Short/medium scale basses with humbuckers that don't cost the earth, what is it there

[shoulderpet]

Many of you will have seen my recent thread where I was fawning over some Thunderbird basses I had tried, it occurred to me that whilst I loved the tone of those 2 basses I tried, the common denominator was the humbuckers in both basses as they otherwise were not really all that similar and not all that similar to the Gibson Thunderbird.

 

Whilst I could get a Thunderbird let's say that I am physically challenged when it comes to long scale basses, I am 5ft6" tall with short stubby fingers so I was wondering what is out there that is short/medium scale and is relatively inexpensive (I will have about £400 to play with in a couple weeks time), I could mod my Ibanez Mezzo to have a humbucker at the bridge instead of the J pickup but by the time I have paid for the work to be done plus the cost of the pickup I may as well have just brought a new bass.

[Waddycall]

Gretsch junior jet? Epiphone embassy?

edit - ignore embassy that’s long scale!

Edited September 12, 2021 by Waddycall

[neepheid]

Can it be a single humbucker or do you require two?

[shoulderpet]

Single humbucker is fine

[warwickhunt]

Short scale Sterling by Musicman basses are £600ish new so used should be in your budget.

[fretmeister]

Do you want the humbucker in the trad bridge position or more forward like a stingray?

[neepheid]

If you save up another £100 - G&L Tribute Fallout bass is a possibility.

 

I think you need to try them if you can though - they're very different beasts in terms of layout, body proportions etc.  But man, that MFD pickup is sweet sounding

[Paul S]

Aria pro II Cardinal Series are excellent basses, medium scale, slightly different to the norm.

[BillyBass]

Have a look at this video from Low End Lobster, a shoot out between 2 humbucker short scales:

 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by BillyBass

[Newfoundfreedom]

Gretsch Junior Jet. 

 

Superb basses. Cheap as chips, built like tanks, and sound like thunder. 

[shoulderpet]

41 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Gretsch Junior Jet. 

 

Superb basses. Cheap as chips, built like tanks, and sound like thunder. 

That bass has been on my radar for a while, only thing that has stopped me from pulling the trigger is the plastic pickup surrounds but having heard good things about it I am really tempted

[shoulderpet]

Thank you for the replies, probably also worth mentioning, I like a bass that is wider at the nut for example my Hofner club bass is around 43mm at the nut and it is probably the most comfortable neck I have played (unfortunately for rock the Hofner needs a lot of processing to get a nicely gnarly tone). 

I am not after tight string spacing like on the Hofner and doesn't have to be slim on the dusty end like the Hofner

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, shoulderpet said:

Thank you for the replies, probably also worth mentioning, I like a bass that is wider at the nut for example my Hofner club bass is around 43mm at the nut and it is probably the most comfortable neck I have played (unfortunately for rock the Hofner needs a lot of processing to get a nicely gnarly tone). 

I am not after tight string spacing like on the Hofner and doesn't have to be slim on the dusty end like the Hofner

 

Score +1 for the Fallout then - 1 5/8" or 41.3mm nut.

[shoulderpet]

4 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Score +1 for the Fallout then - 1 5/8" or 41.3mm nut.

Yeah it is looking like the Fallout bass is a good bet, I bet that beefy looking pickup has some serious balls to it

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, shoulderpet said:

Yeah it is looking like the Fallout bass is a good bet, I bet that beefy looking pickup has some serious balls to it

 

As a previous Tribute L-2000 and current L-1000 owner, I can confirm that

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 15, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[shoulderpet]

5 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

As a previous Tribute L-2000 and current L-1000 owner, I can confirm that

Awesome, I like my bass to sound like its out for blood so that is music to my ears

[lemmywinks]

Cort do a short scale, pretty cheap too:

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Cort-Action-Junior-Bass-Walnut/348G?origin=product-ads&gclid=CjwKCAjw7fuJBhBdEiwA2lLMYVWIOCvfk0zC7ZtOsWemKZDOd3wqFlo8yMMqS4y-zNPz-WJM5I8Q8BoCfMIQAvD_BwE

[Munurmunuh]

54 minutes ago, shoulderpet said:

Yeah it is looking like the Fallout bass is a good bet, I bet that beefy looking pickup has some serious balls to it

 

Sound great in this demo

 

 

[Dosi Y'Anarchy]

The new squier affinity jag is 32 and has a passive musicman style humbucker. Looks pretty decent for the money to me. (sorry if it's already been suggested). 

[Stub Mandrel]

Seems odd that a 30.5" EB3 hasn't been suggested, especially if a Thunderbird appeals?

[Eldon Tyrell]

3 hours ago, shoulderpet said:

Yeah it is looking like the Fallout bass is a good bet, I bet that beefy looking pickup has some serious balls to it

Well, every time I think of MFD pickups, the following picture comes to my mind 😉

[Lfalex v1.1]

MFD pickups 👍

[neepheid]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Seems odd that a 30.5" EB3 hasn't been suggested, especially if a Thunderbird appeals?

 

EB-3 is out of budget (in that you'd need to buy a Gibson SG or a very hard to find Epiphone Elitist EB-3) and despite the modern "mudbucker" in an SG being a TB+ in disguise it doesn't sound much like a Thunderbird with that neck pickup jammed up at the neck heel.

 

Epiphone EB-0 I wouldn't recommend because all you have is a very neck focused humbucker and that's it. In my experience, it's a very limited tone pallette.

[shoulderpet]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Seems odd that a 30.5" EB3 hasn't been suggested, especially if a Thunderbird appeals?

The Epiphone EB3 is long scale and the Gibson is more than I can afford to spend unfortunately