My tone sucks and I have no technique. :eek:

I was showing off my brand new bass to a friend who is a guitarist & bassist the other night. He played it and got way better tone than I've heard out of it before. The good news is, I thought I chose a very good P bass, now I know its a good one. He says its a great bass.

I don't care about slap and all that fancy stuff so much. I just want to become a more solid bassist that has good tone and a decent technique.

I've been playing guitar for 30 years, including fingerstyle, which I believe helped a lot in getting started on bass. I'm good enough on bass to get into some cover bands around here, but that doesn't mean I'm very good. A lot of bands need bassists and will hire just about anyone who can learn a song. :p

Do you think that just a few lessons with a good teacher get me on track? I don't want to pay for 50 lessons, hoping I don't need that. I have a good basic understanding of theory and know the fretboard pretty well too.

It sounds as though you've learned an important lesson already.
Hearing a player with good technique draw a better tone from the same instrument showed you just how much of the tone is "in the fingers".

When bassists discuss technique, they are very often referring to "chops", but the ability to produce great tone with great time are the cornerstone of technique, IMO.

Yes, I think that you would benefit from lessons. I also recommend that you do some practicing in a quiet room with no amplifier. Listen carefully to the sound you're creating. If it doesn't sound good this way, there's no amp, eq, pickup, or anything else that will make it sound great.

Good luck!