For those who are confused why I said "I never owned a P-Bass" that was mistake on my part in editing I meant to say "I never owned an EXPENSIVE P-Bass". Sorry for that!
I agree to some extent, but a well built bridge and tuners do influence the tone ever so slightly, but in terms of sustain a good bridge is definitely an important aspect.
@@lechistanskiswit320 I never said bridges make no difference. They do make difference but not necessarily positive difference. In this case, the old bridge sounds better to my ears. And there is nothing wrong with that bridge.
Hi Travis love the channel. Been playing 40 years and spent lots of money on mods. For me, a good set-up and strings goes a long way. If the pickups are dead cheap, they can help too with an up grade. Bass like a Fender P will pick its own strings with the way you play. Flats or Boomers on my 73 P bass. Now a good compressor n amp is a must ! Talked to your father inlaw the other day. Very proud of you and so am I .😊
I’m a NYC katt.I have a Lakland DJ5 that I’ve modified with MiKe Pope Preamp and a Babicz bridge and a Fender professional precision 5 string modified with a EMG PJ setup and preamp all done by 30th street guitars. Matt. Guitar tech,is a genius!!! With low action.,The both of them sound & feel AMAZING!!! Thank you TD. I’ve been following from the beginning when started with a Rogue Bass Guitar 😂 I also learned a lot from you on your RU-vid videos as a 60year old man I’m still learning churching is what I do the most these days. I wish you had bass zoom lessons I would sign up like yesterday 😊be blessed and keep it coming.
As much as I love the P-bass on it’s own, the true test is how it’s sits in the mix with other instruments. That comparison would have been fun to listen to.
All those mods brought the bass to live! Personally I have an American professional II p and loved it at first but it was a bit too high end for me even with the tone rolled back. So I changed the pickup to a nordstrand np4a and changed the pots and it literally sounds huge now very aggressive for rock but rolled back it does it all. The best part it has the perfect amount of high end.
I think you nailed it with this review. The biggest difference for the pbass when upgrading is more the feel. Most PBass pickups sound Similar due to that 60 cycle hum canceling. So after feel your choice is either flats of rounds.
“Can I mod my Squier P-bass to sound like an expensive P-bass?” What if I told you 99.9% of people - even bass players - would not be able to tell the difference between the Squier and a bazillion dollar custom shop Fender in a blind comparison. Most of the “Mod my bass” vids with a before-and-after comparo in them sound either minimally different or different in a way that isn’t objectively “good.” 🤷♂️❤
Great video. You could definitely hear the difference. The mods P Bass was fuller and more mid range forward. A lot more clarity. The bass turned out nice.
I have a Seafoam Green '70s CV Squier that I nodded with Fralin Precision Pickup Hipshot A style bridge Obsidian wiring harness EB Slinkys 40-60-80-100 8.2 pounds This plays and sounds better than the American Ultra I almost bought
I have my “$100” p bass: bought a neck with a busted truss rod, half dead Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounder P pickup and a almost broken in half P bass body for a total of $98. Replaced the rod (removed/reattached the fretboard), repaired the pickup, repaired the body and repainted it. I put more money in just the tuners than pretty much everything else, but it’s one of my two “never sell” basses.
Remount the neck making sure the pocket is clean and level, adjust truss rod, lower string height to just where it begins to buzz and adjust intonation perfectly, capacitor bypass on the volume pot.... Does wonders to a cheap bass.
WOW. night & Day. Awesome job. I've used the PV63 pickups and i think these are the best Fender produce for aftermarket .. So much more like a vintage P Bass sound . I am working on my 2nd project with MJT Body, American Pro II neck . Will use Babicz bridge and Mojotone 70's clone pickups
To me the biggest differences between a $400 and a $4000 p-bass is the feel \ playability. There is some different in the pickups \ electronics of course, so they do sound different, but also a lot of the difference I heard could just be explained away by getting new strings. I say all this as a big fender fan, but not a very big squire fan. Squires sound great. But a high-end fender p-bass is going to be a lot easier to wield and have some nuances in the sound that are just caused by higher quality materials, better quality control, and finely tuned electronics. Most of the differences you will have to pick up and play the instrument yourself to notice, so if you're saying that there is a big difference in "feel" to me that sounds like you guys really did manage to elevate that squire p-bass in ways that can't be perceived by just an audio comparison.
I have an Epiphone EB-0, which is a short scale bass that comes with a single pickup right up by the neck. Last year, I replaced that pickup and added a mini humbucker, both from Artec, near the bridge. I replaced the original volume and tone controls with concentric controls and wired it like an old Jazz bass, with a volume and tone for each pickup and no selector switch. I also replaced the large, vintage-looking tuners with smaller ones like I have on my Ibanez bass. It sounds great, gives me more options for sounds, and the total cost of parts was less than $100.
If you compare, you should A/B with the instrument you tested. I don't think you can make a 400 dollar bass sound like a 4000 dollar bass. As Roger Sadowsky used to have on his website: the electric bass is first and foremost an acoustic instrument. So he (and I as well) do not agree wood is not important. I've played many vintage P basses from the 50s - 70s and while not all of them were great, a good vintage bass has a certain sound you can not get with a new instrument. IMO the instruments that get closest are custom shop fender and Olinto. My experience has led me to believe that the secret is in the wood (the other factors also play a role of course). So starting with bad tonewood, you can put what you want onto the bass, it will be a bad bass. That being said, I like the sound of the Squier and this series gives you a lot of bang for your buck. I even thought it sounded amazing even unmodded for a 400 dollar bass. The upgrades give it a bit more focus and clarity and probably tuning stability etc. But I would rather take the upgrade money and look for the same value in a higher price segment.
I put hipshot tuners on my Fender Mexican P bass,a Fender high mass bridge,fender vintage P bass pickups and an Obsidian wiring harness from New Zealand.
Dude.. I hear the difference well, it sounds very similar to my old American 2016 p bass I used to play, I don’t have it anymore but that bass was a work horse for gigs. I love the way you’ve changed the sound of this bass, I would def gig with it
I’ve got a Squier Affinity PJ Bass; I replaced the pickups with the Seymour Duncan Qaurter Pounder PJ set, new Bourns Pots, and an Orange Drop Capacitor. I also removed the 2nd volume and replaced it with a switch. Next up, a Hipshot Drop D Tuner and maybe some new frets.
It's hard to tell anything with RU-vid Compression and a $4 pair of IEM but one of my favourite mods for a Precision Bass is the Fender TBX and Greasebucket circuits. That poor 1970 P-Bass has probably been sitting there a while. Thanks for the video 🍺
I think for P-Basses the best mod is improving feel and playability because a p bass will p bass. It comes down to if you want a hotter pup or mellow. It all about the neck on a P bass for me. A Jazz Bass is harder to wrangle, IMO. I took my MIM Fender and had to wrestle with it for years to get it how I wanted it. I replaced everything: Hipshot hi-mass bridge, Hipshot tuners with a drop tuner, Hipshot 3 string retainer for better string tension, Dimarzio relentless pickups, obsidian wireless board and controls, and leveled/polished the frets rounded the fret ends myself. I have a Sandberg California Nighthawk which plays and feels GREAT, but man this Fender is my go to. From tone to feel and time/memories it’s perfect.
With all the work done in the video, you could even save money by using a cheaper bass as a starting point. Once you replace the electronics, pickups, hardware, and level frets the extra price tag for a Squier CV doesn't really add much more value to the project. I'm currently renewing an Austin P Bass I got for free. It was in terrible shape. I've only invested about $45 into parts so far and it already has improved significantly.
Definitely a difference, sounds like more open air. But what brand and make pick-up did you install, what value cap and pots did you use, and what was the original cap value you swapped out? and what new strings did you swap it out to? So we can see what you've upgraded it to. Both versions sounded great to my ears, btw, both different, and yes, the upgrade sounds better of the two. Thanks.
I didn't think the after improvement was significant and certainly not comparable to a most expensive P bass. I have a Squire VM V that I upgraded with Nordstrand NP-5 Fender pickups. That was change was truly night and day and comparable to a much more expensive P.
Definitely more clarity in the mids and upper range with the P bass pickups and other additions. Just overall, there is more clarity and definition in the playing.
Changes I made to my generic bass: Wilkinson P, Bourns pots, bronze saddles & bone nut, all for $25. Now it can go head to head with those CVs, maybe even better. I didn't go for an expensive pickup, like a DiMarzio or Fender, as they are more expensive than the bass itself.
I moded a $275 Hohner PJ bass. (they stop making them in 1990) replaced the cheap bridge with a high-mass one. And put in EMG Geezer Butler signature pickups. Sounds terrible slapped. But fingerstyle sounds much better.
I completely overhauled an Epiphone Newport Bass: Hipshot Bridge, Hipshot Tuners, Bisonic Neck Pickup, 3-way switch instead of blendpot, and of course an extensive fretjob, the parts and work were more expensive than the bass, but the modded bass rivals my Serek Midwestern in tone and playability. Well worth the money and effort.
I can hear the difference but tone is so subjective and I really like both the old and new. Would just be for different times. I have a squire 40th anniversary P-bass with flats and the strings are the only thing that I changed on it, love it. It isn't my main bass but it was never supposed to be, ended up being my traveling bass, I travel a lot for work non-music related. Modding is a ton of fun though and did get a Jazz bass kit off amazon and modded everything on it. Even taking it from a 4 bass side to a 2x2 tuner headstock. I am still trying to get the body to look like I want because come to find out, lacquering is hard lol. Learned a ton with the build but it was challenging enough that my idea of making the bass of my dreams from scratch has been tempered for a bit.
I can definitely hear more definition in the high-mids, its a lot more growly. The pre-modded bass definitely sounded flatter and less present in that frequency range.
Mannnnn! You are now very thin! Congratulations! I almost don't know you! A really big exemple of superation! God Bless you guy! Congs for the video content too! Let's fly bass!
Did you use the same strings for the before and after audio samples? If not it's really hard to tell how much of a difference came from the new pickup and potentiometers. The difference is definitely there, but I've heard at least that much of a difference from just a string change. I'm sure leveling the frets and changing the tuners made a big difference. Changing the bridge probably changed the look more than the sound. In the end if you enjoy it, it's all worth it 👍
The modified squire played more distinct notes with a pleasing tone in contrast to the muddier sound of the original squire, which in your hands is t too shabby.
the brass saddles on the high-mass hipshot tuner change the subdued tone of the pbass into a snappy, bright, and more sustained tone, similar to a jbass.
Dude, I had a 77 p bass , modeling it off of a 70s p bass is not a bad idea. I can't get over they want 35 hundred when my 50s 3tone mim sounds just as good. If you want really good p pickup tom brantly is the man
I love the mod videos, the first one you made gave me the inspiration to try on and old cheap bass i eventually brought it to a luthier cause it had some deeper issues but i want to switch out the pickups one day, pegs and bridge. But it sounds good already after i change the strings and plan to play it at my church soon 💪🏿
Squier Classic Vibe are excelent basses, great value for the price, i believe that they are the best Bass for mods. But for the comparisson i think you should tell us about the strings, if in the sounds of the stock version the strings were old or new. Strings are very important too, so if the strings in the bass with no mods were old and in the modded one were new, It will impact the sounds. I think this is something to consider
I just recently upgraded my inexpensive bass (a Luna Tattoo) - thank you Christmas money! Like you, I installed the Hipshot Kickass Bridge. It was a drop in replacement, so no drilling, and the sustain and adjustability are phenomenal. I did sand a little of the black finish off the underside to ensure a solid ground and it's dead quiet. I also installed Hipshot's Ultralite tuners. They were also a drop in replacement and are super stable. And, between the lighter tuners and the heavier bridge, there's zero neck dive. I went with DiMarzio's Relentless pickups, mostly for the soft edges, and they feel great when resting your thumb while playing finger style. The electronics were replaced with Switchcraft pots and output jack. This was the toughest part as, like you found, the body of the pots was significantly larger, making things pretty tight in the cavity. I've got a Graphtech nut that I may install at some point, but so far I'm super happy with the upgrades.
After the mods, it sounds like someone turned up the tone knob; subtle, but (to my ear) slightly more clarity and treble. I have a '72 P-bass that just has it's own sound, but it's different from what you've created. Not better or worse, just different.
I want to like P basses....but I just don't...lol. I do love my Jazz basses...I am definitely a Jazz guy. But I have an old 70's no name Jazz copy that has been one of my main basses for years. The only thing that I did was add some Duncan quarter pounders and installed a new bridge that a friend gave me. $50, total invested other than the $125 that I paid for it. To me it is WAY better than any $1000+ Jazz bass I ever played.
I can hear the difference. Did you use the same strings you used before you had it modded? Otherwise, it really sounded like new strings to me being the big difference. Also, were the recording settings the same? I think the biggest thing would be the playability of the modded Squier. Was it easier to play? You seem to indicate it was.
Travis, have you ever played a Sire? I've owned two... If you ever come up (or back) to Maine... you can try mine. I may even let you play at church. :D
Thank you for your very interesting clip, always interesting to get to know new things. I play a TRBX 304 Yamaha (Markbass amplifier) and am very satisfied. I still have something on my mind, do you remember your fantastic clip "5 Diminished Gospel Bass Licks" Someone (edburdo) there had a video idea that you found positive: Video idea: simple turnarounds and "transitions" to go from one root to another. Really basic stuff, but I know a lot of beginner gospel bass players who only do roots and would like a little more to add to their playing. EX: If I'm going from the 1 to the 5 - what "transitions" can I do to add a bit of spice? I hope there will be a video from you soon! Thank you!
What was the bass price? $400 for the bass and $500+ for the upgrades? So thus cost you under $1,000. If you are happy than that is all that matters. It seemed brighter after the upgrades. It all depends on how it feels . ❤
Could you tell us what the chord progression was for the last demo you were playing? And I thought this video was awesome 😎 this was a good video. Serious.
the sound after is definitelly more crispy and brighter... hoes the playability though? I had a classic vibe squier and I didnt like it very much, then I got a fender aerodyne which is double the price...and I was mesmerized how well the bass sounded. the feeling, the sound and playability... both were jazz basses but there was a huge gap in between them. I honestly dont think this squier will ever be anywhere close to that 3500$ bass u played at the music store, that bass is made of better wood, the neck is better, truss rod, frets, nut... in the end you will feel the difference. wanna do a test? just close your eyes and play both of them and see which one you like better.... you spent ! thousand dollars plus the luthier labour which is not cheap! with that money you couldve bought an american professional 2 series which is miles better than this modded bass you just made.... regardless, I love your content, youre a great bassist and these types of videos are so cool, I just wished they were longer! please keep uploading for us. much love from canada brother!
I just traded for a squire p bass only to find out its been neck swapped with a true fender p bass neck and seymore duncan quarter pounders i traded some old junk for it
It’s all in the fingers. Ask Tory Slusher, the best guitarist in the world. A pickup is a pickup is a pickup. 1948 technology. It’s all in your fingers.
All precision basses sound the same to me. Honky and one dimensional, with an uncomfortable neck. I want to. play a 4000$ one as much as I want a 200$ one.
