A little game - Can you tell which Jazz bass is which?

[HeadlessBassist]

Sweltering afternoon, SSG's!

 

I've just got @Silky999's Nitro Jazz Bass back from my Tech, who's very kindly replaced the Wilkinson pickups with a set of Fender Pure Vintage 66s (from the current American Vintage II), as well as an upgrade to the tone capacitor from 0.022uF to a more standard genuine Fender 0.050uF.

 

So here's the challenge - I've made two recordings on the same iPhone, playing the same piece with two Jazz basses (hopefully with some consistency!) Both into the same rig, with the same string set (Elixir 40-95).

 

The contenders are;

 

Fender Road Worn Flea '61 Jazz Bass (with standard OEM Fender Pure Vintage 64 pickups.)

Our very own @Silky999's "Mr.Grey's" Daphne Blue Nitro Jazz Bass (with Fender Pure Vintage 66 pickups.)

 

Can you tell which is which..?

 

Jazz Bass 1

 

 

Jazz Bass 2

 

 

 

[Reggaebass]

Love these games , I’ll say jb2 is the flea with both pickups on full 

[HeadlessBassist]

It's a tough one, isn't it? They really do sound very similar, even though one was built by FMIC and the other was constructed from imported bits in a bloke's living room & painted in his garden.  

[Mrbigstuff]

Couldn’t tell you which is which but I preferred 1

[Lozz196]

Difficult but I’ll go 2 for Flea

[Silky999]

I think my build is JB1 only because it is more “zingy” and I seem to remember headless wanted to change some stuff to make mine more. towards the higher frequencies but then I am absolutely clutching at straws between the two. I hope so because I prefer the sound of the first one as I prefer the less muddy sound. 
 

Either way for a change of capacitor and some different pickups on the price of the original bass it is a fraction of the cost of the Fender

Edited 3 hours ago by Silky999

[HeadlessBassist]

You're absolutely right, @Silky999... I think the difference you can hear is the maple/rosewood fingerboards. 

 

Bass 1 is your build.

 

Bass 2 is the Flea Signature.

Edited 26 minutes ago by HeadlessBassist