Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Squier Classic Vibe 50's Precision Bass - NBD/Review. Astounding.


funkle

Recommended Posts

6 hours ago, funkle said:

Wow!!! That is amazing. What are the pickups, and the spacing?

Thanks.  The spacing is akin to a 60's Jazz.  The pickups are the Nordstrand 51P (humbucking version).  Really pleased with the whole package, but as has been said above a tad pricier than a modded Squier.

I actually played the prototype c. 1 year ago at a guitar show and vowed to save up/sell a few basses and order one.  Absolutely no regrets!

Edited by ead
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
2 hours ago, Beedster said:

With apologies for the thread derail, how does that bass compare to a Jazz Bass tone wise? 

It's not too dissimilar given the pickup placements.  I say overall a bit 'warmer', somrthing I'd probably attribute to the pickups being hum cancelling rather than true single coil.  Still plenty of snap though.

For the style of music I play I tend to favour the neck pickup by turning down the bridge volume by c.20% and rolling of the tone by a similar amount.  Soloed, the neck pickup does a great P bass sound too.

Hope that helps

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, krispn said:

Maybe a little off topic but I put some Nordstrand split J’s in my CV Squier Jazz and they’re not bad at all. 51 style pick up in a jazz shells

 

https://nordstrandaudio.com/collections/all/products/51-split-j-1

Hey mate, many thanks, that's exactly why I asked as I've been thinking about those PUPs for a while, if you had a moment could you add your thoughts on the sound to this thread (I don't want to divert this one any further). Cheers. Chris

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, I swapped over to the Nordstrand 51p hum cancelling pickup (https://nordstrandaudio.com/collections/4-string-51-precision-bass-pickups/products/51p4s-hum-cancelling).

 

My first impressions are that the bass has lost some of the grit and magic that I enjoyed about the single coil. I tweaked the pickup height carefully (at first this caught me out), and whilst it is now not noisy at all, I just can't quite help but feel that some of the character I liked is reduced. It just feels less 'raw'. 

 

I'm not sure I am going to stick this, but I'll sit with it for a while and see how it all plays out first. I feel like a swap back to the original is on the cards sometime though, even now. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't like to say anything as you had already committed, but I was afraid of that - I have had exactly the same thoughts about hum cancelling nordstrand pickups before. I have a bassculture.de 51 splitcoil and I don't think it suffers from that problem - it has plenty of character - but it is hum free.

 

Not a lot of information out there about it! I assume it's a version of the standard split p pickup but with 4 pole pieces and packaged like the original.

 

p51-splitcoil-6mm.JPG

Edited by bloke_zero
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, bloke_zero said:

I didn't like to say anything as you had already committed, but I was afraid of that - I have had exactly the same thoughts about hum cancelling nordstrand pickups before. I have a bassculture.de 51 splitcoil and I don't think it suffers from that problem - it has plenty of character - but it is hum free.

 

Not a lot of information out there about it! I assume it's a version of the standard split p pickup but with 4 pole pieces and packaged like the original.

 

p51-splitcoil-6mm.JPG


Such is the way it goes. If you and others have suggestions for split coil 51 pickups that sound like single coils, then I’ll definitely take suggestions! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, greenolive said:

I’m sorry to hear this didn’t work out for you Pete 


It’s all good, it’s a good pickup, and It was a good price. I knew it might not work out, and I did not mind. Part of the journey 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On a brief tangent. What on earth are the Nordstrand pickup descriptions like? Lol. I suppose they are as good a description as any….perhaps trying to highlight the arbitrariness of attempting to describe sound. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, funkle said:

What on earth are the Nordstrand pickup descriptions like?

Annoying !

 

Might raise a smirk the first time you visit the site , gets old very fast after that.

 

Split singles I have enjoyed.

 

Jess Lourerio.

 

Herrick.

 

Bloodstone. This one's a bit tasty , had Dave build me an 29.9k ohm overwound split like the Duncan Stinger 👍

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice one!! The Bloodstone one sounds vicious, how many coils on that thing?!! Lol. Must be a huge pickup. 
 

I’ll check out the suggestions made here by you and @bloke_zero. Particularly if I can find them secondhand 😂 

 

The Duncan stacked one seems to have a good rep on Talkbass as well. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@funkle

 

Dave built it as 2 coils and yes , it's massive. I thought about the Duncan "Stinger" after seeing folk on TalkBass mention them. Thing was ; Duncan's Custom shop wouldn't do business with Europeans , nor Thais 😮 Never been impressed by Duncan pickups in the past so took that as an omen. 

 

Dave quoted an extremely attractive price and it was here in 4 days 👍

 

 

thumbnail_bobbin2.thumb.jpg.cac9ee85c740a9091033072acd70a4b7.jpgDSC_0283.thumb.JPG.d13aaf7617fffdd052e33011219c443e.JPG

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That pickup is simply ‘wow’. 
 

I have no other words, lol. 
 

Looks like I’ll be trying to get a hold of some European pickups!

 

Or, I suppose I could also experiment with shielding. 🤔 My experience of shielding is mixed, I have had better luck replacing single coils with humbuckers on the whole. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eyeing up Jess Lourerio, Herrick and Bloodstone now. I couldn’t navigate the Basscutlure website that easily, so left that. 

 

I’m stumped by the options. Flush or radiused pole pieces, series vs parallel wiring of the coils, different magnet types, etc

 

Which of these will be closest to the gritty single coil tone that I enjoy from the Squier already? With a bog standard Squier pickup, lol…

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, funkle said:

 

Looks like I’ll be trying to get a hold of some European pickups!

Are we still European ?  It'll be hard to beat Martin Herrick in Wales or Dave at Bloodstone.

 

https://www.herrickpickups.com/products/tele-51-bass-humbucker/

 

If you'd like to hear some audio ,  discreet did some for this project build.

 

After a couple of years with me , v4.0 now lives with stewblack 🙂

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, funkle said:

Which of these will be closest to the gritty single coil tone that I enjoy from the Squier already? With a bog standard Squier pickup, lol…

 

Why not go back to the bog standard squier pickup, put a bit of copper shielding in the cavities, tie it to earth and avoid tvs and florescent tubes? :D

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, kodiakblair said:

@funkle

 

Dave built it as 2 coils and yes , it's massive. I thought about the Duncan "Stinger" after seeing folk on TalkBass mention them. Thing was ; Duncan's Custom shop wouldn't do business with Europeans , nor Thais 😮 Never been impressed by Duncan pickups in the past so took that as an omen. 

 

Dave quoted an extremely attractive price and it was here in 4 days 👍

 

 

thumbnail_bobbin2.thumb.jpg.cac9ee85c740a9091033072acd70a4b7.jpgDSC_0283.thumb.JPG.d13aaf7617fffdd052e33011219c443e.JPG

Lordy,that's hefty. I presume it fitted in the bass ok and had sufficient clearance under the strings?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...