mcnach Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 I had a gig on Sunday in Stirling, and just by chance I noticed a nice natural VM Jazz, used, for sale a few miles away... So between soundcheck and the gig I jumped in the car and now I own a beautiful Squier VM Jazz. Pretty nice bass. Strings are a bit old, and I haven't put new ones in yet, so I'll wait to change them before passing full judgement, I was surprised at how light it was. Then I noticed the body seems to be a bit thinner than usual. Whatever, I like it. Feels good. Very solid, and comfortable. I'm not entirely satisfied with the sound. I can't put my finger on it, and I'll wait untilo it has new strings on... but I can't hep feeling it could improve a lot with some good pickups. It sounds a bit "cheap". Although the pickup heights definitely need adjusting and that often has a big impact in the final sound. I took it on Monday for rehearsal with Radge Against The Machine (debut gig on the 25th of June, Edinburgh... if you're around you know what you should do! It felt good... and I noticed something with the volume controls that I had never noticed with a Jazz before. If I use both bickups on, full volume on both, and I back off *very slightly* the neck volume... the bridge pretty much takes over. These volume controls are basically all or nothing. I normally would go for pots that allow me a gradual change... but for a VVT configuration like this, I actually like this. Why? Because I was playing with both pickups on, adjusting tone a bit with the tone control. Then, when I wanted a more mid-rich cutting tone, I just backed off a tiny bit the neck volume knob. A very small amount of turn can have a big change in sound. I found it better than other VVT configurations I've tried, and even better than those with a blend control instead of two volumes. curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 IIRC, they ship with 500k volume pots as standard, not the 250k a jazz would normally have. Perhaps this is a contributory factor? Maybe yours have been changed and someone has installed Linear pots instead of Logarithmic (Audio Taper) ones? Difficult to say without whipping the control plate off and having a look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len_derby Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 I must say I've noticed this 'feature' with mine too, which although bought pre-owned, has all standard bits on as far as I can tell. Perhaps some clever bar-stewards can enlighten us. I quite like the sound of the stock pickups, the 'Duncan designed' jobbies. All very subjective, of course. A heck of a lot of bass for the £'s. Love mine as a leaving out around the house & dodgy venue instrument. Very pretty too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillbilly deluxe Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 Its just what jazz basses do.Nothing wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 My Geddy Lee signature does similar from what i can understand from your description. Also from memory the jazz i had in mid 80's was same or similar. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 1, 2011 Author Share Posted June 1, 2011 Thanks for the replies. So it's common? huh. I never noticed it. I only ever owned a Jazz (copy) before (my first bass) and it was a much more gradual thing. I think. Then the Westfield... to be honest I used it on bridge pickup alone entirely, until I put a John East preamp, so no more VVT. My previous experience of VVT controls were in OLPs, and I hated those. But the way they work in this Jazz is not bad. Not bad at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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