What Should I Get For Christmas?

[jamesdschmidt]

Been given a budget (~$200). I mulling this one over but I don't have local bass buddies to talk with about this so you are it.

Experience: 18 months of self-paced learning so far (Fender Play, BassBuzz, Scott's).
Music preferences: jazz, blues, surf, alternative
Gear: 2021 Fender Player Precision Bass (sunburst) with flatwounds, 2022 Fender Player Jazz Bass (sunburst), Fender Rumble 40 amp, TC Electronics Unitune clip tuner (very accurate...it is making me consider tuner choices for improvement)

What would you do in this situation to possibly improve tone and/or playability?

Considering:
* Fender Custom Shop pickups for either bass as they are on sale on Fender's site. I'm having a hard time appreciating any existing A/B testing videos...compressed audio is not telling me what it sounds like coming out of my amp. Is this worth pursuing? Any recommendations?
* Ratio tuners for the jazz bass as I like the current tuning experience on the D and G strings but not so much on the E and A. But the possibility of making the neck dive worse is causing me to pause.
* Hipshot Ultralite tuners on the jazz bass to reduce the neck dive. The neck dive is not too terrible and I'm using a leather strap to cope.
* I can do my own setup and deal with fret sprout so we don't have to talk about this point.
* New strings are already in the stocking - Roundwounds for the jazz bass specifically...I'm going to let the flatwounds on the p bass age.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

If you create a poll, I'll vote for the Hipshot Ultralights.
If you allow for multiple selections I'll also vote for a Carrot Orange/Tort pick guard?

 

[96tbird]

“What would you do in this situation to possibly improve tone and/or playability?”

Tuners aren’t going to do anything for tone or playability. scratch. Neckdive? Sure Fenders have a little dive, but nothing like many others suffer; that can wait. It’s just not a priority for in the house learning.

The weak link is your amp. A Rumble 40 won’t follow you out of the house and into a jam at all. A nice amp will definitely give you better tone and will be useful outside the house.

Here’s an idea, plan on a nice amp upgrade like a Rumble 500 or something. I don’t own a rumble but use my buddies (200) when we get together and I love that amp, they’re great. So, buy yourself a $200 gift card and hold it. As you save another $100 buy another gift card. Repeat. When you have enough, buy a new amp. The gift cards will keep you from spending the cash, helping you to save up.

 

[iiipopes]

Lessons.