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 6 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 3 hours ago by HeadlessBassist

[Stub Mandrel]

4 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

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

 

 

 

 

Is no. 2 the Flea?

 

It sounds darker.

[Stub Mandrel]

Ooh! I got it right 😲

 

Just as well as a Flea Bass owner, I prefer the less 'lively' sound for my purposes.

 

[Mrbigstuff]

1 hour ago, HeadlessBassist said:

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.

Out of interest which is lighter?

[HeadlessBassist]

12 minutes ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Out of interest which is lighter?

 

You've got me wondering now... I'd say "Mr.Grey's" is marginally heavier, but there's not a lot in it. It has an Okoume body as opposed to the Flea's Alder. Apart from that, the only real difference is the roasted maple neck vs the slab rosewood neck.

 

Given a moment tomorrow, I might record the same passage on the 2019 American Original and see how that comes out in comparison.

Edited 2 hours ago by HeadlessBassist

[Mrbigstuff]

26 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

You've got me wondering now... I'd say "Mr.Grey's" is marginally heavier, but there's not a lot in it. It has an Okoume body as opposed to the Flea's Alder. Apart from that, the only real difference is the roasted maple neck vs the slab rosewood neck.

Interesting. I thought jazz bass 1 sounded more open, like there were more frequencies in its range. I would wonder if the body woods had an impact but that would alert the tonewood police and I don’t want to go to BC jail in this heat.

[HeadlessBassist]

1 minute ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Interesting. I thought jazz bass 1 sounded more open, like there were more frequencies in its range. I would wonder if the body woods had an impact but that would alert the tonewood police and I don’t want to go to BC jail in this heat.

 

Sod the tone wood police, LOL! I can say from experience that the woods, or at least the density of them does make a difference. Rob Green told me long ago that yes, most of the sound is from the pickups/strings/the percussive hardness of the fingerboard, but you can definitely colour the tone with a walnut tone block, etc. I've always noticed a difference when I've played a nitro bass. They definitely have their own voicings.