Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
Welcome to TalkBass! Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Fender Precision American Performer vs Fender Precision American Pro II
- Thread starter dave84
- Start date
Specifically, what do you believe are the construction differences between the two?
The real difference is that the Performer does not have the bridge with the strings passing through the body that the pro does.
Yes, that is about it, I find about the only thing this does is put unnecessary bends in strings.
Last edited:
Personally, I prefer the Performers over the Pros. The Performers remind me a bit more of the old school, stripped down Fenders from the 60’s and 70’s. The lower price seals the deal for me.
I find the Performers a little cheap-feeling for a $1500 bass. Also the Greasebucket tone circuit is a no-go for me. Ymmv.
I was looking at both options as well. I chose the American professional II. Only bc I wanted white with a maple FB. The tinted neck also looks really nice.
Both basses are great choices.
Had they offered more color choices with a maple fingerboard. I’d went with the performer.
Both basses are great choices.
Had they offered more color choices with a maple fingerboard. I’d went with the performer.
I forgot to mention that I own a Performer and have a great time (I love the PJ pick up setup). I think it has nothing to envy to the american pro, it is simply a different bass with different characteristics but the quality is on the same level as the pro. I was just curious what your preferences are between these two basses and I realized that there is no objective preference only on the pro as I actually thought!
PS: this is my sound test of performer!
PS: this is my sound test of performer!
I A/B tested them recently and walked away with a Performer. I enjoyed the finish, neck, and fretwork better than the Pro. However, I could imagine it turning out differently with a different two basses, so your mileage may vary.
I've had both and I must say that the American Perf. PJ bass takes the cake. The neck shape is just IT for me. Plus, I got mine used for a real bargain. The American Pro series are great as well though, but the necks on both are fantastic.
I have not A/B’d them but the neck & fingerboard on the ProII fits me like a dream. The finish is perfect in every way. The lines and curves are perfect and I honestly can not find one fault with this bass. I absolutely love it.
In Oct of 2020, for the price of a Pro, one could buy a Performer and put the pups they wanted in it. And if you wanted a P/J your only choice between them was the Performer. But I'm not a fan of the Yosemite pups and greasebucket tone circuit, or the fact the J pup is not 60hz cycle hum proof.
But I bought one anyway and I installed Aguilar's hum cancelling Aguilar AG 4P/J-HC 4 pup set into it. I got a new control set made and shipped to me as well, no more greasebucket tone circuit. And since I had to have it open anyway to install everything, why not a new pickguard?
For me, the build quality and playability of this bass was never in question, it's fantastic. I sat down with it in a store knowing I wasn't too keen on the "shellacked pups / greasebucket circuit". But I had to know how the bass itself felt. It felt good enough to convince me to buy it and make it my own.
When I was looking for a P bass I tried everything I could get my hands on and ended up with a ProII. For me, vs the performer, all of the subjective factors favored the ProII: neck shape and feel, pickup (P/J is not a dealbreaker for me, but I don’t have much use for the Jazz pickup, and I preferred the ProII P pickup), hardware, finish. On the objective side, I also like the graphite reinforced neck and the hard case with the ProII.