Fender Squire Jaguar Bass et al

[rnolan]

Here's one for you bass dudes, my bass player (Matt) who's only been playing for 6 months or so now (he's learning fast!  :whoohoo!: ) bought a Fender Squire Jaguar bass (30" jazz bass neck).  Nice guitar for the money ($280 AUD). Anyway today (after last nights jam/rehearsal) we started chatting about doing it up a bit (and also he wants to buy a 5 string now (he's got the bug  )).
So any ideas what would be best bang for buck for the squire (obviously new PUs come to mind, any recommendations ? (it's got a split single coil precision and a single coil jazz PUs)).  Great sounding guitar (so maybe we should leave it alone ? I put a set of DR short scale lights on it and set it up (finger board took a big drink..)).

Also any recommendations for a 5 string, he's got small hands so a 34" may be a bit long for him.

We also talked about various bass amp possibilities (I'm spruking MB1/poweramp/cabs but it may be a bit premature).  He's got a fender rumble 30w (this amp punches well above its weight) to start off.  I mic it up (as no line out) but don't need to add much at all (and that's with drums miked and 2 loud (particularly me  ;D ) guitars).  So he's also thinking about bass head/cab scenarios, after a quick check online, there are so many different possibilities these days, (Ampeg, Fender, TC, Ashdown, Eaton, Gallien Kruger, it goes on), so, if you didn't have an MB1, what would be your fancy ?
Cheers Richard

[Peter H. Boer]

Nice bass
I'm not one for short scale though, as I'm 6'3" and love tight B-strings So most of my basses are 36" scale.

For a 5-string I would not go shorter than 34", as the B would be nothing but floppy on short and medium scale.

[rnolan]

Hey Peter, thanks for the tips

[rnolan]

Update (Peter, and other bass dudes), today he bought a SUB (Indonesian) music man lice stingray 34" 5 string and a Carvin BR510 500w combo. He's got the bug  ;) The Carvin seems like a good amp (well optioned and stacks of grunt), later he'll add a Carvin 18", next is MB1 rig  >:D

[Peter H. Boer]

 :banana-guitar: :banana-guitar:

[BrokeDownSouth]

I hear good things about the Carvin amps as far as bang for your buck, is the BR510 a 2x10" combo?

[Peter H. Boer]

is the BR510 a 2x10" combo?

Yup http://www.carvinworld.com/products/BR510

[BrokeDownSouth]

is the BR510 a 2x10" combo?

Yup http://www.carvinworld.com/products/BR510

And, YES, I was too lazy to Google that myself. 

[BrokeDownSouth]

I know he already got a bass, but that new Fender Dimension looks cool, and they offer it at several price points.  I would've opted for the Stingray too. 8)  How is he liking the SUB?

[rnolan]

SUB is on order (they only had the 4 string variants in stock (which seemed good, albeit needing a decent set up)).  The 5 string SUBs look a bit better also (to me) with the slightly carved top.  Will let you know as soon as I've done the setup on it, should arrive next week.  It will be a bit of a chalange for him at first as he's been getting used to the 30" scale of the squire jag, but after the 7 months or so he's been playing, he's improving rapidly     He's also got small hands but he's getting better at sliding around which seems part an parcel of the longer scales >= 34" I was telling him about Peter and his 36" basses, (response was holy crap, how  )
He used the Carvin at rehearsal this week (we played acoustics, he played (very) softly) and I could here it's quality, we'd already run up a starting sound, had to back the tweeter off a bit and basically turned the bass up a bit and low mids down a bit (this was with the squire jaguar).

I wondering if it's a good idea to get a US music man pickup (are they buyable ?) for the SUB when it comes, seems most say the SUB PU is good but not quite as good as the US MM stingray PUs.

I'm also noticing the squire jaguar (30") lacks definition on low E, F, F#, G.  Currently running DR lights on it, maybe going to a heavier low E would help ? as it's such a short scale length.

BTW thanks for the comments/help guys cheers Richard

[Peter H. Boer]

I wondering if it's a good idea to get a US music man pickup (are they buyable ?) for the SUB when it comes, seems most say the SUB PU is good but not quite as good as the US MM stingray PUs.

I'm also noticing the squire jaguar (30") lacks definition on low E, F, F#, G.  Currently running DR lights on it, maybe going to a heavier low E would help ? as it's such a short scale length.

These are nice replacement pups for Stingray style http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/bass-pickups/music-man/5string/

As for the low definition on the low string, this is inherent to the short scale :o, The longer the scale, the better the definition down low.
Thicker strings help a bit, but not nearly as much as longer scale.
36"scale plus .141 B-string equals thundering lows WITH definition 

[BrokeDownSouth]

Stick with the stock pickup until he figures out what his tastes are.  If he's like me he'll go through 2 or 3 basses before he finds one he can dig.  When I was 17, I worked all summer and saved up for a new American Fender Jazz 5.  I never liked that bass. 

Also; buy used - save money!

Here's a pic of my '92 Stingray 5:

[rnolan]

Ahh BDS, nice bass, it's got the same (ish) carving on the top as the SUB 5 strings.
Peter thanks for the tips, I'll pass them on and check out the pick up, and I agree BDS, little steps.  The SUB will be a little bit harder for him to play at first no doubt, but he'll get the hang of it.

Here's an aside, what do you guys think about Status basses ?  They seem to have gone very carbon fiber when I looked recently.

[BrokeDownSouth]

http://www.bassshop.be/bassguitars.html

There's a MM Status if you scroll about halfway down, looks cool but I'm pretty ignorant as to the story behind them.  If you're referring to the bass manufacturer called Status, I really don't know anything about them.

That OLP for 350 Euros looks cool, about 1/3 of the way down.

[Peter H. Boer]

Here's an aside, what do you guys think about Status basses ?  They seem to have gone very carbon fiber when I looked recently.

Status basses started out in the eighties with headless carbon necks, then followed carbon necks with headstock, and pretty soon after all carbon basses.

They have been off the market (or at least of the radar) for 10-15 years before making a comeback.

S2-CLASSIC
Headed and Headless

The S2-Classic, as the name suggests, is truly the Classic Status Bass.

Originally designed in 1981, the fundamental range has expanded to include through-neck, bolt-on and left handed models.