[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1431347036' post='2770193']
Tru dat - when I bought my 76 new I was sneered at and told the only 'proper' Fenders were pre-CBS. And to be fair, my bass sounded fairly average. But nearly 40 years later it sounds utterly fantastic... is this because it took that long to 'mature', or is it because I'm now an experienced enough player to coax a sweet tone out of it, or a bit of both? Or neither? Is it in fact merely wishful thinking?
[/quote]
Hearing loss
As someone with a bad back I would always go with the lighter bass and maybe try swapping pickups or even just strings. Stainless steels on a P can sound pretty aggressive.