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fender 70s jazz bass and badass 2 bridge


geofio
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hi guys, has anyone fitted the badass 2 bridge to a fender 70s bass, as the bridge pick up has been moved nearer the bridge on these models, and it does not look like much room to spare, be good to know it has been done as i purchased both the bass and the bridge, i had to take it as it was the last bridge available to buy . cheers george

Edited by geofio
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[quote name='geofio' timestamp='1322773460' post='1455828']
hi ou7shined, thanks very much for that , thats a relief, what was the biggest difference you noticed with the bridge?? cheers george
[/quote]
Np.
The biggest difference? After I self fitted the BA I then had a bridge which actually lined up with the rest of the guitar. :)

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[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1322773782' post='1455835']
Np.
The biggest difference? After I self fitted the BA I then had a bridge which actually lined up with the rest of the guitar. :)
[/quote]

And a great bass it is Ou7shined. It's become my main gigging bass. At my last two gigs people commented on how good it looks. I have a new set of Seymour Duncan pickups which I must get around to fitting. Although it sounds good as it is so I'm in no hurry to change. Just curious to hear if there's much difference really.

Back on topic - BA II bridges fit 70s basses no problem. I've also got one on my American Vintage 75 Reissue and it's perfect.

Frank.

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[quote name='machinehead' timestamp='1322833160' post='1456403']
And a great bass it is Ou7shined. It's become my main gigging bass. At my last two gigs people commented on how good it looks. I have a new set of Seymour Duncan pickups which I must get around to fitting. Although it sounds good as it is so I'm in no hurry to change. Just curious to hear if there's much difference really.

Back on topic - BA II bridges fit 70s basses no problem. I've also got one on my American Vintage 75 Reissue and it's perfect.

Frank.
[/quote]

Good to hear it Frank.... and you have some pretty nice basses for her to compete with too.

When I dug out that pic I was looking at it and thinking to myself "You mug, why did you sell her?" :)

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It seems to fit the Jazz belonging to the guy in your pic Geofio, it will fit no prob! I believe his is a 72? Although his may have the 60`s spacing?

I have fitted a BA to a Classic 60`s Jazz, it cost me about 70 quid and after puting it through the amp cranked up, it made no differance to my ears. But we have had this argument many times before on here: Baddass v BBOT.

Jez

Edited by jezzaboy
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[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1322841721' post='1456568']
Not exactly a Baddass, but I had one of those 70s Jazzes, and fitted a Gotoh 201 bridge to it. It seemed to exaggerate all that is good about a Jazz - tight lows, crisp defined highs etc. Made it sound more "hi-fi" in a way.
[/quote]
I'd say the very same is true for the Badass II, to my taste a more solid bridge is perfect on a slightly heavier 70's Jazz, just as the bent piece of tin is a great match for a lighter Jazz with 60's PU spacing. The difference due to bridge isn't massive, but it's definitely audible. PU placement, overall weight and strings (like DR Fat or Hi Beams on a 70's) probably make more of a difference, but the bridge mass definitely is part of the equation. Plus, a Badass always looks great. :) (Not so sure about the RW vs maple deal though, even if aestetically I prefer maple).

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I'm going to dig my jazz out tomorrow and see what spacing it has, the body is an affinity Squier if anyone knows? BadassII on mine and it's great, my BBOT fell to bits and the strings could be moved side to side so I really don't care about the tonal or for some lack of tonal difference, I can't see me ever owning a bass with a BBOT :)

That ex ou7shined Jazz is real nice!

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thanks guys job successfully completed , and it was really easy to do , i can hear a difference in the clarity of the notes and i think a bit more bottom end and sustain does go on forever , and it does look cool also, cheers and thanks for the input. george

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been playing the bass for a few hours now and i can confirm , its night and day, before the bass did sound nice but now it is just awesome, i really thought hard before i did this i had a decent sounding bass before the change, and had a fear that i would muck it up!!! but i am so glad i had the balls to go through with it as the bass is now a monster tone , it really is a huge difference, it took a bit of adjustment in the height of both pickups (lowering in fact) tuning is spot on , everything just sounds so much more musical , and to me thats what counts, the reason i changed was it made sense to upgrade something i could do myself , the bridge that came with the bass was ok but there is not much to it !!! with the difference in weight of the badass i was sure it would make an impact on the sound of the bass, i am pleased to report it makes a huge difference, money well spent. cheers guys george

Edited by geofio
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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok everyone seems convinced the sonic differences are worthwhile. I put on a Badass II on my 70's P bass in 1979. When I finally took it off and put back the original bridge I realised I preferred the original bridge. In fact I did a shoot out and you may enjoy this link as I did the comparison blind so that online forumites could select which sound clip was the Badass and whether they preferred it or not.

It was very illuminating but there was very little agreement and overall I don't think there is much difference.

Anyway enjoy the link:

[url="http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1962802/page/1/fpart/1"]http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1962802/page/1/fpart/1[/url]

Davo

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It may be the case that the difference is less pronounced on a Precision than a Jazz Bass. On a 70's jazz with a heavier ash body the difference is very clear to me. Then again, in a mix and also depending on the mix even diffrences between totally different basses can sometimes be rather academic IMHO, so from that point of view it might not be a day and night difference even if it's there.

Anyway, it looks way cooler than the bent piece of tin, and Marcus uses one. Case closed. :D

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They're a nicer design, not the result of an American style 'value engineering' exercise.

However, not having ever had the opportunity to A-B the bridges I'm pretty sure I would be struggling to tell any sonic difference. The only possible difference can result from the vertical part of the BBOT wavering with the vibration of the string. It's pretty short and stiff.

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[quote name='BB3000S' timestamp='1323982002' post='1469577']
It may be the case that the difference is less pronounced on a Precision than a Jazz Bass. On a 70's jazz with a heavier ash body the difference is very clear to me. Then again, in a mix and also depending on the mix even diffrences between totally different basses can sometimes be rather academic IMHO, so from that point of view it might not be a day and night difference even if it's there.

Anyway, it looks way cooler than the bent piece of tin, and Marcus uses one. Case closed. :D
[/quote]

I'm not sure if the badass makes any difference to the sound or not but I have them on my US 75 reissue jazz, my MIM classic 70s jazz and my much modified MIJ 51 reissue Precision. My reason for liking them is a negative one - I don't like the engineering of the BBOT Fender bridges. It's as simple as that.

I love simple but clever and functional engineering, like Opinel knives, Citroen 2 CVs and Fender guitars, with the exception of the bass bridges.

I think the BBOT is cheap and nasty and poor engineering. I know most people love them and that's fine. I just don't.

(Post Thursday night gig, stress relieving rant) :D

Frank.

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