Fender Pure Vintage '63 Precision Bass Pickup Set Reviews

I wasn't happy with the stock pickups in my MIM P Bass so I went for a more 'vintage' approach with the Seymour Duncan Antiquity (1), and despite their great sound I didn't find them to be very gig-friendly, lacking some highs I didn't think I'd miss. I gave these a shot afterward and I am not looking back! Warm at home, plenty of bite on stage. Sounds great with either rounds or flats and it's EQ'd just right in my opinion.

Shopping for a new bass, I decided on an American Pro II P Bass because it was exactly what I wanted with the exception of the pickup. I don't care for the V Mod so I dropped a Pure Vintage 63 in it. I love it. This pickup sounds like a proper P Bass, with all the the growl and honky mid range we know and love. As usual, Sweetwater rocked the order out quick and followed up to make sure I was happy. I support my local too but Sweetwater always pulls through when they can't.

The pickup is fantastic. For the price and what's out there, if you want an old Precision Bass sound, this is sound pickup that what you want.

I installed this pickup in a MIM 2018 bass. It has great tone with about 15% more low end. It really is a great balance.
You do not loose any high end, but the low end becomes fortified. I put Fender flatwounds 40-100 SS on the bass and I was surprized how good it sounded. The rounder low end will open up a whole new way of how your bass can sound.
Another thing I noticed is that I had to adjust the pickup height level. Many times the treble p/u side needs to be raised to get more of a balanced volume against the other strings. That was not the case with the 63 p/u and the 40-100's.
I also own a 2020 USA P bass and I will install the 63 p/u in that bass shortly. You won't regret buying this pickup.
I personally believe this is Fender's best sounding P bass pickup!

Dropped this in my 2022 American Pro II Precision. That bass was almost perfect. Stock pickups are really good. Well balanced. But I wanted to step it up. Threw on some flat wounds, this pickup, a Babicz bridge, and rewired internals. Now it's funky.

It was night and day with the pickup swap and these are very sensitive to adjustment height so make sure and experiment a little bit. Great tone. Bass is way more fun to play now. Serious old school vibes. Can't put it down. I also bought a Lollar overwound to have a shootout. I can't bring myself to take these out. They may just stay permanently. Also, they're way cheaper. Fender knocked it out with these. I have heard countless demos of their whole line and these just won every time. The only thing above these would be some hand wound CS pickups but that's other level money. Do yourself a favor. Try them. They're great.

These are the real deal! Smooth, big , punchy and well articulated. I've tried many different P bass pickups and these are my favorite. These give you that familiar tone , the deep lows without being muddy, mids are tight, highs are there but not overly treble sounding. A perfect blend & full sounding!
You will not regret installing these. Everything from Motown to modern you can get the tones you want. Pair these with a nice set of flats and that's all you need!!! Buy them!!

Pickups are very subjective, some people really love upgrades or changes while others don't see a nee to change or when they do, don't see alot of difference. For me, I upgraded a Squier CV70 Pbass and the difference was significant. I didn't hate the Squier P/U's, I just wanted a more vintage sound with more bass and mids. This P/U delivered that. Really nice tone. Gonna put some flat wounds on her and that should do it for me. That's just the sound I like and fits well with my worship team on Sundays. I'm completely happy with the result and would buy this pickup again if something ever happened. May even throw this in my player series Pbass...although I do like the pickup that's in that bass....

These for me are the best sounding pickups for a precision bass! Just enough bottom and tops with a huge mid sweep! If you cut an oval circle in half to produce a visual of what the sound wave would like. Slightly taller towards the mid-lows. It cuts through a live band easily and that's including the keyboards. I have my eq set at 12:00 on the amp and just use the tone knob on my bass to create the sound I need for the song I am covering. If you use a pick they REALLY push out power. So possibly a softer attack unless you are not switching back and forth to finger style. I put these in my new precision 2, now I have the most of all worlds new and old! My AORM 60's is now my backup.

These pickups are the best. I've tried them all, fralins, Seymours, multiple fenders, these win. If you the perfect p bass tone, look no further.

I already had an American STD Precision with rosewood fretboard and Original '62 pickup and Ernie Ball flat wound strings. This setup works great with my Ampeg SVT II, the mellow grit I get from this combination is magical. You have to hear it to understand. But these amps are vanishing in limbo right now so very few will have the chance to taste this in the future.

I wanted another American STD Precision, this one with maple fretboard and round wound strings. Even though I love the '62, I noticed there were 3 vintage precision pickups available from fender this year, the '62 Original, the Custom Shop '62 and these Pure Vintage '63. I read online for a few days and this is what I read

- Original '62 has a nice mellow top end with a boost in 2K area
- Custom Shop '63 has the most output, is slightly scooped in the mids and has more top end then the Pure Vintage '62
- Pure Vintage '62 has a bit less top then end the others, a bit more low mids and is not scooped as much.

So I decided to try out the Pure Vintage '62. Like the Original '62, the top end sounds very good through tube drive and distortion, which is great because I intended to use it with GHS Boomers string. It's a full sound the way I like it.

The top end seems limited way below 8K allowing more volume from lower frequencies which is exactly what I expect from a vintage pickup.

This is my mojo, a pickup that sounds great on drive or distortion at any volume and no need to tone down the highs even with round wound strings. Wanna play classic rock, those will do.

The Fender Pure Vintage '63 P-Bass Pickup sounds fantastic in the Fender made in Mexico bass I installed them in along with Alpha pots and Mojo Dijon .22uf capacitor. The pickup was practically a drop-in installation and the Vintage Push-Back Wire goes in almost every upgrade I do.
My Sweetwater Salesman, Will Newbill has been with Sweetwater a number of years and always goes out of the way to help. Will is not just a salesman. He's become a friend and trusted advisor.