Upgrading my P-Bass

[doctorbass]

There's nothing wrong with that bass. The best upgrade you could make is with the strings. It will make the world of difference depending on the tone you are after - slap / cutting punk, try steel rounds - punchy blues or R&B, go for heavy flats. The difference will be night and day.

Don't waste you cash on bridges, tuners, pickups - you've got a good bass there, the difference those changes will make will be minute, especially in a band mix.

[such]

MIM Classic '50s P was the best Fender-made Precision bass that I've tried, and I've tried many of them - consistently very good instruments, as has (so far) always been the case with the MIM Classic series. So I personally don't get comments with suggestion to sell it and get a "better quality" American bass. Don't know what that better quality means, I admit I did like some finishes and hardware better on MIA Fenders, but sound- and playability-wise the MIM Classics were better every time.

To the OP - you said you want more bottom and midrange - is your bass' tone treble-heavy then?

[Kongo]

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1349368835' post='1825409']
A MIM Precision is hardly a turd though!
[/quote]

This.
TBH, other than price and saying you own one, sometimes there's no difference between a MIM and MIA...Yes I said that, yes from experience and I will NOT take it back. :-P
If you want power and sensitivity in a pickup...DIMarzio Willpower. I have one in my DIY P-bass and I don't think I'd ever choose anything else.

[Adee]

Well this is what I did .....

I popped one of these higher mass bridges on cost £18.00 its comfortable stops side to side movement and is solid but also
does not spoil the look of the bass - SUPERB !
[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HARD-TAIL-BASS-GUITAR-BRIDGE-STRINGS-THROUGH-BRIDGE-OR-BODY-CHROME-/190584090340?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2c5fb26ee4"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2c5fb26ee4[/url]

Then I upgraded the pick up to a WIZARD THUMPER and the bass now sound superb (and a half) best £50 you will ever spend : )
[url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/moreinfo.asp?id=41"]http://www.wizardpic...einfo.asp?id=41[/url]

THE best £68 pund you will ever spend man !



.... You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter !

Edited October 5, 2012 by Adee

[basshead56]

If you're looking at upgrading the pickups you could look at Duncans or Dimarzios as pretty solid ootions, depending on what sort of tone your after.
I have put Duncan spb3s in plenty of basses over the years and always makes em sound great plenty of mid grunt and fat bottom end. However they can be a tad noisy and you can end up grounding the crap outta them and still get buzz-they are a hot pickup.
So much so that I have (as of this morning) swapped them out of my 73 Precision for a set of Dimarzio dp127 Split P pups. Wow!!!
Finished the swap at 12.30 and have only put it down to type this.
So much clarity!!! I took a punt and am totally glad I did.
Do it! Haha.

[RandomBass]

For me the best upgrade money was spent on lessons

[bassmachine2112]

+100 0n Wizard thumper,good set of strings and a good set up,good to go
A set of schallers would be nice and a copy high mass bridge if you fancy
Great pick up and responsive to volume and tone controls.

[Lozz196]

I`ve put Badass bridges on Precisions, and found that they do change the tone slightly, however to me, they actually take away from the Precision what it`s best at. They seem to tighten the sound on the lows, and crisp the highs. So I put the BBOTs back and sold them. The MIM Classic 50s is a great bass, with a great pickup as well - having had one, I`d keep it standard, I think they`re great as they are.

[Sean]

[quote name='hatori' timestamp='1349342511' post='1824862']
Dont bother badassing ive done it and not noticed an appreciable difference. Dimarzio split humbucker..passive and kicks ass big style.
[/quote]

I found that the DP127 was a bit too much for vintage sounds but great for huge rock tones. It's not really a proper P sound though, so proceed with caution in this direction.

[TRBboy]

Personally, I would just upgrade the bridge to one of the Wilkinson BBOT style bridges with larger brass saddles, they're only about £15 - £20 but seem to make a bit of difference to response/sustain but still look classic.

Pickup wise, I would highly recommend a Dimarzio Model P: loads of guts, punch and growl but still sounds like a proper P.

Something which I'm not sure anyone else has mentioned is to re-wire the bass with a CTS wiring kit (pots, orange drop cap, and better wire). For £15-20, it's probably the cheapest but most noticeable mod you could make. I bought a kit from Axesrus before, but various people do them.

Hope this helps.

[peteb]

Just to go against the perceived wisdom here, but for me the Badass is a significant improvement over the BBOT!

Whenever I've had a Fender I have always replaced both the bridge and pickups.....

[Telebass]

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1349341363' post='1824832']
Can definitely recommend Bare Knuckles for guitars but never tried on bass.

Fwiw my CIT '62 RI P-bass has the usual wimpy Fender bridge but has bags of sustain - probably more to for with the timber used?
[/quote]

Very likely not true - the traditional BBOT is entirely sufficient. Badass II = not worth it. However, if you've a two-saddle string-through, then a Badass III (if you can find one) can be a good upgrade.

[lonestar]

I really like my Wizard Thumper in my SX Precision.
I'm not sure which bridge has been fitted, it's a BBOT vintage style but nicer quality than the original ; absolutley fine and looks the part. It was fitted by neilB on here I think he was the original owner who did an excellent upgrade of all the electrics and hardware. I think they're gotoh 70's style tuners possibly a gotoh bridge ?

[Ghost_Bass]

I had a MIM Classic 50's - absolutely stunning bass, great playability and very good sound. As for upgrades i think it wont be money thrown away, you can always keep the original parts in case you want to sell the bass in the future. For bridge i would definetly go for a Gotoh 201 (badass not worth the extra money) and for pickup i would either go for a SD quarter pounder or a wizard thumper. Add this to a couple of 250k CTS pots with a 0.100uf orange drop (if you really want a big fat dubby bottom) and you're set with less than £100 of investment.

[Paul S]

I am endlessly curious about my basses so changing bits about is all part of the fun as far as I am concerned - if it can be put back to stock again easily within my limited skill level then no harm is done. As others have said, 99.99% of punters and probably 99% of other band members wouldn't notice if I played a floorboard, so it is all done for my own pleasure. My current darling is a 90s MIJ Fender lightweight P-bass body, Mighty Mite Jazz neck, Ki0gon wiring loom and Wizard Trad pup, soon to be swapped for a SDP-1 just 'to see'. One day soon I'll stick a J-East P-Retro in it... hmm.

[bassmoof]

Hi made the same mods myself to MIM Precision and along with a tone cap mod (cornnel dubliner oil in paper 0.1 uf capacitor)
I opted for Semour Duncan Basslines SPB1 Vintage, because I wanted more old school thump (think Mowtown), I also intalled a Baddass 2 bridge.
Probably similar to other comments I can't say I noticed a massive shift in sustain, but they do allow you to file your own grooves in the bridge saddles so you can get your action real low (and they look cool).
Again there are better/cheaper more adjustable high mass bridges on the market, but as I haven't tried them I can't comment on how they would compare.
Spending money on decent strings is also a great idea.
If your looking for hotter pickups Semour Duncan do SPB2, and even hotter SPB3 "the quarter pounders".
All these pickups are resonable at around £40.
Incidently, Fender actually fit SPB1's to some of their more expensive signature basses (I think the Steve Harris bass has them)
Steve is Iron Maiden's bass player and a long time user of Semour Duncan pups.
You solder the Oil In Paper capacitor in the same place the old capacitor was soldered so no wirning diagrams are needed. (pop the old one in the bin)
So for not much money you can improve your MIM basses tone and playing action, pick up some new tech skills and have fun to boot.
If you have trouble tracking down the Cornnel Dubliner OIP capacitor, there are some Russian versions on e-bay, or you could use a Sprague orange drop capacitor 0.1 uf poly capacitor. All will be better than the cheap original.
You may also want to check your pots, I believe that MIM basses use CTS pots now just like their American cousins. If your bass is early it may not.
There are much better bass pick ups out there, but I wouldn't fit them to my MIM Precision....only because I don't love it that much and you wouldn't get your money back if you sold the bass with the expensive pups still fitted.

[turtus]

Go with bare knucles mate. I've got the 65s in my Precision and the difference is amazing. These ones: [url="https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=bass&sub=vintage&pickup=65_split_coil&series=p_bass"]https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=bass&sub=vintage&pickup=65_split_coil&series=p_bass[/url]

Changed my whole sound, best money i've spent!

[Conan]

[quote name='turtus' timestamp='1352388315' post='1862469']
Go with bare knucles mate. I've got the 65s in my Precision and the difference is amazing. These ones: [url="https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=bass&sub=vintage&pickup=65_split_coil&series=p_bass"]https://bareknucklep...l&series=p_bass[/url]

Changed my whole sound, best money i've spent!
[/quote]

Ninety quid!!

I personally am a fan of GFS pickups. Not subtle maybe, but bloody cheap and a definite upgrade over Squier/Mex pickups IMV.

[url="http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Bass-Guitar-Pickups_c_97.html"]http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Bass-Guitar-Pickups_c_97.html[/url]