dave_bass5

[quote name='bh2' post='1077152' date='Jan 4 2011, 11:25 AM']I think I'd err to the CV. The HWs have the same hardware as the MIM standards (?)[/quote] Im not sure they do. The MIM's dont have a BAII or American pups (going by the parts list on Fenders website).

[quote name='spongebob' post='1077114' date='Jan 4 2011, 10:47 AM']Ordered a Fiesta Red CV P yesterday, expecting it tomorrow. I'll let you all know how I find it when it arrives. This has been a really informative discussion, so thanks to all for you excellent input, and helping me make my decision to finally buy one![/quote] Nice one. I hope you like it.

I used to have a HW-one (not a 1) P and loved it. I now have a CVP and it feels and sounds different. The HW range are very good value, although the finish is an acquired taste. To me the HW-one P was a more meaty sounding bass. Even though i love my CV P (and its been upgraded with a new pup and pots) i find the CV's sound a bit mushy compared to the HW's. Maybe its the wood, the BAII or the reinforced necks (or all of the above) plus the finish but they do definitely sound different. more articulated and punchy (IMO). I do prefer the CV necks, especially the vintage frets, but the HW feels more ridged and i like that.

[quote name='rjb' post='1076616' date='Jan 3 2011, 06:46 PM']The 60s CV P bass is a great bit of kit. The neck is utterly brilliant to play. Was going to convert mine to fretless but don't have the heart to mess with such a nice neck.[/quote] Ive been saying the same thing since i got mine but cant bring myself to mess with the neck. Seeing as the Jazz neck is on the P full time now i do have a spare CV P neck but its still too nice to mess with.

I found my Wizard 74's gave my CV Jazz a bit more low mids, edge and clarity, but also lost some warmth. Not a bad thing in itself but i find my HW-one much more suitable to these pups. Ive also just pit a Gotoh 201 on my CV P and it sounds a bit fatter and a tiny bit deeper than with the Fender vintage bridge on it.

Social club last night in Newport Pagnell. Good crowd, up all night (that surprised us). 4 x 45 min sets. Thats a lot but the time passed pretty quickly so we didnt mind too much, and the pay was good. Only downside was i had the wrong neck on my Squier CVP so struggled a bit. I normally have a Jazz neck on it but i've been experimenting recently and forgot to swap them back. Also first time ive used the CV P with Chromes on AND my BDDI. Tone made in Heaven.

[quote name='bh2' post='1073245' date='Dec 30 2010, 10:56 PM']That's sonic blue Dave... I love it... lookie at this! ][/quote] yeah, i knew it wasn't pastel but too lazy to look it up. Sorry, its still a bit off for my liking. Looks classy but i couldn't see my playing one.

[quote name='spongebob' post='1072924' date='Dec 30 2010, 05:34 PM']How come the range of colours in the Squier range far, for me, outweighs the Fenders? I think that P's look better in interesting colours, like the red. The Fender US/Mex P's all seem to be a bit 'regular'....black, sumburst, etc... Then again, I suppose I'm a bit influenced by seeing JJ Burnel with his green P, and of course Kim Deal - I think - had a old red P (US of course!)[/quote] I feel totally the opposite. Other than the white CV Jazz i hate the CV colours. Im living with the Fiesta Red but cant say i like it, nor the Pastel blue.

[quote name='spongebob' post='1072891' date='Dec 30 2010, 05:01 PM']Thanks everybody! The BC community seems pretty sold on these. Now to do some more looking to get the price even lower. The video above sums it up - I actually checked it out the other day, and couldn't believe it. I'm am no Fender expert at all, but the difference I hear is minimal. With the kind of gigs I do, pubs and such, I reckon even that difference would get buried. and lost on most people including myself. Of course, it also works for me at gigs where you don't want to cart around a £1600 Ric. Hell, if a sub £300 bass took a knock, I'd actually be happy knowing it wasn't the Ric taking it!![/quote] Yep, i defy anyone to tell the difference between most standard P or Jazz basses in a gig situation, especially a noisy one. I do hear the differences in Ed's video, and actually prefer his basses over the CV's as far as tone goes, but i would say a string change would be more noticable. I dont even have my CV's insured. Just not worth it IMO. If i lost one i would just get another the next day. I treat all my basses the same but im not worried about the CV's as much as i have been my other basses. The finish seem to be pretty thick so they look like they might take a bit of a beating.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1071998' date='Dec 29 2010, 06:58 PM']I still think about the Classic Vive jazz I used to have. The quality of that bass was incredible; it was put together with such care and quality that it could have easily passed for an American Fender in a blind test. I still think about buying another one and putting some Bartolini pickups in it.[/quote] I mentioned in the Bass Cellar thread that i was in there today. In the window they had a Fender RI P bass for about £1650. They also had a CV P and CV J. When i looked at the neck pocket on the Fender it had a gap down one side, quite prominent although nothing to worry about. Both CV's were a perfect fit. Only £1300 difference. Maybe Fender should get the Squier people to make their top end basses.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='1072636' date='Dec 30 2010, 12:37 PM']Fixed [/quote] LOL. See, thats the thing. If you were to read this thread you would expect to be treated like that but i never have and haven't seen this sort of thing happen in the many, many years of going to Denmark St. Im not saying it doesn't of course

For what its worth i was in the BC about 1 hour ago. I walked in, the guy behind the counter looked up, gave me a smile and said "hi, do you need any help?" I said i was just browsing so he said "no problem, let me know if you want to try anything out." To me thats how it should be. I left while he was serving someone else. Maybe he was having a "on" day. They had a second hand Black Stingray with pizeo in the window with green Dr Neons on it. It looked very strange.

No need to shout ;-) Personally i rate my CV P over my JV P as far as playability and tone goes.

[quote name='Mr Rabble' post='1071780' date='Dec 29 2010, 02:34 PM']IMHO you're getting too paranoid. Have you ever tried a Jazz Bass? Every decent, plain simple, traditional Jazz Bass can either cuts through the mix or sit within, and can be full and deep but also growly and defined.[/quote] This is true but not all jazz basses sound the same, as ive already found out.

Agree with all the good comments about the CV P. I got one recently as a cheap way of getting to grips with a P neck in preperation to getting a HW-one P or MIA, and its now my main gigging bass. I would be more than happy to gig it stock (i did at first) but after getting a Wizard Thumper its now got THE P bass tone ive been searching for. Im not sure how they match up to the standard Squier range as ive never tried one, but the necks on the CV's are so nice i would compare them to my old Lakland Duck Dunn necks as far as feel and playability goes. The tuners (as already mentioned) really arent that bad. They feel lower quality when i use them but they don't go out of tune, not even when i use a gig bag, so i wouldn't waste more money on changing them. The bridges are non standard width (and hole spacing), and i could feel this from the moment i got my CV Jazz. The string spacing is slightly wider than a normal Fender so ive got a Vintage bridge on my CVP now, so i can adjust the string spacing, as this is also helping with getting to grips with the wider neck. I do have a Gotoh 201 on its way though so ill be bak to 19mm soon. I have had my CV Jazz neck on it for a while but im giving the P neck another chance. It was a stroke of genius Squier using vintage frets IMO, this certainly separates these necks to most other necks on cheaper basses (even my HW-one doesn't have them). this allows for a very low action, not always achievable on budget basses IME. My CV Jazz has a perfect neck pocket but my CV P has a small gap. Nothing to worry about though and its better than an MIM 50s classic i had a few years ago. Downsides, for me, are the colours plus non standard pick guard fitting. I hate the red and blue finishes, and really like the VM finishes but thats really a minor point and one i can live with. It would be fantastic if there was a black/maple CV P but i guess thats not what these are about.

I play with a pick and would say im in the middle. Im not really heavy handed but do dig in a bit at gigs. I have the action on all my basses at 2mm 12th fret/E string. If i cant get that ill probably shim the neck to see if i can get it or send the bass back. I tend to shim my necks so that the action doesn't get any higher past the 12th fret. This works well for me, even though i dont really play up that high (much). I used to hate fret buzz and clank but im starting to live with it. I do all my own set-ups at home and can get quite anal about it, but at gigs i very rarely hear the clank/buzz so i dont worry too much if its there in isolated playing any more, and this helps me achieve the action i like on necks that aren't maybe the best for low action. To me its about feel, and familiarity. While i can play higher it doesn't feel as comfortable up at the dusty end.

I use a Gigskinz 2U gig bag and couldn't be happier. Its not in the position to get knocked about too much but its easier to carry around and looks nicer than having my SA450 just sitting on top of my cab. It seems well made and while not offering the same protection of a SKB its working well. Had it for a couple of years now and use it almost every weekend.

Let me clarify my previous post. As i play the Jazz mainly with the neck soloed a PJ wouldn't be any better than what i have, although would open up more tone options than a P. I've never needed more than one bass. Ive been playing covers in this band for around 7 years and have used everything from a Lakland 55-01, P's (both 4 and 5 string)Jazz 4 and 5), Sub, Ray34 and a few others. I only every use one bass, whatever my new bass is that becomes my gigging bass and i try and sell off the last one i brought. All work with all songs, ranging from rock and roll to present day chart stuff. Even the Sub and Ray34 worked well for the old stuff. I got rid of those because i was struggling with the necks a bit, i prefer the slimmer Jazz necks. The 5 strings were sold because i stopped gigging with a certain band where 5 string helped to play the same songs as my main band but in different keys. The other changes are just me getting bored. I always seem to come back to a P or J though. The Jazz more for the neck and look, the P more for the tone. Having both now means i (hopefully) wont get bored and buy anything else and ill take one or the other to gigs. The Duff McKagan bass (and the Japanese version it was based on) look pretty good, especially with the slim neck but i do like the Reggie H model better. I defiantly wouldn't say no to that one in black and i wish i had seen that 6 months ago.

Yes, a PJ does seem to cover wider tone spectrum. Its funny because i had my DJ5 converted to a PJ last year, as i like the tone of both, but now I realise i like the P tone, and the neck pup Jazz tone so i think im stuck with one or the other.

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1071287' date='Dec 28 2010, 09:30 PM']Why's that? If someone's had a negative experience of somewhere, other people should know.[/quote] Indeed. Ive posted a couple of times in the past few years about bad experiences with the Gallery (and good ones of course). Has that stopped anyone going to them or stopped people referring to the Gallery as the Mecca for bass players? Nope, its just shown that every shop makes mistakes. The only issue i've had with the BC was when Simone (im assuming it was her, it was before the Bald guy died) told me "XL's are guitar strings and this is a bass shop" That made me laugh, as she has been the one person who hasn't been slagged off from that shop. It does seem like some people like to get on the band wagon though, and the Bass Cellar/Centre are both easy targets, thats why threads like this are so long.

[quote name='markstuk' post='1071238' date='Dec 28 2010, 08:28 PM']As a bass salesman would you ignore people as they came into your shop - preferring to facebook on the computer instead? I suppose you would if you hated money and people? (not you specifically of course).. Mark[/quote] I much prefer to be left alone when i go in to a shop so i can look around without any hassle. If i want some help i can go and ask.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1071230' date='Dec 28 2010, 08:23 PM']I've not contributed to this thread before, but as a bass salesman, is this shop as bad as it's really made out? [/quote] Ive had a couple of funny experiences over the years but i have been happy to buy gear from them and the last time i was in there, just under a year ago, the guy couldn't do enough for me, even though he was busy.

Just seen her on The Graham Norton show. Fantastic legs.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1070314' date='Dec 27 2010, 05:57 PM']I agree that a different set of strings can make the world of difference. It's the first thing I do these days is take the stock strings off and put some heavy flatwounds on... but that's just my tastes. A decent / different string will make a lot more difference to the tone compared to considering whether a fretboard is made of maple or rosewood. Depending on how great your musical ear is most bass players can't hear anything more than the subtlest of differences (if any) to the tone when comparing fretboards[/quote] Agreed. When i had the 3 MIA's the first two had maple and the third as rosewood. I personally couldn't hear a difference. I didnt A-B them, its just from playing at home and one gig each. I did like the strings on all 3 and they seemed to be the same. I also found that when i had DR Neons on my HW-one it became a different bass. It felt awkward to play and the tone was a bit mellower.

[quote name='Jspindle' post='1070156' date='Dec 27 2010, 02:57 PM']I've been doing some research on youtube. As good as the CV Jazz is, I most definitely prefer the HW-one. Amazing tone! And I think it would cut through well in the heavier parts of the music that I want to make. Unfortunately the HW-one is too expensive for me..... it'd be great if I could find a similar bass with that kind of tone and growl. It's the best so far though..... and if I can't find an alternative, then I'd just consider getting it anyway (once I've got a bit more money).[/quote] I think your right about all that. The CVJ is more mellow, although it does cut through enough for me, just not as much as the HW. I really dont have enough experience with Jazz basses to say what else will get you the tone. Certainly both my HW1 and HW-0ne have had this tone, and my CV Jazz and DJ5 didnt. Im not sure why. I also had a MIM 70's classic and 3 2008 MIA Jazz basses this year but still preferred the HW-one tone. Mine does have a set of Wizard 74's in it but i also had these in the CV Jazz and the tone was still not the same.