We proved in our last series (the 5 String J Bass Deluxe project) that killer components can take a good, but not amazing, mid-priced bass, and turn it into something truly special. We were all blown away by just how much better that bass became. But that got us thinking...

What if we started with the absolute bottom of the barrel? I'm talking about the kind of bass you might find gathering dust in a pawn shop, or maybe that first starter bass you bought way back when and haven't touched in decades. Could we really transform something that cheap and...let's be honest, probably pretty bad, into something decent?

That's the experiment we're diving into in this new series! We're not just talking about a cheap bass from today's market, oh no. We're going way back to the bargain-bin basses of 25 years ago. The kind of instruments that were built to a price point and not much else. And we're going to throw everything we've got at it: new pickups, tuners, a proper wiring harness that won't crackle and pop, and a bridge that will let the bass intonate correctly!

The big question is: Can we turn this relic from the past into a reliable player?

Get ready for a budget bass makeover.

What is a Biscayne 205?

Now, you might be scratching your head and saying "Biscayne who?" And that's totally fair, because back in 1999, this wasn't exactly a household name.

Back in '99, if you were looking for a super affordable bass, you probably stumbled across the Ibanez Gio GSR. It was the cheap bass to get. Well, the Biscayne 205 was basically the even cheaper copy of that cheap bass! We're talking bargain basement prices here. To my recollection, this Biscayne was comfortably under $200 brand new!

Biscayne basses, as far as we can tell, were commissioned from some factory in Indonesia or China to be sold as a super budget alternative to the Ibanez Gio line. Basically, they were trying to ride on the coattails of the Gio's popularity, but at an even lower price point.

Remember, we're talking about the late 90s here, and quality control on instruments, especially at the super low end, was... let's just say; variable. These days, even affordable basses can be surprisingly decent, but back then? It was a bit more of a lottery. You could get lucky and get a decent playing bass, or you could end up with something completely unusable.

By pure luck, because I certainly didn’t know any better back then, I managed to snag one of the (relatively speaking) good ones. 25 years later, and the neck is still straight-ish. And the old Biscayne can actually be set up to be reasonably playable.

So, that's the Biscayne 205 in a nutshell. A super cheap, kinda obscure, and potentially terrible bass from the late 90s.

How does this Biscayne sound?

Okay, so the big question is: how does this Biscayne actually sound? I mean, we know it was cheap, we know it's old, but sound is what really matters, right? Time to put it to the test!

To give the old Biscayne a fair shake I decided to start by installing the original pickups with a Fat Bass Tone wiring harness.

Let's start with the P pickup. Now, in theory, a P pickup should be punchy, solid, and have that classic, round tone. This? This was… muffled. Like someone had wrapped it in a thick blanket and then put another blanket on top of that.

P pickups are supposed to be hum-canceling and quiet. This one was buzzing and hissing.

I spent a bit of time fiddling with the pickup height, hoping to coax something decent out of it. And after a lot of tweaking, I managed to get some halfway-decent sounds. The truth is, even on its best day, this P pickup is just not a good-sounding pickup.

And then there's the J pickup. This thing was downright unusable. For some reason, it only seemed to pick up the A and E strings. The pickup was malfunctioning, but as far as I can remember it was never particularly inspiring.

So, what does the Biscayne 205 sound like with its original pickups? Well, take a listen to these clips and judge for yourself. Even if, by some miracle, the pickups were actually functioning properly across all the strings and weren't noisy, it still isn’t a great tone.

Time for new pickups!

Alright, so when you start diving into the world of PJ pickups, prepare to consider a lot of options - here’s an article focused on PJ Bass Pickups that will help you navigate them all. Vintage, modern, super hot, scooped mids, growly lows, you name it, we guarantee that there’s a pickup manufacturer that makes the pickup you need.

For this Biscayne project, I knew I wanted to land somewhere in the "punchy" zone. This bass, even though it's old and cheap, has a kind of "somewhat modern" vibe to its body shape. It's not trying to be a vintage P-bass. So, I figured going full-on vintage-voiced pickups might not be the best match. I wanted something with a bit more oomph, a bit more output to really drive things forward, but I also didn't want to go too modern and hi-fi sounding. That sweet spot in between was the target.

So, naturally, I did what any sensible bass player would do: I hit up the folks over at Fat Bass Tone. After explaining that I was going for that punchy, but not too modern sound – they pointed me straight toward the world of "overwound" pickups.

"Overwound," in pickup speak, means the manufacturer winds a little extra wire around the pickup coils. This gives you more output, more midrange punch, and often a thicker, more aggressive tone overall.

Armed with that knowledge, I dove headfirst into the demo videos on Fat Bass Tone's YouTube channel. After about an hour of listening, I narrowed it down to a shortlist of contenders:

• Delano PMVC4 FE/M2: They've got this almost industrial, high-tech vibe to them which looks amazing. These pickups are punchy. They've got a really present upper-midrange that just cuts through, and the lows are tight and focused. If you're after something that's almost full-range sounding, but still with that P-bass DNA, these are seriously worth checking out. These don’t really fit into the overwound category, but they do sound amazing, so that’s why they made it to the shortlist.
• Seymour Duncan SPB-3 Quarter Pounder: These are legends for a reason! If you're into heavier music, you've probably heard these on countless recordings. They're known for their HUGE, round sound and seriously high output. They're super mid-focused, which is actually a good thing in a band mix. It means the bass will sit right in the pocket and have that classic "rock bass" growl.
• Seymour Duncan SPB-2 Hot: The unsung heroes of the Seymour Duncan P-bass line. They don't get as much love as the Quarter Pounders, but when I heard the demos, something just clicked. They're still mid-focused, like the Quarter Pounders, but they've got a slightly bigger, rounder bottom end, and the output isn't quite as extreme. They're definitely not vintage sounding, but they still have some of that unmistakable P-bass character.

After going back and forth and listening to those demos again and again, I finally landed on the Seymour Duncan SPB-2 Hot. It just had that tone. That simple, hot P-bass sound I was chasing. A little extra output, a little fuller in the low-mids, and just the right amount of punch.

For the J pickup, I went with the Seymour Duncan SJB-2. This is designed to be the perfect partner for the SPB-2. It's also an overwound J pickup, so it's got that similar higher output and midrange focus, which should make balancing the two pickups a breeze.

Next, we’ll find out if these shiny new Seymour Duncans can work some magic on this old budget bass!

Installing the new pickups and first impressions

Pickup swaps are a great first DIY bass project. All you need is a soldering iron, some solder, and a screwdriver. There's something really cool about getting under the hood of your bass and tweaking things yourself.

The best part is Fat Bass Tone includes wiring diagrams that are crystal clear. Even if you're a soldering newbie, you can totally follow along. It's like paint-by-numbers but with wires and solder.

This time around, swapping out the old pickups and wiring in the new Duncans took me just a hair over 30 minutes.

Once the pickups were soldered in and the wires were tucked away neatly, it was time for the crucial step of setting the pickup height.

Pickup height can make a gigantic difference in how your bass sounds. Small adjustments can take you from muddy and weak to punchy and articulate, or vice versa. And every pickup is a little different since they all have their own sweet spot. So, it's always worth spending some time experimenting and finding what works best for your bass and your ears.

To get in the ballpark, I started with Seymour Duncan's recommended pickup heights, which are based on Fender's classic specs. For the P pickup, that's around 2mm on the treble side and 2.8mm on the bass side. We're measuring from the top of the pickup pole piece to the bottom of the string when you're holding it down at the last fret.

Then, because bass necks have a slight curve (aka the "radius"), I tweaked the middle screws on the P pickup to roughly match that curve. It's all about getting each string to have a nice, even output.

I did the same thing for the J pickup in the bridge position, setting it to Duncan's recommended 2.4mm and 3.2mm heights, using the same measuring method as the P pickup.

I grabbed my bass cable, tuned up a fresh set of D'Addario NYXL strings (because new pickups deserve new strings), plugged into my amp, and… WOW. The first thing that hit me? These Seymour Duncan pickups are hot! They have a seriously high output compared to those old Biscayne pickups.

But after noodling around for a bit, I quickly realized that the initial pickup height was a little too high for my taste. The strings were sounding a bit unbalanced, and the low end was getting a little too boomy. So, I grabbed my screwdriver and started lowering the pickups, bit by bit.

And here's a pro tip I learned: pickup height adjustments are super volume-dependent! What sounds perfectly balanced at bedroom levels might sound very unbalanced when you crank it up. So, I found myself going back and forth, playing at different volumes, making tiny adjustments, and really dialing in the balance between all four strings. Setting up the height on the J pickup was much quicker. I just had to make a few fine-tuning adjustments at volume to get the blend between the P and J pickups to sound exactly how I wanted.

It may take you a while, and it’ll probably be something you do over a couple of days, but experimenting with different pickup heights can really help you dial in your tone to exactly how you like it. Moreover, there are no right or wrong pickup heights, it’s all about what you like. And for my taste, I found that lowering the pickups about an extra milimeter compared to the starting point height gave me a tone I liked.

How do the new pickups sound?

Plugging in the Biscayne with the SPB-2 and SJB-2 combo was like night and day compared to those sad, original pickups. Suddenly, the bass had girth. It had focus. It had a low end that was tight and punchy, not muddy and undefined. And the high end? Smooth and slightly rolled off.

I spent a good chunk of time switching back and forth between my Biscayne plugged straight into my amp (with the EQ set flat, nice and neutral) and the SPB-2 pickup demo on Fat Bass Tone's page for the SPB-2. And I was genuinely blown away by how incredibly similar they sounded.

The Fat Bass Tone demo bass had maybe just a touch more low-end information and a slightly more defined upper-midrange "snap" to it. My Biscayne, had a bit more of that classic low-mid "heft" that you want from a P-bass.

Now, why the slight differences? Well, it's probably down to a bunch of little things. Pickup height, slight variations in pickup placement on the body of the bass. And of course, all the other components on the bass – the wood, the bridge, the strings – they all contribute to the final tone. Even though they're not identical twins, my Biscayne and the Fat Bass Tone demo bass are definitely close relatives now that they're both rocking these Seymour Duncan pickups.

And the SJB-2 J pickup in the bridge? It's got that same beefy, focused character as the SPB-2. Tight low end, less of that super bright high-mid "zing" that some J pickups have, and a really smooth, controlled high end. And on this Biscayne, maybe because of the slightly different J pickup placement compared to a Fender, that classic J-bass "bridge pickup honk" – that slightly nasal, mid-range character – is even more pronounced, in a good way.

One more thing I noticed right away: these pickups are naturally compressed. Probably because they're overwound, they have this inherent "squish" to them. It's not like a compressor pedal, but they just naturally even out the dynamics a bit and give you this thick, punchy, always-present tone.

I recorded some clips of the Biscayne with these new pickups in different pickup settings so you can hear them for yourself.

Taking the Biscayne to Band Rehearsal – The Real Test!

The real test for any bass is how it performs in a band mix. So, later that week, I took the upgraded Biscayne to band practice. My band plays classic late-60s rock. We've got drums, keys, vocals, and guitar in the mix, so it's a pretty full sonic landscape.

The Biscayne absolutely held its own! Remember how I said my first impression of the pickups was "focused" and slightly compressed? Well, those characteristics became even more apparent when I heard the bass in the context of the full band and at a higher volume.

It was like the bass had found its perfect spot in the mix. It sat right in there, locking in with the drums, providing that solid low-end foundation, but without stepping on the toes of the keys or the guitar. Because the frequency range of these pickups is a little narrower and more focused, the bass just seemed to slot in perfectly, making it super easy to hear without being overpowering.

In a band context, I'd describe the tone as punchy, focused, and articulate, with just the right amount of high-mids to cut. It has a totally different tonal vibe compared to my 5-string Jazz Bass Deluxe from the previous series.

What's Next? Time to Upgrade The Hardware!

We've definitely proven that this old Biscayne has some serious tonal potential. The Seymour Duncan pickups and the Fat Bass Tone passive harness have completely transformed the sound. But as good as it sounds now, we're not quite done yet.

The weak link in the chain right now? The hardware. Those old, cheap tuners are… well, they're old and cheap. They struggle to hold tune, especially when you start digging in. And that old bridge won’t allow us to intonate the bass properly.

In the next article, we're tackling those two crucial hardware components: tuners and bridge. We're going to give this 25-year-old budget bass the hardware it deserves and see if we can finally bring it up to full-on gigging standards! Will the old Biscayne become a stage-ready rock machine? Stay tuned to find out!