Roscoe Beck 5 VS. Fender Amer. Dlx. Prec. 5 ??

Oooh I love that bass, and it's in my favorite color combo. I'd say keep it... the roscoe becks never appealed to me much.

 

The RB5 bass sounds like no other Fender! it also nails the 64 jazz bass!!! The Bill Lawrence pups are THE BOMB! It is a passive bass so you will not have that high end zing you get from active basses but will more than hold it's own and excel against any other Fender 5 string. Also the RB5 bass has coil splitting switches which allow soo many different sounds, all usable imho. The RB5 will also be able to get very close to a passive p-bass but a ADP5 will NEVER sound like a RB5!

 

Do you like the P? If so, I'd say just keep it. If you're cool with active electronics and a P pu rather than the J humbucker in the middle position, there's really nothing to gain with the RB. It's a great bass, but then so is the Dlx P. Decide with your ears and hands, not your GAS gland. Letting that thing decide for you always ends up disappointing :scowl:

 

I have 2 RBVs (my fave Fender by faaaar) and have owned Am Dlx 5ers in the past. They are completely different animals, not only tonally, but also in terms of string spacing (19mm @ bridge for the RB and closer for the Am Dlx) and fretboard radius (flatter on the RBV) but also neck profile (asymmetric on the RBV-a joy to play IME). Add the fact that the RBV is passive and you've got an apple and an orange. It's all in the taste. Don't make a switch until you play it, unless you know that the objective differences above are your preference.

 

Never played an American Deluxe Precision, but I'm gonna stick my neck out here and say that the RBV will nail its tone. I have one, and the amount of different tones you can wring from that bass are unbelievable. I can switch from a pretty respectable P-like tone, to a Musicman-esque tone, to a vintage Jazz all in seconds.

Get the RBV, and you absolutely will not need another bass.

 

I have owned both and sold both. The necks are similar but not exactly the same, the RB has a glossy sticky finish which I particularly disliked. I took some fine steel wool and ruff mine up a bit which gave it a satin feel. The electronics are totally different. The RB is passive with 2 coil tapped double coil pups. Each pup can be switched to either series, parallel, or single coil via 2 3way mini toggle switches. There is no blend pot so the pups are pretty much either on or off through the use of a 3 way toggle. You can dim the neck pup by pulling out the tone pot which cuts it down about 1/2. You can get several distinct tone variation using all these controls. I know that this will sound like blasphemy but, I think the RB would be even better with an onboard 3 band pre-amp and blend pot. The RB has light weight tuners. The RB has a pretty fancy high tech bridge while the P-bass has a traditional one. You already know about the P-bass so I won't go into it. The 2 basses just sound and play totally different. If your getting your sound with the p-bass you'll have to do a lot of experimenting with the RB to get back into that groove cause it just operates totally differently. I liked the sound of both of them especially the RB, with the neck set to parallel and the bridge set to series the sound is huge with one of the best B strings I've played. If you are comfortable with the p-bass neck than you should have no problem adjusting to the RB. Have you played the RB?

Hope this helps.

 

+1 If you want super flexible passive tone the RBs are hard to beat, they lack the cut and boost of an active bass, but sound more organic IMO. You can still get a great slap tone using the mini switches, but without the often hard active edge. Once I got mine I off loaded 3 active basses.

At the end of the day it depends on whether you're getting what you want from your Fender Deluxe or not.

 

I would suggest that all bass players with passive basses get an outboard pre-amp like the aguilar 924 or the Sadowsky. that's what I and lots of other bassist use to level the playing field between passive and active basses. You want more boost or cut just plug in the out board and walla!

 

I know nothing of the RB, so my opinion is very biased. I love my Am Dlx P to no end. It sounds and feels like the perfect bass, to me. So much so, I actually traded a Ric for mine, and caught some flak for it on these forums.("you did what??!!") Anyway, point is, be sure about the swap before you go too far, shiny new things make us do things we later regret.

 

I'd say it's time to put an add in the classified.

 

I'm in the Munjibunga School of "Positive: it sounds like a good Precision. Negative: it sounds like a good Precision but I do realize it's a very good bass to have in a working bassist's collection Whenever I get the time and the money to add an American Deluxe P-esque to my collection I'll have Mike Lull build me a nice version with a P5 and Dual Coils to come close.

 

I've got both and have kept both. I think Fender Roscoe Becks are amongst the best basses Fender makes from a tone standpoint. I'm old school and tend to prefer passive basses for their warmth. The RB IV is currently out of production but I've heard rumor that it will return in an updated version. I was playing my RB IV just the other day through my G-B NeoX 212T & Shuttle 6.0. The B-string was articulate and full of power & punch. I just can't imagine anything much better. If you don't have a RB, you should add one to your bag of tricks.

 

+1, Before I got the Valenti P/J5 my RBV was my main bass for getting the P-vibe. I also used it with a Sadowsky pre when I wanted a little more modern J-tone. Very flexible bass!