I had thought the Yamaha BB434 might be the one for me. But I keep looking at the Squire Classic Vibe 60s P bass. If any one has or had both a P and a PJ. Is it going to come down to how they feel in my hands or are PJs more versatile.
Thanks
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I haven’t had a CV 60 but do have both P and PJ basses (one of which is a BB435, the 5 string version of the 434). If you like the 434, I’d get it. You can roll the J pickup down and just play on the P if you’d like. Doing that, nobody is going to be able to tell that it isn’t a Precision bass by the sound. The pickups in the 434 are really well suited for the kind of stuff you’ve said you want to play as long as you keep the tone knob back to tame it. The biggest hit I can think of for the 434 is that its a little bit on the heavy side (not uncommon for BB’s).
Alot of reviews seem to say roll the J pickup down to get the P bass thump. Not alot that I have found say roll of the P to get that Jazz bass sound. Maybe it’s just me lol
If you go with either,….look at the Harley Bentons models, first before any Fender basses. They are built better than the Fenders.
That’s because there’s only one J pickup, and it isn’t noiseless (there’s a definite hum if you just play on the J). That J pickup is good for brightening up your tone. A PJ isnt’ really meant to be a P or a J (seems like it should, I know). It has its own tone like a J or a P. A lot of PJs just happen to be good at sounding like a P.
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They aren’t built better than a Yamaha. Or a Sire. They’re cheap, and good for what they are.
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Maybe better than the Squier. Absolutely not better than the Yamaha.
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I’d say fit and feel is more important. - so how it feels in your hands. The P/J does give you somewhat more tones but that’s minor to me. I mostly just use the P pup anyway in my BB434M.
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I was regarding that in comparison to the Fenders.
That’s probably pretty close on the Affinity and Sonic lines but I think the CV line is closer to Fender’s MIM line in terms of build quality. I was just playing a telecaster CV50s side by side with a Fender Player II tele on Saturday (both brand new). I liked the Squier better. The fretwork felt fantastic on it. I had to make sure I’d pulled down the butterscotch Squier and not a higher end Fender. I can’t say anything as far as the quality of the electronics in it though. They both sounded like tele’s to me.
You make bold statements - this is based on your own & real experience? So, you had a recent Harley Benton in your hands and played it?
Everything else would be quite … biased, right?
I can say that I compared HB to Sire and Fender. They were just as good as the Sire and way better than the Fender. I cannot comment on Yamaha though…
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No, I don’t actually. Yamaha has long been renowned for build quality. Generally able to compete with instruments double to triple their cost. I can attest to that. My BB734 is every bit the instrument that my Reverend is at 2.25x the price.
Harley Benton is known for being a very solid instrument for what you pay. They are prone to having fret issues, less frequently but not uncommonly electronics issues, and typically require quite a bit of set up to get playing well. Those two things aren’t the same.
LMGTFY:
Edit: You don’t usually hear about people getting their Yamaha bass, gutting and replacing everything but the body, neck, and pick guard to make it sound how they want. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong or bad about that, but you probably spent about what I did on my 734 to get a Harley Benton.
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But then it’s just hearsay. Probably from the internet. I would be careful, especially with a topic that is driven by fanboys and voodoo.
It’s like cars here in Germany. It was all BMW, Audi, Mercedes, VW … but first the Japanese became strong, than the Koreans and now the Chinese.
The German car brands run on reputation and (fading) coolness factor - in terms of durability and technology they are becoming worse and worse, compared to the competition.
I read quite a few rants about Chinese cars and glorifications of German cars here … though reviews and roadside assistance statistics tell a different story…
How do you know? The internet? Don’t get me wrong - I’m a flat earther due to the internet … and proud of it 
Yes - but I would have modded ANY bass, except for a Reverend or an Offbeat
I mod cause I like it. But there are some basses I would NEVER change, no matter the brand … and I haven’t even had any Revernd or Offbeat in my hands, ever. It’s just cause of the magic they convey somehow (so, very subjective…).
Thing is a bridge pickup on the PJ tends to have a lot less output than the P. And a lot of noise.
PJs sound really good with the J rolled off to 25% or so, it’s a good sound
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If you click the link for the search I posted, you’ll notice a recurring theme from multiple sources. I’m going to go with the many opinions from different sources over… I held a Sire once 100% of the time. I’m not shitting on HB’s at all. They are good instruments for what they are, but saying that a company that has been known for the quality of their builds for 50+ years is a better built instrument than a brand known for making a solid budget instruments is not a hot take.
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I bought an HB once, never again. Quality was the worst of any instrument I ever owned.
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A friend of mine is in Audi’s management. He said something similar about Tesla a few years ago. Now, I am not a Tesla fan at all … but they are more succesful now than Audi (whatever “success” means nowadays). Unfortunately…
I really wish you would get a recent HB yourself and compare it to a Sire and especially Fender.
Again, I would not know about Yamaha. I do know quite some bass players here that find the better (which does not mean more expensive) HBs at least on par with Fenders and mid-range Sire. I don’t know any bass player here that has any critics about Yamaha though…
Also, my modded HB (Ronin, when it still had “only” two Humbuckers) went through several capable hands now, and everybody was quite excited about it (in two cases compared it to 2000€++ basses).
When and which bass? Quality really went up in the last few years. That’s hearsay for me to by the way, cause I didn’t know what a bass is until recently
It was 3 years ago or so and a P bass. It was literally un-playabale out of the box. Want it? It’s yours for shipping. Piece of crap.
And it can’t be hearsay as I can attest out of personal experience.
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I believe you, really!
But: if anybody here had one crap Fender, Sire or even Yamaha - would it disqualify the whole brand? Who doesn’t know anybody who had a crap Fender or knows one who did?
It could be the brand, the model, or that specific bass. Brands - like everything - start small, get famous and/or good … and become crap eventually. All of them…
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