Your opinions on squier bronco bass?

[Volker Kirstein]

I... So I replaced it with one of the most recommended upgrades, the Seymour Duncan Cool Rails. This got rid of the hum but I'm not impressed by the sound. ...

Heh. Try a "hot" (~10.7K DCR*) dual rail humbucker for a Strat/Tele. Single coil sized. Pops right in. Problem solved.

* I know DCR is pretty much meaningless, but some people use it as a rough gauge.

 

[S.F.Sorrow]

Heh. Try a "hot" (~10.7K DCR*) dual rail humbucker for a Strat/Tele. Single coil sized. Pops right in. Problem solved.

* I know DCR is pretty much meaningless, but some people use it as a rough gauge.

View attachment 3610899

Yeah, it looks like I should have gone with a "hot" rail humbucker instead. But all the posts specifically warning against "hot" strat pickups in basses made me go for the SD CoolRails instead.

Lots of people actually recommend the SD Cool Rails for the Bronco bass but for me it was a massive disappointment. Except for the unbearable noise I actually preferred the stock pickup.

But will a "hot" strat pickup actually have better low extension than the SD CoolRails? Or will all strat pickups lack proper lows for a bass guitar? The poor low extension is probably my main issue with the CoolRails. The low extension is so poor that the output from my E-string is considerably lower than the other strings. There are no real lows, the output is dropping off considerably below 80Hz or so. The problem gets worse because I use the Pyramid Golds with the very boomy/"dead" E-string. There's not much upper mids from that E-string. But I normally love these strings on a short scale.

I guess I can improve the perceived output from the E-string by using one with more upper mids but that's really just a lipstick on a pig scenario. The lows would still be severely lacking. At least with the SD CoolRails.

 

[Zoobiedood]

I'd go for a neck position Hot Rails. It doesn't have the output and mids of the bridge model, and doesn't have the scooped sound of the Cool Rails. The Cool Rails is sort of the Jazz humbucker in a single coil size.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

Very interesting. I chose the Cool Rails because people here on Talkbass (and/or possibly the Seymour Duncan forum) recommended it for the Bronco and also specifically warned against the Hot Rails because it was "too hot" for bass. But after hearing the Cool Rails in my Bronco I don't think those people can possibly have heard the Cool Rails inside a Bronco. People on the internet recommending stuff they've never tried, nothing new there I guess.

What you're saying makes a lot of sense to me after actually testing Bronco+CoolRails. It sounds anemic. Will the low frequency response improve with the Hot Rails too or will it just be generally... hotter? Because the low frequency extension with the CoolRails is pretty useless with my Bronco, no matter how I set the pickup height. I actually liked the sound better with the stock cheapo ceramic strat pickup. Unfortunately it picked up far too much noise to be even remotely usable and I don't think I can be bothered with the full copper foil treatment here. It will have to be a noise cancelling pickup or nothing.

Honestly, the ONLY use can see for my Bronco except unlugged noodling is playing the upper register muted pick style as a kinda baritone for tic-tac doubling. But it's lacking a bit of clarity in the attack for this and I don't really need it as I've already got a baritone + several far better short scales. I was probably an idiot to buy the Bronco. Impulse buy online to reach the free shipping limit from Thomann, lol. I figured it could be a fun mod project but unfortunately it turned out to be a waste of time and money.

BUT, if I can improve it with another quick pickup change I might just do it.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

Yeah, it looks like I should have gone with a "hot" rail humbucker instead. But all the posts specifically warning against "hot" strat pickups in basses made me go for the SD CoolRails instead.

Lots of people actually recommend the SD Cool Rails for the Bronco bass but for me it was a massive disappointment. Except for the unbearable noise I actually preferred the stock pickup.

But will a "hot" strat pickup actually have better low extension than the SD CoolRails? Or will all strat pickups lack proper lows for a bass guitar? The poor low extension is probably my main issue with the CoolRails. The low extension is so poor that the output from my E-string is considerably lower than the other strings. There are no real lows, the output is dropping off considerably below 80Hz or so. The problem gets worse because I use the Pyramid Golds with the very boomy/"dead" E-string. There's not much upper mids from that E-string. But I normally love these strings on a short scale.

I guess I can improve the perceived output from the E-string by using one with more upper mids but that's really just a lipstick on a pig scenario. The lows would still be severely lacking. At least with the SD CoolRails.

What is your amp/cabinet setup?I wired the Hot Rails in parallel but series is even hotter...i have boost pedals with EQ adjustment and a powerful amp (Eden Metro with extensive EQ shelving) so absolutely no issues with bottom end but i dont want or need want powerful 'low lows' either.

How high is the Cool Rails at the moment? No idea about your strings either but i pick lightly and let the amp do the work (as many pros do as well).

You may have a bad example of a Bronco but try re-setting the neck in the body pocket to make sure full contact is going on....maybe your E string is 'dead'?

If you are a 'plug in and play' type, i dont know what else to mention...extensive EQ capability and a powerful amp are important to me but a pickup with a powerful magnet is in order....good luck.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

I'd go for a neck position Hot Rails. It doesn't have the output and mids of the bridge model, and doesn't have the scooped sound of the Cool Rails. The Cool Rails is sort of the Jazz humbucker in a single coil size.

Likely a good choice but the bridge Hot Rails wired in parallel is great......part of the issue may be a bad E string or the bass itself.

There is a bassist/blues singer on a major label playing my old 72 Musicmaster bass with a Hot Rails bridge wired in parallel at smaller club dates...it is a great sounding bass and she loves it but has a high end Markbass am/cab setup and plays thru SVTs etc at festivals.

 

[S.F.Sorrow]

What is your amp/cabinet setup?I wired the Hot Rails in parallel but series is even hotter...i have boost pedals with EQ adjustment and a powerful amp (Eden Metro with extensive EQ shelving) so absolutely no issues with bottom end but i dont want or need want powerful 'low lows' either.

How high is the Cool Rails at the moment? No idea about your strings either but i pick lightly and let the amp do the work (as many pros do as well).

You may have a bad example of a Bronco but try re-setting the neck in the body pocket to make sure full contact is going on....maybe your E string is 'dead'?

If you are a 'plug in and play' type, i dont know what else to mention...extensive EQ capability and a powerful amp are important to me but a pickup with a powerful magnet is in order....good luck.

I'm definitely NOT a plug'n'play type. I'm a studio owner and a total gear nerd. I love tweaking sounds and mixes. I normally a fan of quirky cheap instruments too but this Bronco just doesn't work for me at all.

I have lots of different amps/cabs but most often I use something 60s/70s British with tubes. But even a fat sounding vintage tube amp won't make this Bronco sound great.

My Bronco is also severely lacking lows in a direct comparison with ANY of my other basses through a high quality clean DI like the Radial JDV. Sure, it can be eq'ed to sound better but why bother when even a 80 Euro Harley Benton P-clone will sound a millon times better without touching the eq? As for gigging... Trying to explain the engineer that the bass needs to be tweaked for 20 minutes to sound ok is generally a lost cause in my experience. I will definitely never gig this bass!

I'll try re-setting the neck but it feels and looks like it sits snugly into the pocket so I don't suspect any problems there.

The E-string IS kinda dead but that's just how Pyramid Golds are supposed to be. They're one of my favourite strings and I particularly love the short scale set, even if the E-string is always "dead". That's just part of their quirky charm and they work great on every other bass I use them. I also tried LaBella flats on the Bronco but the G-string developed a nasty ringing/buzz after I removed the strings for the fret job and pickup change so they ended up in the thrash. It DID sound slightly better with the LaBellas but that was with the noisy stock pickup. I'll try changing strings again. It's possible that the low output (pure nickel) Pyramid Golds are an extremely poor match for the Cool Rails.

I've tried adjusting the pickup height but no success there. It sounds dull and anemic at every height.

Thanks for all your suggestions but I suspect my Bronco may be a lost cause. Maybe I'll try the Hot Rails. Are yours the neck or bridge version?

 

[DavidEdenAria]

I'm definitely NOT a plug'n'play type. I'm a studio owner and a total gear nerd. I love tweaking sounds and mixes. I normally a fan of quirky cheap instruments too but this Bronco just doesn't work for me at all.

I have lots of different amps/cabs but most often I use something 60s/70s British with tubes. But even a fat sounding vintage tube amp won't make this Bronco sound great.

My Bronco is also severely lacking lows in a direct comparison with ANY of my other basses through a high quality clean DI like the Radial JDV. Sure, it can be eq'ed to sound better but why bother when even a 80 Euro Harley Benton P-clone will sound a millon times better without touching the eq? As for gigging... Trying to explain the engineer that the bass needs to be tweaked for 20 minutes to sound ok is generally a lost cause in my experience. I will definitely never gig this bass!

I'll try re-setting the neck but it feels and looks like it sits snugly into the pocket so I don't suspect any problems there.

The E-string IS kinda dead but that's just how Pyramid Golds are supposed to be. They're one of my favourite strings and I particularly love the short scale set, even if the E-string is always "dead". That's just part of their quirky charm and they work great on every other bass I use them. I also tried LaBella flats on the Bronco but the G-string developed a nasty ringing/buzz after I removed the strings for the fret job and pickup change so they ended up in the thrash. It DID sound slightly better with the LaBellas but that was with the noisy stock pickup. I'll try changing strings again. It's possible that the low output (pure nickel) Pyramid Golds are an extremely poor match for the Cool Rails.

I've tried adjusting the pickup height but no success there. It sounds dull and anemic at every height.

Thanks for all your suggestions but I suspect my Bronco may be a lost cause. Maybe I'll try the Hot Rails. Are yours the neck or bridge version?

I had the Hot Rails bridge (wired in parallel) in this Bronco but moved it to a 72 Musicmaster bass and the Musicmaster bass is now being gigged by a girl on a major label sometimes...she needed a light short scale bass and its worked out okay...she has other basses but no problem dialing this bass in with her Mark Bass rig.

An old Lawrence L250 is in the Bronco now (the single blade) and its a powerhouse that sounds nothing like a traditional Strat pickup...i like the beefy neck on the Bronco but i rolled the edges, fret dress, polish as it was rather crude stock!

Strings may be part of it in your case....GFS makes a cheap copy of a Hot Rails and there are others online...if you have extra strings then try that...ive mixed strings before as well...i dont throw out good flats if only 1 is dead but im cheap LOL!

The issue with some bolt neck guitars is the screws need to pass freely 'thru the body' to allow the neck to pull tightly against the body even if the neck pocket seems tight.

What gauge of flats are on the Bronco?

 

[S.F.Sorrow]

40-100 That's the only short scale gauge available with Pyramid Gold. I think they're actually quite high tension but they feel very soft, bordering on floppy. To be honest the 45-105 LaBella short scales felt better for this bass as they're a lot stiffer. But I normally LOVE the Golds on short scales so I wanted to try them when the LaBellas died. Hm.... Actually I think I've got a spare set of LaBella short scales somewhere in my studio.... That's probably the first thing I should try. Thanks for making me think of this!

 

[DavidEdenAria]

40-100 That's the only short scale gauge available with Pyramid Gold. I think they're actually quite high tension but they feel very soft, bordering on floppy. To be honest the 45-105 LaBella short scales felt better for this bass as they're a lot stiffer. But I normally LOVE the Golds on short scales so I wanted to try them when the LaBellas died. Hm.... Actually I think I've got a spare set of LaBella short scales somewhere in my studio.... That's probably the first thing I should try. Thanks for making me think of this!

Yea....i think the 45-105 may work better...to be honest i have a Music Man HD 150 head i like but the extensive shelving EQ on the Eden Metro plus 450 watts into 4 ohms makes it more flexible but tiny EQ adjustments makes so much difference its crazy, plus it has an enhance knob...i tend to write down settings once i get a bass dialed in.

I like LaBellas, i have an old set of flats on a MIM J bass with a foam mute for Jamerson tones...i use Fender 9050 flats too but cant get them in short scale sadly.

I may order a set of GHS short scale flats for this Bronco, the Brite flats...hope they work!

 

[S.F.Sorrow]

Yea....i think the 45-105 may work better...to be honest i have a Music Man HD 150 head i like but the extensive shelving EQ on the Eden Metro plus 450 watts into 4 ohms makes it more flexible but tiny EQ adjustments makes so much difference its crazy, plus it has an enhance knob...i tend to write down settings once i get a bass dialed in.

I like LaBellas, i have an old set of flats on a MIM J bass with a foam mute for Jamerson tones...i use Fender 9050 flats too but cant get them in short scale sadly.

I may order a set of GHS short scale flats for this Bronco, the Brite flats...hope they work!

I actually considered the Brite Flats for the Bronco! I've never tried them but I read so many bad comments about them here on talkbass that I totally gave up on the idea. I don't usually trust online "reviews" of strings but this forum is extremely GHS friendly and I've rarely seen a type of strings be so completely thrashed around here as the Brite Flats. Of course YOU might still like them but the signs are bad... Actually, talking about it I feel a strong urge to buy a set just to find out if they're really THAT bad, lol.

Yeah, LaBella + foam mute = sweeeet! I've got them on my AVRI'57 P-bass. Perfect match!

 

[pcake]

i use 40 to 95 rounds because i like a softer touch.

 

[JIO]

Modded a Bronco for a young aspiring player a few years back - additions were; standard Fender bent-plate threaded saddles bridge, SD single-coil, TBX tone pot, different knobs, nice Fender small-plate clover tuners - and most importantly, a decent set-up/intonement and new strings (EXL's if I remember correctly). Played great, sounded as good as any P-bass - and it was light.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

i use 40 to 95 rounds because i like a softer touch.

I actually considered the Brite Flats for the Bronco! I've never tried them but I read so many bad comments about them here on talkbass that I totally gave up on the idea. I don't usually trust online "reviews" of strings but this forum is extremely GHS friendly and I've rarely seen a type of strings be so completely thrashed around here as the Brite Flats. Of course YOU might still like them but the signs are bad... Actually, talking about it I feel a strong urge to buy a set just to find out if they're really THAT bad, lol.

Yeah, LaBella + foam mute = sweeeet! I've got them on my AVRI'57 P-bass. Perfect match!

I may go GHS Precision flats instead....being as the Bronco has an all maple neck that is rather big, a 45-100 set might be good...maybe a custom set with 45-105.

 

[S.F.Sorrow]

I kinda solved my problem with the dead sounding E string on my Bronco. I now use the rather low output (nickel) Pyramid Gold for A-D-G and a much higher output LaBella Deep Talkin Flats (stainless steel) for the E-string. If anything the E is now slightly higher output that the others but it's close enough. The tonal balance was slightly off before the LaBella E-string settled in but after a couple of hours they're close enough to work fine.

I tried LaBellas on all strings too but that caused two problems: The E got lost compared to the other strings (same problem as with the Pyramids but to a slightly lesser degree) and the LaBellas also caused severe buzzing around 8th-13th fret, particularly on the D+G. The buzz didn't go away even with the action set sky high and lots of relief. I spent an evening pulling all the frets, installed new ones, filing, re-crowing, new setup... and still got buzzing in the EXACT same spots with the LaBellas. Strangely the Pyramids had no buzz even with low action and normal relief. I've never experienced anything like this before!?!? The neck does have a visible bump just below the 12th fret and also seems very slightly twisted so it's not entirely unexpected that it has buzz issues. The weird part is that it works fine with the Pyramids... except for the dead E.

On the positive side this is what got me thinking about using the LaBella E-string. The E was least affected by the buzz (only around 10th-13th fret) and I can live with some buzz on the higher E-string frets on this bass.

It actually sounds pretty cool now. i mean, it doesn't sound GREAT but it's fun to play and has a kinda cool lo-fi vibe that I can see myself using in the studio at some point. It's always nice to have a couple of quirky basses around for the occasions when a P-bass gets a little TOO well behaved, lol.

I had pretty much given up on it but this thread gave me some inspiration. It almost feels like I've gotten a new bass now! But I still think it was a total piece of junk out of the box and should never have left the factory (faulty bridge, crooked neck, noisy pickup, etc.). And I'm still concerned that the dodgy neck may keep shifting with high tension flats on it. Time will tell...

I still use the SD Cool Rails. I had to go all the way to 500k pots and .022 cap before I got enough clarity out of it. Lowering it slightly helped a bit too. It seems very sensitive to height adjustments and gets very muddy when it's even just slightly too high. But the dead E on mine couldn't be fixed with pickup adjustments or replacing electronics alone. Steel E + pure nickel A+D+G was the only acceptable solution for me.

 

[Logic_11]

I had the Hot Rails bridge (wired in parallel) in this Bronco but moved it to a 72 Musicmaster bass and the Musicmaster bass is now being gigged by a girl on a major label sometimes...she needed a light short scale bass and its worked out okay...she has other basses but no problem dialing this bass in with her Mark Bass rig.

An old Lawrence L250 is in the Bronco now (the single blade) and its a powerhouse that sounds nothing like a traditional Strat pickup...i like the beefy neck on the Bronco but i rolled the edges, fret dress, polish as it was rather crude stock!

Strings may be part of it in your case....GFS makes a cheap copy of a Hot Rails and there are others online...if you have extra strings then try that...ive mixed strings before as well...i dont throw out good flats if only 1 is dead but im cheap LOL!

The issue with some bolt neck guitars is the screws need to pass freely 'thru the body' to allow the neck to pull tightly against the body even if the neck pocket seems tight.

What gauge of flats are on the Bronco?

thats interesting, which pickup would you say you like best on the bronco? The lawrence or the hot rails?

Looking to get a new pick up for my bronco. Im mostly concerned about getting a good low end/ typical neck-pick up sound. I plan on adding a jazz pick up near the bridge to help with the mid range stuff.

 

[13bass]

How difficult is it to alter the pickup route to install a split P bass pickup? Anyone try this?

 

[pcake]

the hole under the pickguard is huge. i wouldn't expect you to need to route.

 

[13bass]

the hole under the pickguard is huge. i wouldn't expect you to need to route.

So maybe just cutting the pickguard to accommodate then

 

[minronnee]

I picked up a red one used last night with a Seymour Duncan hotrails in it... IM really surprised how much I enjoy the feel and tone... been looking for a shortscale for a while since my hands seem to be getting older than I want to admit, a recent snowboard accident jacked up my left elbow so praticing on my Pbass or SB1 starts to hurt about 1 or 2 min in... this little thing sounds great and I can play about two songs before I need a break... so double my practice time. I have spent a lot more money for basses and guitars that sounds as good as the bronco but not more comfortable....... The only thing I dont like is it does have a little bit of neck dive....

If anyone has advice on lighter tuners and pickguards I would love to hear it.