shoulderpet

More brightness really, I always find right single pickup basses I like them as bright as possible

I have an even cheaper way, thanks for looking, much appreciated

Thanks, if I get the bass and I like it then then I am thinking of fitting 500k pots or maybe even 1meg pots

Well, when I say a mod platform I don't mean anything crazy, just basically swapping out the parts that are generally junky on cheaper basses (tuners, pots, pickguard, bridge,fret dress if needed maybe the pickup depending on what the stock one sounds like), I know this will cost more than the bass itself but if I like the bass once I receive it then I have no qualms about putting money into it to get something I like them more. Btw do you know if the stock pots are 250 or 500k?

And after giving it some thought I have actually decided to go for the PB-50 (Harley Benton single coil p bass) there is just something about the simplicity of the one pickup one tone that appeals to me. Also means that if I do mod it there is a simpler circuit to modify and one less pickup to swap out.

Thanks, yeah that is my aim with this is to have a cheap bass and use it as a modding platform

Interested to find this out too

I brought covers for my p bass and I thought I would get used to the one covering the pickup but I just couldn't and it impacted my playing so the pickup cover came off and the bridge one stayed on

Hi Am looking at picking a cheap jazz bass and I can easily afford a Harley Benton, looking on the Thomann website they have the JB-20 which appears to be there Squier affinity clone and for a bit more they have the JB-75 which is basically a Vintage modified clone, does anyone have experience of these? Is it worth paying the extra for the JB-75? Thanks JB-20 JB-75

Am after brightening up the tone on my P bass, have put some brighter strings on there but after a little more, am wondering what my best bet is for this , no load tone pot or TBX tone pot ? Thanks

Oh yes, I remember a gig that I went to, great gig but soundwise not great and the bass drum read eq'd with so much low end that every time the drummer hit the bass drum you couldn't tell if it was the bass or the drums that you were hearing

I disagree, I know there are some musicians who think that bass should be felt and not heard but honestly I dont understand that mentality at all Honestly I think the bass should be felt less and heard more, I have been to a lot of gigs where the bass was eq'd with bowel loosening amounts of low end and zero clarity, unfortunately that seems to be the trend now

Yes and at that price there is no excuse, on a £200 Squier I could possibly overlook it but not on a bass costing thousands

That bridge cover not covering the bridge pickup would bug me

As long as they are able to magnetise the pole pieces it should not make any difference, the most important thing is the wind, I would test the dc resistance with a multimeter and as long as it is in the 30k range or close you should be all good

wow that is awesome, I have been thinking about getting a cheap P bass and doing something similar but the cost has always put me off

Having purchased a number of £500 basses and returned pretty much all of them I would agree with this but with the caveat that the QC improvements are generally very small, As someone who has pretty much exclusively played cheap basses, I decided recently to get some decent basses but to set my limit at £500ish, for £500 you should be able to get a decent bass... right? First one I ordered, initially I thought maybe it was just the particular model of bass that felt cheap, then I purchased more basses around this price point and I started to see a pattern, with the exception of the Fender pj Mustang bass they all felt like £200-£300 basses that someone had slapped a £500 price tag on. In summary, if I ever feel the need to buy what I consider a 'decent' bass I will look around the £700-£800 mark (assuming I am buying new), the improvements in the £500 range compared to basses in the £200 range are minimal considering the price difference.

Apologies, I did mean to, this is the track [YouTube]https://youtu.be/hgjXP_eS2R4

A bit of fret buzz can be a good thing, helps the bass cut through Take a listen to this isolated bass track of Red hot chilli peppers Blood sugar sex magic album, the isolated track doesn't sound great but on the album that bees in a tin can buzziness is the special sauce that makes the bass sound great on the albums mix

Oh yeah I mean the cost difference is minimal but as you say it is about perceived value more than anything else and people perceive ceramic to be inferior but the magnet is just one part of the pickup, same with cloth wires on pickups, pickup makers will state cloth wires as a selling point but they actually make no real difference at all

Cool, yes with cheaper basses some can be really good, that Kay actually sounds really nice, would love a Westone Thunder, also really gives you a nice buzz knowing that the bass that you paid peanuts for is a really nice bass

Haha, not heard of Kimbara or Melody, I know Kay are usually junk though but Hohner are actually often fairly playable

That's true although I think at this price point I think it's safe to assume it will be ceramic

My tone is generally very aggressive so I haven't used that pickup in a while but when I used it I was immediately reminded of Mike Mills from REM's P bass tone(not there earlier stuff when he used the ric), that kind of full,warm low mid focused tone

Yeah I think if the pickup in there is a Wilkinson it will probably be there cheaper ceramic pickup which is not a bad pickup, I have tried the ceramic and the alnico versions and the ceramic is more aggressive than the alnico version (when I tried the ceramic one I found it had really snarly mids) but it doesnt have that low mid punch that the alnico one does