Re-connected: Long Lost Mexi Precision...

patman · August 09, 2011, 06:27:00 AM

I had a late eighties mexi precision with a passive EMG select pickup that one of my sons sort of "took over"...i just let him use it, and bought my first Dano...he gigged the precision in a "punk" band for a while.

Well, 5 or 6 years later...he moved out, and didn't take it with him...he doesn't really play anymore (sold his amp to another sibling), so I sort of "re-possessed" it.

I set it up with Fender 7250's, and cleaned it up...it was a real mess. Case was so dirty, I had to vacuum it out.

It sounds cleaner and punchier and more responsive than any of my other basses...literally a "magic" kind of bass. Tons of highs and high mids.

For me, it seems like I buy different basses, but it all comes down to the fact that a passive precision sounds best, even before it's plugged in. Doesn't matter if it's a mexi, long as it is well set up. Love the EMG Select pickup, also (cost $29.)...I don't care for the active "real" EMG's...

It felt like an old friend gigging on Saturday night...

Chris P. · August 09, 2011, 07:02:21 AM

Very cool story! You here Ps every day so it's always familiar and like coming home....

But we need pics!

godofthunder · August 10, 2011, 05:32:46 AM

Just because a bass is inexpensive doesn't mean it can't be a great bass! Glad you reconnected with your old friend.

lowend1 · August 10, 2011, 12:25:40 PM

I know it sounds silly, but the EMG Select split-P pickup is a very special unit. I have one in my Frankenstein P-Bass (along with a TB+). Even soloed, it sounds unlike any other P pickup that I have owned. Even the tech that installed the nut commented on how good it sounded. Go figure - I bought it because it was cheap. As Bob Ross would say, a "happy accident".

Highlander · August 24, 2011, 04:02:48 PM

Nice story but definitely need them pics...

I have a bunch of EMG "Select" humbuckers that I really rate... one's going into the Andreas Demetriou custom rebuild I'm (sort of) working on that used to live in the Peter Cook...

Psycho Bass Guy · August 24, 2011, 04:43:38 PM

Quote from: lowend1 on August 10, 2011, 12:25:40 PM
I know it sounds silly, but the EMG Select split-P pickup is a very special unit. I have one in my Frankenstein P-Bass (along with a TB+). Even soloed, it sounds unlike any other P pickup that I have owned. Even the tech that installed the nut commented on how good it sounded. Go figure - I bought it because it was cheap. As Bob Ross would say, a "happy accident".

Please tell me that it's fat and round sounding and not thin and nasal like most cheap P-pickups. I'm pretty sure I have an early version of what became the Select in my passive Kramer Spector NS-2 and it's nice, but still not what I'm looking for to put in my tri-pickup Jazz.

patman · August 25, 2011, 05:55:11 AM

If I had to describe it, I would say it is identical to the stock pickup, with the exception that the mid to low mid bump on a stock precision is pushed up to a high-mid bump. Gobs of hi mids and highs. Can be slapped without sounding "nasty".

Probably not "fat and round"...more like surgically clean, but still passive and sounds like a traditional p-bass.

Hope this helps.

Psycho Bass Guy · August 25, 2011, 05:59:14 AM

That's exactly NOT what I need.

Freuds_Cat · August 25, 2011, 07:22:01 PM

I have an EMG Select P in my mini P bass. Sounds bloody great to me!

patman · August 28, 2011, 06:15:33 PM

Played a half set on it Saturday night...it just screams...

I can slap on it with no thought between head and fingers....total auto pilot.

Have played my sixer for well over a year, and I still can't finesse the narrow string spacing while slapping...certainly can't make it "talk" like the Precision...that being said the sixer allows more complex harmonics, and a lot of different stuff that you can't get on a fourbanger...specially since we're old, the sixer makes it easier to lower the key to where the band can sing it.

I need to have the band arrange the sets so I can play the Precision more...It seems there's always a couple of tunes in there that demand a low "B", though, that knock a fourbanger out of the set.

Denis · September 07, 2011, 01:52:59 AM

Glad you have your old friend back!

Chris P. · September 07, 2011, 06:26:13 AM

Still no pics. I don't believe a word of this

patman · September 07, 2011, 02:34:52 PM

Seriously...I don't have a device with which to make pics...maybe one of my kids could help.

Pilgrim · September 07, 2011, 05:39:45 PM

Quote from: patman on September 07, 2011, 02:34:52 PM
Seriously...I don't have a device with which to make pics...maybe one of my kids could help.

No cell phone with camera?

nofi · September 07, 2011, 06:20:20 PM

if there is anyone here who has never seen a p bass......