NBD - Squier JV - Kramer 7000 - Warwick streamer - with sound samples! :)

[LukeFRC]

you came here for sounds and pictures didn't you? comments if you want. I just played the first thing that came to my head!
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN9CC0_K9bA&feature=plcp[/media]

Well today I took delivery of a lovely bass that kennyrodg sold me.
I'll be honest, I only bought it as it had a pickup in it that's from a JV squier P bass and I wanted to reunite that with a JV squier p bass.

Build on this thing is mental, it was actually a bit of a struggle to get the neck in properly it is so tight, a nice thinnish rosewood fretboard, very good tuners, chunky bridge... not a bad bass.

So played around with it, re wired the humbucker (it had been wired out of phase, oops!) and then swapped the P pickup out.
while I was about it did some sound samples.... REALLY BAD ones and going straight into the mic socket of my iMac and into garage band. not the best way to record anything. playing is all over the place... and to even sure I checked they were in tune!
The warwick currently has no preamp until I get around to buying a blend pot, and is wired straight to the jack.
The warwick has some DR blue peacocks on, (6 months old?), the JV has some 2 year old DR fat beams on, and I have no idea what the Kramer has on, not too old, not brand new either.

Then swapping them over found some odd things.
1) the JV pups on the kramer didn't really fit in their covers, the covers seemed too big. sure enough they were too big for the holes in the JV bass scratch plate. odd. so keep using them on the kramer.
2) the brass bottom plate on the Seymour duncan pickups is too big to fit on the kramer. Not sure that this is normal or not.... further complicated by the fact that looking up online..... the Seymour duncan SPB-1 doesn't come with a grounding plate! But mine has one. did they ever come with a grounding plate? or is it original from the bass?
3) the SPB1 and the JV p pup have very different coil sizes. If I was sensible I would have taken resistance readings when I had the chance. the SPB1 was very short and fat. The JV was noticeably taller and thinner. odd.
anyone have any photos of the insides of various fender P pickups anywhere?

Edited June 30, 2012 by LukeFRC

[LukeFRC]

oh and tone wide open on all clips

[KennysFord]

Nice One Luke,
For me it's the JV/JV combo that wins out, I'm glad that PickUp found it's rightful home !
Do me a favour though bud,
I'm fairly certain that the strings on the Kramer are Sunbeams, One's that took me months and months to get them to how I like 'em ...... "worn". If you find you don't like them I'll buy 'em back of you.
I'm glad you like the Bass too.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='kennyrodg' timestamp='1341012967' post='1712972']
Nice One Luke,
For me it's the JV/JV combo that wins out, I'm glad that PickUp found it's rightful home !
Do me a favour though bud,
I'm fairly certain that the strings on the Kramer are Sunbeams, One's that took me months and months to get them to how I like 'em ...... "worn". If you find you don't like them I'll buy 'em back of you.
I'm glad you like the Bass too.

[/quote]
yeah, I'm surprised at the difference and how you can tell it's the same bass at the same time. I prefer them I think. Ping your address over I'll keep them safe until I work out where the rest of the kramer is going to sit in my bass arsenal in terms of getting played. I think I will change the wiring (again) so that the bridge pup switch is series/singlecoil/paralell and have the front coil as the single coil. far more useful in my book!

[guybrush threepwood]

The JV in the JV is just beautiful.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='guybrush threepwood' timestamp='1341053352' post='1713222']
The JV in the JV is just beautiful.
[/quote]

yeah, it is So so different. A lot more bottom end and low mids. whereas with the SD is a nice pup, but it doesn't sound that much different from, say the warwick. Interesting experimenting anyway! Think I'm going to keep the JV in the JV as the wick can hit most the tones I will be loosing.

[LukeFRC]

Today I fitted the Seymore Duncan to the Kramer and also wired in one of the switches in series/single coil / parallel for the bridge pickup, the coil nearest the neck sounds best so thats the single coil I chose to use.
Having had a wee play... and the Duncan sounds better in the Kramer, it balances better with the tone of the other pickups than the JV P pickup did. The JV sounds nice in the JV but boy is there a lot of bottom end in there! so much bass!

[LukeFRC]

not many replies on here... maybe I should ask more questions....

which one of the two pickups do you think is more classic P bass sound? the JV one is way way more bassy and makes the whole bass a different instrument.
Slight concern it could be *too* much live.
Also given that the SPB1 is supposed to be Duncans's vintage voiced P bass pickup, and the JV is supposed to be a vintage copy too.... why are they so different? not even the coil shapes are the same!

Luke

[guybrush threepwood]

To me, the JV is [i]the [/i]P-Bass tone. I don't know why, it's just the most pleasing to my ear.

[stevie]

The JV with its original pickup sounds wonderful: it has the "thunk". I'm surprised how middly the SPB-1 sounds in comparison, as it is touted as one of the finest vintage P-Bass replacements you can buy. I expect the Duncan pickup could be made to sound like the JV pickup with a bit of bass lift in the preamp, but still - that's an eye-opener!

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1341218001' post='1715139']
The JV with its original pickup sounds wonderful: it has the "thunk". I'm surprised how middly the SPB-1 sounds in comparison, as it is touted as one of the finest vintage P-Bass replacements you can buy. I expect the Duncan pickup could be made to sound like the JV pickup with a bit of bass lift in the preamp, but still - that's an eye-opener!
[/quote]

i'm going to try it out in practice. the SPB-1 is brilliant at where it sits in the mix and a really great pickup, I think for a lot of music styles it would be more appropriate. I like both to be honest, be good to try out the JV live

[Balcro]

Interesting comparisons. The Warwick had the deepest dry bass and that rasp. The SPB-1 in the Squier honked like a jazz!

The reunited pick-up in the JV Squier had the classic rounded tone. Lower output than the SPB ?

Thanks Balcro.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='Balcro' timestamp='1341231568' post='1715383']
Interesting comparisons. The Warwick had the deepest dry bass and that rasp. The SPB-1 in the Squier honked like a jazz!

The reunited pick-up in the JV Squier had the classic rounded tone. Lower output than the SPB ?

Thanks Balcro.
[/quote]

Dunno, didn't check! different shape coil that's for sure.
SOme of the rasp on the warwick is down to the very worn third fret in the C position needs a refret soon!