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Considering downsizing to a P

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.

Find a Classic series or a pre EB Ray, they've got gloss necks.

I'm not a flats guy at all, but I usually give them a shot every once in a while. I had my SR5 strung up with EB Cobalt flats, and man did it work! It sat in the mix beautifully, full and cutting all at the same time. I wanted to gig the bass but kept putting it off because flats on it. I went against my judgement and took it anyways and I was really happy that I did!

Just to offer a little counterpoint...
 
View attachment 3745325 I’d go the PJ route

that way
You get that P thump

you can get a nice tight and growly tone from mixing both.
Or get that nasally jaco esq tone

+1.....and i swear by those hipshot kickass bridges, got them installed on my J and P/J, their great!.....That being said i played a P for many years before i got into building and that bass was fine for everything imho
 
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I always have an issue with my P bass having a slightly muddy sound.
I like mud. I like mud cake too!
upload_2020-3-16_9-53-33.jpeg
 
View attachment 3745325 I’d go the PJ route

that way
You get that P thump

you can get a nice tight and growly tone from mixing both.
Or get that nasally jaco esq tone

Love that Blue Wood grain; beautiful!

I have the USA P-Bass Elite, 2015, IDK if there's anything range-wise that I can't dial in...problem is, it's a lot of dialing! I'd almost rather have a 2nd or 3rd bass for different sound targets...but my wife disagrees! It is switched passive/active, J & P-Bass sounds for neck/bridge pick-ups, even has an EBMM growl to it.

But I love the new 2020 Classic Stingray's, admittedly for the aesthetics as much as the sound, just released this month, a lot of the issues described here have been resolved, though I wish they would get over themselves and incorporate a simple active/passive switch.
 
I tried many times to get along with a Stingray. They sound and work great for other players but not for me.

I downsized to an active/passive Jazz 5 string with rounds and a Pbass with flats. I can do everything I need with these 2 basses.

If you decide to go strictly Pbass, I’d suggest one with flats and one with rounds and maybe different fretboards. Good Pbasses can be had for very little money.

Similar here, but I use a Warwick $$ w/flats instead - fun to play, fast neck!
 
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I always have an issue with my P bass having a slightly muddy sound.

That's odd. What's the pickup/electronics/strings/etc? I've never had that problem. I've had and/or built about 8 P-Basses in the past few years and not one of them had that problem. I did notice that when I installed Bartolini's that it was a bit on the "mellow" side but still sounded good.
 
Over the years I've used everything from EBO and EB2D to Tobias Growler 4. I've owned virtually everything at one time or another, but out of everything I've owned the one constant has been a P-Bass. Such a simple combination of a split pickup, volume and tone that was created over 50 years ago and still the top selling bass worldwide. There's a reason for that, versatility!

I still own a few of the basses from the past, but my Vintage ICON V4 (p-bass), Tele Bass (p-bass split pu) and my Mustang Bass are the ones I use nearly all the time. They never get lost in the mix and using Stellartone Tonestyler Bass 10s in all of them makes it a breeze to reproduce a particular sound or tone. You don't have to "chase" your tone control to locate a tone you had at the last gig. It's just a "click' away. I've been using them for quite a few years now and whenever I purchase a bass that's the first mod..
 
That's odd. What's the pickup/electronics/strings/etc? I've never had that problem. I've had and/or built about 8 P-Basses in the past few years and not one of them had that problem. I did notice that when I installed Bartolini's that it was a bit on the "mellow" side but still sounded good.
EMG's, badassII, couple of different types of strings. I adjust tone to clean up muddy sound, it loses its big sound. I can play my active eq humbucker bass at same gig, same amp, controls close to center, little extra lows, sounds great. Go figure....
 
I’ve never gotten on well with PJ configurations.

I can't do the PJ thing either. Call me a purist but it always feels like the bass is having an identity crisis :roflmao:. Not a fan of the sound of the pups blended and prefer the clean aesthetics of a pure P or pure J. The magic of a J comes to life from blending its pups and the P doesn't need any help.

Sting Rays are fun to play but I haven't ever gotten along with them to the point of owning one mainly just because they don't fit in to the music I play any where near as well as P's and J's. I agree with your assessment that they like to have rounds on em and love to be bright and zingy. If I played slap bass in a funk band or punk rock with a pick I'd have a Ray.
 

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