Return of the No-Mod San Dimas

Those of you who have followed the Saga of JustTim for a while know that I went through a phase where I bought lots of basses, got disillusioned with them, sold them, suffered seller’s remorse, and bought them back (if not the actual bass, the same model).

This post is related. :slight_smile:

A while ago I picked up a near-mint, used Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas PJ IV. I loved the ergonomics of the bass… the body and neck shapes were, for me, almost perfection. But I was not a huge fan of the DiMarzio pickups or the stock pre-amp. And the pre-amp was bad; it would randomly fuzz-out and stop working for around 10 second. So, I took it down to my local guitar repair shop and had them convert it to a passive PJ instrument with volume/volume/tone knobs. I called it my Charvel No-Mod San Dimas PJ IV. It was much better on my ear, but the DiMarzio’s were still very hot and too mid-forward for my tastes and style.

So, I sold it.

And then regretted selling it.

And then bought another one.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to play it as-is and not change it up, but I’m still faced with the fact that I don’t care for the DiMarzio’s and the stock pre-amp. I’ve decided to “No-Mod” it again, and convert it to passive V/V/T. But! I’m also going to swap out the DiMarzio’s for something closer to the “classic Fender” sound. I have about $200 to spend on pickups. Here are the ones I’m looking at:

https://www.amazon.com/Fender-Yosemite-Precision-Electric-Guitar/dp/B07MVZ6HXB/ref=sr_1_57

…or…

https://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Duncan-SPB-1-Vintage-Split-coil/dp/B001FXQDVQ/ref=sr_1_6

…and…

https://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Duncan-D150-1B-Replacement-Position/dp/B0002GKZOS/ref=sr_1_2

Any thoughts on either of those sets? Recommendations for other pickups? Or would I be better off just swapping out the pre-amp and staying with the DiMarzio’s? I’ve heard Aguilar makes a pretty badass pre-amp.

Thanks!

Edit: interestingly, I just found this tidbit on another forum where you can talk bass, talking about the preamp on this bass:

That’s pretty genius, I don’t know why I never thought of that myself. It’s still a bit aggressive and mid-forward for my taste, but that approach does help out quite a bit.

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Compared to the others, I don’t think the Yosemite pickups are what you’re looking for.

I remembered hearing the Yosemite’s and thinking they weren’t my choice but I couldn’t remember why. So, I did some digging around and found some descriptions like, “modern sounding”, and “hi-fi”.

From reading a lot of your posts, I would hesitate to get a regular J pickup for the bridge position. I remember that you don’t like any hum. What about a split coil J for the bridge to keep the whole thing hum free?

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I’m not sure what to do about the mid-forward part of this. That’s kind of the P pickup thing. Have you heard a P pickup that has the sound you’re looking for? Something to use as a reference.

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Aww, I’m remembered! :smiley:

That’s actually not a bad idea. That said, I’ve come off that bandwagon quite a bit in recent times. It turns out that while some of the basses I’ve had were, in fact, not shielded (or shielded for shit), I do have some weird RF and grounding stuff going in my house, and it became not worth the time to re-shield all my basses as if they were Fort Knox or something.

All the basses I have now are P/J or J/J. They all buzz and hum a bit. Even the Fender Special Edition Precision I have where the bridge pickup is a Fender Noiseless single coil (which I honestly think is just marketing bulsh, LOL). I just deal with it.

Oh, for sure. And “mid-forward” might not be the correct term. They’re very hot and very aggressive pickups. Maybe that’s a better term… aggressive. Like… for example… it’s great for anything AC/DC or Joan Jett, not so good for Dire Straits’ Romeo and Juliet, Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain, or Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight.

But yeah, my Fender P/J I mentioned above, great split-coil. I’ve had the Seymour Duncan SBP-1 in a Schecter P, it was great. My old Fender Aerodyne P/J had a great split-coil.

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Would you consider Fralin?

I figure, you’ve got one chance to make it into a forever bass. GO BIG!

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I totally would, and I did, and I am still, but they cost more than I have budgeted. Which just means the project’s going to take longer if I go that route, so that I can save the extra money.

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For what you want Fender noiseless or Fralin equivalent is what you want and will love.

Limiting your budget will only make you rue the setup and restart the cycle.

Buy right once, enjoy bass.

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This was my thought, wait a bit and go Fralin. The Jazz pickup is split and therefore hum cancelling, and my experience is that wound to order are just better quality.

So my go-tos have ended up like Fralin, Novack (who doesn’t make a PJ set) or Nordstrand

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I would go Fralin over Fender Noiseless, by all reports they aren’t quite noiseless and would drive Tim nutty if I read Tim correctly

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My “noise” tolerance has gone way up as my willingness to spend time and effort combating “noise” has gone way down. :slight_smile:

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So, just to wrap a bow on this thread, following the tidbit from that other forum where you can talk bass (which I edited into my original post), I’ve actually gotten quite fond of the DiMarzio’s over the past week and a half by changing my view on the preamp and EQ. Instead of starting from the center dip on the EQ knobs, I now start from 0 (all the way off, right about equal to the passive bypass) and boost as needed. That really reins in the hot-ness (heat?) and aggressiveness of the bass and puts it right in the sweet spot where I like to play, with the character of the DiMarzio’s a nice change and not something that’s punching me in the face over and over.

Turns out my problem wasn’t with the pickups, but with the preamp and EQ. Yay! I don’t think I’ll be changing out the pickups and going “No-Mod” after all. Although I do think I’m going to swap in a better preamp… maybe an Aquilar or something like that. I don’t know much about preamps, so some research is in order.

Any recommendations?

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Audere makes a good, inexpensive preamp

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I can vouch for an Aguilar preamp. @Al1885 can likely suggest a dozen others, because @Al1885. :joy:

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Well if you asked me, EMG would be my first choice for the San Dimas. I have several JJ and PJ as well as others installed with EMG and I’ve been very very happy with the tone. The only thing I don’t like about EMG is the lack of expose pole piece option. Sometimes vintage looks is just as important as sounds.

If there’s ever a decision to be made between the two I’d always choose the look over sound.

You talking pups? @JustTim was asking for suggestions for preamps. :thinking:

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Well that’s could be an easy fix just convert the 9v to 18v. This would allow for more power output swings and in turn gives you more headroom and more dynamic. And NO, It would not give you double the output. If fact you’d feel like you’ll have less output the first time you play it.

@JustTim I can help you with that. Just double check with Chavel if their San Dimas Pre can handle 18V

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Me either, but what I do know is they are a very personal choice.
I dislike Aguilar and most EMG (sorry @Al1885).
Unlike strings, and pickups, there really isn’t a go-to for me. I’ve got tone capsule, Sims quad, fender OG, John East, etc but I can’t say any onboard preamps blow me away. I much prefer preamp pedals that can be used on many different basses. Flexibility to think about.

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I love that idea too. There are so many good ones out there or you can make your own, for example, EMG, AGUILAR, John East, etc. Just wire it and put it in a box, adding light can be tricky but doable.

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Did you see this conversion from LowEndLobster?
Changing the preamp is maybe easier than changing just the pickups and struggling with the stock preamp.

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