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Bacchus WJB-Mini short scale J-Bass is great for modders

The best way I can describe the Bacchus brand is “Squier for the rest of the world”.

For example, if you live in Australia, Squier is actually not cheap and can be tough to come by. But then there’s Bacchus which is usually much more affordable and more available in “down under” territory.

While there are some high-end Bacchus guitars, this electric bass specifically is about the same build quality of a mid-tier Squier. And that basically means to not expect this to be a top drawer build because it’s not…

BUT…

…the whole point of why the WJB-Mini is a cool bass is because it’s a short scale in a true Jazz Bass configuration.

Price in the US for one of these is under 300 USD. It has a 29.5″ scale, poplar body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, it’s built in China and the full name of this thing, brand and all, is “Bacchus Universe Series WJB-Mini”.

For an under-$300 mini Jazz, this thing is just begging to be modded with some new pickups. For all the cash you save on the purchase of the bass, you have so much left over to load up with mods.

The really nice part about the WJB-Mini is that it was designed to be a small J-Bass clone from the start. Many electric mini basses only come in P configuration so if you wanted a J you have to cut new holes. Not so on this one. The routes are there and that saves a lot of hassle when putting mods into this particular instrument.

How does it play? Unknown, but it probably has a Fender-ish shape to the neck and most likely has medium jumbo size fret wire.

We’re putting the call out: Go buy one of these, mod it and submit it for bass of the week. We’d love to see one of these with some mods installed.

This is what it sounds like:

7 thoughts on “Bacchus WJB-Mini short scale J-Bass is great for modders”

  1. SX has made a well-proportioned 30″ Jazz copy for years. THeir new headstock design is stupid looking, i have the more accuratley Fenderish one. I put a Babicz bridge, better pots & Switchcraft jack on mine and dressed the frets, the stock PUs sound fine, but probably going to drop some thing better in next. I’m 5’3″, i look better in a short scale and my LH thumb likes it better too. 🙂

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  2. Not bad–I like short scale basses since I have small hands a regularly play lead guitar, so short scale always feels more comfy and friendly to me.

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  3. Nice job on the bass part! The bass seems to have great overall sustain & even a nice growl on the E string’s lower notes. I’m just not a fan of short scale basses. How exactly was this particular bass modded out? Or was it? I must admit that I’m starting to get attracted to it.

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    • The bass in the video to the best of our knowledge was not modded, but YouTube does normalize audio automatically in videos these days (whether you want it or not) so take what you hear with an open mind.

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  4. Ordered a short scale (32 inch) J bass from Warmoth. It had a rock maple neck, a rock maple fret board inlaid with white mother of pearl and vintage 6230 fret wire. I aged the neck under high intensity ultraviolet lights for about 2 weeks (one week on either side) which imparted in a beautiful caramel hue to the rock maple fingerboard and neck allowing the inlays to stand out nicely. I painted the alder body surf green and then aged it under the lights changing the color to a brownish green which matched well with the wood. Finished off with a white pick guard and white pick up covers. It has standard 60’s issue pickups, John east J tone 01, (both recommended by this site) ellio martina bass mute and schaller bridge. I had a 30 inch J bass but the e string was too muddy. The 32 is indistinguishable form my 34 inch jazz of similar configuration.

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  5. Nice Idea …… actually the bass sounds pretty good stock but I can see where a pair of SD pickups, redoing the pots and electronics might be a sound investment. Where can these be purchased ????

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  6. What size tuning machines does this bass take? I’m about to mod mine with a high mass bridge, a SD Antiquity neck pickup, a SD Antiquity II bridge pickup, and I’d like to install Ultralite tuners. Are these tradition 1/2s or something smaller? Thanks!

    Reply

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