Anyone play a 5 string P??

[SW121]

Greetings,
I’ve been contemplating getting a 5 string p bass but until now they seemed rare. Does it make sense to get a 5 string or just stick with a 4?

 

[smeet]

I love a well-made P style 5 string bass. But you have to decide for yourself what you like. Have you played any of them?

 

[bordinco90]

Greetings,
I’ve been contemplating getting a 5 string p bass but until now they seemed rare. Does it make sense to get a 5 string or just stick with a 4?

I've owned several 5 string P basses. The best one by far was the Carvin/Kiesel PB5. Very well made bass and sounds great. Mine was a passive model with only the P pickup and it sounded like an active bass. I got rid of it, because I found myself using the B string as a thumbrest. Also the bass sounds very different IMO that your standard 4 string Fender/Squier/Warmoth P Basses. I found myself having to EQ my amp to extremes in order to get the sound I like. As far as 5 string basses go, it was the best that I've ever played. The sound just wasn't my cup of tea.

 

[joel406]

Greetings,
I’ve been contemplating getting a 5 string p bass but until now they seemed rare. Does it make sense to get a 5 string or just stick with a 4?

Love mine. These are forever instruments for me. Both are now strung with flats. And the Dark Knight has a fresh set of Delano’s installed. Both thump and have fantastic B strings.

 

[Dave W]

I have a 5 string PJ that I love. It doesn't get played as much as it should but it's fantastic instrument that isn't going anywhere.
Maybe I'll play it for my gig this weekend. Hmmm...

 

[two fingers]

My main player is a Hammersmith 5. It does have a bridge pickup. But its primary function is a P bass. I probably play it with the P bass pickup solo about 70% of the time. It just sounds like a great P bass. I absolutely need that low B as well.

 

[Geri O]

I’ve had a couple of Fender P5 basses that were actually quite good basses. On both, I changed the pups out for Nordstrands as they seemed to have a smoother grind quality to the tone.

I now own a Mike Lull P5 and I absolutely love it. Strong B string! It has a Duncan pup custom-wound to Mike’s specs and it’s the loudest, knarliest P bass tone I’ve ever heard. Totally passive. I’ve since set that bass up for 1/2-step down tuning (larger gauge strings, action set up appropriately, etc) that my current employer requests, so I’m really wanting another Lull P5.

 

[Geri O]

Greetings,
I’ve been contemplating getting a 5 string p bass but until now they seemed rare. Does it make sense to get a 5 string or just stick with a 4?

Asking whether you should get a 4- or 5-string will get you responses that are all over the place in every sense of the words.

If you’re a 5 player, then sure, it makes sense to get a 5. 4/string P basses are way more available than 5s. It just depends on your needs

 

[Afc70]

I’ll also vouch for Mike lull- I use my Lull P5 with the Nordstrand Pup, with nickel rounds 45-130, & it sounds awesome. Great, tight low B & a great P bass tone.

 

[joel406]

View attachment 4401040 I’ll also vouch for Mike lull- I use my Lull P5 with the Nordstrand Pup, with nickel rounds 45-130, & it sounds awesome. Great, tight low B & a great P bass tone.

I had a pair of Lull 5 stringers. Great Basses. But I couldn’t get along with the 35” scale. Had to let em go.

 

[Tanner5382]

My main player is a Hammersmith 5. It does have a bridge pickup. But its primary function is a P bass. I probably play it with the P bass pickup solo about 70% of the time. It just sounds like a great P bass. I absolutely need that low B as well.
View attachment 4400971

Probably the best looking blacked-out P bass I’ve seen. Very nice.

 

[Liko]

Greetings,
I’ve been contemplating getting a 5 string p bass but until now they seemed rare. Does it make sense to get a 5 string or just stick with a 4?

I say I'm close enough:

I got the Sire because it literally checked all the boxes when no other bass would, including being a 5-string P/J. I'm pretty solidly in the 5-string camp; the extra string gives you most of the advantages of a 6-string without the drawback of screwing with your fretting hand muscle memory too badly. The problem then, still prevalent now, is that fivers are commonly dual-soapbar, which have a cool sound, but I was looking for the fusion of traditional look and sound with modern features (and I had a toaster-top already).

So I say, if you want a 5-string and you want a P-bass, get a 5-string P and take the ribbing about having too many strings in style.

 

[G On Bass]

My main players are Wilkins PJ5's and they are awesome. I run mine mostly as straight P's, dialing in the J only occasionally. One is strung with flats, the other with stainless and they nail whatever tone I need. As part of my definition of a great bass, easily achieving the desired tone without having to over-eq the heck out of everything has to be a part of that as well as comfort and playability. Only you can answer whether or not you want a 5, but there are more of them out there than ever and at all kinds of price ranges.

 

[chris_b]

. . . . I’ve been contemplating getting a 5 string p bass but until now they seemed rare. Does it make sense to get a 5 string or just stick with a 4?

I've been playing a 5 string Mike Lull P for 11 years. It made a lot of sense to me then, and still does.

If the wait puts you off, stick with your 4 string. If you really want to embrace 5 string basses, find a P5. They are great basses and they are around. The right one for you will turn up.

 

[chris_b]

My main players are Wilkins PJ5's and they are awesome. I run mine mostly as straight P's, dialing in the J only occasionally.

Same here. Mine is a PJ5 and I usually run it with the J off, but in the louder, rockier bands I'll add a little punch from the J pickup. I use TI flats and on the right gigs, a lump of foam under the strings.

 

[Geri O]

I had a pair of Lull 5 stringers. Great Basses. But I couldn’t get along with the 35” scale. Had to let em go.

They make 34"s, too.....

 

[two fingers]

Probably the best looking blacked-out P bass I’ve seen. Very nice.

Thanks! I hate Hammersmith couldn't gets its act together with TBers. It's a super solid bass and a passive beast. But the neck.... The neck just makes it hard to play any other bass for me.

 

[Ghastly]

 

[Al Rivera]

I have since 2010,I now also play a sire p7. Both do the job just fine. The fender has a fatter neck,the sire is more comfortable.

 

[iiipopes]

I much prefer 5-string basses with purpose made pickups, usually soapbars of one kind or another, to bring out the proper character of a B string, and mounted in the correct location(s). To my ears, the tonal characteristics of a P-pickup that bring out all that good groove round mojo of a P-bass also causes the B string to sound muddy to my ears, irrespective of the make or model of bass or P-style pickup. That, and since it is very difficult to get perfectly symmetrical coil/magnet/pole piece geometry to get rid of the noise (remember: the '57 P-pickup was designed essentially as a humbucker), one significant reason to have a P-pickup in the first place, it just doesn't happen with the vast majority of P-style 5-string pickups.