Fender Precision American Vintage 57 Reissue Reviews 5

I've been playing for 30 years now, sometimes more sometimes less, and currently playing in a band mixing improbable genres psychedelic/funk/newwave/dub/punk/country.

Received it as a gift, so I dunno how much it costed.

Many things to like about this bass guitar: first, the testosterone-laden p-bass tone. The low weight, the fast & comfortable neck, the looks, the feel. The sound has 2 characters: very bright with the tone pot fully open, and amazingly deep-reaching bass frequencies with the tone pot all closed: so there's a very usable range of tones in-between.

The fact it comes with roundwounds as a standard is just a matter of fashion: this bass plays best with flatwounds, this baby's not made for roundwounds. It's like replacing the V8 by a modern 2 litre 4 cyl turbo engine on a 57 corvette: a pure sin !

This bass is a combination of bright sound friendly features: maple neck & fingerboard, ash body, aluminuium scratch plate and the pickup that seems to be (I read this somewhere) meda from alnico 5 strong magnets with relatively low numbers of coils, which enhances a broad frequency range, treble extension and detail in tone. The drawback is that it lacks some low mids grunt and perhaps also some output, but in compensation it has deeper bass, airier treble and nice granulous midrange, plus it sounds terrific when slapped. And when you roll down the tone, thene be ready for some dub mayhem: now wonder I saw Jah Wobble playing one of these beauties !

Depending what you're after: if it's a Jamerson type of tone you want, then I guess you should rahter go for the 62 vintage that is more of a meat & potatoes type of sound with that unmistaken p-bass low mid ooomph. But if it's predator-like growl you want, with sparkle in the treble and more of a deep bass tsunami rather than a low mids punch, then the 57 is the one to have. In my humble opinion :o)

zak snaporaz rated this unit 5 on 2007-09-24.

I've been playing for 30 years now, sometimes more sometimes less, and currently playing in a band mixing improbable genres psychedelic/funk/newwave/dub/punk/country.

Received it as a gift, so I dunno how much it costed.

Many things to like about this bass guitar: first, the testosterone-laden p-bass tone. The low weight, the fast & comfortable neck, the looks, the feel. The sound has 2 characters: very bright with the tone pot fully open, and amazingly deep-reaching bass frequencies with the tone pot all closed: so there's a very usable range of tones in-between.

The fact it comes with roundwounds as a standard is just a matter of fashion: this bass plays best with flatwounds, this baby's not made for roundwounds. It's like replacing the V8 by a modern 2 litre 4 cyl turbo engine on a 57 corvette: a pure sin !

This bass is a combination of bright sound friendly features: maple neck & fingerboard, ash body, aluminuium scratch plate and the pickup that seems to be (I read this somewhere) meda from alnico 5 strong magnets with relatively low numbers of coils, which enhances a broad frequency range, treble extension and detail in tone. The drawback is that it lacks some low mids grunt and perhaps also some output, but in compensation it has deeper bass, airier treble and nice granulous midrange, plus it sounds terrific when slapped. And when you roll down the tone, thene be ready for some dub mayhem: now wonder I saw Jah Wobble playing one of these beauties !

Depending what you're after: if it's a Jamerson type of tone you want, then I guess you should rahter go for the 62 vintage that is more of a meat & potatoes type of sound with that unmistaken p-bass low mid ooomph. But if it's predator-like growl you want, with sparkle in the treble and more of a deep bass tsunami rather than a low mids punch, then the 57 is the one to have. In my humble opinion :o)

zak snaporaz rated this unit 5 on 2007-09-24.

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