P Bass - Which Brand?

[bassmachine2112]

Hiho,I,ve got a bitsa v4,very good it is to but have a look for USA Peavey you get a lot of bass for your money.I have a few tucked away and they are quality basses.

[hooky_lowdown]

@The59Sound

I've owned a few Standard Squire PJ's. Some are better than others. Every time I had to change the pups and electrics as they are by far the weakest part of the bass. The last one I had I managed to set the action super low, with flats, and was a dream to play and nailed the p sound.

My goto bass now is a 57 style bitsa V4 p bass. Its light, neck plays like butter and the parts from a V4 are solid and sound great. I prefer it over any Fender I've played.

Edited September 17, 2018 by hooky_lowdown

[Paddy515]

3 hours ago, Norris said:

 

Yes. Lovely bass. Serial number starts IM04 = Indonesia 2004?

Beautiful slim neck, lovely finish in gunmetal metallic and still in excellent condition. I dropped a set of quarter pounders in and have fitted a drop tuner. The tone pot packed up so I got a @KiOgon loom and now have series/parallel switch. That caused a little headscratching to shoehorn it in, as it's fitted with mini pots and the routing is tight, with the scratch plate barely covering it

It's been my main gigging bass for a few years now despite several much more expensive basses in my collection

Edit: As for cost, the bass was £150 second hand from BC classifieds. SD QP set was £100. It's paid for itself many times over. I originally bought it as a project donor, but it was too nice to mess with. Even the original cheapo pups sounded pretty good

Snap!!! - only swapped out the bridge for a more stealth looking bass. Cost 120 plus 20 for the new to me bridge. Always my back-up bass to my MM USA sub and used on drop-tuned songs. Sounds fine with its stock pups and wiring.

[The59Sound]

I have the option to get one of these PJ Specials for a decent price so thought it was worth asking if the pups and hardware were of a decent standard - thanks for the help everyone. 

[Norris]

2 hours ago, The59Sound said:

I have the option to get one of these PJ Specials for a decent price so thought it was worth asking if the pups and hardware were of a decent standard - thanks for the help everyone. 

The standard pups are reasonable. I tend to just use the P though, occasionally dialling in the J too, which gives a more humbuckerish tone - especially in parallel mode. Tuners are decent enough. Bridge is standard bbot. The main weakness was probably the tone pot that went scratchy, but a new loom didn't break the bank.

For a cheap trial of a P it's not a bad choice at all

[The59Sound]

1 hour ago, Norris said:

The standard pups are reasonable. I tend to just use the P though, occasionally dialling in the J too, which gives a more humbuckerish tone - especially in parallel mode. Tuners are decent enough. Bridge is standard bbot. The main weakness was probably the tone pot that went scratchy, but a new loom didn't break the bank.

For a cheap trial of a P it's not a bad choice at all

Did contact cleaner not solve the scratchy tone pot?

[Norris]

28 minutes ago, The59Sound said:

Did contact cleaner not solve the scratchy tone pot?

Unfortunately not. Replaced it with an Alpha push-switch one courtesy of KiOgon. CTS don't do a switchable one that small

Here's the original showing what a tight fit it is in the chamber...

... not much clearance at all. The new loom wasn't difficult to fit though once we'd got it oriented correctly 

[hooky_lowdown]

My PJs were replaced with Alpha pots and wilkinson pups, cheap upgrades but massive improvement on stock.

[cattytown]

22 hours ago, Norris said:

I like that!

[Norris]

39 minutes ago, cattytown said:

I like that!

So do I I hadn't got the heart to strip and refinish it, which was my intention when I originally bought it