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Duff
October 25th, 2008, 09:26 PM
Why does my new metallic red Squire affinity Jazz bass sound so good? It sounds great. I play it thru a Zoom b2.1u pedal into a new Marshall MB 30 practice amp. It sounds really full, has no buzz, has great tonal variety and sounds very nice considering the price. The craftsmanship is outstanding and the neck is beautiful?

I want to get another bass but have three already and they all sound great: a new Schecter stilleto 5 Elite that sounds incredible, and a used Squire affinity P bass that is great sounding with a beautiful neck; I'm going to hot rod the P bass. SD quarter pounders or GFS hot P bass pups and a new pickguard. It's gloss black and I would like to put an antiqued white pearl guard on it or a black pearl like my affinity "Black Pearl" strat. A gold p style guard might look good too.

I can't get over how good this affinity J bass sounds though. Stock. Hand picked.

Any ideas as to why it sounds so good?

Duffy

Would SD quarter pounder J pickups make it sound better? If it sounds any better it will be truly awesome.

Katastrophe
October 26th, 2008, 01:39 PM
Sometimes, you just get a guitar where everything comes together: good wood, the CNC machine was within spec, the hand assemblers were awake and the QC guy did an extra good job.

Don't try and figure it out, just be grateful when it happens!:AOK:

EDIT TO ADD: Yes. Seymour Duncan anything would make just about any guitar sound better IMO.

Ch0jin
October 27th, 2008, 05:40 AM
+1 Seymour Duncans.

I have SH1 '59 and SH4 JB's in my Maton and they'll be in there forever. The '59 in the neck is particularly amazing.

Duff
October 28th, 2008, 12:38 AM
I'm thinking the similar thought.

I have several SD pups. Four JH SH4's and two '59's and two Jazz neck pups from the hot rodded set. I prefer the SH4 and '59 combination.

SD makes J bass stacked humbucking pickups; regular and hot. I'm thinking these would not magnify like a microphone the imperfections of the less expensive electronics in the affinity basses. Am I correct on this?

The SD's aren't that much more, especially the quarter pound P bass ones.

The GFS J bass pups are ten K ohms and not noisless but reverse wound. I don't want to wind up with a J bass that hums ridiculously when the two pickups are not balanced exactly. The SDs should work better but will I have to open up the routs and pickguard openings on the J bass. Imagine the P bass GFS are drop ins.

Duffy

kidsmoke
July 27th, 2010, 09:14 AM
resurrecting this old thread (see? I used the search function!!! :happy )

Duff, didja ever mod your bass? I'm looking at a vintage bass with Quarter pounders in it and I'm wondering what your opinions are of them, if you went that way.

Or to anybody else, what's your thought on these p'ups?


Thanks in advance!

Duffy
July 27th, 2010, 01:29 PM
Tio,

I did mod the Squier Affinity P bass with the hot GFS P bass pickups. This is a move that I regret, because for only a few more dollars I could have gotten the quarter pounders that I really wanted. Figured I'd save some money. Not so. The GFS P bass pups are better than the stock, but not by much. The Quarter Pounders would have been a big improvement.

On my red J bass I had a set of Fender Noisless J bass pickups professionally installed and it sounds great. It sounded great to begin with though, so I gained noise free pickups that have a great tone; but the tonality of the stock pickups was just as good.

I just got a mint '04 Fender MIM P bass, black, no scratches at all for 250. I put a Fender aged white pearl pickguard on it and new roundwound strings. It looks great and I need to post some pictures of it but I haven't taken them yet.

This Fender I would like to put SD Quarter Pounders in, although it sounds real good the way it is.

Having played basses with quarter pounders in them, I am anxious to put a set in one of my basses.

I will probably sell the Affinity P bass now. It is a cool bass, black with a new black pickguard and flatwounds, but it is chipped up fairly bad and scratched. Probably better off keeping it.

I would say, go for the SD Quarter Pounders.

What is it? A P or J and what mfg?

kidsmoke
July 27th, 2010, 01:53 PM
So then, the question is what have you heard from the quarter pounders that you like so much, when compared to other p'ups?

the bass is a 1978 Washburn Wing. It's built in the same manner as the Washburn Hawk, a three piece neck through/string through design. The guitars were built by Matsumoku in Japan and are highly sought after.

The thing is, while the guitars were built for about 7 years, they only ever officially offered a Wing Bass in bolt-on configuration, never in neck through. That makes this very early and very rare.

I would consider more of a P-bass, with the split single p'up. I suppose could be something of a J/P hybrid depending on its neck dimensions....

Again, as I said in my other post, I'm NOT a bassist, and this arena is all new stuff to me. Having said that, I love old Washburns, so this axe got my attention in a big way.

Imagine this guitar in Bass form (http://pineapster.com/forums/topics/rare_guitar_for_sale_early_80sjapanese_model) :drool