Prodigy Bass?

I bought an early-ninties Fender Prodigy bass several months ago . . . searching this forum shows only one thread on the Prodigy, from spring '07, not much info . . . It has an active J/P pickup setup and slightly thinner, lighter body; like the Aerodyne but with a flat, not curved top, no binding . . . and it's poplar . . . One friend of mine has dismissed it for not having the deeper "thump" of his P-bass, but I think it has plenty bottom, with a little more snap and pop to the attack, which I like. (Is that the poplar versus alder?) Wondering if anyone since last year's thread has any knowledge/opinion of this bass, which is apparently pretty rare . . .

Don't think poplar is very different to alder, tone-wise. More likely to be the P-J setup that gives the extra snap.

Here (http://youtube.com/user/mynameisdan00) are several videos of a Prodigy in action.

I think you're confusing thump with bottom. The thump of a passive Fender P comes from a noticeable bump in the low mids. You can have plenty of bottom but not have that particular P thump. My (limited) impression of the Prodigy agrees with yours, it has good fundamental and good attack. But it doesn't sound like a passive P, and that's probably your friend's objection.

Re poplar, I have two poplar MusicMan basses that also have plenty of low end and pop, but the pickup and preamp are probably as big a factor as the poplar, if not more.

Thanks, guys . . . should've thought to do a Utube search.
So, Dave, as for that P thump in the lower mids, does it come from the weight of the body? In other words, you won't get it on a lighter bass (alder or poplar), even with a P pickup?

I think it's mostly the pickup and passive controls. Body mass may have an effect, but poplar isn't light. Yours is lighter because of the smaller body size. FWIW, my heaviest bass is my poplar MM SUB4 at about 10 lbs.