Find Leo: P in your ear

[socialleper]

You've heard of Find Waldo, well here's Find Leo.
This recording is of three basses with split single coil pickups playing the same riff. They are going right to my Focusrite, no amp, and through Ableton without any EQ or processing. Only one is a Fender Precision bass, and @ $600 used, is the most expensive of the three basses.

1. Can you guess which is the Fender Precision?
2. Which do you like the most?

Hint: The Fender is a MIM Precision Noir Special edition.



UPDATE: Here is where I reveal which bass is which: Find Leo: P in your ear

 

[scuzzy]

no clue, but can we argue about the tonewood some more?

 

[socialleper]

no clue, but can we argue about the tonewood some more?

I think two are alder and one is maple if you want to argue about that.
Also, two have rosewood fret boards and one has a maple fret board if you want to chew that old bone.

 

[Kro]

My vote is in. One of them I felt immediately wasn't the Fender, but had a tougher time with the other two. A few more listens and I made my choice, though between those two I was maybe... only 75% certain.

FWIW I liked all three and didn't vote on that front.

 

[Ghastly]

I thought 2 sounded best. All sounded good though.

 

[socialleper]

I thought 2 sounded best. All sounded good though.

Thanks.
Part of what I'm up to is seeing what would survive a herd purge.

 

[ajkula66]

I thought 2 sounded best.

Same here.

 

[Garret Graves]

I voted. I liked 3 marginally better than the others. 2 was the ‘darkest’, 1 was fine, little edgier than the others. I thought 3 is the P, it was IMO the ‘fullest’

 

[Ghastly]

I hope you will disclose the truth eventually.

 

[ajkula66]

I hope you will disclose the truth eventually.

Sorry I just had to...

 

[socialleper]

I hope you will disclose the truth eventually.

I will in a few days.
The results are interesting. People say they like the second but think the third is the Fender.

 

[Spidey2112]

Not giving away which one I thought was the Fender...

... my ears sensed the first as an 'in your face'... pickups sounded hot, as long as you kept everything the same...

... two a little less trebly, and three even less, but those two were pretty close in sound, I think...

... nice consistent fills on each, though. Good luck with your research.

 

[socialleper]

Not giving away which one I thought was the Fender...

... my ears sensed the first as an 'in your face'... pickups sounded hot, as long as you kept everything the same...

... two a little less trebly, and three even less, but those two were pretty close in sound, I think...

... nice consistent fills on each, though. Good luck with your research.

That's pretty much how I hear them too. It wasn't what I was expecting. I didn't do any EQ work to them at all, I just made sure the wave forms were in the same gain range so they were more or less at the same volume.

 

[Lowbrow]

I prefer #1 but I think #2 sounds great too. I just generally like to boost the cutting mids, which are more present in #1. Additionally, I don't think #1 lacks any frequencies that you might wish to accent with EQ post capture. #3 is a little too dark for my tastes.
See a theme here? It's a matter of taste. All sound pretty good.
As to which is the Fender - beats me. I'm a devoted split-coil P guy, but my herd includes non-Fender models of this PU configuration and I think if the pickups are good these generally yield roughly the same sonic results, as your comparison bears out.

 

[socialleper]

I prefer #1 but I think #2 sounds great too. I just generally like to boost the cutting mids, which are more present in #1. Additionally, I don't think #1 lacks any frequencies that you might to accent with EQ post capture. #3 is a little too dark for my tastes.
See a theme here? It's a matter of taste. All sound pretty good.
As to which is the Fender - beats me. I'm a devoted split-coil P guy, but my herd includes non-Fender models of this PU configuration and I think if the pickups are good these generally yield roughly the same sonic results, as your comparison bears out.

None of them are wildly different from the others, but I think there are definitely some variations on a theme. I didn't intend to record them brightest to darkest, but that is where I ended up.
I am always surprised at how different some basses sound when recorded vs being played live. Certainly amps and cabs play a role in that.

 

[micguy]

If they're all basses with split coil pickups in the same location, they're all P's of one sort or another, and with all the variation inherent in that breed, guessing which one was assembled by Fender seems a strange exercise to me, and one in which I have no interest in the result. I like # 1 the most - I like a bit of bark in a bass.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Two is a little louder, so I’ll guess that it gets more “like” votes.

 

[socialleper]

If they're all basses with split coil pickups in the same location, they're all P's of one sort or another, and with all the variation inherent in that breed, guessing which one was assembled by Fender seems a strange exercise to me, and one in which I have no interest in the result. I like # 1 the most - I like a bit of bark in a bass.

Generally, I agree with "P-Bass" as a generic term for split single coil basses, but you would be surprised how many people will lose their minds if you call anything but a "true" Fender Precision a "p bass."
You also might be surprised at how many of those would also claim that only Leo's designs are the "right" designs.

 

[socialleper]

Two is a little louder, so I’ll guess that it gets more “like” votes.

I tried to balance out the volumes to avoid that. It is a sad but true statement that in audio "louder" is often confused with "better." That's why there is so much compression of the dynamics in modern recording as the mastering gain keeps getting cranked up.

 

[gully_jones]

Not sure, don't really care but, I do love when a "mouth breathing simpleton" tries to be clever in their poll choices and misspells something.