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Precision Bass Shootout - 1976 vs. 2009

Which is the 1976 Precision Bass

  • Track 1

    Votes: 70 36.1%

  • Track 2

    Votes: 124 63.9%
  • Total voters
    194
  • Poll closed .
#62
I had a '74 P and an '01 at the same time. I liked the '01 so much I got rid of the '74. To me the pickups were the big selling point for the '74 vs the '01 (and by "selling point" I mean that I could not stand the '74s crappy, underwound sound compared to the '01 ...so I sold it!)
 
#63
Energy said:
I won't dare to guess which one is the '76.
I like #2 better, because it sounds a little more full-bodied and less trebly.
Click to expand...

Lowbrow said:
Pretty much identical, which is what I love about P basses.

Anyway, #1 sounds a wee bit whiter and brighter in the high mids and I'll for that reason guess that one is the 2009.

Nice instrument, Mr. M, and thanks for not playing the bassline of 'Money.'
Click to expand...
I agree with both of these posts.
 
#69
I picked #1 as the 70s...

I can hear a difference in headphones...#1 is a little brighter to me...but not 'better'.
But brighter in a way like New Strings makes it brighter.

Add a drum track to both and the difference would not be audible.

My next thought was..."Boy, you can buy a Modern Precision and it will sound like a...Precision".

Great post. Kills alot of arguments in my own head!
 
#72
Oh screw it...I'm noticing a trend here, so I'll go ahead and spill the beans.

As of this writing, 42 chose #1, and 62 chose #2.

62 of you are correct. #2 is the 76.

However, I must confess something...the wear level on the strings, unfortunately, was not as equal as I thought they were last night. I had put new strings on the 09, and took them off 3 or 4 different times and stretched them out pretty well, and I thought that the amount they died was about equal to the amount that the strings on the 76 died. Both sets are pretty new, but the 76 had a little more play on it than the 09. Today, I find that there is a bigger difference than I thought last night after a big Mexican fajita dinner and sleepiness.

This MAY account for the differences between the 76 and the 09. If not, though, I don't know that I'd attribute all of it to wood or bridge or pickguard. Of course, there's no real way to tell that unless I use the same pickup on both, and that just plain isn't going to happen because of my (lack of) soldering skill. But I have a road trip this weekend and I plan to change strings on both and try again when I get back, and we'll see what happens.

In any event, I am extremely pleased with both of these basses, and the differences I heard were quite minor IMHO. And since my HO is the only one that counts at my house, the 09 will not have to suffer the indignity of 35 years of modding and new paint jobs that my 76 had before I stripped it. With strings that are even in wear, I predict they would sound identical. I'd do it now, but hey, strings do cost money. So the only mods it will get are the black pickguard and Straploks.

Thanks to those who participated, and boo to those who chickened out on the voting!
 
#74
JimmyM said:
Oh screw it...I'm noticing a trend here, so I'll go ahead and spill the beans.

As of this writing, 42 chose #1, and 62 chose #2.

62 of you are correct. #2 is the 76.

However, I must confess something...the wear level on the strings, unfortunately, was not as equal as I thought they were last night. I had put new strings on the 09, and took them off 3 or 4 different times and stretched them out pretty well, and I thought that the amount they died was about equal to the amount that the strings on the 76 died. Both sets are pretty new, but the 76 had a little more play on it than the 09. Today, I find that there is a bigger difference than I thought last night after a big Mexican fajita dinner and sleepiness.

This MAY account for the differences between the 76 and the 09. If not, though, I don't know that I'd attribute all of it to wood or bridge or pickguard. Of course, there's no real way to tell that unless I use the same pickup on both, and that just plain isn't going to happen because of my (lack of) soldering skill. But I have a road trip this weekend and I plan to change strings on both and try again when I get back, and we'll see what happens.

In any event, I am extremely pleased with both of these basses, and the differences I heard were quite minor IMHO. And since my HO is the only one that counts at my house, the 09 will not have to suffer the indignity of 35 years of modding and new paint jobs that my 76 had before I stripped it. With strings that are even in wear, I predict they would sound identical. I'd do it now, but hey, strings do cost money. So the only mods it will get are the black pickguard and Straploks.

Thanks to those who participated, and boo to those who chickened out on the voting!
Click to expand...

i thought the biggest difference in the clips was the depth of the lows. i didnt really even pay attention to the highs. i posted over in the coppolo thread that i think a lot of the tone i prefer in old fenders comes more from the necks than the fingerboard. they seem to have bigger lows. ive put modern necks on my 62 jazz and it immediately gets thinner sounding. ive got a 62 jazz and a 62 reissue jazz and the ri's biggest difference is in the low mids.

both the stock pickup in the 09 and the original 60's pickup in the 76 arent the fattest pickups on earth so i doubt the pickup was the difference. i put an original 60's pickup in my 64 p a while back while the original was getting repaired and the loss of low mids was pretty apparent.
 
#75
JimmyM said:
Oh screw it...I'm noticing a trend here, so I'll go ahead and spill the beans.

As of this writing, 42 chose #1, and 62 chose #2.

62 of you are correct. #2 is the 76.

However, I must confess something...the wear level on the strings, unfortunately, was not as equal as I thought they were last night. I had put new strings on the 09, and took them off 3 or 4 different times and stretched them out pretty well, and I thought that the amount they died was about equal to the amount that the strings on the 76 died. Both sets are pretty new, but the 76 had a little more play on it than the 09. Today, I find that there is a bigger difference than I thought last night after a big Mexican fajita dinner and sleepiness.

This MAY account for the differences between the 76 and the 09. If not, though, I don't know that I'd attribute all of it to wood or bridge or pickguard. Of course, there's no real way to tell that unless I use the same pickup on both, and that just plain isn't going to happen because of my (lack of) soldering skill. But I have a road trip this weekend and I plan to change strings on both and try again when I get back, and we'll see what happens.

In any event, I am extremely pleased with both of these basses, and the differences I heard were quite minor IMHO. And since my HO is the only one that counts at my house, the 09 will not have to suffer the indignity of 35 years of modding and new paint jobs that my 76 had before I stripped it. With strings that are even in wear, I predict they would sound identical. I'd do it now, but hey, strings do cost money. So the only mods it will get are the black pickguard and Straploks.

Thanks to those who participated, and boo to those who chickened out on the voting!
Click to expand...

They both sounded great to me. I did actually slightly prefer the second clip, and guessed it was the newer bass. However, it was pretty much a pure guess, since they were so close.

+1 That with strings identical, the new one should be right with the older one. Very nice! Enjoy!
 
#76
narud said:
both the stock pickup in the 09 and the original 60's pickup in the 76 arent the fattest pickups on earth so i doubt the pickup was the difference. i put an original 60's pickup in my 64 p a while back while the original was getting repaired and the loss of low mids was pretty apparent.
Click to expand...
Would like to hear a comparison when you get your original pickup back. Never got to compare the pickups to a pre-CBS directly, but I like what I'm hearing so that's all that's important to me. Still, I would love to hear a comparison.
 
#78
JimmyM said:
Would like to hear a comparison when you get your original pickup back. Never got to compare the pickups to a pre-CBS directly, but I like what I'm hearing so that's all that's important to me. Still, I would love to hear a comparison.
Click to expand...

this was years ago. ive got the original pickup back. solder needed to be reflowed at the eyelet and i didnt have the balls to do it myself so i had mj at duncan do it.

the pickup in that bass is a little on the hotter side at 12k. the fender original is around 10.5k. the thing about the old fender pickups is that they have some of the midrange grind you hear in the boutique pickups that are wound a little hotter, but still have and air and glassyness riding on top that todays pickups with more wire dont have. my own thoughts is that its something in the magnet material. that quality lasted up until they stopped using the gray bobbins and the magnet polarity was reversed in around 83.

heres the 64 p.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
#79
Hot-ass playing, Joe! I kind of see what you mean. Still, I can't complain, and I use Ampegs with no tweeters so that gorgeous high end is lost on me ;)

And thanks Ken...not quite the comfort level of your badass Alleva Coppolos, I'm sure, but good enough to play "Shout" ;)
 
#80
Matthijs said:
If both volume pots are standard 250k it has the same tonal caracter as a p-bass with a 125k pot or maybe as a P with the volume at 80%. It would be darker compared to a "normal" p and my speculations on tone wood would be totally useless.
Click to expand...

why would that be the case, if there is still only a volume and a tone put between the pbass pickup and the output? the seccont VT control set should be running from the J pickup straight to the out so there is actually no difference in wiring if you have the J pickups volume on zero. path of least resistance and all that jazz
 

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