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Fender Precision Love

Baird6869

Baird6869

Feb 16, 2007
16,717
5,037
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
#1
I have been a Sadowsky Jazz and EBMM Stingray lover for the last year or so. My band plays a lot of RHCP and funk and I slap a lot so a Precision is not really the best bass for me. I love my P basses ('97 62RI and 1974) , but they aren't getting used lately.

Anyways, I did a old school gig Saturday (oldies and classic rock) and brought my mangled 1997 62 RI Precision as I don't care if this bass gets beat up.... it sounded amazing. Even a bit of slap (Lenny's Fly Away) apparently sounded amazing (according to the drummer).

I am doing a Canada Day gig tomorrow (mostly classic rock) and I am leaving the Sadowskys and EBMM at home. Looking forward to doing a 6 hour gig with my P basses!

1 trick pony for sure, but man I love the sound of a P!

Anyone else re-discover a P bass lately?

DSC02740.jpg
 
#2
I played a series of crap P clones in my formative years, then about 5 years ago I had a very nice MIJ. Being a total switch from my 5 & 6 strings, it was a great breath of fresh air. The gig that required that bass dissolved before fully gelling though, so away she went. :(
FF to a couple of months ago & I've got the fever for something w/the BIG Fender Precision decal. Found a slightly battered 73 at Bassnw w/in my budget, & snatched it up. This time around it's definitely getting some use(covering a few 70s-80s classic rock tunes)but alas- home budget woes may force me to sell this one too...:bawl:

Edit: My aforementioned MIJ looked just like yours, baird. :atoz:
 
#3
For about the last year, I've been sensing a big P resurgence, after a really J-dominated scene for quite a while. Fender introducing a passive 5-string P says, to me, that they sense it too, as they are trying to bridge the old school build approach with a contemporary string count.

I suppose the current musical vibe - thumpy bass, flatwound strings, meat-potatoes bass role supports the P. I have not owned one in almost 20 years. I might have to get back in.
 
#4
No need to rediscover the P bass for me.

I discovered that the P bass was for me at a young age, and have been playing them since 1982.
I've tried lots of other stuff, but nothing else really stacks up IMO. My no.1 has always been a P bass, and probalby always will. Never considered it to be a one trick pony.
 
#5
i play a J too, and every time i pick up a P, i think to myself, MAN!!!!!! do i need one of these babies!, i love the way they play and sound, but i just dont picture myself ACTUALLY buying one in the near future, because I always have other things I consider more important to purchase first...

SOME DAY!, i SHALL own a P bass!
 
#6
savit260 said:
No need to rediscover the P bass for me.

I discovered that the P bass was for me at a young age, and have been playing them since 1982.
I've tried lots of other stuff, but nothing else really stacks up IMO. My no.1 has always been a P bass, and probalby always will. Never considered it to be a one trick pony.
Click to expand...

+1 :D

How many "tricks" does a bass need anyway? I'm happy with great tone. :bassist:
 
#9
My first bass was a Squier Affinity P that I foolishly sold after 6 months of ownership for what I thought was the coolest thing ever: An Ibanez GSR200. Well, it's nice but I want my P!!! I was looking on www.bassemporium.com yesterday when a true beauty caught my eye: A 1970's Fender Fretless Precision bass! Complete w/ Badass II bridge, unlined fingerboard, and EMG PU (:crying:) all for $500!! O man, never before have I gassed SO HARD for a bass until I saw it. I don't know what to do with myself haha. Btw, the P-Bass has stood the test of time, even in an age of 18V active preamps, ERB's, and keyboard bass synthesizers. What does that say about it? That it's truly amazing!! :hyper: :D
 
#10
Absolutely. There is nothing like the sound of a Precision especially for certain tunes. I recently resurrected my old 1971 P-bass and currently use it Live. I've also considered the purchase of the American Deluxe P-Bass model with the Humbucker,Amber,rosewood neck(graphite reinforced).
 
#12
I first "discovered" the Precision in I think 2006 when I bought a custom P built by Jack Read. Ever since then I've owned a Precision except for a time I had a MIM Jazz, but realized soon after that I needed a Precision. That's the tone I love.
 
#14
savit260 said:
+1

I got smacked around a while back for making the BOLD statment that (paraphrased) if you think your P bass is a one trick pony, maybe you ought to look in the mirror. It ain't the bass . ;)
Click to expand...

It ain't the arrow, it's the Indian, as we say. But whatever it is that is "my" sound comes through better on the P than on anything else.

My current herd is all Fender P: Classic '50s, '51 RI, Standard w fretless neck.

If you can't get a great sound of one of those, you're in trouble.
 
#17
savit260 said:
+1

if you think your P bass is a one trick pony, maybe you ought to look in the mirror. It ain't the bass . ;)
Click to expand...

I much prefer a Jazz or Stingray over a P for slapping as do many people on this forum but I am enjoying playing my P basses for rock and blues. I wouldn't drag out a P to play the usual 5 or 6 Red Hot Chili Pepper tunes I play on a heavier gig, but I would never dream of being without a P bass completely.

I played a gig yesterday with a P and my new to me Ampeg SVT-CL.... amazing tone. Also, I grew up playing a P so ergonomically, it just feels right to me. It worker great on this 6 hour gig.
 
#18
bassist4dalord said:
My first bass was a Squier Affinity P that I foolishly sold after 6 months of ownership for what I thought was the coolest thing ever: An Ibanez GSR200. Well, it's nice but I want my P!!! I was looking on www.bassemporium.com yesterday when a true beauty caught my eye: A 1970's Fender Fretless Precision bass! Complete w/ Badass II bridge, unlined fingerboard, and EMG PU (:crying:) all for $500!! O man, never before have I gassed SO HARD for a bass until I saw it. I don't know what to do with myself haha. Btw, the P-Bass has stood the test of time, even in an age of 18V active preamps, ERB's, and keyboard bass synthesizers. What does that say about it? That it's truly amazing!! :hyper: :D
Click to expand...

Not anymore there isn't. I just contacted Bass Emporium.:p
 
#20
For me the magic of the Precision Bass is the fact that it has a clean, clear voice that is agressive sounding when pushed, sweet sounding when treated gently, and that it does not lack in any particular frequency or tonality in the bass spectrum.
It has plenty of tight, focused bass, plenty of ringing treble, and LOTS of mids -- which is where the voice of the bass is really shaped.

This allows you to really create any sound you want with just one bass, using a combo of amp EQ and the instrument's tone knob. It can sound like a piano, it can sound like a mud bucket; it can be the nastiest or the sweetest sounding bass based on how you play and process it.

One trick pony? The one trick that continues to make the P so popular is that in the right hands it can do anything!

Lowbrow
 

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