Help My Poor P-Bass! String Suggestions Needed.

[EricTheEZ1]

I have a Fender 50's Reissue P-Bass. It was modified before I got it. It's got a Basslines pickup that has more bass and treble, but less midrange than normal P-Basses have (very smooth tone). It also has a BadAss II bridge and straplocks. Hence the reason I got it.

When I turn the tone knob more than 5% on, it looses all midrange expect some really high-mids, gets really trebly, and looses significant bass as well. A lot of clang and finger noise, but not much useable tone other than for slap which it's quite good at.

What I'm looking for is some strings with a lot of midrange to them. I would consider groundwounds or flatwounds. I would like to have a very growly, but not trebly tone. A lot of The Meters tunes would give you an idea of what I'm looking for. I mostly use the bass for Motown, Classic Rock, and old-school funk. I can deal with loosing good slap tone, because I will be buying a Jazz bass for that in the future.

Any suggestions?

[steamthief]

Fender 7250 nickel wrap. Nice bottom and mids, mellows out the treble significantly.

[Phalex]

I have Brite Flats on pretty much the same setup you describe. Not overly trebly, but they do have a good bit of mids.

[FunkyFlashFive]

DR low riders love to funk!

[Joe Smithberger]

The nice thing about flats is that even with the tone control up, the highs don't get out of hand. In other words, they are thumpier than rounds but you may be able to keep more mids in your sound because you don't have to turn the tone down. I am lovin the LaBella Flats.

[NorCal Dog]

it sounds like you aren't happy with the tone of the pickup. changing strings may help, to some degree, but i would suggest changing the pickup. put in a CS Fender pickup. problem solved. imo of course

[BellBottomBlues]

IMHO that bass got several problems for your tone.

SD QP's are a very bright and trebley pickup. I suggest getting either the Fender 62 RI pup (run you about $60 and change IIRC) or a Nordstrand NP4 or Lindy Fralin (roughly $120)

Also the Badass is a designed for snappier response and sustain, I suggest either finding a wilkinson brass p-bass bridge or getting a hipshot B style bridge (thats the vintage styling IIRC)

As for strings, if you want to turn it into a thump machine, swap those parts and toss on a set of flats (I use Jamerson sigs, a very nice string)

Optima Gold strings are a nice all purpose string if you ask me if you change it back into semi-stock (aka upgraded stuff listed above) and look nice on the bass due to the gold pickguard.

[bassic_element]

how about Daddario Chromes?

[::::BASSIST::::]

Chromes have alot of highs for a flatwound. I also like LaBella, though I'm not sure they have that much in terms of mids. If you want a mid monster try the TI 344s.

[JimmyM]

Pickup change. That's what you need. CS Fender.

[markdavid]

A different pickup is what you need. I would have a look out for an original Fender pickup. Also you dont say what replacement pickup has been used, if its a basslines quarter pounder than it will have less mids

[Nighttrain1127]

+2 on the pickup change you can't make a pick up produce sounds it does not do well. The 62 p RI pickup is an awesome pickup for the money and will restore most of what you want. The bridge does not make that much difference IMHO and will be fine once you change the pickup. I have a 50's p and it sounds amazing with the stock fender pickup and it is not even a 62 RI just whatever fender threw in it.

[EricTheEZ1]

Yes, it's a Basslines, but I can't tell which one.

[JimmyM]

BTW, don't think for one second that you'll lose good slap tone on a Precision if you don't have the pickup providing a scoop for you. I like the sound of a slapped Precision a lot, even more than I like the sound of a slapped Jazz.

[EricTheEZ1]

Yeah, I think I'll go hunting for a new pickup then. I'll have to do some research.

[vtwo]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dog

it sounds like you aren't happy with the tone of the pickup. changing strings may help, to some degree, but i would suggest changing the pickup. put in a CS Fender pickup. problem solved. imo of course

+1

[BellBottomBlues]

i suggest a lindyt fralin PJ set, dunno what your budget is though.

[John Wentzien]

Vintage reissue fender p pickups have GREAT mid response.

[anesthetist]

couldn't it be that the pickups are too high?

try lowering them.

[EricTheEZ1]

Too HIGH? I doubt it. They're at a normal height. Any lower and it wouldn't matter what the height is because the tone would suffer.