Best value base bass to upgrade

Which American performer do you have? I have the mustang and it thought it’s fabulous. I’d keep the American performer and just do a long term project on the Squier upgrade one piece at a time. Going this route would give you more intimate knowledge of your bass and the upgraded hardware.

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It’s this one.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PBassAPER3B--fender-american-performer-precision-bass-3-tone-sunburst-with-rosewood-fingerboard

Yes, I’ll hold onto the Fender during the build-up of the Squire to compare and learn.

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That’s right out of the box awesome bass. I’d keep it for sure.

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Oh I love it for sure. I just don’t want to start taking it apart :crazy_face:

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I hear you. I hack and stack my Sterling to death but I’ve not yet lay my hands on my MusicMan, lol

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I have one of these, which I got as part of a beginner package. Since then I’ve upgraded and now I have it tuned down, but I don’t really use it much. Now I’m thinking perhaps I’ll tinker a bit and upgrade her as a lock down project (we are in LD #6 and Govt tells up Delta makes this our new normal😩). So @Al1885 and others, what would you recommend I do to get this up to a decent standard - I’m brand new to this (although have worked with soldering irons and routers) so any brands of components you could recommend would be very helpful so I can then go off and start some research.

- Cheers

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I have the same on in Olympic white. This bass has a lot to love. The jack is on the body edge not pickguard which is really cool. The large Telecaster style barrel knobs look and feel much better than the smaller ones.

I have not had a chance to mod it yet, my plan was to switch out the pickups. I have a Delano pj set that I might put on this one

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I was thinking of putting an EMG Geezer PJ set in; here is a comparison to give you an idea.

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See this is where things get expensive.
I have been looking at both of these sets for a while now, and they are so darn different that I want them both for different reasons.
If I had to pick one over the other though, it would be the quarter pounders.
The Geezers really capture that Geezer tone….(geez, who woulda thought) but to me this is a very specific tone and not very flexible.
The quarter pounders are, to me, a much better overall alternative.

Sigh, so many pickups, so few basses to put them in.

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Ha! I was just googling the EMGs!! Will check out the vid - thanks.

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There is a solution to that … :wink:

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Yeah, if / when I ever get a P bass (fender or squire, of lakland, G&L, or any really, except my Pete Wentz signature Squire), I am getting the Geezer Buttler pick ups FOR SURE.

The 1/4 lbers sound great, and at times really big and fat, but the Geezer has that overall tone I love, and I think mid range, it really does a better job, and this will help cutting thru a mix for sure.

Nothing wrong with the 1/4 lbers either, and Yes, I would prefer to have two basses so I could have both, in a perfect world.

If I lived in a perfect world, I would spend my days lying in the sun, cuz the party never ends in a perfect world.
When. I turn on my TV, nothing but pornography, every type of a drug is free, in the new America!!

Guttermouth - song - Perrfect world

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@Dani I do like the look of it.

To add another perspective … I started with a used Squier Vintage Modified jazz bass for <$300. The plan was to upgrade everything including replacing the neck. First mod was a set of Tom Brantley Geddy Lee pickups. He custom winds all of Geddy’s jazz bass pickups to match the ‘72 jazz that Geddy plays most often. Next was replacing the questionable Indonesian wiring with a Lindey Fralin pre-wired control plate. Both pretty much just dropped right in. The Fralin control plate gives you precision (braided, IIRC) wiring, CTS pots, a Switchcraft output jack, and upgraded knobs.
Cost breakdown:

  • bass: $300
  • pickups: $150
  • control plate: $75
  • installation & setup: $130
    I stopped there. The neck on the Squier is pretty damn good. The frets are dressed properly and it plays great.
    For comparison, I also have a boutique P-bass that was more expensive than I’m comfortable admitting. I happily switch between them and would take either to a gig.
    TLDR version: the Squier Vintage Modified Jazz is a great platform for easy upgrades and there always seems to be a ton of them on Reverb.
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It’s funny you said that be because except for the quarter pounder in general Seymour Duncan pretty do a couple of things well but not most things like some others, lol. Quarter pounder is definitely my favorite.

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@DaveT

not sure but this looks like a regular Squire, non-Affinity (made in Indonesia) PJ
https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/msg/d/brooklyn-fender-precision-squire/7363230604.html

Maybe he will ship it, if not, i can grab it for you and ship it to you at cost.

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Out of those 2 sets, I prefer the sound of the images.

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I’ll take a look.

Whispering “Double Cheeseburgers” out loud sounds like your percussion bus full of wooden casabasa’s when you loop it in your track.

“Double Cheeseburgers” a cool trick I use when I need more groove in my track but have no percussion other my lip dooter at my disposal.

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OK trigger pulled. I will be receiving a Squire Affinity PJ black on black to use as the base platform and modify the crap out of it. The $180 one someone linked to at GC already sold, so I’ll go ahead and get a fresh one. There’s a Plek machine near San Francisco so if the fret work is more than I’m up for, I’ll either run it through the Plek or look at the roasted maple neck @Al1885 has pointed out.

My curiosity is to see if I can make it better sounding and playable than my Fender American Performer PJ for less total $. I’ll keep the MIA until the time that it loses favor, if that day comes.

Let the upgrades begin!

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