Relic, as a member of a certain club, you are missing one bass from that group to complete the "set for life" trifecta and you should know what it is.
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Is a P bass necessary?
- Thread starter MMcC
- Start date
Necessary? Of course not. Now, having said that ....
I've owned several Jazzes and Jazz-based basses and have really liked they way they feel, they way they sound, and their flexibility. I've occasionally played them in stores, but I've always preferred the feel and the flexibility of a Jazz. On top of that, I play 5 strings and Fender didn't make one. Also, I've kind of been brainwashed over time to think that since I like the slimmer neck of a Jazz that the big meaty neck wouldn't be that comfortable for me (not a fair assumption on my part, but that's what I was thinking). So even though I'd sometimes mess around with one I never really gave them a fair tryout.
Once the Precision V came out, I decided I really wanted to give one a try and I'm glad I did. I bought one about six months ago and have really been enjoying it. It's still not not my favorite, but I've found the neck to feel nothing like I was expecting and with the flats I have on it it's a great complement to the sound I get from my Stingray 5 and my fretless Jazz 5.
Necessary? Nope. A nice tonal option to have? Hell yes.
I've owned several Jazzes and Jazz-based basses and have really liked they way they feel, they way they sound, and their flexibility. I've occasionally played them in stores, but I've always preferred the feel and the flexibility of a Jazz. On top of that, I play 5 strings and Fender didn't make one. Also, I've kind of been brainwashed over time to think that since I like the slimmer neck of a Jazz that the big meaty neck wouldn't be that comfortable for me (not a fair assumption on my part, but that's what I was thinking). So even though I'd sometimes mess around with one I never really gave them a fair tryout.
Once the Precision V came out, I decided I really wanted to give one a try and I'm glad I did. I bought one about six months ago and have really been enjoying it. It's still not not my favorite, but I've found the neck to feel nothing like I was expecting and with the flats I have on it it's a great complement to the sound I get from my Stingray 5 and my fretless Jazz 5.
Necessary? Nope. A nice tonal option to have? Hell yes.
I don't own a P-bass, so I can't really comment on how necessary they are. My USA J-bass does just fine!
But I seriously can't picture, or hear (or picture hearing
) Steve Harris diggin' in on any other type of bass, but a P!
But I seriously can't picture, or hear (or picture hearing
) Steve Harris diggin' in on any other type of bass, but a P!
My workhorse/go to bass is LEJ6 which can mimick a P, J, MM Stingray and more...
It doesn't need to be a P, to get the sound...
It doesn't need to be a P, to get the sound...
Ohhh dont get me wrong I LOVE Ricks! But I love them for how they look and how amazing they can sound. Matter of fact, between a Rick, a P, and a J, I think the Ricks sounds best IMHO, BUT, if I wanted a bass that can sound equally as good for rock, punk, funk, or anything else I need it for, the P wins with a J coming second. A Rick can be used for all of the above of course, but I still think it's a more specialized gem and not an all purpose tool
So, if I can add one to the perfect bass trio - it would be a P a J AND a Rick. How's that?
Well said, and i've tried stingrays, ricks, L2500's and Alembics and still keep coming back to Precision and Jazz basses and recently have only been using Precision basses w/ flats on them. But it's not what you want to do with something you dont have, its what you do with what you've got.
On the Sam myspace, STA Swan Song uses the P pickup. The guy playing lead guitar brought over some small digital recording mic that was placed in the center of the room for the sake of jamming and testing it out. No pre or post production work done. Touch of clipping, but not terrible. LOL, 2-3 weeks after that, everyone split and suddenly I had to beg to audition to some really crappy bands.
Cool track and a nice bass.
For me, I can't live without a P. It's the only bass that is necessary for me. I'm pretty unhappy playing anything that doesn't have that sound, or a neck that doesn't have a little meat to it.
I have a 64 jazz and a 66 p bass and IMO the jazz bass does not sound like the p bass or visa versa.
I love my P's. It's hard to get a bad sound out of one.
I have a J as well....and a P/J or two.
now the question i wanna know is do you think a jazz is necessary if you have a PJ bass?? Already have the best of both worlds..
Ya know, I kinda subscribe to that school of thought. I don't dislike JJ basses, but I have a very strong affinity to J/MM and P/J configs. LOL, being a P/J guy seems to offend P and J bassists.
I've been toled (excuse my ignorance, but I don't own one) that the Fender S1 switch is a series/parallel switch. If this is true, then I wholeheartedly agree that a Jazz in series, gets reasonably close to a P. Try as I may, NO combination of my volume and tone controls on my Jazz copies (I own no real Fenders) gets the P sound as closely as switching the pups to be in series!
If you haven't tried it, you should!
i agree with the first post.
for me, its just not necessary. i understand why it is to others, but my '92 carvin's neck pickup is such beef that i cant imagine putting a p bass to use..
for me, its just not necessary. i understand why it is to others, but my '92 carvin's neck pickup is such beef that i cant imagine putting a p bass to use..
I have 3 PJ's, but no, they do not do the job of a J. A J with the pups in series does a better job of imitating a P than the PJ does imitating a J. There ARE times when I want the neck J pup by itself and I do NOT get that tone from ANY combination of the P and J pups (and 2 of my PJs have dual tone AND volume controls)!
I should state for the record that I am talking passive here.
Currently, my only bass is an active 5 string with jazz pups. I find if I go passive (or even leave it active) favor the neck pup and roll off some highs, I get close.
Funny, I was playing a MIM P-Bass today and thinking it would be cool to have if the new band (classic R&B and Soul) comes about, bu tI can probably get away with what I have.
Funny, I was playing a MIM P-Bass today and thinking it would be cool to have if the new band (classic R&B and Soul) comes about, bu tI can probably get away with what I have.
No, a P bass is not necessary.
I find the tone of the MIA standard P's to be highly overrated. Now the MIA P Deluxe is a different story. The addition of the stacked jazz humbuckers in the bridge make it sound like a totally different animal and give it much needed versatility that the standards do not have.
I find the tone of the MIA standard P's to be highly overrated. Now the MIA P Deluxe is a different story. The addition of the stacked jazz humbuckers in the bridge make it sound like a totally different animal and give it much needed versatility that the standards do not have.
