Big difference in P basses?

[58kites]

Tone caps don't make a bass brighter as they're essentially out of the circuit when wide open,
they'll only make them deeper when closed with a bigger cap.

It's funny how many people don't believe that, they think that if you have a different cap value, the tone changes when the knob is fully open.
And there is no convincing them, they hear something that I do not.

 

[Paul New]

I think 70s P pickups tend to be wound a little hotter than 60s P pickups, although both can vary quite a lot.

 

[devnulljp]

I own and have owned lots of P-basses and they can indeed sound very different from each other. Resonance of the wood, pickups, strings, etc all matter.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

There are many factors that influence tone.
However, I have found that as Fender approached and operated in the 70s, the pickups got brighter. Not just with P basses, but across the board. Perhaps it was the change in winding wire from Formvar to enamel? Lower winds to save a few cents per pickup..?

This one

 

[andare]

I remember a P bass comparison video by a Russian store called Guitar Bank where a mocha brown 70s P bass was still brighter than the rest even with the tone down. The comments attributed that to the maple fretboard but I think the pickups were brighter to begin with and the capacitor was busted.

Maybe 70s P basses are naturally bright?

 

[Ricky Rioli]

This is the answer. I own, and have owned, several P basses. They all have their own "personalities".

Here's Steve Harris in a 1992 interview:

"On this new album I used about five different Precisions that I've got, for different songs, because they've all got different qualities to them. Some are a bit more middle-y, some more bottom-y. They do vary."

They all had the same SD pickups, and the same RS77 strings.

 

[Geogio]

A2 magnets sound better to me. Fender used alot of A5 over the years. Asian budget basses use A5 almost exclusively. Higher output pickups hide tone variances and subtleties to a degree.

 

[Acoop]

The 70 is more open, clearer highs and lows, which would make more sense because it's been around longer. ... I find this a problem with CS basses compared to my older Fenders. ... The more you play an instrument the better it sounds.

 

[chris_b]

. . . . I was recording a bass ('16 American Special Precision, rosewood fingerboard, D'addario ECB81s) direct the other day and picked up my 1970 Precision (rosewood fingerboard, D'addario ECB81s) and tonal difference was remarkable.

All basses have differences. It depends how different and does it bother you.

I played several Laklands and didn't like them as much as my 55-94. A friend has a similar Mike Lull PJ5 to mine and I don't like the feel of it at all.

I've tried several Sadowsky's and they all sounded and felt very different to each other.

 

[_Obra_]

Yes, I’m sure different pickups. But as both are stock Fender pups I wouldn’t expect to hear that big of a difference.

This video of mine is a bit long, but You can hear the differences in 6 P basses.

 

[Yahboy]

70p has chorus effect on two lower string. Maybe string twisted or pickups too close to string.

The string on 16P sound more a like settled in tone than 70P .

If I own OP both bass, I will keep the 16P with ECB flat, and EB Cobalt flat on the 70P.

 

[logdrum]

Time to string my 1972 with new rounds I think. My 80s MIJ is darker sounding.

 

[Dbassmon]

Flats on the American Special? It sound great soloed. I am sure it is great in a mix.

I think the 70's bass might have some issues. The 70s bass has a some wolf tones going on, the fundamental of the notes are not strong and there are odd overtones, not pleasing. I think you might investigate if its a bad set of strings, pickup height or you a bad piece of lumber that will not resonate correctly. BTW, you can't fix the later.

 

[Ostie]

Fender pickups change.
For some reason, they decide to not keep their pickups the same, and it ends up always being a moving target when you buy Fender basses (and others too).
One of the reasons why so many aftermarket pickup mfg companies cropped up and are successful.
In Fender's earlier days, I understand that pickups had a lot of variation from day to day, but these days they could be much more consistent if Fender wanted/tried to.

I was talking to a guy at Gibson some years ago. He was one of the guys who later formed Heritage. Anyway, he said there was more variation in the old pickups that were hand-wound, before automated winders. The hand-winders were mostly women back in the day. Same thing with CNC routing. Before that there was more variation and less accuracy.

 

[Doug P]

I read that John Entwistle would go on holiday and into the week or….. he would need a bass to play. So he would go and hunt for one & buy one. Said he had so many because they were all so different sounding, some “good & some not so good”

 

[mrjim123]

Compare the distances between the strings and pickups.

 

[Mike Marshall]

There are many factors that influence tone.
However, I have found that as Fender approached and operated in the 70s, the pickups got brighter. Not just with P basses, but across the board. Perhaps it was the change in winding wire from Formvar to enamel? Lower winds to save a few cents per pickup..?

A lot of us in the late 60's and early 70's went to a P for a brighter tone as apposed to an EBO. I wonder if Fender had that in mind and altered the pickup winding process?

 

[The Massive]

Great thread. I noticed this too the last time I was in the studio. The engineer had a 69 P on the wall and I loved the tone so much I sought out a similar bass and bought one.

I really love the sound of the late 60's/early 70's P basses. They have this really nice "chewy" midrange and sound so alive and organic. I find at band volumes they really cut through the mix in a great way while still sounding like something made from wood...if that makes any sense. Something about those pickups just do it for me.

 

[Pocket Dave]

A lot of us in the late 60's and early 70's went to a P for a brighter tone as apposed to an EBO. I wonder if Fender had that in mind and altered the pickup winding process?

I didn't start playing bass until the later 70's, though took a similar path. There were still a lot of EBO's around then, even after they were discontinued (the EB3 wasn't much brighter with its mini-hum bridge). I was playing guitar in a band when the bass player quit; I bought the other guitarist's EB0 and switched over. I think I paid him $65.

My first P-bass in the early 80's was night-and-day more articulate. It had every bit as much low end, maybe more, than the EB0, only its thump was also more detailed. It was a real revelation.

 

[Mastermold]

I'm not of the opinion that "a P is a P is a P". Every bass is going to sound different to some degree, and that doesn't necessarily have have anything to do with different pickups, though it can.

Yeah, the 70's bass is brighter, but it has a lot more "life" and "resonance" than the '16. That's not an issue of pickups, but the wood itself. Maybe it's attributable to the age, or it's just the specific pieces that were used in each bass, but it's not at all surprising to me that they'd sound significantly different. The necks will contribute the most difference to the sound.

How do they sound acoustically, without amplification? In my experience, you should be able to hear and feel a difference in how each bass resonates without any amplification.

My guitar player friend has several Strats and his 79 sounds much brighter and livelier than any of the new ones. Don't know why, could be the ash body, the pickups, the age, or the mystic mojo.