• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

How Come Old P Basses Sound So Good?

#41
I've been under the impression for the longest time now that, above all other factors, strings play the largest role in how ANY bass sounds. I've owned many 70's Fender Jazzes and Precisions, and my '11 P-Bass sounds the best of them all. It's also the first Precision I've ever put flats on, so there you go. When it still had the factory rounds on it, it sounded quite similar to all the others.
 
  • Like
Reactions: shirojiro
#42
-=DanAtkinson=- said:
Some basses have that magic tone, some don't. This is true of all basses of any era, any manufacturer.

And what is "magic" to you may not be magic to someone else.

I'm in the middle of trading with a customer to get back one of my own P basses. I listened to session work I'd done with it and realized it nailed my personal "magic" tone moreso than any P bass I currently own.
Click to expand...

This.
 
#44
johnk_10 said:
in my experience, pickups don't generally get 'grittier' or darker with age. when the magnets lose a bit of their flux and the coil's magnet wire oxidizes with age, they generally get weaker and brighter/thinner sounding, and many of them can become microphonic as well.
Click to expand...

Great info, John, you would know. Maybe pickups are like stars, they get better and better until they self-destruct.
 
#45
in the 80's-90's. original vintage 50's fender pickups were all the rage. in the 90-2000's the 60's ones were since many of the 50's ones started to go south (weak and microphonic). as they age, eventually the 60's pickups will lose their 'mojo' too, so i predict that the late 60's-early 70's will be the next 'great' pickups. and gibson's pickups don't seem to degrade as much as the fenders do. (i have some original PAF's in an old ES175 that are still going strong)

one thing that you have to realize is that on Jamerson's '62 p bass, for example, the recordings that we listen to his playing were made when his pickups were only a couple of years old (and the whole bass for that matter), so i actually prefer new pickups that are made to the exact same spec as the old ones were.
 
#47
Ric5 said:
hmmm ... I remember in the 70s people said the old 50s and 60s Fenders were better. Then in the 80s suddenly the old 70s stuff was now good. Now after 2000 the old 80s stuff is desireable.

No matter what era ... there always seems to be an attitude that the new stuff is crap and the old stuff is better. Even though when the old stuff was new it was considered crap back then.

I look at it that some basses are better than other because of the wood. No 2 basses sound identical. If you find a good bass then buy it, keep it, and play it.
Click to expand...
:cool:
I hear you.
To me 50's 60's and early 70's are old.
The 80's to me were some of the worst stuff ever made.
It is the age of both the wood, and pickups
Bottom line if you find a good one buy it..
 
#48
johnk_10 said:
so i actually prefer new pickups that are made to the exact same spec as the old ones were.
Click to expand...

So John, please enlighten us, what vintage specs should we be looking for in P pickups for that super punchy/burpy sound instead of the hollow mushy sound with pronounced highs? Is it a certain percentage of overwinding? A certain type of magnet? Degaussing? Are there any ready made P pickups from DiMarzio or other manufacturers that sound like this out of the box?

Also, this might be a dumb question, but is there is there such a thing called single coil P pickups versus regular P pickups?
 
#49
john nam said:
I just tried out an old 80's Vantage Avenger P Bass that was lying around my band leader's house and it sounded amazing; punchy, burpy, and thick, unlike any modern P bass I've tried, which have always sounded mushy, boomy, and lacking definition. So what makes these old P's sound so good? I've played new Js that sound great, but never a new P, at least so far. The bass I tried was exactly like the one in this link:

Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

Do you mean why do vintage Matsumoku basses sound so good? They were made well, with fine attention & solid parts.
I love love Matsumoku instruments. Also check out the Aria SG-looking bass. I bought one for my former girlfriend--that shtuff is tight. They made good Jazz rip-offs too.
 
#50
john nam said:
So John, please enlighten us, what vintage specs should we be looking for in P pickups for that super punchy/burpy sound instead of the hollow mushy sound with pronounced highs? Is it a certain percentage of overwinding? A certain type of magnet? Degaussing? Are there any ready made P pickups from DiMarzio or other manufacturers that sound like this out of the box?

Also, this might be a dumb question, but is there is there such a thing called single coil P pickups versus regular P pickups?
Click to expand...

Seymour duncan Sp-2s, fender original 60s reissues
 
#51
Ric5 said:
hmmm ... I remember in the 70s people said the old 50s and 60s Fenders were better. Then in the 80s suddenly the old 70s stuff was now good. Now after 2000 the old 80s stuff is desireable.

No matter what era ... there always seems to be an attitude that the new stuff is crap and the old stuff is better. Even though when the old stuff was new it was considered crap back then.

I look at it that some basses are better than other because of the wood. No 2 basses sound identical. If you find a good bass then buy it, keep it, and play it.
Click to expand...

I agree. I not only remember people considering those old Fenders crap, but I played them and I considered them crap! And I'm a logical kind of guy, so this fact also implies that they are STILL crap! So then why do people pay thousands to have one now?

Here is my theory: Fender as we all know makes basses that when they are good they can sound VERY good. Also Fender makes basses that are quite variable. Some are duds, some are keepers. And THAT is the "filter" if you will. Fender sells a big pile of basses and they go out into the world. As they get older and older the "crap" ones tend to disappear. They get raided for parts, teens perform hideous mutilations on them as is the style of the particular age, and they get sold. And because the price is low, they tend to get sold to places where their destruction is likely...teens "modding" their bass etc.. The good ones, well, obviously they are "keepers". They tend to get played and they tend to NEVER be sold. So the bottom line is that 30-40 years later these "keeper" basses are being sold by people retiring or their estate and they hit the market. Since they originally were "keepers" they are obviously quickly appreciated by musicians and their value soars.

Hence, according to my theory, "vintage" basses are better because all (well, most) of the crap ones of that type have been filtered out and destroyed by father time.
 
#55
meatwad said:
I've been under the impression for the longest time now that, above all other factors, strings play the largest role in how ANY bass sounds. I've owned many 70's Fender Jazzes and Precisions, and my '11 P-Bass sounds the best of them all. It's also the first Precision I've ever put flats on, so there you go. When it still had the factory rounds on it, it sounded quite similar to all the others.
Click to expand...

this

I once played 1965 P-bass on a B15 amp, but it had new roundwounds on it... the tone was horrible!

Right now, I have two late 2000s P-basses (CIJ and a Yamaha BB) and both are sounding better and better, as strings age (one has flats, one has rounds).

Sure, there are differences between pickups, and woods, but after you take the technique and the person playing the bass out of the equation (as well as heavy EQ and other effects), strings become the biggest factor in the sound.

I'm sure there are also exception, but IME this goes for most basses
 
#57
john nam said:
So John, please enlighten us, what vintage specs should we be looking for in P pickups for that super punchy/burpy sound instead of the hollow mushy sound with pronounced highs? Is it a certain percentage of overwinding? A certain type of magnet? Degaussing? Are there any ready made P pickups from DiMarzio or other manufacturers that sound like this out of the box?

Also, this might be a dumb question, but is there is there such a thing called single coil P pickups versus regular P pickups?
Click to expand...

Seymour Duncans SPB-1 nails the vintage P bass tone exactly. the older 90's fender AV RI '62 without the beveled magnets were also great. their new AVRI '62 is another great one, but it has a little more top end than the old ones.

and BTW nix on the duncan SPB-2 or his QP (SPB-3). IMO, they don't sound anything like the originals, nor do Lindy Fralin's or the Dimarzios.
 
#58
First off, that is not a "P-Bass" in the OP. Not even close!

Except for the "P" style DiMarzio pickup, perhaps.

The Matsumoku plant made some impressive instruments in its day. I have two Electra guitars from that era and love them!

Fact of the matter is back in the 1980s, the USA guitar manufacturers were just coming out of their "Dark Ages" (Norlin era Gibson, CBS era Fender respectively) and Japan was finally getting the respect they rightfully deserved.

But....

I believe comparing that Vantage "Uncle Matt" bass to a late manufacture Fender "P-Bass" (if that is what you are, in fact comparing) is highly subjective.

And what newer Fender P-Bass would you be comparing it to anyway? Squire Bullet? MIM Fender? Fender American Standard? Fender Custom Shop? That has got to be factored in as well! :D

One parting thought. Back in 1982 I had a cheap-ass Hondo "P-Bass" (with a crappy warped neck) that sounded pretty badass once I installed a similiar set of DiMarzios in it! :bassist:
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back