afterimage Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Try the Thomann american 60 special American made p and j pickups amazing value finished in hand stained vbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameltoe Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 [quote name='nick' timestamp='1423221486' post='2682317'] If you're OK with relic'ing, I'd say go with a 'Roadworn', if you can find a second-hand one even better. They have similarities with the Classic 50's, but a much nicer neck IMHO. Mine plays like a dream [/quote] This. A completely different beast to the Classic 50's in my opinion. My Roadworn is a keeper above a US standard I used to have, and a JV '57 I currently have (which is also great but not as special as the RW), and was chosen above 3 Classic 50's I tried. But I prefer a bass that feels played in and comfortable, so it might not appeal to you. I hear great things about Limelight, if you wanted to go custom you could almost get there for that money. Never tried one though but plenty of good reviews on here. Nate Mendel gets good reviews, the one I tried didn't blow me away, but unfortunately, you are going to have to try a few and see what you like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Dunky Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 http://youtu.be/r6VIPCoJArg Thunderpaws - I think it gives a Fender P a run for its money. G&L's R&D man is Paul Gagon, and he learned all about pickups from the legendary Abigail Ybarra during his time at Fender. Apparently he took every Fender pickup apart to see what made them tick. This is why G&L instruments have such fabulous tones :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderpaws Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Update on this situation. I tried several of these through a rather nice Ampeg Heritage amp at GuitarGuitar in Glasgow. Went for the American a Special. It is lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skej21 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 (edited) I luckily had access to any precision from the Fender catalogue (and tried a model from every single range) through work and went for the Nate Mendel. Here's my reasoning. Mexican Standards are ok but lack any distinct character for me, classic series are nice and have that character that the mex standard was missing but I really liked the lacquer (nitro) models over the gloss urethane and the colour options were poor so I looked past that, the pickups in the US special are (IMO) a bit average for the price and again they don't offer many decent colour options/fingerboard options unless you hang on for FSR runs (which tend to be more expensive and less readily available) and finally, im personally not a fan of active Precisions so I had overlooked them when making my decision. The Nate Mendel had the nitro finish that I liked from the classic series model, a nice finish option, a slightly thinner nut width (which I preferred as I usually play a jazz!), a rosewood 'board and the weight of the bass was very light. The ash body also helped to give a good resonance unplugged, which I think is helped by the high mass bridge (although I got an earlier model with the Leo Quan Bad Ass II which has since been replaced). The rolled fingerboard edges, lightness, resonance and slim neck all made the bass feel very comfortable and once I popped the Aguilar AG4-P60 in, it was just perfect for me. The Quarter Pounder gave the bass real character plugged in but that character isn't always in keeping with the stuff I play. I pop it back in every so often when I need to but it sounds great with the aguilar too. Superb value for the price IMO. Hope this helps and good luck. You can't really go wrong with any of those models. Just try them out and take the one that feels right! Edited March 8, 2015 by skej21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyder Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I would check out... http://www.public-peace.de/index.php/maruszczyk-instruments/mi-bass/jake I've just bought a Jake from Adrian Maruszczyk. Pronounced ma roos check. It's a great bass with amazing build quality for the money as the Euro is about 0.72p at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike2tone Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 For the price, I would go for the Maruszczyk. I just saw them at the bass show and the instruments quality was that of instruments 3 times the price. Great feel, craftsmanship and components. I could not fault them and in fact I will be ordering one soon. Keep in mind this guys at Maruszczyk have been building instruments for 30 to 35 years. It might not have a big name on the headstock (or an easy to pronounce..) but I have been in the musical instruments retail business for long enough to spot a great quality instrument. To top it all Adrian is a top bloke! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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