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Considering downsizing to a P

ToneMonkey

ToneMonkey

Sep 27, 2003
1,798
2,093
70
Eugene, OR
#1
I’m on my second MM Sting. I’ve alternated between Stings and Js for most of the past 30 years. I go long stretches where I don’t really play bass much at all (I switch hit with guitar).

This time around I haven’t fully bonded with my Sting. Part of it is ascetics and ergonomics. I really don’t care for the bare wood gun oil thing on the neck. I prefer gloss poly. Also, flats don’t seem to work too well. Stings just seem to want rounds. I also think I’m much more of a passive rather than active guy.

I’m thinking about selling the Sting and getting a P bass.
 
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#2
And why not? Sounds like a good idea. I've never got on with or owned a Stingray and I've owned just about everything half a dozen times. Nothing like a P with flats. One of my five '70s Precisions.
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#3
Funny - I've recently quit on a passive Jazz that I've played for maybe 15 or so years because it's just too heavy for me to gig all night. Plus it doesn't assert itself in the mix as effectively as my sort of backup, which is a custom passive P/J. Now that I'm playing the P/J with its wider neck and different personality, it's turning out that many of what I thought were my bass inclinations over the last several years are flying out the window. I'm becoming much more of a P guy than I would have admitted only maybe a couple years ago.

More than ever, my bands (last one and current group) can hear me really well and that's making it easy for me lock in with my drummer. I'm feeling like a little bit of a knucklehead because I'm still thinking of that P/J as my backup and feeling like I need something... else? But the truth is that I probably don't.

I can also say that I do love having the J pickup at the bridge in this bass and not because it gives me something that I miss with my Jazz. I don't much care for the sound I get with my blend knob in the middle. But when I roll it a little bit off the detent toward the P so that some of the nasally aspect drops away, there's still enough of the J in there that the overall tone is a bit more mellow and smooth compared with the solo'ed P. I really love having that dimension available here - and it's different than backing down on the passive tone to tamp down the high's.

I also swapped out some active EMG's and a b/t preamp for a passive P/J set from JBE. The honeymoon has kept on rockin'!! If I do get a backup for this bass, it might be something like a Schecter CV-4 with a pair of humbuckers that can switch into different modes. Flexible and no battery required.

Details at eleven...
 
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#4
I’ve never gotten on well with PJ configurations.

I considered myself a hardcore J guy for the longest time. The slap happy 90s brought me my first Sting. I went back to a J around 2005 or so.

Then in 2012 I was playing in a surf band with a blaster guitarist. No matter what I did, the J just got walked all over in the mix. So I cobbled together a P with a MIM neck, Mighty Mite body and Lawrence PUs. It sounded and played great. More importantly it sat in the mix perfectly without a lot of fussing around. I miss that.

In 2015 I bought my current Sting. Wanting to downsize to one bass, I believed the Sting was the best choice for versatility. But I’m just not fully bonding with it.

Any bass work I get at this point figures to be the kind of thing a P was made for.

Stings have gone up so much in price that I could likely get most of my money back on the flip.
 
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#8
He means STINGRAYS, as in EBMM.

Or was that a goof on him just saying "Sting"?

:D

Anyway, I could easily live without a Ray (our usual bass player nickname for them), and I could easily go full-on P if not for a handful of gigs I get where it requires brighter tones and more polite mids on occasion. Some songs just sound right on them. But that accounts for 10-20% of the material at most, and I lean heavily on the P by itself, and I fill in the blanks with the added J pickup on occasion. So 3 of my 4 P's are PJ's. Just an option some of us like to have in the back pocket just in case.
 
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#13
Based on your experience with the parts P, I think that’s a good choice. Versatility can mean one bass that works with many styles without much fiddling. And some people just gel better with different basses. I have owned a couple EBMM and I think they sound great, but my playing style and tone goals definitely fit better with a P.
 
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#16
JimmyM said:
He means STINGRAYS, as in EBMM.

Or was that a goof on him just saying "Sting"?

:D

Anyway, I could easily live without a Ray (our usual bass player nickname for them), and I could easily go full-on P if not for a handful of gigs I get where it requires brighter tones and more polite mids on occasion. Some songs just sound right on them. But that accounts for 10-20% of the material at most, and I lean heavily on the P by itself, and I fill in the blanks with the added J pickup on occasion. So 3 of my 4 P's are PJ's. Just an option some of us like to have in the back pocket just in case.
Click to expand...
A P with Chromes. A Thunderbird with nickel rounds. Covers most everything. Try it. You’ll like it.
 
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