GEAR REVIEW
AMERICAN ORIGINAL '60S PRECISION BASS | Doug Doppler
KEY FEATURES
• Alder Body with Lacquer Finish
• ‘Pure Vintage’ ‘63 Split-Coil P-Bass
Pickup
• ‘1963 C’ Neck Profile
• 9.5” Fingerboard Radius
• Vintage-style Hardware
• Hardshell Case Included
Crafted in Corona California, the goal of the
American Original ‘60s Precision Bass was to
replicate the sound, look and feel of a ‘60s-era
P-Bass, and with the exception of the 9.5”
fingerboard radius, Fender did precisely that.
THE LOOK
While looks aren’t the best reason to buy a
bass, I have to admit that from the moment
I opened the case I was totally smitten. The
Surf Green finish, the 4-ply faux-tortoiseshell
pickguard, rosewood fingerboard, and vintagestyle
hardware are gorgeous. Literally, it’s one
of those instruments you can simply sit and
stare at… simply stunning.
TACTILE FEEDBACK
A huge part of what makes a great bass great
is the tactile feedback it gives you when you
play. The way the ‘envelope’ of attack’ expands
and contracts informs you how hard or soft
you need to hit the string. The art of making
a part sound, feel, and groove right is totally
tethered to the listening and responding to
what the bass has to say. The feedback on
this instrument is superb and makes for a great
playing experience across a massive range of
styles and related tonalities.
THE RESPONSE
The other part of the ‘feedback factor equation’
is how responsive the bass actually is to the
touch. Frankly, some basses are just plain
‘touchy’, and the window that separates too
soft or too hard can be really narrow. On this
bass, the response window was nice and wide
open. Seriously, if you’ve spent a lot of time in
the studio, you know how hard it can be to get
a bass to sit in that sweet spot between the
thump of the kick and the snap of the snare.
This bass did a great job, especially when used
with an Ampeg B15N model amp!
THE SOUND
As a general rule I prefer to spend some time
getting to know an instrument without an amp
as it really tells you a lot about the essence of
the instrument and not the electronics or amp.
Acoustically, this bass is really even across
the strings and up and down the neck, and
I mean really consistent. Smooth is the word
that comes to mind when describing the rich
110 August 2020
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