Vintage v4

[bassmachine2112]

[attachment=126106:DSCN4071.JPG][sharedmedia=core:attachments:95583]
Here,s my review of a Vintage V4
I originally bought this for sitting on a stand at home just to pick up and noodle about on when the feeling took me.
It sounds loud when unplugged with a good range of tones-good start
Fit and finish is good,nothing to report on that front.
Hardware -all good functional stuff that works.Wilkinson stuff so it works
playability-easy to set up to my taste,nice weight,balances well
Sounds-sounds like a P.Quite grunty if you like it and cleans up well,volume and tone are nice and work well.Good output from the pick up and tone
This review sounds very bland and there seems to be no real comments on this bass.The truth is it does the job and nothing niggles me about it.I just pick it up and play it.
Now to the good bit.
I was in a hurry one day to get to a practice and just grabbed it and run.
I plugged it in to my giggin rig and could not believe what I heard.It,s not me cause I,ve used this in 3 bands and the comment is what a great sounding bass-everyone loves it..
For the price they are a steal.I gig this one and is still going strong.
I bought this second hand for a steal.
I have modified it a bit-I fitted a maple neck off a Vintage musicman copy cause they didn,t do a maple neck version at the time and it,s a straight fit apart from 2 pilot holes for the neck bolts.That was for me and it goes lovely with the black to green sunburst with the white pearl
scratchplate.
Overall-great bass and very underated
What would I swap it for-Vintage Tony Butler signature cause I,m a sucker for the black and maple look.[attachment=126106:DSCN4071.JPG]

[skidder652003]

nice review, does what it says on the tin.
I was looking at the fretless Jaco model up against the squier. Would love a head to head with those two. Vintage are pretty underated IMO

[Lozz196]

I`ll add to this, I bought a Vintage Tony Butler Sig V4 a few months back, and played it with my band for the first time this week. And to say I`m knocked out by it would be an understatement. Usually when I play any Precision other than my US 2012-15 Series ones I find myself noticing that I`m not playing one of those, if that makes any sense. Well with the TB V4 I didn`t notice it at all playing wise. I might have to adjust the height of the pickups a tad, but sound-wise it was "there"! This is one of those basses that you just think, wow, how is it so good for that amount of money - I paid £120 second hand, but new they`re only £250 - £300, in comparison to £1200/£1300 for the US ones when they were on the market.

I do prefer my US ones but this TB V4 comes very very close. So much so I`m def going to use it as my overseas/flight bass, to save flying with an expensive US Precision. Now irrespective of cost I wouldn`t do that unless it was a bass I was comfortable with, I`d prefer to take the risk with the expensive bass. I`m actually thinking of getting another and just gigging these all the time I`m that impressed. The only mods I`ve done/will do is a Hipshot triple-retainer to keep the pesky A string under control (not that it did misbehave, but to eliminate the possibility), and may well put a KiOgon loom in there, think that the electrics may be the weaker part of the bass if there is one, though sound-wise it doesn`t seem that way.

These might not suit everyone, the neck is a real cricket-bat-chunker, and being a Precison, well it sounds like one, so if you don`t want that sound then it`s probably not the right bass for you, but given this one-time purchase of a Vintage instrument I`d say it`s worth checking out their range. I`d read before about pros who claim to "love their Vintage" and thought it was just marketing/cos they`d been given them. I`m not so sure now, I reckon it`s because they`re great instruments, irrespective of price/value.

[AntLockyer]

GAS

[stu_g]

here is mine came to me set up perfectly,low action feels great,nice weight neck pocket is gap free 

I changed the pickup to a maida vale alnico but it was fine before with the wilkinson alnico 

I cant work out why there so cheap but im not complaining,I only wish these were around when I was learning bass.

[Lozz196]

That`s the exact one I`m gassing for at the moment, Stu. In line with proper punk etiquette it would get a black scratchplate but I just love that vintage-white colour.

[Guest MoJo]

This is my 'go to' V4. It's the same model as in Stu_G's post but with the pick guard from a Tony Butler signature model fitted (sourced from JHS)

[PaulWarning]

just got a new lefty one, black, rose wood neck, and white pick guard

Bad, sharp frets on the underside of the dusty end, the tuners are poor, very stiff especially the D string, and the set up was appalling, well it hadn't had one basically but thankfully the nut was correctly cut.

Good, it sounds like a precision, louder than my USA Fender a little bit 'narlier' , good bridge and pick ups and now it is set up plays well.

I got it for £200 new while ebay had a 15% off everything offer on, so overall looks like a good buy

I'll be gigging it at the weekend so I'll see how it performs then

Update, used it at a gig last night, surprisingly it was deeper bass than my USA P and louder, but no problems and surprise surprise only I could tell the difference apart from the volume, it played as well as my USA P.

I use a bit of overdrive, when I tried it without there did seem volume differences between the strings, but that could be the strings or pickup height adjustment.

So, I'll be keeping it for back up and gigs where I don't want to risk taking my USA P

Edited September 2, 2018 by PaulWarning
update