howieee Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 (edited) Hey everyone! im looking for some advice! im going to be buying a 5 string squier j bass off a friend and i want to customise it,, make it sound realy nice. now iv never dabbled with electronics in a bass. i dont have a clue how it all works. i no very ameture stuff about the insides of a bass, but im the sort that plugs in and plays! so being a squire im not expecting it to sound as nice as my spector of fender j bass... i want to put new pickups in it and maybe buy a fender maple neck from somewhere. eventually add a badass to it. some new knobs and machine heads etc . but i just dont know where to start with pickups. wat do diferent pickups sound like how the heck to install them. (i may buy them then get my local shop to install them!.) i play rock, and i like the grity dirty sound i get from my mexican jazz but i also like the massive tone i get from my spector (4lx) those are the sounds i like. so what pickups do i buy! emg, bartaloni, seymour duncan. the list goes on! thanks for your help! Howie Edited February 21, 2010 by howieee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 IMO it wouldn't be worth it, especially by the time you've shelled out for those expensive upgrades, especially on a Squier. I would spend the money on a better bass. These days, a lot of Chinese/Korean basses have those upgrades as standard. However, if it's something like the newer Classic Vibe Squiers, then you might consider upgrading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Take a peek at this thread: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=78050"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=78050[/url] General consensus agrees with Pete, but a few people that have upgraded have said that a pre-amp would make more difference than pups if it's active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyBRebelMC Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 Is it the passive 5 or the active deluxe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howieee Posted February 21, 2010 Author Share Posted February 21, 2010 its a bog standard squire 5 string jazz. im almost certian its not active. im woundering after looking at the thread posted in the above comment wether this is worth it. the pots need a tad of referb. one was wobbly last time i played it the other crackled when u turned it. so maybe just a little clean up and some pickups. i found some Fender Samarium Colbalt Noiseless 5 String Jazz Bass Pickups on a parts site maybe go for those if it doesnt sound very good with a new set of strings? seeing as i know i like fender tone. fenders upgrade ickups cant be that bad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endorka Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 [quote name='howieee' post='752943' date='Feb 21 2010, 04:33 PM']... i want to customise it,, make it [b]sound realy nice.[/b] i want to put new pickups in it[/quote] Good pickups will almost certainly make it sound really nice in my experience - you get a lot of bang for the buck in sound terms when you replace duff pickups with good ones. I replaced the stock ones on my P-bass clones with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders, and the instrument is now one of the best sounding I have every heard. Replacing the pots is easy and cheap and often part of replacing pickups; the knobs themselves should not need replacing. [quote]and maybe buy a fender maple neck from somewhere. eventually add a badass to it. some new knobs and machine heads etc .[/quote] None of these changes will make it sound really nice; some will have a negligable effect, certainly compared to installing new pickups and/or strings, and some of them will have no effect at all - the machine heads certainly fall into this category. Virtually no bang for the buck at all with those upgrades. You will receive conflicting opinions about the benefits of the Badass bridge ranging from zero improvement to huge improvement. In my opinion, it is possible to get a great instrument by upgrading a mediocre one with things that are relatively cheap but give big improvements in sound (e.g. pickups) or playability (e.g. fret dress), especially as these are the things that are skimped on with budget basses. But if you get carried away with all the expensive bling such as machine heads you're wasting your money and time. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 [quote name='endorka' post='753196' date='Feb 21 2010, 08:10 PM']Good pickups will almost certainly make it sound really nice in my experience - you get a lot of bang for the buck in sound terms when you replace duff pickups with good ones. I replaced the stock ones on my P-bass clones with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders, and the instrument is now one of the best sounding I have every heard. Replacing the pots is easy and cheap and often part of replacing pickups; the knobs themselves should not need replacing. None of these changes will make it sound really nice; some will have a negligable effect, certainly compared to installing new pickups and/or strings, and some of them will have no effect at all - the machine heads certainly fall into this category. Virtually no bang for the buck at all with those upgrades. You will receive conflicting opinions about the benefits of the Badass bridge ranging from zero improvement to huge improvement. In my opinion, it is possible to get a great instrument by upgrading a mediocre one with things that are relatively cheap but give big improvements in sound (e.g. pickups) or playability (e.g. fret dress), especially as these are the things that are skimped on with budget basses. But if you get carried away with all the expensive bling such as machine heads you're wasting your money and time. Jennifer[/quote] Quite true, Jen - Obviously you're never going to make a silk purse from the proverbial sow's ear, but simple things like pickups and pots can make a huge difference. Setup items like fret dressings (as also mentioned), string height, truss rod adjustment & even your own guage and choice of strings can also make or break a bass for a player, be it a bargain cheapy or an expensive boutique bass. Rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 21, 2010 Share Posted February 21, 2010 (edited) Modding basses is God's way of telling you that you have too much money! If you really have to do this, go slowly and wait for several gigs in between any changes you make. Also get someone who knows what they are doing to do the work on your bass! I would change the pickups first. There is a Nordy Jazz set for sale here on BC. Oh, and don't even think of changing the neck unless you just won the lottery. Edited February 21, 2010 by chris_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howieee Posted February 22, 2010 Author Share Posted February 22, 2010 [quote name='chris_b' post='753320' date='Feb 21 2010, 10:15 PM']Modding basses is God's way of telling you that you have too much money! If you really have to do this, go slowly and wait for several gigs in between any changes you make. Also get someone who knows what they are doing to do the work on your bass! I would change the pickups first. There is a Nordy Jazz set for sale here on BC. Oh, and don't even think of changing the neck unless you just won the lottery.[/quote] Yea i had what turned into a very brief look at necks once i saw the prices! May aswell build a custom bass at those prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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