Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Anybody know how to remove polls?
- Thread starter Joe Nerve
- Start date
- Status
I would add a 5th choice. The P bass is more of a value proposition - it gives you the most versatility/adaptability/applicability for the minimal amount of controls/pickups/adjustments. By default, multi-pickup and/or active control basses are more versatile - they can do more because they have more options. Even a standard Jazz bass is technically more adjustable if not more versatile because it has 2 pickups, each with a volume control. Anyway, I think the P bass is best when you make it like an equation - versatility/number of options - the strength is in the small denominator.
All I know is this: I brought my P (77/78 with Chromes of course) to rehearsal last night for the first time in years and years and a) the guys had forgotten I owned it and b) they said my sound was significantly better. Clearer. More.... precise?
You do realize this thread will turn into the exact same thread as before.
30% of TBers will over analyze the definition of "versatile", fights will break out.
30% will defend the supremacy of P basses (most of those will also include a pic of their P for some reason).
25% will scoff at the almighty P bass, these TBers will be insulted as needed.
10% will post unhelpful, nonsensical responses (mine, for example).
5% will find a reason to insult the OP. (I'll be a part of this group as well. Joe, your socks are stupid.)
30% of TBers will over analyze the definition of "versatile", fights will break out.
30% will defend the supremacy of P basses (most of those will also include a pic of their P for some reason).
25% will scoff at the almighty P bass, these TBers will be insulted as needed.
10% will post unhelpful, nonsensical responses (mine, for example).
5% will find a reason to insult the OP. (I'll be a part of this group as well. Joe, your socks are stupid.)
all of us could use some less TB time and more practice time
Always vote "Hate". It's the most versatile.You are going from one extreme to another .. I don’t believe that the P-bass is the most versatile bass on the market, not I do believe it is the least versatile one; however I don’t play Stingrays and I’m equally happy.
At the same time, I don’t hate Talkbass, so I can’t actually vote
okcrum
in your chest
I think it depends on the definition of versatility. In terms of configuration, it's not very versatile but not the worst. Think of something like the joe dart sig one pickup and one volume being one of the least versatile in this sense.
However if you are using the dictionary definition as defined by a quick google search: able to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities.
Then p-bass by default is probably the MOST versatile because it can be used effectively in ALL styles of music and is one of if not the most popular recorded elec bass in history.
However if you are using the dictionary definition as defined by a quick google search: able to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities.
Then p-bass by default is probably the MOST versatile because it can be used effectively in ALL styles of music and is one of if not the most popular recorded elec bass in history.
Whatever this thread was about, I voted StingRay. Ask another question, and my answer will be the same. 
drumvsbass
Commercial User
- Aug 20, 2011
- 1,985
- 4,325
- Disclosures
- I work for Long and McQuade Musical Instruments Canada in Sales.
Joe, you're getting on my last Nerve!
If Joe's query didn't make me want to quit talkbass, this joke did
.
Well, this one isn't very versatile...until you plug it in and than it's more versatile than quite a few solid-body basses, so.
Why?
Aphex System with Aural Exciter and Big Bottom Sound.
Other than that, I notice I can change the tone using different picks instead of my fingers, or by hitting the strings closer to the neck or bridge.
Who'd a thunk it?
Why?
Aphex System with Aural Exciter and Big Bottom Sound.
Other than that, I notice I can change the tone using different picks instead of my fingers, or by hitting the strings closer to the neck or bridge.
Who'd a thunk it?
Last edited:
I want my bass to sound like a bass. If I wanted "versatile" I'd buy a Nord.
While I have problems following those claiming the P bass actually is among the versatile basses there are in any given context, I feel like a lot of the heat is coming from different interpretations of the term 'one trick pony' in the last thread and the term versatility in this one.
I'd say the least versatile bass would be one that has only a MIDI pickup and is connected to a bass synth that has only one preset that cannot be altered. Every note on the fretboard has one single sample. No dynamics, no nothing. It's that note or nothing.
A normal bass offers a ton of possibilities just by applying different playing techniques to it.
So again, I argue that to truly see the versatility on a bass, one has to completely ignore the versatility of the player. Given that we're talking of a minimum of a bass with 4 strings, 20 frets (or a fretless fretboard of equal dimensions) and at least one pickup that is wired to the output plug.
The P bass already offers more than that. You get the possibility to manipulate the sound via volume and tone pot.
Which leads to the following question:
To test the versatility of a bass, do we use 'the ideal bass player', a pro that can play every single style in existence and ask this pro to apply all techniques of playing bass to a said bass and see (listen) how well that instrument responds to the changes in playing style, and after that, see how we can manipulate the outcome by using the different settings the bass might or might not offer
or
do we use a robot playing with exactly the same style without altering any small detail, thus totally eliminating the player from the equation. If we took this route, the only way to alter the sound would be by manipulating the controls the bass offers and see how many different sounds we can coax out of it.
I'd say the least versatile bass would be one that has only a MIDI pickup and is connected to a bass synth that has only one preset that cannot be altered. Every note on the fretboard has one single sample. No dynamics, no nothing. It's that note or nothing.
A normal bass offers a ton of possibilities just by applying different playing techniques to it.
So again, I argue that to truly see the versatility on a bass, one has to completely ignore the versatility of the player. Given that we're talking of a minimum of a bass with 4 strings, 20 frets (or a fretless fretboard of equal dimensions) and at least one pickup that is wired to the output plug.
The P bass already offers more than that. You get the possibility to manipulate the sound via volume and tone pot.
Which leads to the following question:
To test the versatility of a bass, do we use 'the ideal bass player', a pro that can play every single style in existence and ask this pro to apply all techniques of playing bass to a said bass and see (listen) how well that instrument responds to the changes in playing style, and after that, see how we can manipulate the outcome by using the different settings the bass might or might not offer
or
do we use a robot playing with exactly the same style without altering any small detail, thus totally eliminating the player from the equation. If we took this route, the only way to alter the sound would be by manipulating the controls the bass offers and see how many different sounds we can coax out of it.
- Status
