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Can you hear the difference?

Can you hear the difference in tone on this video?

  • Yes

    Votes: 35 60.3%
  • No

    Votes: 11 19.0%
  • Carrots

    Votes: 12 20.7%

  • Total voters
    58
Someone should make a J with a (slightly oversized cavity) movable bridge pu (from 60's to 70's position) so this would seise to be an issue. :)
Westone%2BR%2B1.jpg
 
Really , you guys can't hear that? I'm talking about video one with the Asian guy.The second guy is changing the pickups on the bass but the location is the same. There I cannot tell which is which. But on the first video I can tell after the first couple of notes. The 70s has a rounder warmer slap tone with more overtones, Marcus Alex Al John Pena Peter Muller. The other Sire has the 60s location and it sounds completely different to me.The slap tone 500/50 blend is kind of quacky to me more upper mids a bit harsh, not as pleasing on the slap sound. Finger style is a different story. I actually use a Moon JB-5 for recording more often than I use my 70s style basses. Seems to sit in the mix better. But on a real funk gig where I would slap, I would always prefer the 70s placement.
I suppose if you can't hear it then it doesn't matter for you, but to me the difference is huge.
 
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Really , you guys can't hear that? I'm talking about video one with the Asian guy.The second guy is changing the pickups on the bass but the location is the same. There I cannot tell which is which. But on the first video I can tell after the first couple of notes. The 70s has a rounder warmer slap tone with more overtones, Marcus Alex Al John Pena Peter Muller. The other Sire has the 60s location and it sounds completely different to me.The slap tone 500/50 blend is kind of quacky to me more upper mids a bit harsh, not as pleasing on the slap sound. Finger style is a different story. I actually use a Moon JB-5 for recording more often than I use my 70s style basses. Seems to sit in the mix better. But on a real funk gig where I would slap, I would always prefer the 70s placement.
I suppose if you can't hear it then it doesn't matter for you, but to me the difference is huge.

To me it is quite close, and I sort of had to train myself to hear it. My guess is that almost all of Jazz slapping experience is on basses with Sixties spacing. If I had ever owned a Seventies spaced Jazz, I would be more attuned to the difference.
 
I hear a difference. The 60s is a little thinner in the top end than the 70s. I had to flip back and forth from the beginning to about 2:00 to hear the first guy play both, since it's subtle and it seems there's a lot of BS in between. ;) At least he uses the same right hand position on both, because that would swamp the differences out.

It's pretty much the difference you hear between identical (as much as possible) 60s & 70s Fenders.

Are the strings, pickups, setups, EQ, and board EQ & gain the same for both basses? It's a rhetorical question, but that's a lot of possible variables. The 60s seemed to have a lot more fret buzz too.

If you move the pickup, you're guaranteed to change the tone, contrary to some of the dismissive replies so far. :rollno: It's just a matter of how much (or little). It's physics, and the ears to hear it. You need both. If you can't hear it, use either. They'll sound the same. ;)
 
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A friend of mine once insisted he could tell the difference between various brands of American beer. I challenged him to a blindfolded taste test with six glasses of major US brands. He carefully sampled each one, clearing his palate between tastes. His verdict was "this is Budweiser, this is Budlight, this is MGD" and so on.

They were all Budweiser.
 
Notice however that the second guy plays much closer to the bridge with the 70s version, emphasizing the nasal quality of the tone even more.

I've noticed this on a very large number of demo videos. The player's been striking the strings at or just behind the neck pickup for the 'both pickups' and 'neck pickup' sections, then for the bridge pickup demo, they move their hand and strike the strings back by the bridge.

Just makes me hang my head.
 
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