Buy new or modify old?

[grumpyguts]

For the past 18 months I have been having lessons, this is after around 25 years of bass inactivity.

I have a Westone Thunder 1a - brought new in 1985. Apart from a Sue Ryder bass I picked up a few months ago to modify the Westone is the only bass I have played. I know no better.

The problem is this.... I love my old Westone and will never part with it, however when I listen to recordings of my lessons the slap tone I get lacks the top end clarity my teacher gets with his Stingray or Overwater. I am obviously aware it's a bit unrealistic to compare my inexpensive old thing with high end stuff.

The question is what to do about it.

Modify the Westone? Add a bridge pickup, this should extend the range of tone available and find up a bit more top end. This will allow me to remain faithful to the old girl.

Buy a new bass? I will try a few but I have in my mind an Ibanez SR500 would perhaps do ok. I am not sure I want a new bass that I will have to look after and worry about scratches dents etc. The Westone already has enough of these for this to no longer be a concern.

Should I expect a new £500 bass to offer significant playability and tonal advantages over a modified Westone?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated

[HowieBass]

Before you go hunting for a new bass (though I can't blame you for wanting to have another in your stable, GAS is a cruel mistress) I'd look at four things.

First off, your Thunder IA has the active/passive option and the dual tone switch (it's supposed to be a coil tap). How are you using these? You will get a thinner, more treble dominated tone with the coil tap selected and that will add top end. Engaging the active tone option even with it set at the middle detente will add some treble boost to whatever you've got set with the passive tone pot (the active tone pot is a sweepable frequency tone boost, treble one side, bass the other side) - at least it does on my Spectrum LX and that shares the same EQ section as your bass - this is before you even use the active tone pot to boost treble. Experiment with how the passive and active tone pots interact with each other; try dialling back the passive to remove treble but then use the active to boost the treble at selected frequencies; open the passive tone right up to get full treble but use the active to boost the bass side; use the dual tone switch on/off as you do this.

Secondly, make sure your bass is set up well, especially the neck relief and action. Getting a good set up will make your bass really sing, especially with just the right amount of zing from fret buzz. The lower you can get the action without incurring excessive fret buzz the better it will sound for slap.

Thirdly, are you playing through the same amp as your tutor? If not then look at how some tone shaping there will affect your sound. A few basses come with a slap switch as part of the EQ section; this usually boosts the top and bottom end, rather like a contour switch found on some amps where it brings in a predefined EQ smiley curve. So experiment with your amp's tone section.

Finally, ask your tutor to play your bass and see if it sounds different to how it does in your hands. Does it now sound like it has better top end? If so then that top end clarity is partly down to technique.

After all this if you still struggle to find that top end then it might be time to go shopping! Have a look at the Squier Deluxe Jazz Active... a great bass with a more conventional active EQ section... the treble boost/cut pot is centred at 10KHz which is probably the region you'd be looking for to get the 'zing' you want and it has a slap switch too.

H

Edited August 13, 2014 by HowieBass

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Maybe you need to change your strings.

[grumpyguts]

Thanks for the replies.

Strings are replaced regularly - currently on Flex Steels, was Rotosound steel.

I will go for a set up; other than my efforts setting string height and rod it's never been touched.

[hamfist]

The THunder 1A is basically a Fender Precision with an active preamp. You will never achieve anything other than very old school slap tones with it. You cannot escape the pickup configuration it has.
"Slappers" tend to choose either Musicman stingray pickup basses (so a single pickup moved towards the bridge compared to a precision), or a bass with two pickups which, when blended give a nice bright mid-scooped sound, which is what most folks are looking for when they slap.
There is no reason you cannot add a bridge Jazz pickup to your Westone, then you can have either pickup soloed or blend the two. You will have a huge number of extra tones available to you that way, including a much brighter, mid-scooped slap-friendly tone.
The thunder 1A's are very mod-friendly and have huge control cavities for extra switches and pots etc.
Here's a couple of Thunders I have modded in similar ways .....

[url=http://www.ephotobay.com/share/wt-a.html][/url]
[url=http://www.ephotobay.com/share/gt-main-b.html][/url]
[url=http://www.ephotobay.com/share/westone-pj-green-a.html][/url]

THe Thunder body neck heel slots also take standard Fender necks (although you will need to move the bridge back a bit to compensate for the two fewer frets) so that is another way you can mod your THunder in the future if that interests you.
The woods and construction of these MIJ THunders is really excellent and I think you would struggle to buy anything new for £500 these days which is of the same standard. Modern manufacturing methods simply cut all sorts of corners in terms of materials quality to bring prices down.

[grumpyguts]

Thanks Hamfist, interesting stuff. This tends to confirm my initial thoughts as I am aware of the limitations of the Fender P configuration. I have tried all manner of tone, active, passive etc variations - this bass can do a lot of stuff but not the particular sound I want for slap.

The Westone does everything else very well as far as I am concerned - the fact that it looks nothing like a Fender or any other bass currently available helps; maybe back in 1985 I should have saved harder for a Thunder II.

From what I have read most opinion of these basses is favourable - It's just hard to believe that what was considered an inexpensive bass when new and still a cheap used buy is basically a very good instrument.

The lovely natural bass in pic one is just like mine... except for the lack of distress and the extra pup!

[Paul S]

[quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1407919724' post='2525256']
Maybe you need to change your strings.
[/quote]

A set of something like DR High beams will certainly make it ring.

This guy manages to get a nice slap tone from a Precision

http://youtu.be/C5QYSu9xaTE

[chrismuzz]

I'd agree with the posts that say most of the sizzling top end comes from having a bridge pickup. A fantastic choice would be an Entwistle neodymium P/J setup. I think the pair cost me £50 and they're the ballsiest passive pickups i've ever heard!

[DarkHeart]

I'll second that about the entwistles.

[HowieBass]

Hmmm I'm not so sure you can't get a decent slap tone from a P pickup, I mean look at and listen to this...

http://youtu.be/JMSq__vg7Gs

[Ghost_Bass]

D'Addario Prosteels are the brightest strings i've come across, great for top end. Try this and work with the bass's EQ first. I can get a very decent slap tone on my BB1025X using just the P pickup with the prosteels.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Maybe also worth considering the string gauge you are using not just how often you change your strings - I found that changing from 45-105 nickel rounds to 35-95 nickel rounds on my Squier CV P made a big difference, the lighter gauge strings work and sound much better for slap (for me at least). It's taken a while to get used to the change, but I'm really glad I gave it a try - I've even been taking the first steps to learning basic double thumbing technique as a result.