New to bass...

guitarcookie1

Ok, not completely new as I've had a Squier P-Bass Special in the cupboard for about ten years, but I've never really put the time in to learn.

Anyway, the kids decided to buy me the Blackstar Fly Bass amp as a pressie so I thought now was a good time to give it another go. I've been playing/making/modding guitars for as long as I can remember but have a few bass orientated questions...

Pickups... Will changing the stock Squier pickups have as much impact on my sound as changing guitar pickups often has & is it worthwhile doing? To my ears the P pickup sounds much better than the J, which seems just to add harshness to the mix.

Wiring... What value pots are best suited to P/J pickups? Is it like guitar, 500's for humbuckers & 250's for single coils?

The bridge... Basic & functional. Worth an upgrade?

Pickup covers... The big chrome ones often seen on Precision & Jazz basses. What are they for & do they affect your sound?

Learning... Any good online resources to check out?

Cheers

fnpt

Scott's bass lessons on youtube are great, but I find Richie Black from musiccollegetv even better to start out and then move on to Scott's lessons.

fretmeister

I wouldn't bother upgrading the bridge. the BBOT has been on many brilliant basses for decades.

A nice comparison of Squier basses and their more expensive cousins

EricTheWeary

fnpt;1117643" said:

Scott's bass lessons on youtube are great, but I find Richie Black from musiccollegetv even better to start out and then move on to Scott's lessons.

I am a lazy arse but my son has used Scott's. I've watched one with him because he wouldn't believe what I was saying about alternate picking but Scott confirmed it. That didn't make dad knowledgeable, apparently, it just confirmed that YouTube is all knowing..

guitarcookie1

fretmeister said:

I wouldn't bother upgrading the bridge. the BBOT has been on many brilliant basses for decades.

A nice comparison of Squier basses and their more expensive cousins

Thanks for that.

To my cloth ears they all sound pretty much the same as their relevant counterpart. Maybe with the exception of the custom shop Jazz which had more presence than the Squire, but only with both pickups on.

guitarfishbay

If you fancy a bit more presence/top end you could fit a no load tone pot.  On 10 the tone pot is effectively bypassed which gives a brighter, marginally louder sound.  The Fender pots listed below have an obvious click when on 10 for bypass, from 9 downards it is the same as a 250k pot.

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/potentiometers-c109/fender-fender-no-load-250k-split-shaft-volume-tone-pot-099-0832-000-p5296

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/potentiometers-c109/fender-fender-no-load-250k-solid-shaft-pot-tone-p5295

ICBM

The J bridge pickup can be a bit thin on its own. If you want to change it, the Duncan Hot Stack is good-sounding and has the benefit of being hum-cancelling.

Or contact Oil City Pickups (@TheGuitarWeasel) for other options...

Fender basses use 250K pots, but it may be worth upgrading the ones you have.

The bridge is almost certainly fine, that cheap bent steel type seems to sound 'right', for whatever reason! Heavier cast brass ones do add a bit more punch and depth though. (eg Badass or similar.)

The chrome pickup covers look cool and make a convenient place to rest your hand/get completely in the way/make string changes a pain in the bum, but don't otherwise change the sound. If the front one is connected to the shielding (there will need to be foil on the underside of the pickguard which the screws go through for that to work) it can improve the shielding slightly, but I've never noticed it make a practical difference.