issue with the pots yet. A CTS wiring kit, if you are handy with a soldering iron, Amazon has a CTS wiring kit shipped for $25.00. FWIW, the Squiers have the same concerns.
Just FWIW, when I got the Squier Jazz, I proceeded immediately to fix the shortcomings of it that I saw. I swapped the pickups for the VM Duncan Designed pickups, do a full shielding job, swapped the bridge for the CV 60s High Mass bridge, polished the fret ends, and swapped over a much nicer pick guard. Since then, it's been a great player.
Aside from the fret end polishes, there really isn't anything wrong per se with the Affinity, I just preferred the components off of the other models, and the Jazz pickups REALLY had a lot of hum problems. Hence the shielding.
My SXes, the only modification I have done to them is swap out the pick guard for something I like, and swap in my favorite strings.
To give you an idea of which way I am leaning, the score right now is Squier 1, SX 3, 4 if you count the Hawk strat clone. My GAS right now is for an Alder Ursa 3 (PJ) fretless in 3 tone sunburst. If I could deal with a different finish, I could get one right now in black... Not my taste though.
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I second trying a G&L JB-2 Tribute. You can get at least 15% off the $449 they go for at MF. Look around and you can do even better. As for the bass itself, mama mia! In person, it's even better than the various Youtube uploads.
I'd go Classic Vibe if you want to get a Squier, here's my $0.02 on why they beat out the VMs
- IME, they accept any MIM-compatible replacement parts. So the Fender licensed replacement necks fit like a glove, didn't have the same experience with the VMs I tried that on.
- Pickups are actually good out of the gate, I'd say on par with a MIM bass, so it can definitely get by live and in studio. I'm a pickup swap freak, so I do that with them regardless.
- Nicer bodies and they use the Vintage Hi-Mass bridges, which don't affect tone, but are nice and solid IMO
- Necks and fretwork are great on them, hard to play one and not admit that it's basically a good MIM with a different headstock logo.
- IME, they accept any MIM-compatible replacement parts. So the Fender licensed replacement necks fit like a glove, didn't have the same experience with the VMs I tried that on.
- Pickups are actually good out of the gate, I'd say on par with a MIM bass, so it can definitely get by live and in studio. I'm a pickup swap freak, so I do that with them regardless.
- Nicer bodies and they use the Vintage Hi-Mass bridges, which don't affect tone, but are nice and solid IMO
- Necks and fretwork are great on them, hard to play one and not admit that it's basically a good MIM with a different headstock logo.
I would consider the VM 77 Jazz. It plays and sounds a lot like the genuine thing, and looks pretty authentic, too. The neck has some meat, which is a good thing tone-wise.
I'm biased, but I love my VM jazz. Never played an SX but I hear they are a good bang for the buck.
Ordered the andromeda... Still thinking about the Squier though... and maybe an Ursa... I still have to buy that diamond-j.... GAS is bad.
