Iron1

Thanks for the education. GREAT screen name, BTW. This is what I mean by humbucker:

I have a 1994 Ibanez EXB445 with EMG Select J pickups in it. Prior to inheriting this bass, I was playing a 2017 Ibanez SR305 with Ibanez humbuckers in it. I really loved how thick the humbuckers were in comparison to the Js in the 445. So, is there a replacement pickup out there that will fit a J cavity but have a thicker, less bright tone like a humbucker?

Congrats, Happy Birthday! and SCORE on the bass & BF!

Definitely in places.

I'd actually say #1 influence is the pick and your hands first, then strings, etc. But, YMMV. I totally understand the difference between sustain and tone, but just know from decades of playing guitar that the ones where I feel nothing in the body tend to sound the worst - it's like they lack the musicallity required to sound good. I've played multiples of the same brand/model back to back and experienced it time and again to the point where if I pick up a guitar/bass and can't feel what I'm playing, I put it right back down. Good to know the high-mass increases sustain. Maybe I'm just so used to guitar bridges, where the thinner/smaller/less substantial they are the more they tend to suck.

What I mean by tone is, say you're playing acoustically and you hit a note. On some guitars/basses, you can feel that note all over the body very strongly. Some you feel it in spots, some you feel nothing. If the note isn't vibrating through the body, then the body/wood/etc isn't influencing the tone. So, all that to say, would a more substantial bridge transfer more note frequency vibration throughout the body?

Anyone use one of these amazing boxes for their bass rig? The search brought back a lot of L6 stuff, but didn't see any Fractal love.

Ordered a set of Entwistle Neos a few hours ago and should have them sometime next week! Thanks for all the info, advice & anecdotal evidence that they rock!

Definitely very impressed with the build quality, like ya said. Good stuff. And, I use it for songwriting. My days of stage and such are in the past. I did the whole signed/studio/tour and such back in the 90s. Nowadays I just play and write songs to keep my sanity. Funny thing is that I wanted to play bass for my first band back in high school, but they already had a bass player who convinced me to be the singer... then the band immediately fell apart but I kept singing... I was playing bass the last time I got on stage, though... so maybe that counts?

When I'm bored, I'll check out the Wilkinson bridges, but good to know it's not a pressing issue. Thx! I can't speak to how they play for reggae, but this one does fast metal very, very well. Hopefully he's come around to loving it.

Oh, cool. Yeah, I geek on stuff like that too... does nothing for my playing/writing, but is still fun. Thx! That's good to know. My two concerns are tuning stability (like the saddles slowly dropping which happens on the newer, less expensive Ibanez ones), and tone: does a thicker, more formidable bridge transfer more tone to the body?

Gonna preface this by saying I'm a singer turned singer/rhythm guitar playing songwriter by trade. So, I know a great bass when I see one, but don't have need for a great one like many of you own. I owned a 2004-ish Ibanez GSR200 and was always wowed at how nice it was for a cheap bass. Had legit bass player friends play it and have get same reaction. Then, a few years ago I decided I needed a 5 string to accompany riffs written on 7 string guitars. So, I got a 1990 Fender HM from Guitar Center and was really excited as a buddy of mine who is a phenomenal bass player has had one since he bought it new and it's incredible. Well, the one from GC showed up and it was fairly well ruined. Took it to a buddy who builds high-end custom guitars and he messed with it for days, then advised me to sell it. So, away it went. Then I got an Ibanez SR305 I loved, but my brother passed away unexpectedly last October and I inherited his Ibanez EXB445, so I sold the SR305. After awhile of jamming on the 445, it's years of use & abuse made me year for another new bass, so that's where this story begins. After going down the entry-level bass rabbit hole, I kept finding people raving about the TRBX174 series. Bass players better than I could ever hope to be thinking it was as good, if not better than a lot of basses that cost 3, 4, 5x as much. I'd narrowed my search down to another GSR200, a Jackson Spectra or one of these. So I went down to one of the local Guitar Centers and played a GSR and a Spectra and since I couldn't find a TRBX anywhere, I settled on the Spectra. Well, GC had them on sale for Memorial Day weekend, but I was a day late on that deal. So, I called, figuring they would honor that price anyway cause they need to sell stuff. The guy who answered the phone was a giant customer service fail and made it out like I was lying about the thing being on sale... like, seriously, you work there and don't know what your sale that just ended was? And, instead of trying to find out you question a customer's honesty? fosters off. Then I googled Guitar Stores Near Me (we just moved to this area a few months ago) and found a cool mom & pop shop about 20 minutes away. And, they had six TRBX174s in stock. I hoped in the car on my lunch break, drove over, played all 6 of them and thankfully the blue one, which is what I wanted, was the nicest of the bunch. But, it wasn't like the Jackson entry-level stuff I'm used to, where there's a huge variation in quality control. If I'd bought any of the TRBXs, I'd have been happy. The body is heavy enough to feel good, but not so heavy as to wear you out playing it. Surprised me that it's definitely heavier than my 5-string Ibanez. It feels really solid. The Spectra felt very lightweight in comparison. Neck is fast, straight and smooth. The action was a bit high, so I lowered it ever so slightly. Not really loving the pickups, so I'm going to replace those pretty quickly. Most likely with a set of Entwistle neodymium P/Js thanks to several awesome peeps on these here forums. The bridge is just sad. Literally looks like someone bent a piece of chrome dipped sheet metal and slapped some saddles on it. But, I can get a Hipshot replacement for $50-60 so no big deal. Any recommendations for a better option are certainly welcome! Tuners are nice, but apparently Yamaha has adjustable tension ones on the TRBX304, so I might look at getting a set of those down the road when these ones start to wear. Same with the bridge, if you have a great recommendation, I'd love to hear it. Not sure I love the tone I dialed in at first, and probably need to knob fiddle a bit more with it, but the bass is so much fun to play I lost interest in tone chasing and just jammed.

Thanks! Is there a huge difference between the ceramic and the Neo? For reference, I play mostly metal (from thrash to death to doom) but I do like writing more melodic stuff from time to time.

Just caught you measured the Neos and not the regular J/PBX. I assume they're the same physical size, right? Might buy a set of non-neos today as there's a shop not to far away that has them in stock.

Wow, big difference. Thanks for taking the measurements, I'll get mine shortly and see about ordering some pickups! Love this bass, but these stock pickups are a bit lifeless.

Thx. Yamaha is pretty light on the in-depth info on this bass. But I can always pull the stock pickups out and measure the cavity. That's a great idea! Appreciate it. If I dig these, I also have an Ibanez EXB445 with 2 EMG Select Js in it I might swap out, too. Anyone have any experience comparing those to Entwistles?

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I was wondering if anyone had dropped Entwistle JBX & PBX in a Yamaha TRBX174? I have an Entwistle Dark Star in a 7-string guitar and love it, and after reading through this thread I'm pretty sure I want to put the J/PBXs in my new bass now, too. But, saw some people mention fitment issues.