How Come Old P Basses Sound So Good?

[jarrydee]

Maybe the people throw out the bad ones, keep the good ones, and thus years later down the road it's only good ones that remain.

It is just like recording gear, engineers were so excited to be able to get clear sounds with digital when it came out, now digital is crap and analog is the only way to go, now they are adding tape hiss and distortion to clean mixes.....it will never end!

 

[Sleeq]

Placebo mojo effect?

 

[mikeswals]

so i actually prefer new pickups that are made to the exact same spec as the old ones were.

John, I'd like to know your take on Lollars' pickups.
He's local (to me), and talking with him at the vintage shows, he talk about the finding the best old ones and trying to replicate them.
I put his single coil in my custom shop 55, and it balanced it out prefectly to me. Then when I got to A/B it with a real '56, I was suprised how accurate it is. The Antiquity I tried missed it by a mile.

 

[johnk_10]

i've only tried one of the Lollar p bass pickups ( a split P) and it was very good. the anitquity I's and II's were okay, but didn't really do it for me either. all of Duncan's SCPB-1's (single coils) that i've tried (6 of them) sounded just like my original 55 P's pickup. the antiquitys, not so much so.

i've tried ALOT of split P's, and nothing has beat duncan's SPB-1 yet for a vintage split P, and i really doubt that anything ever will, since he got it absolutely right the first time and it needs no improvement.

IMO, it's too bad that fender changed their early '62 AVRI with the non beveled magnets, since it was on par with the duncan.

 

[akmusicfreak]

It sounds good because it has a fairly high-mass looking bridge on it and those look like dimarzio pickups.

+1.......I've had several fender MIM jazz and P's in the last 10 years and always end up changing out the pickups to DiMarzio as well as putting a better high mass 4 saddle bridge on them.

 

[sailri]

Wow...when did the 80's become old? I guess I've been sleeping under a tree.

A twenty five year old TB member could have been born in '87... so the 80's became old....

about three years ago.

 

[Captain Camote]

Everything was better in the 80s, not just gear - music, fashion, TV... ah, the good old days. You had to be there.

+1

 

[FrednBass]

Wow...when did the 80's become old? I guess I've been sleeping under a tree.

i guess that an instrument with 30 years of existence IS old.
You know, a bass-year is equal to 3 human-years lol

 

[balton4]

(Best read in a hushed voice)

Here we see a herd of Fender P-basses. They're on alert because a 7 string guitar was spotted in the area. Yes they're definitely spooked. P-basses are always cautious when predators encroach on their frequency range.

They've spotted the 7 string. It looks like an Ibanez! They're very fast. The herd is already edging away...no they're fleeing the area now! The Ibanez is giving chase. Already, one P-bass has fallen behind. I can see now that it has been injured already, the D string is missing, and its neck is bowed. Yes it's inevitable now, the Ibanez is rapidly closing in, going for the kill.

:::Scare chord:::

Well that was a grisly scene. But life is brutally hard out here in the plains of low frequencies.

You made my day! Made me laugh so hard

 

[bassbenj]

I think its the 3 strings that do it.

<snort>!

Hey, Jaco only needed three strings...

 

[jsbarber]

John,

Have you tried the new Aguilar P pickup?
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
I have heard it's good.

Jim

i've only tried one of the Lollar p bass pickups ( a split P) and it was very good. the anitquity I's and II's were okay, but didn't really do it for me either. all of Duncan's SCPB-1's (single coils) that i've tried (6 of them) sounded just like my original 55 P's pickup. the antiquitys, not so much so.

i've tried ALOT of split P's, and nothing has beat duncan's SPB-1 yet for a vintage split P, and i really doubt that anything ever will, since he got it absolutely right the first time and it needs no improvement.

IMO, it's too bad that fender changed their early '62 AVRI with the non beveled magnets, since it was on par with the duncan.

 

[Dark Horse]

i've tried ALOT of split P's, and nothing has beat duncan's SPB-1 yet for a vintage split P, and i really doubt that anything ever will, since he got it absolutely right the first time and it needs no improvement.

Those are my personal favorites as well. It's a nice "bonus" that they're inexpensive. They definitely sound very close to my old 64 P Basses pups.

 

[shewhorn]

Wow...when did the 80's become old? I guess I've been sleeping under a tree.

I kid you not... I've heard Bon Jovi on an oldies station... and not just one, multiple oldies stations. I think to myself "Bon Jovi can't possibly be oldies music... Slippery When Wet was only released when I was in the 6th grade"......... (after a few moments I have an opportunity to digest reality and then...)

D'OH yeah, that was 26 years ago.

Cheers, Joe

 

[FunkyMcNasty]

Placebo mojo effect?

I don't think so. Most of them do have a special sound compared to the new ones. IMO.

 

[matti777]

i've only tried one of the Lollar p bass pickups ( a split P) and it was very good. the anitquity I's and II's were okay, but didn't really do it for me either. all of Duncan's SCPB-1's (single coils) that i've tried (6 of them) sounded just like my original 55 P's pickup. the antiquitys, not so much so. ...

I wonder what pup goes into the '57 AVRI. It sounds pretty good to me.

 

[kraigo]

If it's boomy and mushy it could be the pickup height or the strings. My 1985 or 1986 Tokai with an Antiquities II pickup sounds fantastic, at least to me. I've played some fantastic P-Basses that were new in the shop too, though.

KO

 

[brianrost]

What's with this thread? The OP asks why "old P basses" sound better and his example is a MIJ Vantage Avenger?

 

[kraigo]

Part of it is just TLC. You own the bass and tweak the bass over time and sooner or later you get it dialed in.

KO

 

[kraigo]

+1000

The SPB-1 is my hands down favorite for vintage P mojo. Don't fall for the price tag hype of the Fralins, Lollars, etc. Those are great pickups, sure, but if you're seeking accurate 60's P tone the SPB-1 is the way to go. It's a very underrated pickup.

I had one in one of my basses and compared it to the Antiquities II in my Tokai. I could hear a slight difference, but that could have been any number of other factors. I doubt that in a double blind test I'd be able to say "that's the Antiquities II and that's the SPB-1." And it didn't really matter because both sounded good to my ear.

Nice pickup and about half the price of the Antiquities II, IIRC.

KO

Added: Having tried both, if I needed to replace the pickup in my P-Bass I would have no reservations going to the SPB-1.

 

[sickest beast]

Good post.

Yes, I'm sure about this....

Like the Theory of Natural Selection...and the Survival of the Fittest.

The bad ones are weeded out by excessive modding, abuse, disregard, lost parts, disrepair, natural defects, etc....

The ones that are left were good enough to keep and care for. The ones that compared favorably to years of newer basses being produced. They got played alot or were preserved well (either was a positive). Their growing value ensured someone would always maintain them very well.

And once the term "vintage" is applied to a particular guitar, it earns a permanent status which sets it apart from newer ones, adding to it's chances of remaining/or landing in the hands of someone who appreciates it and protects it's monetary worth.

Therefore, as years, decades go by,...the once reviled 70's Fenders will have been distilled to generally the very best specimens. And their reputation gradually rises.