Are P Basses really better than J Basses for studio recording?

[MDBass]

I've read that before, and if so, I think I'm going to sell my Jazz and buy a Precision. I've been considering doing that for awhile now, and since most of my playing now is for my recordings, I want to make sure I have the best equipment options available.

Are P basses better than J basses for recording?

As with many things, the only accurate answer is "it depends".

The P bass is the perfect tool for a lot of things, but not ALL things

Trying to get a tone like this one out of a P bass might be possible, but it would be needlessly complicated when you can just plug the right bass in instead:

 

[PleyswethSqwerl]

This is an old thread with technology today and the different modeling base amps and bases you can get with recording it doesn't matter which one you pick. Personally on the tonal spectrum for recording because of the midrange when mixed the p can be heard very well. The bottom end is killer. However when mixed well j basses are killer. I personally love p basses for recording

 

[PleyswethSqwerl]

If this thread was relevant today, it would be record with anything. With the new Apollo stuff out and the slate and plugins and di's. You can replace any bass sound, get any sound you want. Unless you're tracking drums, recording studios are obsolete all this big special gear is obsolete. Everyone is playing with pedals and using plugins now.

 

[CC7]

"Are P Basses really better than J Basses for studio recording?"​

No, that's just what P-Bass only players like to believe and spread around.

It's ok to like your p-bass (or j-bass) tone, but it's not the only tone that'll work in a mix, that's a totally ridiculous thing to say or think. (I have a p-bass).

 

[-Asdfgh-]

There are plenty of classic, old recordings that are not a P bass. Just as there are classic, old recordings that people thought were J basses or Rickenbackers that turned out to be P basses.

 

[Krisfield]

I follow Sean Hurley who does the 2 P Bass Vintage/Modern application. I think he uses P Basses because that's what Producers want.

 

[Ritter667]

Which bass is best for recording entirely depends on the track in question.

 

[Ritter667]

It's the magician ,not the wand

That's what she said...

 

[Bob McAlister]

I have an old friend that was head of engineering for universal studios for decades. Recorded everything and everyone. A couple of years ago he was retired and teaching a recording class at a college. He asked myself and some friends to come and record some tracks with the students. Almost the second I walked in he asked me " do you still have that old Jazz bass?" It was a 1964 Jazz that I owned for 50 years. Alas, I had already sold it a few months before. pic is on its 50th birthday.

 

[Ritter667]

Imagine most of what Tool, or RHCP for that matter recorded, recorded with a P Bass.

 

[maturanesa]

Imagine most of what Tool, or RHCP for that matter recorded, recorded with a P Bass.

Not too much J basses there either

 

[pbass2]

No. The P is only better if you're after a pbass sound. A Jazz "sits in the mix" in a slightly different way. Sometimes, actually fairly often, that's what works best. I would go so far as to say that, a Jazz with everything dimed in what most would call the "scooped" sound, sits in some mixes waaay better than a P. In fact I think it's what Leo was shooting for.
I just did a country session where that was the sound that just cradled the kick drum just right, tucked itself in perfectly, and gave the whole mix this nice big bouncy cushion. Country, not funk. Full disclosure FWIW, I was a "pbass or the Highway" guy for..decades. Bottom line--you need both.

 

[pbass2]

I follow Sean Hurley who does the 2 P Bass Vintage/Modern application. I think he uses P Basses because that's what Producers want.

He uses other basses too.

 

[Ritter667]

It's a poor producer who doesn't know how to make practically any bass fit into the mix.

Heck, even I could do that.

 

[pbass2]

Keep in mind two of the biggest session players ever, going back to the 70s, Lee Sklar and Tony Levin do not use and rarely ever did use a pbass. Sklar used a Jazz on his most famous tracks and then his Franken bass with two reverse p pickups in the Jazz position (and it's active). Now he uses a Dingwall much of the time. He says his sound is based on his early Jazz tone. He actually says he "doesn't like pbasses". Levin had a pbass early on but says as soon as he got his first Stingray he never went back. So, it all just depends. Personally I've always showed up to a session with at least one pbass but it doesn't always beat out everything else.

 

[lyonaudio]

A Precision with flatwounds has a certain sound. I don't need anything else, it would only be confusing.

 

[ra0ulduke]

The inaccurate claim that a P-Bass is better for studio recordings has its origins in a different era. With today's technology, any desired sound can be achieved with any bass.

 

[Ritter667]

It's a poor producer who doesn't know how to make practically any bass fit into the mix.

Heck, even I could do that.

This doesn't however mean that certain basses's core sound won't fit better into specific tracks, but that will pretty far from always be a P Bass.

And I'll still dare claim that even I could make practically any bass fit into any mix that just required your standard bread and butter bass tone.

 

[pbass2]

This doesn't however mean that certain basses core sound won't fit better into specific tracks, but that will pretty far from always be a P Bass.

Yep. For example a P with flatwounds is a great classic sound but certainly not a good sound for everything, far from it (despite what the internet would have us believe).

 

[Ritter667]

Yep. For example a P with flatwounds is a great classic sound but certainly not a good sound for everything, far from it (despite what the internet would have us believe).

Yeah, as examples I brought up earlier in this thread, imagine Tool or RHCP played on a P with flatwounds.