Anyone own a Precision Bass Special 1980's? Active P Bass

I had one. The Precision Special is 1-5/8 width. the Elite has the 1-3/4 width. Yes they're hefty at around 10.5 lbs.
I actually preferred it in passive mode, I found their active a little crude and not as smooth as a StingRay.

 

I have one in LPB. According to the ads from the bass was available , the body and neck shape are supposed to have been taken from the original 1957-1958 shapes. The neck is thick (much thicker than what my late 50’s was). The body is heavy , although my bass in particular is a leftover body from the run of “all walnut precision specials” (you can see the walnut Burst where the LPB finish has rubbed off). I suspect there might be more of these basses with a walnut body under the solid finish as many people complaint about t the weight.

To me , the passive mode sounds very dark, so I prefer to use the active preamp.

A bassist friend of mine described it as sounding like a musicman, but the same friend described my passive stingray as sounding like a precision. I guess they all sound like basses!

I believe that bass has been with me for at least 12 years, and I don’t recall ever seeing another one for sale locally, they’re not exactly easy to find.

 

I'd love to see the walnut burst.

 

There’s someone here in TB that collects or collected them, I’m trying to look him up (my5yates?)

 

I've owned both the "regular" Special and the Walnut one, both purchased new - '81 and '83 respectively - so my recollection may be quite flawed but here's what I remember...

The "regular" one (CAR/maple) was head and shoulders above the "standard" S9 P that it had replaced in the respect of the build quality. I wasn't crazy about the electronics - a bit harsh sounding I'd say - but it was different enough from the rest of my basses at the time for me to keep it in stock condition for as long as I've owned it.

The Walnut...well, let's say that if I had to pick one Fender P-bass to play for the rest of my days out of all the ones that I had owned over the past 40+ years, that would be it. The electronics would have to be swapped, but everything else is as good as it gets on a post-CBS bass IMO. While I don't play FSOs anymore, that one I have very fond memories of.

I've never owned an Elite II but have played a couple of them - non Walnut version - and recollect being less than impressed with the added pickup...obviously YMMV.

My - possibly corrupted - memory only at work here...

 

I normally hate gold hardware, but I would so rock that.

 

I owned a '83 Walnut Elite II in the 90s....Great bass with slim neck profile but it was just a tad too wide (which is why I sold it). Loved all the tonal options especially for slap style

 

I don't see why Fender or other makers didn't make more double-P basses. The P in the bridge makes so much sense.

 

RE: Sounds like a bass

We spend a lot time effort and expense to come up the absolute best most pleasing sound (to us anyway) out of our rig. For everybody else, it sound “like a bass” LOL!!!!

 

One thing, the walnut finish ones are significantly more expensive.

 

I attended a house party many years ago where they had a blues jam. There was a guy who brought his walnut Precision Bass special and was kind enough to let me play it for a few songs. Though a bit on the heavy side, that bad boy was totally the bomb. I played it in active mode and it sounded really good to my ear. There was one for sale here on TalkBass a while back ...

SOLD - 1982 Fender Walnut Precision Bass Special - ANOTHER PRICE DROP - Includes ConUS shipping

 

Here's a 1982 Special Walnut

 

I never knew chip Todd worked for Fender ! (Read till the end ). Also , the ad says 1961 B neck.

 

This one has been available on the GC web for a bit. Looks to be in outstanding condition for an '82:

Fender 1982 Precision Special Electric Bass Guitar

 

I own an Elite Precision II, the double P version. Great sounding instrument (IMHO), but not particularly P-like. The bridge pickup gives you sort of a burpy Jaco thing, except bright. The controls are odd and confusing.



The tone control only effects the treble.



I'll attach the entire manual.

My impression is the intent was to give you that bright zingy sound...before tweeters become practically ubiquitous. It's very bright if you crank the treble, but it's not particularly clanky. I like assigning the tone control to one pickup. Then I boost the treble and fade the pickup down a bit. This allows you to make subtle adjustments to how fast the instrument speaks.

A store I used to visit in the early 80s had some Super Precisions. From what I remember, I thought these sounded a bit more focused and HiFi than a regular P-bass. (IMHO better but YMMV). I don't think they had as much of the characteristic mid-range honk as a regular P, so they were a bit bigger and smoother sounding. My guess is they were meant to be more like a Music Man Stringray from the same period. Controls were straight forward and intuitive, Volume, Bass, Treble. Aside from being heavy, my understanding is the finish on this series typically did not hold up very well.

I have never been overly concerned about weight. As a long as the instrument balances on the strap, I am usually good with it.

 

I had one, when they first came out, didn't really care for it much, mostly the active electronics. Had the worst paint job I've ever had on a bass, namely it seemed to flake off with normal wear and tear. I don't recall it being that heavy.

 

Got two 1983 Westone Thunder 1-A's. Close enough? Fender thought it was, they sued over those early Westones.