bubinga5 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Anyone got any experience with basswood bodied jazz basses.. what do you think of the tone weight etc.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 The Squier Classic Vibe Jazz is basswood. Mine was just over 9lbs. Tone was fine, especially with pickups upgraded to Wizards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share Posted May 6, 2011 im thinking i wont even notice the difference between maybe alder or ash.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 [quote name='EssentialTension' post='1222562' date='May 6 2011, 08:34 PM']The Squier Classic Vibe Jazz is basswood. Mine was just over 9lbs. Tone was fine, especially with pickups upgraded to Wizards.[/quote] Ditto! Mine (the Squier CV moo-moo ) when played unplugged the most resonant of all 3 of them (I owned all 3 Classic Vibe ones), it would just ring and ring with sustain and like ET's mine weighed 9.12lbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share Posted May 6, 2011 nothing much in it then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 [quote name='bubinga5' post='1222600' date='May 6 2011, 09:06 PM']nothing much in it then?[/quote] What do you mean? weight wise or sound? It sounded great actually, once I swapped the original pickups with vintage stacked Seymour Duncans, the bass sounded better than the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share Posted May 6, 2011 [quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='1222610' date='May 6 2011, 09:13 PM']What do you mean? weight wise or sound? It sounded great actually, once I swapped the original pickups with vintage stacked Seymour Duncans, the bass sounded better than the real thing.[/quote]sorry.. sound wise.. i have an Audere to put in it also.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AttitudeCastle Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Basswood has great low end clarity, which is why i love it! Its reasonably light as well, which is why it was chosen as the bongo wood (they decided it sounded best, and teh alder prototypes were supposedly too heavy as the electronics weight alot (?) ) Its pretty "flat" (as in pretty transparent, think even sounding) so in comparision it can sound a little 'scooped' and has a very tight bottom end/low register. I really like basswood as a wood for basses, for the same reasons it is common on 7 string guitars and 'shred' guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Savage Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 [quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='1222642' date='May 6 2011, 09:41 PM']Its pretty "flat" (as in pretty transparent, think even sounding) so in comparision it can sound a little 'scooped' and has a very tight bottom end/low register. I really like basswood as a wood for basses, for the same reasons it is common on 7 string guitars and 'shred' guitars.[/quote] ^This; it was companies like Ibanez who turned basswood from the cheap wood you used on Far Eastern stuff which didn't merit ash or alder into a quality wood of itself. I wouldn't class it as a 'tonewood' as such, for exactly the reason mentioned above; it's quite neutral-sounding and lets the pickups and hardware dictate the 'tone', such as it is. And it's generally pretty lightweight too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Well... Bongos are pretty damn fine-sounding, and they've got Basswood bodies. Even if the bulk of the tone is down to the pick-ups and electrics, at the very least, the Basswood body doesn't hold it back.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 It is pretty soft and dings pretty easy, at least the stuff on cheap guitars does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1222728' date='May 6 2011, 11:17 PM']It is pretty soft and dings pretty easy, at least the stuff on cheap guitars does.[/quote] Well that would apply if the body was kept unpainted, a strong paint and lacquer job would determine how easy the body would ding or not. The bongo I had was pretty tough, I had it a year from new and never got a single ding on it before I sold it. Same goes for my Classic Vibe Squiers. No dings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tut Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 I think tonally - it's fine. IMO it sounds like Alder. I find ash has more low mids and is a bit more 'organic' sounding - ash is my preferred body wood. Visually Basswood is very plain and does tend to 'dink' easily. It's seldom used on transparent finishes as the grain is quite boring. My favourite Jazz had a basswood body, but I've just changed the body over to an ash one. You can see/listen to it as it was (basswood) here . . . [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7UUxuE3TcU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7UUxuE3TcU[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MythSte Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 I honestly think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between basswood and alder as well. I'd use the bongo as an example but as someone pointed out, there's so much electriky gubbins going on in one of those it's probably not a fair representation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillbilly deluxe Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 Basswood is used for the necks on Parker Fly guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essexbasscat Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 I have compared two basses of the same model, one with a basswood body and one with an alder body. The basswood was a little lighter and sounded a little 'cleaner' in comparison to the alder, which sounded a little warmer. Both resonated equally well, but there was an acoustic difference at the end of the day. Sorry if that's not particularly helpful in a decision making process, just my 2p. T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceH Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 I was never convinced by the wood on cheaper basses and unlike some I find the Squier Classic Vibe basses to be pretty weak tonally - how much is the wood I don't know, but I find if I like a bass acoustically then I normally like it plugged in. However...I recently picked up a Jap Aerodyne that is basswood, and it has become my go-to instrument! It's by far the most acoustically resonant instrument I have (compared to two alder and one ash jazz) with a lovely warm characterful midrange, given that I'm talking unplugged. Add to that the plugged in sound is immense. Deep, detailed, warm, grindy - it's all there, the old 'jazz bass on steroids' cliche despite the P neck pickup. It uses ceramic pickups and together with the basswood body this is really giving me food for thought about what components can make a good bass. I've no idea how consistent basswood is from one instrument to another but this one is evidence that it definitely can be awesome! I wasn't going to keep it originally but it's going nowhere. Re the Squier CVs, if they sound acoustically as good as my Aerodyne they must be some utter pish pickups to make them sound that average plugged in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 [quote name='LawrenceH' post='1222919' date='May 7 2011, 10:05 AM']Re the Squier CVs, if they sound acoustically as good as my Aerodyne they must be some utter pish pickups to make them sound that average plugged in.[/quote] That's what I have been saying for the last 2 years, no one seems to believe me. I've had ALL the 3 classic vibe models, and for that matter 2 of the 50's tele type. The pickups and components are utter sh|te! These basses have great potential, but only when you lift the pickguard and junk everything under it, as soon as you replace wiring, pots and pickup with the real deal, i.e. CTS pots, proper wires, input jack et all. Stick a Lollar or a Seymour Duncan Vintage in there, the money you would have spent will result in a real investment, one you won't regret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essexbasscat Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 Forgive me for coming back to this point and apologies to the OP for wandering off topic , but I was under the impression that CV's have Seymour Duncan's of some description in them at birth. Is this not the case ? or are they SD's under license ? inferior ? etc ? Just asking.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisyjon Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 Hi B5, Have a look at Warmoth's wood description page for their description: [url="http://www.warmoth.com/Bass/Options/WoodDescriptions.aspx"]http://www.warmoth.com/Bass/Options/WoodDescriptions.aspx[/url] JTB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Wazoo Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 (edited) [quote name='essexbasscat' post='1222951' date='May 7 2011, 10:43 AM']Forgive me for coming back to this point and apologies to the OP for wandering off topic , but I was under the impression that CV's have Seymour Duncan's of some description in them at birth. Is this not the case ? or are they SD's under license ? inferior ? etc ? Just asking....[/quote] No not the Classic Vibe, but some of the Indonesian made one have a licensed by Seymour Duncan pickup with the logo "Designed By Seymour Duncan" not made by, mind you... a bit like Squier and Fender all over again, made in some sweathshop in the far east under the licensing of SD. Edited May 7, 2011 by Grand Wazoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 I'm pretty sure my blue jazz is basswood. Compared to my ash bodied 75ri jazz it's tighter, deeper sort of raw-er sounding, with more mid bite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 I saw a couple of bands last night. Both bands using the same amp, and from looking at the changeover, the same settings on the amp. First bassist used a Fender Aerodyne Jazz (basswood), second bassist used a Mex Fender Precision (alder). The Aerodyne was much "middier" with less defined lows, that the Mex. If equating it to a graphic equaliser, it sounded as if someone had bottomed the lowest frequency slider. This could of course be down to the Aerodyne guy using the Jazz pickup as well however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wil Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 My Sterling is basswood. Unplugged it sounds fairly neutral, fairly resonant. Plugged in, well, you've got the pickup, preamp and then the rest of the signal chain so it's hard to say. Sounds fine to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceH Posted May 7, 2011 Share Posted May 7, 2011 [quote name='Lozz196' post='1222996' date='May 7 2011, 11:19 AM']This could of course be down to the Aerodyne guy using the Jazz pickup as well however.[/quote] That'd make a pretty effing huge difference yes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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