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Get some Seymour Duncan Quater Pounder pickups. I put a set on my Harley Benton and they sound great. There is no P/J set, you just order a P set And a J.
Sorry, I missed this post somehow. A few trials have revealed that the culprit is the battery connector itself being somewhat loosely connected to the 9v battery leads. I have to be careful not to bump it a certain way or the connection will loosen. Not sure if a simple adjustment will help or if its better to get a better connector. I had no idea that there were "good" and "bad" 9v battery connectors.
**UPDATE**
Intermittent electrical problems persist, even after some light re-soldering, battery replacements, checking all other culprits. At this point, the next step is to completely re-wire the bass. I have a friend that is a great tech and electrical engineer who is going to do it for me, so I'm hoping it fixes the issue.
His first look inside the control cavity revealed "The worst wiring I've ever seen on a guitar.", and that was on a brand new instrument.
Yes, I probably could have sent this thing back after it had issues initially, but its honestly a good enough platform that I'm willing to invest a little TLC into it. I gigged it a a couple of weeks ago, and never had an issue. Sounded amazing, and worked perfectly. This morning at church, it just died randomly during rehearsal. Time for an overhaul. I'll report back yet again after he goes through it completely. If that doesn't work, I'll replace the pickups.
I still recommend this model, because its just that good with the exception of the wiring. They just really need to figure out the QC on the electronics. Its awful. The rest of the bass is fantastic.
Intermittent electrical problems persist, even after some light re-soldering, battery replacements, checking all other culprits. At this point, the next step is to completely re-wire the bass. I have a friend that is a great tech and electrical engineer who is going to do it for me, so I'm hoping it fixes the issue.
His first look inside the control cavity revealed "The worst wiring I've ever seen on a guitar.", and that was on a brand new instrument.
Yes, I probably could have sent this thing back after it had issues initially, but its honestly a good enough platform that I'm willing to invest a little TLC into it. I gigged it a a couple of weeks ago, and never had an issue. Sounded amazing, and worked perfectly. This morning at church, it just died randomly during rehearsal. Time for an overhaul. I'll report back yet again after he goes through it completely. If that doesn't work, I'll replace the pickups.
I still recommend this model, because its just that good with the exception of the wiring. They just really need to figure out the QC on the electronics. Its awful. The rest of the bass is fantastic.
Weird. My Squier Contemporary Active Jazz Bass had pro looking wiring inside with no issues when I opened it up. Hopefully yours is up and running soon!
I'll keep this thread updated as things unfold. As of now, I'm looking to replace all electronics and wiring with new components with quality soldering. I've never messed with electronics, but research indicates that Sadowsky, Nordstrand, and Aguilar make comparable replacements to the stock setup.
My main goal is actually not to change the sound or controls much if possible. Its great as-is. But it needs to work reliably. So we'll start with electronics, and leave the stock pickups in for now.
'82, on my sister Jazz 5, the batteries last, then go quick with no distortion or wierd stuff, and probably I'd change them more often than other active basses I've had.
EMG basses I've had would lose output very slowly over a few weeks. My 9v Alembics would give you a heads up as they'd grow more and more distortion, strangely with little or no output drop till they quit. The Squier loses a bit of output, no distortion, then blink!, it's gone, and as I said, these seem to go faster than the others.
EMG basses I've had would lose output very slowly over a few weeks. My 9v Alembics would give you a heads up as they'd grow more and more distortion, strangely with little or no output drop till they quit. The Squier loses a bit of output, no distortion, then blink!, it's gone, and as I said, these seem to go faster than the others.
What are your thoughts on using the Sadowsky preamp in this PJ bass? Would a preamp like this need to vary in some way between a jazz and PJ setup? Sadowsky says their preamp is intended for jazz-style basses (with pre-installed plate) that are rear-routed. I'm curious if the tone controls and wiring would work (with modifications) for my bass?
Awesome! I hope it delivers on the claims I've made in this thread! It's been great for me, even with the annoyance of the electronics failing. Sadowsky pre arrives tomorrow, so hopefully it's up and running soon.
Update: Working on getting the Sadowsky pre installed, and we ran into some snags. The preamp is designed for a jazz bass, so we're having to modify the electronics a bit to make it fit. We obviously removed the pre-installed jazz bass steel face plate.
First, the stock output jack is very long and located very far under the bottom edge of the body. Due to the location of the jack and the design of the Sadowsky preamp, there's a conflict at the 3rd pot (tone control) due to a physical space limitation / pinch point there. We're either going to need to remove the box under the pot and re-wire in a different location or use a different (shorter) jack.
Second, the cabling isn't long enough for the precision pickguard control layout, so we're having to extend one cable run to make it work.
The tech who's working on it thinks all of this is possible to achieve, but its negating most of the "convenience" of purchasing a pre-wired preamp. I emailed Roger, and he said they're working on one that's more generic, and could fit in non-jazz basses, but its not ready yet.
First, the stock output jack is very long and located very far under the bottom edge of the body. Due to the location of the jack and the design of the Sadowsky preamp, there's a conflict at the 3rd pot (tone control) due to a physical space limitation / pinch point there. We're either going to need to remove the box under the pot and re-wire in a different location or use a different (shorter) jack.
Second, the cabling isn't long enough for the precision pickguard control layout, so we're having to extend one cable run to make it work.
The tech who's working on it thinks all of this is possible to achieve, but its negating most of the "convenience" of purchasing a pre-wired preamp. I emailed Roger, and he said they're working on one that's more generic, and could fit in non-jazz basses, but its not ready yet.
Well that was a bust! Got the bass home, unpacked it, and was surprised that it was in a factory sealed box. 2022 build date on the headstock. Loved the finish and the neck. Setup was decent, plugged it in and tuned it up, and it had a dead bridge pickup, as well as a tone pot the just turned 360 degrees and did nothing. Bridge pickup was producing a VERY small amount of tone, but it was basically dead. Oh well, I'll contact the seller and send it back and get a refund. So much for their quality control as of late.
I'm sorry!!! According to my tech, the wiring on the inside of mine was the worst he'd ever seen from a factory, which is odd considering the fit and finish of the rest of the instrument. My guess is that yours has similar problems (shouldn't have to deal with this on a new instrument). He's in the process of switching out the preamp with a Sadowsky right now, but it's not super straightforward due to the cavity differences.
I'm keeping mine, because everything else about it is awesome, and I have some extra time + money to get it resolved. It is worth it to me to get this thing up and running.
I believe mine is a 2023 serial #.
Watching this thread now. Was researching the Squire PH-5. Seeing prices at $309 new.
Sorry to hear of these issues w some.
I've had a Sire 2nd Gen, P7-5. And just recently purchased a Sadowsky MetroExpress PJ5, 2nd Gen, not RSD. Both basses feel/play very nicely.
So I'm liking the PJ5 bass configuration alot now. I have a few J5s/P5s Sire and MIAs.
Not sure I would add this Squire PH5 now. But at these prices, might be a good platform for a bass to upgrade. I'm now more looking for a passive PJ5. Good luck with these Squires. Peace, e.
Sorry to hear of these issues w some.
I've had a Sire 2nd Gen, P7-5. And just recently purchased a Sadowsky MetroExpress PJ5, 2nd Gen, not RSD. Both basses feel/play very nicely.
So I'm liking the PJ5 bass configuration alot now. I have a few J5s/P5s Sire and MIAs.
Not sure I would add this Squire PH5 now. But at these prices, might be a good platform for a bass to upgrade. I'm now more looking for a passive PJ5. Good luck with these Squires. Peace, e.
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I was heavily researching this before I cam to talk bass and the issues with electronics seem to be kind of common. will have to hold off. Fender has them on sale for 309 today but that might be a good enough deal if I am going to have issues with the bass or change out the electronics
Interesting. I’ve only read one account of issues with the stock electronics on these basses.
Johnny Dibble did a series of videos on these this is the firs one he got. there were multiple accounts of other people having electronics issues in the comments. I want to believe they fixed the issues but not confident seeing as this is a very recent bass for the op.
Yes, I also read a lot of the same issues, but decided to go for it due to the low price. Sure enough mine had the exact same problems. So there was the intermittent problems with it cutting out AND really poor battery life. My tech friend suspects that really poor component, horrible wiring, and the circuit design itself was the culprit, and intends to correct all of it. It's a lot of effort, time, and money to sink into the bass, but on the flip side, the rest of the instrument is awesome, including the pickups.
I am staying the course on modifying the electronics, and will report back here once I've completed it.
I also wanted a passive PJ5, but they are tough to find. I'll eventually commission a custom build for one through Lakland, Mike Lull, or Soame, but for now I'm gonna ride with this one once the mods are done.