'51 Precision?

[Quilly]

Anyone have any opinion about these basses vs the standard split-coil type. Every time I hear them on Youtube they sound great. Kinda spacious but warm, thumpy. That pickup looks kinda small, I Imagine its noisy??  

[hooky_lowdown]

51 pickups are great IMHO. As you say they are very warm and thumpy, they also have fast attack and decay - which gives you the classic/vintage electric bass sound, i.e not a lot of sustain.

The difference between the single coil and the split coil is the fast attack and decay, the SC is less defined and can be noisy, but there are 51 pickups on the market now which are wound hum cancelling, so there is no noise - same as a split coil, retaining all the great characteristics of the SC.

51 p bass with nickel wound, half round of flatwound strings = best bass sound. 😀

[Tweedledum]

I love the sound of the singlecoil P-Bass. "Spacious and warm, thumpy" - yes, that's a very good description. My absolute favourite is the '54-'56 version. It's got the small singlecoil pickup, fat maple neck with a soft V shape, and a contoured body, which makes it much more comfortable to play than the 1st iteration P-Bass with it's chunky slab body.

 

[ezbass]

A certain Mr Sumner seems to think they’re the bee’s knees (see what I did there  ) and he can play anything he likes.

[hooky_lowdown]

28 minutes ago, ezbass said:

A certain Mr Sumner seems to think they’re the bee’s knees (see what I did there  ) and he can play anything he likes.

I think his is a 53 or 54, either way, always sounds great.

[police squad]

his main is a 57.

I had the Sting signature for a while and it sort of purred. Ash body, maple board. Nice bass but then I had a replica made of his 57. Alder body, more thump but lovely

[Cat Burrito]

I had two of the Japanese reissues and it's the one model I regret selling. I loved the pickup and everything about the bass. I guess if you dodge a few salads you might miss the cutaway but it wasn't a problem for me. Would love to get one again once funds allow.

[kodiakblair]

My favourite style of bass, I really should sell all the others. A couple have hum-cancelling singles. Most also have 2 saddle bridges. 

Have to say the reissues from Japan are excellent. 

[Quilly]

Thanks for the feedback on this cool instrument. Now I've got some serious gas 😫 

Any opinions on the Squier versions? 

Even Thomann have an own brand going for peanuts. 

[hooky_lowdown]

The Squier version is the classic vibe range, which is the top of the Squier range so are excellent.

The Thomann basses are amazing value, very well made, sound really good, the electrics let it down, but easily changed. Do a search for reviews on Google, they are rightly well liked, especially for the price. The best bass you can buy under £100 IMHO.

The Squiers have more of a standard neck, whereas the Thomann one's have a traditional thicker neck.

I'd say buy the Thomann, see if you like it, if you do you can generally sell them for close to what they cost new, and upgrade to the Squier or Fender!

[Quilly]

On 17/09/2019 at 14:45, hooky_lowdown said:

The Squier version is the classic vibe range, which is the top of the Squier range so are excellent.

The Thomann basses are amazing value, very well made, sound really good, the electrics let it down, but easily changed. Do a search for reviews on Google, they are rightly well liked, especially for the price. The best bass you can buy under £100 IMHO.

The Squiers have more of a standard neck, whereas the Thomann one's have a traditional thicker neck.

I'd say buy the Thomann, see if you like it, if you do you can generally sell them for close to what they cost new, and upgrade to the Squier or Fender!

I just ordered the sunburst Harley Benton there. Every review I read was overwhelmingly positive. For €109 it looks like an absolute steal. I'll be sure to post a review when It arrives. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Quilly

[Wilson_51_]

 

I bought one of these a while ago and did a refinish on it. As others have said the electronics let it down a bit but pretty easy to install different pickups and wiring.

I was quite amazed at how great they are, not just for the price but in general. It's now one of my go to basses. Difficult to describe how it sounds but seems to work in every application that i've tried it in.

hopefully you'll have the same experience i did. looking forward to hearing what you think to it.

[Quilly]

9 minutes ago, simon88wilson said:

 

I bought one of these a while ago and did a refinish on it. As others have said the electronics let it down a bit but pretty easy to install different pickups and wiring.

I was quite amazed at how great they are, not just for the price but in general. It's now one of my go to basses. Difficult to describe how it sounds but seems to work in every application that i've tried it in.

hopefully you'll have the same experience i did. looking forward to hearing what you think to it.

I’ve already been eyeing the bare knuckle pups 😂, when does it end 🤔

[Wilson_51_]

Part of me wishes i went for the bareknuckles but i got a good deal on a quarter pounder which so far has been fine. i'll probably swap it out at some point as i can't help but tinker with things.

 

And to answer your question "when does it end?" = Never

[Quilly]

4 minutes ago, simon88wilson said:

Part of me wishes i went for the bareknuckles but i got a good deal on a quarter pounder which so far has been fine. i'll probably swap it out at some point as i can't help but tinker with things.

 

And to answer your question "when does it end?" = Never

The BN pups are 90% the cost of the bass 😂😂. It really is insane 

[hooky_lowdown]

The stock Roswell pickup is very decent, I've read several reviews of peeps upgrading the pickup only to go back to stock. The BN pup may be deemed as an upgrade, but the difference will be minimal imho. The bigger difference will be in putting better electrics and capacitor in.

I suggest you set up the HB when it arrives to your taste, give it a month or two and then buy the BN pup if the stock isn't doing it for you! 😎

[kodiakblair]

I've never had any problems with the pots or jack socket on my PB-50, 5 years down the line and still going strong 👍

 

Totally agree with Hooky regarding playing the PB first before deciding on a pickup swap. 1 alnico V single sounds pretty much like another. Bought an £8 single from China,just for the hell of it I recorded a scale using it and 4 other singles. Stuck the clips up on Talkbass and asked folks to guess which was the Chinese cheapie. From 600 views only 20 responded 😞 Funny thing was it was an even result,each pickup got 4 votes 🙂

 

Interesting thing about the Roswells is the pole pieces,it's the same Alnico V slugs as the Duncan 1/4lb'er. Don't think it's overwound to the same extent as the 1/4lb'er as it's a bit warmer.

[Quilly]

You’re probably right , I won’t get the screwdriver/soldering iron out unless a component is so bad that it impacts the playability/sound of the instrument.

[Quilly]

3 hours ago, simon88wilson said:

 

I bought one of these a while ago and did a refinish on it. As others have said the electronics let it down a bit but pretty easy to install different pickups and wiring.

I was quite amazed at how great they are, not just for the price but in general. It's now one of my go to basses. Difficult to describe how it sounds but seems to work in every application that i've tried it in.

hopefully you'll have the same experience i did. looking forward to hearing what you think to it.

Cool build , aesthetically I would have preferred if it came with a proper tele style headstock but beggars can’t be choosers for €109 I guess. Cool that it has a big thick neck though . Exactly what I want . 

[Wilson_51_]

It’s not difficult to trim down to size. I also found that the maple looked very white on mine so sprayed it with a tint. 

 If I can do it so can anyone!

[Quilly]

5 minutes ago, simon88wilson said:

It’s not difficult to trim down to size. I also found that the maple looked very white on mine so sprayed it with a tint. 

 If I can do it so can anyone!

Will probably leave is white and leave my manky sweaty fingers do the tinting !

[kodiakblair]

42 minutes ago, Quilly said:

aesthetically I would have preferred if it came with a proper tele style headstock but beggars can’t be choosers for €109 I guess.

It's ten minutes work. I was 2 hours tops on this.

 

 

That included smoke/coffee breaks,taking photos and cleaning up.

[Quilly]

1 hour ago, kodiakblair said:

It's ten minutes work. I was 2 hours tops on this.

 

 

That included smoke/coffee breaks,taking photos and cleaning up.

Trust me...I’d balls this up. I’m looking forward to getting it...I’ll see then what needs doing. I reckon the only thing that will functionally let it down are the pots, wiring etc. the bridge and tuning machine heads look decent enough. I’m getting this bass purely for its tone and feel. I love that tone and while I really like splitcoils for their practicality there’s something unique about the sound from those kind of pickups. I’m not bothered enough about cosmetics to go at it with a jigsaw 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Quilly

[kodiakblair]

4 minutes ago, Quilly said:

Trust me...I’d balls this up. 

Then leave as is.

I'd made up templates for BC'ers but I never did the reshape to any of mine until that post last year. Still have one from 2014 with the HB headstock.

[BrunoBass]

Beware hidden quality issues on the PB50. I wanted to remove the scratchplate for a ‘Sting’ look, but when I did I found a big hole drilled into the body, plus tbe very apparent edge of the photo flame paper. Scratchplate back on... 

Oh, and the pots didn’t work either. 

Turned out ok in the end though.  

Edited September 20, 2019 by BrunoBass