hooky_lowdown

I know what you mean, but 50s, 60s, 70s classic bass sound is fender. The other thing to consider are what strings you play, in fact this is the biggest aspect of your bass sound. Before changing pickups, try some different strings to get close to the sound you want. I'm guessing with Delano's you use steel roundwounds? To get a 60s rock n roll / blues sound you'll want pure nickel or nickel on steel roundwounds. It took me years of buying and selling basses to realise the biggest fundamental of my bass sound is the strings. Get them right and you're 70% there, get the right strings and pickups, and you're 90% there, the rest is technique. 😃

Your Delano's are hi-fi sounding pickups, which going on what you want is the polar opposite to your needs. To me, it sounds like you want a 'vintage' voiced pickup, so you want alnico pickups, and the Fender custom shop 62 is the best P pickup imho, and my experience. Others of note would be Lindy Fralin or Aguilar P4-60's. I would give SD's a miss, the others above are all far superior. 50s and 60s pickups are essentially the same, low to medium output. 70s pickups are higher output.

Sorry to hear your news. Things could be worse, you could be Jeremy Corbyn. 😉 On another note, new year approaching, new start. Maybe something new is on the horizon.

Nope, never gonna happen. 😉

Some people get too anal about everything being precise measurement's. Whenever I set up a bass I do a simple set up, adjust relief, adjust saddle height, intonate and then adjust pickup height when plugged into an amp. Really easy to do - I'm not a dark art practitioner! 😎

What??? Next the interweb will be saying my technique needs upgrading ... in truth it does! Damn internet. 🙈

Wait ... does this mean the bridge on my P bass is terrible. Looks the same as a jazz bass bridge. Sounds good to me though. 😉

I never said it did. Slightly misaligned pickups I wouldn't say is bad quality. Having owned the same bass I know it is very well made, far better than a lot of old MIM Fender's I've owned.

It's a cheap bass, what do you expect?

Which pickups distort when they get too close to the strings? You don't want the strings hitting the pickups, but close should be ok.

Pickup height on any bass makes a difference. The closer to the strings, the louder and fuller the sound. The lower does the opposite, sound weaker and thinner.

SX basses along with pretty much most budget basses often have misalignment with pickup poles. Obviously the bridge is slightly off, but it doesn't affect the sound or output.

Ooooooh, what was your worst?

There is, but one size doesn't fit all. I always adjust and set up my basses to what feels right to me, and I'd advise anyone else do the same. As mentioned, adjust the height of each saddle with a small Allen key so the string is at a height over the fret board that is right for you. Then you need to intonate each string which is done by turning each screw at the back of the bridge, once the string is in tune, then press down at the 12th fret, then adjust the saddle a little forward or backward until the string is in tune both open and at the 12th fret. Then you're done. 😃

Antoria's were made at Fujigen Gakki. The factory also made Greco, Ibanez, Jason, Mann, Penco, Univox, Yamaha, Kent, Hohner branded guitars and basses.

That's pretty much how I run my Rumble. 👍

The Rumble amp is very bass heavy, especially in Vintage mode. But the Mustang and Rumble are a match made in heaven. 👍

It's a scandal what someone did to that Vox. 😥

Glad you like the Gretsch. Out of interest how heavy is yours?

Because the machine head pegs are tiny. Try and bend high tension flats around them!