foxyFuze Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Hi all, Following some good reviews on here, I recently acquired a JHS Vintage V4 as a spare / something bit different to my 80s Fender Jazz Special (PJ) - original P and Hot Stack J as per Duff M 🙂 It's quite a bass by any standards, let alone in its price range. It is actually a PJ; there are none on the JHS website so I've asked them if this is a) a model they did or b) an owner retro-fitting, and am awaiting response. So.... I did only get the V4 for a the 'P' function, which sounds decent. The 'J' pickup isn't particularly strong / to my taste (and yes, I've adjusted pickup heights to compensate for output differences). I'm contemplating an upgrade for one or both pickups. I generally play rock / 80s pop, indie stuff etc and wouldn't mind something a bit different to the Jazz Special (Which has a less-than-traditional sound on the 'P' pickup, IMO). The EMG Geezer Butler set seems pretty good, as does the 60 J and 58 P combo from Bareknuckle. Naively, I assume the Bareknuckle '58 P would be fairly similar to the Fender Custom Shop 59 found in the Dirnt sig models, which I'm most impressed by. Opinions welcome one or both options! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 I recently bought a Tonerider Precision Plus pickup and it sounds very much like the Custom Shop 62s that are in my US Precisions. They`re very reasonably priced too, so may be worth checking out both P&Js in their range. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 I have the EMG GZR P and the standard EMG HZ P here that I’ve been meaning to install in my 76 P-ish. The plan is to do a comparison, but that is proving difficult as the boss makes it difficult to have time to do such frivolities . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBass Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 A Vintage V4 with PJ is certainly unique. Would be interested to see pictures of this if possible. I rate the V4 highly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyFuze Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 @RandomBass The original seller's photo. Neck feels good and it's quite light too (think that's a common thing with these V4s). Only VT + 3 way switch says to me the J pup is retro-fitted. I could be wrong. I've no reason to believe the body is not JHS, given the layout of the pickguard screws and aforementioned weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmo Valdemar Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Doesn't look like their usual headstock shape - perhaps it's a discontinued model? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBass Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Thanks for the pictures. Quite likely a retrofit job, but looks like it's done well. Seems they have put the 3 way switch where the volume was, and made a new hole further forward for the volume. VT and 3 way switch is a fave setup of mine, hence my love of Yammy BB's. Looks good to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBass Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Re the headstock, it looks like an early V4 to me. And yes, it could well be an older discontinued model that has passed me by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyFuze Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 Yes, agreed on both points. I'll hopefully find out more from them tomorrow; the guy on the phone only knew about brass and woodwind so he had to find someone in the know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 (edited) Going by my recent experience with a Jess Loureiro split-coil 51 Telebass pickup (which sounds absolutely excellent - warm, punchy and articulate), I can only imagine that his P/J sets would be equally stellar. He does a 'classic' set and a 'coil split' set, thus: http://jlguitars.eu/shop/index.php?id_product=63&controller=product&id_lang=4 http://jlguitars.eu/shop/index.php?id_product=64&controller=product&id_lang=4 All hand wound with traditional materials - and his prices are very competitive, too. Edited June 19, 2018 by discreet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBass Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 2 hours ago, discreet said: Going by my recent experience with a Jess Loureiro split-coil 51 Telebass pickup (which sounds absolutely excellent - warm, punchy and articulate), I can only imagine that his P/J sets would be equally stellar. He does a 'classic' set and a 'coil split' set, thus: http://jlguitars.eu/shop/index.php?id_product=63&controller=product&id_lang=4 http://jlguitars.eu/shop/index.php?id_product=64&controller=product&id_lang=4 All hand wound with traditional materials - and his prices are very competitive, too. Oh they look good, and very competitive prices. I'm currently looking at PJ options for a recently acquired Peavey... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ead Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 I had a set of Di Marzio DP126 in a PJ and they were awesome. Happened to notice that Dood has a set for sale on here so you could also save a few squids. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyFuze Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 It is a stock model after all; got this back from JHS. I think the date reads '1997'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBass Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Well there ya go. A great find though, that bass. 1997 was certainly a good vintage 😎🎸 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueno Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 13 hours ago, discreet said: Going by my recent experience with a Jess Loureiro split-coil 51 Telebass pickup (which sounds absolutely excellent - warm, punchy and articulate), I can only imagine that his P/J sets would be equally stellar. He does a 'classic' set and a 'coil split' set, thus: http://jlguitars.eu/shop/index.php?id_product=63&controller=product&id_lang=4 http://jlguitars.eu/shop/index.php?id_product=64&controller=product&id_lang=4 All hand wound with traditional materials - and his prices are very competitive, too. They look very tempting. Price is about half of some of the competitors I've been looking at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 3 minutes ago, Trueno said: They look very tempting. Price is about half of some of the competitors I've been looking at. I get the impression he's a one man band, so he won't have the overheads of the bigger companies. He makes a high quality product, there's no doubt about that. My split coil 51 Telebass pickup is lush. On the strength of it I'm buying a split coil neck pickup for my Jazz. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxyFuze Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 I was thinking about those Dp126s but I reckon the EMGs are more for me. Now to see if anyone is selling them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MoJo Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 On 19/06/2018 at 20:11, Cosmo Valdemar said: Doesn't look like their usual headstock shape - perhaps it's a discontinued model? On 19/06/2018 at 20:19, RandomBass said: Re the headstock, it looks like an early V4 to me. And yes, it could well be an older discontinued model that has passed me by. 14 hours ago, foxyFuze said: It is a stock model after all; got this back from JHS. I think the date reads '1997'. I was going to say, as a current V4 user, that I believed that the bass in question is the forerunner to the V4, before Trevor Wilkinson started adding his hardware to the basses, but I've been beaten to it. I've seen these 'Pre-Wilkinson' Vintage P-basses listed on eBay and Gumtree before now, as a V4. Now we know they are models in their own right, the E84 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Boots Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 As others have said I think this is a pre-Wilkinson era Vintage & you could add Wilkinson pick ups to it to bring it up to date with the current Vintage ones. I play a V4 & am completely happy with the sound & output of the pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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