How to get more treble from the Pbass..

[FenderTuni]

If rounds are too bright try a set of GHS Pressurewounds as a step up. They're a round wound type with an outer wrap that's much smoother, easier on the fingers, and produce less string noise. Not as mellow as flats or as bright as rounds.

+1 on this. If you're considering chromes, I have Daddario chromes set up in both P-basses and to my taste, I think it does get trebbly when opening the tone. Amazing strings BTW!

 

[Jay2U]

OP, I didn't read the entire thread, but I'd advise you to add a jazz pickup in the bridge position. To my opinion this is the only modification that gives you that Jazz specific 'burp'.

 

[themarshall]

Anybody else a little amused at some of the same "x flats" responses that are also offered when someone wants to "tame" their P?

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

They're a round wound type with an outer wrap that's much smoother, easier on the fingers, and produce less string noise.

This is strange to me. I've always played with rounds, and if I have to play a bass with flats, I find them much harder on the fingers.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Huh..Haven't seen that yet..ill look it up

Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats. Brightest flats ever.
GHS Brite Flats (ground wound- feel like flats)

 

[JimmyM]

Add a J pickup

 

[Treebeard]

Like many have said, get a set of flat Chromes (lights) and there's your treble. My tone nob is constantly on like 10% with Chromes.

 

[soulman969]

This is strange to me. I've always played with rounds, and if I have to play a bass with flats, I find them much harder on the fingers.

Pressurewounds are much closer to the tonality and feel of a round than a flat. The windings are there but they're much smoother because they've been rounded off in the winding process.

This video may help illustrate how they sound, play, and fit in the bass string spectrum. I've found them nearly ideal for any Jazz or Jazz type bass and also work well on PBasses. You'll all get a chuckle out of his demo on a fretless where these strings also work well.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

IMO flats is your main problem. Get stainless steel rounds. If you like the feel of the flats, maybe you can try half wounds?

I actually prefer nickel rounds that give me enough 'zing' without being too harsh.. And I prefer the feel of rounds over flats. We're all different and luckily there's enough options for us all!

 

[FishDub]

raise the pickup on the g side? did you try that?

Yep sure did but I will try a few more tweaks..

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

Pressurewounds are much closer to the tonality and feel of a round than a flat. The windings are there but they're much smoother because they've been rounded off in the winding process.

Yes, I know. It's the part with "easier on the fingers" I find strange. Guess it's all about what the fingers are used to.

 

[Camarillo]

Jazz bass

 

[BigBasserino]

The day one of my P bases has a deliberate whacking sound, it's going immediately on Kijiji......

If you crank the tone knob and go for a "punk" bass tone it does. My fender sounded almost like a train with the whack of chugga chugga chugga

 

[MtManiac]

I left a comment earlier in this thread mentioning that you may want to try rounds instead of flats, but wanted to give a quick follow-up/caveat to that:

While P w/ rounds and P w/ flats are certainly 2 different flavors, and using one or the other may make a difference to you.... neither are going to emulate a Jazz Bass very well. A P with rounds will have some more of that grindy/zingy character that you might also find on a jazz with rounds, but a J is still going to be your best bet to actually sound like a J.

I personally find it much easier to emulate a rough P sound through a J neck pickup than to emulate a J sound through a P pickup. Though, the J neck pickup method still doesn't quite check all the boxes I associate with classic P-Bass goodness. It'll do a respectable enough job though, if you don't have a P available.

I personally don't find either does the other one well, but a P will definitely never get that burpy tone from a Jazz bridge pickup. Only way to get that is with a Jazz bridge pickup. It isn't about strings or EQ or pots, it's all about pickup placement relative to the string's end point (the bridge) and the string's mid-point (halfway between your fretted note and the bridge). "Burpy" I would define as a lot of higher-freq harmonics pre-loading the fundamental's attack, and maybe a quick decay of the fundamental. I don't know if that's accurate according to a spectrum analyzer, that's how I think it sounds though. Pickup placement close to the mid-pont will give you more sustain on low and low-mid frequency harmonics, and a strong fundamental closer to the beginning of the note attack.

 

[MtManiac]

Yep sure did but I will try a few more tweaks..

WADR, isn't raising the pickup under your G string just going to give you hotter output from your G string, and maybe exacerbate it's P-ness (please don't read that out loud)? Other than moving the pickup closer to the bridge somehow, I would think lowering it would give you fewer low-freq harmonics and just retain more of the higher frequency ones.

 

[FishDub]

WADR, isn't raising the pickup under your G string just going to give you hotter output from your G string, and maybe exacerbate it's P-ness (please don't read that out loud)? Other than moving the pickup closer to the bridge somehow, I would think lowering it would give you fewer low-freq harmonics and just retain more of the higher frequency ones.

exacerbate it's P-ness--LOL

 

[/\/\3phist0]

If you crank the tone knob and go for a "punk" bass tone it does. My fender sounded almost like a train with the whack of chugga chugga chugga

Also too little relief, and or too low action will give off the thunk you describe @Pbassmanca

 

[BigBasserino]

Also too little relief, and or too low action will give off the thunk you describe @Pbassmanca

Or high Guage strings. ....power slinkies.

 

[B-Mac]

Buy a P/J style P bass like an American Deluxe P-Bass like my 2014.

I realize that isn't the answer you're looking for, but I think this is really the best of both 'Fender worlds'

 

[MtManiac]

exacerbate it's P-ness--LOL

With raising the G string, yes.



Ugh, and hotter output. So many unintended euphemisms!