Beedster

Probably a daft question, but is it normal to cut slots in a Ric bridge saddle like those in, for example, a Badass saddle? There see to be some quite faint slots there, but they don't seem up to the job. When I used heavy flats on my 3001, they stayed put. I'm now using Ric flatwounds, which I love, but which not only move around more when I play behind the treble PUP cover, but which I'm worried might wear very quickly at the point where string meets saddle (and to add to the problem, I've not seen these strings for sale anywhere either).

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1253242' date='Jun 1 2011, 10:19 PM']Finally picking one up tomorrow.[/quote] You've got all this to look forward to mate, and it's all true! [quote name='Circle_of_Fifths' post='1050089' date='Dec 7 2010, 01:08 AM']I own one of the Squier versions of the Jaguar. It is smaller-feeling, although 1/2" longer than my Fender Deluxe Jazz bass. It also only weighs 8lbs - [u]ZERO[/u] ozs. The neck is prolly the greatest asset - right after the whole design and uniqueness. It is ultra fast and slick. MY bass-buying situation was more than gifted, as the frets are perfect - well as perfect as a factory setup can be I guess - but no complaints. The knobs have had issues for other people although not for me. It is only a loose Allen set screw that might be loose on the concentric shaft and cause some unwarranted grief. There is NO reason to complain, as it's easily addressable and can be fixed in a few moments by a trained rhesus monkey. The p'ups are very hot and powerful, so that will catch your attention right away! These are about as powerful as my active p'ups on my Fender Deluxe Jazz - really! The details are clean, concise and well carried out. The area under the PG is clean, nicely mitered and no sign of slop anywhere. The wires are vintage-type in that they are cloth wrapped - how's that for a nice touch that you can't even see? That's just class! The body appears smaller, but it's really an illusion like I noted above, but it hangs very nicely on the strap with minimal head-dive, if any at all to me. Paint and finish-wise there is nothing to say negatively. The hardware, although it may not be the most expensive, certainly is more than adequate and functional. It does not slip, bend, bag or sag at the knees. The chrome is bright and appears to have a lot of depth to it - it should since in Indonesia there are fewer laws about HazMat and they can throw some nicer chrome there than we can get in the States now with the EPA rules and regs. The action - which is NOT a good criteria to judge an instrument upon - was very good right out of the box. Speaking of boxes - I was the first human face it saw when it was opened here in the US from the time it was shipped until then. I was the first person to actually touch it other then the salesman helping me take it out of the sealed box. It required very little adjustment to it at all for great playability. It had absolutely NO BAD ISSUES as it arrived. So far - a couple of months into my possession - it still is great - greater still since I adjusted the string height a little to suit me. I still have what I would normally NOT have on it - the STOCK FENDER 7250NPS STRINGS. Why? They work on this bass - but this is the ONLY Fender or Squier upon which I find they work at all. In this case, they are perfect and I will not buy what Fender calls their OE 7250NPS strings - they can't fool me! What they sell isn't a real Fender string at all! If the ROTO RS45s don't sound as good when I finally have to put them on - then I'm gonna be on a string safari to find something that WILL work like the 7250s. The pots are smooth, precise and no wobble at all. The Tone controls are fantastic with the detents that keep them where you put them. The Vol pots are also all the above without the detents. I don't have any trouble with one knob following another when I adjust the other knob - but I know of some people who have had a problem in this area ---. it's very easy to fix, like I said. The shielding inside the trench is clean, and painted on, so I think it'll be OK. Playing-wise - like I said the neck is blazingly fast and you feel like you are much more professional than you are with the clean action almost playing itself ahead of your thoughts and fingers! There is no loss of sound volume or quality if you pan from one to the other p'ups, and the output is very linear with any adjustment with no sudden drops or peaks in the sound either. I can induce some hum into the output if I get really close to my computer tower with all it's radiated RF - but if they are separated by more than 18 inches, no problem at all. So far there has been no warpage, bending or twisting of any of the important parts. The fret wires are smooth --- everywhere. I glossed the back of the neck with some pure carnauba automotive polish as I like a super glossy neck. It works for me. If you don't buy one - you are gonna kick yourself in the head for missing an opportunity to own a very special piece of bass-guitar history. Buy it new and keep it for your kids or your posterity - but it deserves to be played all the time, everywhere.[/quote] And that's a great review

When I was a kid I used to think that the drummer in the band kept time. It took me years to realise that in many bands it's the bass player. Problem is that most drummers don't recognise this, and assume that the rest of the musicians have to stay with them irrespective of the fact that their timing might be somewhat less than regular. Our drummer rushes to the one as if his life depended on it, and it drives me crazy. OK, he's young, he's newish to the band, and he's slowly getting better. But man, having to pull him back all the time exhausts me. This isn't helped by the fact that our vocalist has the same tendency, something of which he was completely unaware until I made him rehearse to a click track, which he realised was often behind his beat at the beginning of lines. OK, a tight band with all instruments marching to the same beat is important, but it's probably even more important that a band doesn't let the poor timekeeping of one musician wreck the feel and space around the music. PB, what you described above is exactly how I felt when we started playing with this drummer; that is, as if I was the one with bad timing unable to stick to the tempo. It took a lot of patience (and the occasional episode of impatience) to get the rest of the band to do the hard thing and hold back, and in doing so highlight to the drummer that he's rushing the beat, but it's slowly paying off. Be strong dude!

[quote name='51m0n' post='1252575' date='Jun 1 2011, 12:24 PM']Short answer : yes. Longer answer: Fletcher Munsen curves, so yes. Really long answer: The human ear is most sensitive around the mid frequencies, removing those from the bass sound makes it a) harder to hear) harder for the brain to work out the pitch. This can be good if you dont want people to know if you've hit the right note, but it also means that in order to be 'heard' you turn up louder than you need to. On one hand you can add some dirt to add some info up in the mids. this is nice as the dirt is also a form of compressor (oh god here he goes [i]again[/i]) so the added info 'stays in play' more evenly than if you just eq it in, you get a more even mix regardless of notes played, style, technical aberrations etc. If you like a bit of warmth/overdrive/dirt this is just a superb solution then. If you like i clean then more mids (not stupid amounts) and a well set up clean compressor will achieve exactly the same result without the dirt....[/quote] [quote name='51m0n' post='1252580' date='Jun 1 2011, 12:27 PM']Also of note is the way the overdriven sound being compressed is going to make a real change to the envelope of the sound. It will sustain more, so you are more audible for longer. Remember you are fighting the big bad kick drum live. If your bass's thud is in the same space as the kick thud then you will have to fight the kick. If your bass is compressed by a bit of drive then it will be louder after the kick, and so be easier to hear in the mix. If you doint want drive, thenget a good comrpessor and set it up right and you will be laughing[/quote] How unlike you to mention compression 51m0n Thanks mate, thought you'd be along pretty quick! Having thought about it a little more, I guess what I've noticed with adding some dirt to the bass in recording is that whilst soloed it sounds distorted, in the mix it doesn't, and in fact sounds surprisingly like the original bass track, just without the needles and cones bouncing around so much (i.e., the natural compression you mention). It definitely doesn't sound more middy to my ear, that's for sure. Another reason for my line of thinking in this is that, like Clarky, I play DB against a big drummer and it can be a struggle to get the bass up in the mix without changing the tone dramatically. I'm wondering whether, somewhat counter-intuitively, I should be ramping up the gain of the DB signal a little also? C

[quote name='TimR' post='1252561' date='Jun 1 2011, 12:15 PM']Most up us have been doing something similar to this for years. Just bump up the mids.[/quote] Thanks Tim, agreed, but I think it's a bit more than boosting the mids (or it may not be, which is why I've asked the question). When you bump up the mids, to my ear the bass sounds more middy. I'm talking about upping the gain and reducing the volume whilst retaining EQ; the brain hears it is as louder than it is of course, but I was surprised how effective this is in recording for keeping the apparent original tone?

This might be a daft question and perhaps shows how little I've really thought about my live sound over the years, but here goes! We play quite a lot of small venues which have issues with volume levels. Having done quite a bit of recording recently and playing with bass tones a lot, it's clear that ramping up the harmonics (by driving the signal a bit) allows the bass to sit in the mix more audibly, especially on mp3 and similar formats. I'm guessing it requires less power also? I tend to use a very clean and traditional tone on my EB, quite retro and thumpy, and at a couple of venues we do have owners asking us to drop the bass. Is going for a less clean sound going to work live in the same way as it seems to in the studio? Cheers C

Looked too empty to me, I assumed they were running down stock when I went in at the weekend. Lot more lower-priced basses in there than usual also (e.g., a stack of Rickenfakers by the door)?

[quote name='oldslapper' post='1252123' date='May 31 2011, 10:12 PM']Ok boys, you've convinced me. Just checked out John's web site, wonder if I'll get a discount having identical name? By the way what was the fretless of yours I played at the bash D? That had some nice pups in it. Reminds me, must get round to organising another this summer. John.[/quote] You won't be disappointed. I think John gives a BC discount anyway, so make sure you mention this when ordering. [quote name='BassBod' post='1252131' date='May 31 2011, 10:17 PM']That was a bitser - Fender neck ('74?) and Bravewood body, with DiMarzio model J humbuckers. In bits again now....must get it sorted out sometime.[/quote] '73, and if you ever fancy selling me back that neck, let me know

[quote name='oldslapper' post='1252101' date='May 31 2011, 09:50 PM']Thanks for the replies chaps. I've had a p bass special and an sb-2 and liked the 2 pup config. Never played a P/MM config tho. But you reckon the bucker' doesn't add much at the bridge? The J retro sounds interesting. I just find the P pickup a little limited, so what does the P retro offer tone wise? The bottom line is I've found a great P, changing the neck for a jazz, now want to add a bit.of tonal variation. I don't really want another 4 string, so was hoping to get what I need out of one bass. John[/quote] The P-Retro is an extraordinarily versatile unit John, seriously, I cannot see why anyone would mod a Precision body now that there's a decent drop-in P-circuit out there. Tonally it does pretty much everything from the type of deep dub-like tones you'd get from a '70's Telebass through to Jazz- and Ray-like snarlyness. C

Don't waste your time installing a PUP John, stick a P-Retro in there. It won't require any modification, it'll give you a range of tones way beyond what a passive P/J combination will give you, and it's easily reversible (and of course transferable to another bass). Appearance wise, you won't know it's there either. C

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1251843' date='May 31 2011, 06:20 PM']You find a tonal difference then?[/quote] Mmmmmm, hard to call it 'tone', but I think cheap tuners can add artefacts to notes that are eradicated with more expensive ones. It might be simply that some cheaper mechanisms resonate ever so slightly? I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to tell me I'm talking rubbish IME, bridge upgrades can make a huge difference on an active Jazz strung with rounds, and virtually none on a Precision strung with heavy flats

[quote name='BOD2' post='1251698' date='May 31 2011, 04:13 PM']Good machine heads hold the string firmly and don't loosen (much) while the bass is being played. They also feel smoother to turn and have less backlash in the gears. There's also some cosmetic differences between good and cheap ones (better chrome, or different design). If the cheaper ones you already have hold the string well and don't have any issues then changing them will not affect the sound.[/quote] A decent set of machines is a surprisingly effective upgrade.

[quote name='Beedster' post='1251613' date='May 31 2011, 03:14 PM']I bought a Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar (P/J), changed the PUPs, bridge and tuners, and I now have a bass that plays and sounds like a £750 bass but which in total cost me under £450. To my mind it also has the best of both Precision and Jazz basses tone-wise but on a very lightweight and small-bodied bass. In short, it's a bass that suits me perfectly but which I'd not be able to buy off the peg. I'd say that if you have an instrument that is half decent to start with - which is VERY important - and you know both what you want from a bass and what you're doing in terms of equipment selection, modding a cheap bass can be a very economic route to getting a decent bespoke instrument. Good luck, and enjoy it![/quote] I should add that it's a good idea to keep all of the original components so that you can return the bass to stock if you ever decide to sell it. That way you can either use those components on another bass or sell them separately, which is likely better for you financially.