Paolo85

Well, for me these were meaningful events in that I learned from them (one of the things learned was that post-sale assistance is better provided by Thomann from Germany than by one popular shop here in London). To be fair, in all three situation I would have kept the bass or EUB had they not been defective (the Stagg had a unusable lumpy neck, a knob in the Sire was not working and the height of a pickup could not be adjusted, the PJ did not have a fully functioning truss rod). Still, sometimes having to return a defective instrument is an opportunity to reconsider whether GAS was fully justified

Bought 10 Stagg EUB Sire V5 Sire V7 Ibanez GSR205b Harley Benton HBZ2005 Harley Benton JB75fl Squier Affinity PJ (twice) Squier P Made in China in 2008 Squier P Affinity made in Indonesia in 2000 Sold 5: Cort B4fl Sire V5 Ibanez GSR205b Harley Benton HBZ2005 Harley Benton JB75fl Returned 3: Stagg EUB Sire V7 One Squier Affinity PJ Balance: +2

At this stage I'd say £300. Should I start gigging I could probably in principle stretch to £600-800 if the money is there. But that's assuming I feel the need for it. I have spent the past year trying to fugure out/put together my ideal low-cost bass (a process that, with all the trial and error, has actually not been low cost at all, but lots of fun) and I plan to continue doing that. Spending a lot of money on a bass might feel like defeat

Uhm, I meant one pickup that is both cheap and good There is plenty (I personally like Wilkinson Ps, both ceramic and Alnico, and Toneriders - the P more than the J. I also liket the Rosewell J pickups in a Harley Benton I sold)

Thanks! It looks like I'll have to try again when I'll have a soldering iron

I am all ok with selling basses. I do not like to keep them there doing nothing. One I have been struggling with is a Squier P Made in China from 2008, paid jusr £120 and from my point of view amazing for the money. It has a great neck but with 40mm nut width. I have two other Ps and I always find myself playing those as I normally prefer the 42mm width. Still, I cannot get myself to sell for ~£120 a bass that is better than more expensive basses I had

Hi all. I am looking for suggestions dor a good cheap J bridge pickup that does not sound like a traditional J but has lots of bottom end (and high output). I have a PJ with Tonerider plus P pickup. It also had a Tonerider J but as an experiment I tried to replace it with a £15 Wilkinson ceramic, to see if I could avoid any thinning of the sound when adding a little bit of J. The Wilkinson was advertised as having lots of bottom end. And that's certainly true but unlike the Wilkinson P ceramic pickup, which I liked a lot, I just think it is not very good. The tone is not very inspiring but beyond that, it has a strange system with two different sized ceramic bars and the E has much higher output than any other string and it's as if the sound came from a completely different pickup. Despite all that, the experiment is successful. If I add a little bit of J (and keep the J quite slanted), I get a tone that I like. The sound remains fat, just more scooped and makes my flats a bit more thumpy. So I am looking for a similar J pickup: higher output than an alnico (even a hottish alnico) lots of bottom end, maybe less high end than a normal J bridge, but also a nice sound that I may on occasion want to have to full volume. I read good things of the Entwistle JBXN. Would they fit the description? Also note that I use a KiOgon loom, I do not have a soldering iron so stacked hunbuckers that require conneting more than hot and ground would not work for me at this stage Thanks

You should be happy in that sense. The Hi Beams have a round core as the TI's, which gives a bit of that rubbery/bouncy feeling

I agree ProSteels 45-100 are extremely pleasant. Plus they have a massive growl. To me they did not feel as soft as TIs though. You may get closer to that with DR Hi Beams (very bright, nit as growly as the ProSteels) and even more the supersoft DR SunBeams (very dark though, not sure how much extra bite you would get)

Do you have it already? Any feedback on neck, weigh and balance? It's a bass I often consider buying. I suspect on a bass weith only bridge pickup I may personally want to add some bottom end. It is a pity one cannot just drop a preamp in but I was thinking I could just use an external preamp after all. Stll, very interested in this topic, maybe there are pickupsnthat makenit less of an issue..

I did not bond with the two Js I had. But there were specific things that I did not like, which do not extend to all J basses. I now have two (cheap but modded) P basses and another one coming. That's all the basses I have. I love a P. I am often tempted to give Js a new chance. After all, I do love the sound of a J in other people's hands. But it is a bit risky because if I do find one I like I may feel compelled to have one with flats and mute Jemmott style, a Jaco-like fretless and a fretted with rounds because why not?

👍

I really do not like the headstock on the sunburst ones, and I am not a big fan of matching headstocks in general. Which is great because there aren't many other reasons not to buy at least one of their new basses.

I don't know about Fender USA as I only buy cheap stuff for now. If the argument is "why should I buy a Fender over £1000 when a Sire is perfectly giggable" then maybe the same may be said for other expensive brands I guess? As for Fender's cheap stuff (Squier) I get the point but in the end I have two Squier Affinity/Made in China (one PJ 2021, a P 2008) and another one coming (P from 2000). They come up often and cheaply in the used market, they have some fundamental elements that I want there (being a P bass of reasonable weight and reasonably shaped neck), and upgrades if needed are easy (you can get amazing P pickups for cheap, tuners often need replacing anyway in cheap basses independently of the brand). I have to admit the 2 PJs I have had were fraught with problems (while the 2008 one is absolutely perfect for what it is). I am slowly working through the issues of my current PJ (the other was returned). I tried other "value for money" brands. But it has not worked out for me so far. Sire supposedly has an incredible QC? I had a V5 and fretwork was bumpy, plus it was heavy and pickups were not of my liking. A Sire V7fl I ordered from Thomann had a knob not working and I could not adjust pickup height. For that price I was not impressed (it was also heavy and leaned a lot on the preamp while Iike passive) and I returned it for good instead of getting a replacement. I bought a Harley Benton JN75fl which, yes, was incredible value for thay little money but it was incredibly heavy and a neck diver. Really too heavy. Plus the neck was a baseball bat. Nothing wrong with it, I ended up liking it, but maybe not what I would expect if I buy a J. I also had a HB HB2005fl, stupidly heavy despite being fairly "compact", puckups were meh and of a funny shape hard to replace. Plus the neck was quite sensitive to temperature/humidity change - not alarming, but not among the best I jad in that sense. I have had much better experiences with Cort and Ibanez, but they tend to do skinny necks and active basses so not my thing at this stage. So I guess at the end of the day my point is that Squire may not be the best value for money but buying a cheap bass is not wonderland anyway if you are fussy. If you just want a P or a J they can be a good place to start, as long as you trust the seller or can return (which is always a good approach)

Actually, talked too early. Nut width 38mm. For that I'd rather go with the jazz or skip. My marriage is safe for now

I hate them. Now I may have to buy a bass

Interesting topic. Is it worth mentioning the specific names of the suppliers, on ebay or anywhere else?

If the pickups are the same of the JB 75 (I am not sure that's the case but that would be my bet) your student really should not have that problem at all. I imagine the bass would still be within the 30 day return window, and regsrdless Thomann is likely to accept that as a defect and allow a free return/replacement at any time. By getting the bass replaced your student may even be more lucky with the bridge. I have a Wilkinson bridge with brass saddles (so I guess similar if not the same as the HB's) on a Squier Affinity P bass and never had any problem - it certainly felt sturdier than the Affinity bridge. I do not use high tension strings though

You certainly may be right, and tone is subjective. However, when I had a HB JB75, which I imagine would have the same pickups, I was not under the impression that outpot was low for an alnico pickup. So I wonder if there might have been a setup issue in terms of strings-pickups distance which may be affecting tone as well

The bass sells for 220 though. But yes "It's the smoothest pro neck and fretboard you'll ever touch, and the lowest Bass guitar action you will find anywhere: super-fast and smooth" is delirious and makesnit smell fishy

Not stupid at all. Yes you can, I do it all the time, but they say there is a risk of deterioration.

Why not! That sounds like fun However, it can be time consuming and expensive. Two of the most important factors in how a bass sounds and feel are strings and setup. I personally think each bass should be given a good chance, which means a good set of strings and a good setup. If you sell without trying this you maybe age giving away a great bass for no good reason. Strings cost, and setups do cost unless you do it yourself (which I strongly reccomend). (Now, what a good set of string is that's another rabbit hole. I have spent more money in trying different strings than in basses, and it was worth it from my point of view). So at least I would not go 100% random and get a bass that you read very good things about from many people. Which likely means going for a "mainstream" name (maybe Yamaha, Ibanez, Sire have a reputation for making good cheap basses), which is not necessarily the best thing in general but a good heuristic if one does not want to do a lot of research. And I would really try to make a list of what are your favourite player's basses and see if you see a pattern there. If say it turns out the majority plays a P bass, then get a cheap P bass.

I would disagree Yes, pickups are a simple technology, but different pickups clearly do sound different so any time something is different it can be subjectively ranked - and there tend to be collective patterns (not rules, just patterns). Obviously, there is no rule stating that one should prefer the sound of a vintage Fender over an Encore, it is clear that a good setup makes a massive difference. Much like for wine, we may have different feelings about the same thing on different days and depending on the context. And not very many people would bet money on which wine is which in a blind test. And equally, concluding that all wines are the same just means not having an interest in wine. Which is fine

In my opinion, if you have time and interest, it is better to do it the other way around. Basschat is an amazing resource of information on cheap basses. There are a number of youtube channels specialised in cheap basses (LowEndLobster, BassAdvisor, Bully Thakidd to mention some). I would spend some time reading and listening, and get a sense of which bass you want. There is a big difference between buying an Ibanez SR300 and P bass. They can both be good deals but maybe one is more suitable for you than the other. I think there are a few things you probably want to make up your mind about (eg preferred string spacing, type of pickups - P, JJ... - , is weigh important for you, active/passive, do you want a slim neck?) before buying. A good tip in general is buying a bass that is kind of similar to the basses used by your favourite players. Once you have a sense of what sort of bass you like (maube you identify 2 to 4 similar basses that you may like), then just keep an eye on the market until a good one pops up. If I have to buy a second hand bass, ideally I like to buy from an active member of Basschat. Gives me more confidence than a total rendom guy. There are a couple of things that are important for me and I often ask about: action, weigh, balance/neck dive. Two otherwise identical basses are likely to have a slightly or significantly different fretwork, and may have different weigh/balance. The problem is that the definition of "low action" is subjective and also depends on string and touch so there is always a chance to be disappointed. Another thing I always ask about is wether the truss rod is fully functional. I just do not want a bass that I cannot set up with different strings. Some sellers do not play with the truss rod so there is always a risk there. Anyway, take it easy because the good thing of an used bass bought at a good price is that you can re-sell it at a similar price. Unless you get one with serious issues (truss rod not working, warped neck), in that case it would not be fair to re-sell as if they were ok