High-gain adaptive position control is proposed for a stiff one-mass system (1MS) and an elastic two-mass system (2MS). The control objective is (load-side) position reference tracking and disturbance rejection (of load torques and friction). Position and speed are available for feedback. Two simple high-gain adaptive position control strategies are presented and applied to a laboratory setup: an adaptive lambda-tracking controller and a funnel controller. Both controllers neither estimate nor identify the plant. The lambda-tracking controller achieves tracking with prescribed asymptotic accuracy: for given lambda > 0 (arbitrary small) the error approaches the interval [-lambda, lambda] asymptotically. Whereas the funnel controller assures tracking with prescribed transient accuracy: the error and its derivative are bounded by prescribed positive (possibly non-increasing) functions of time. A simple proportional-integral (PI)-like extension for the 1MS, and this extension in combination with a high-pass filter for the 2MS, allow for zero tracking errors in steady-state, respectively. Oscillations in the shaft of the 2MS can be suppressed.