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Is bassist-life possible without a Precision?

#67
Muckaluck said:
Funny I started on a Peavey Fury P bass when I was 14. Now 13 years later I gravitated to the 5 string American Precision and it feels like home.

I wonder if it's like that thing where guys always look for girlfriends who have similar qualities to their mother?
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My first two basses were P clones, I never liked the tone. Then my third bass, a Pedulla Series II had a PJ set up and I only liked the sound with both pick ups or just the bridge pick up on. I'm not a big fan of the P tone, turns out I never was.
 
#68
I'm with stflbn.

Go for the bass that fits YOU. Then get the electronics right for your application. I for years fought with Fender style basses. Great below the tenth fret, no love from me above. Once I moved on, there is no looking back. Main bass these days is a MTD. The neck fits ME. I smacked the electronics into submission.

Don't get sucked into everyone's got one dogma.
 
#70
Honk'n_down-low said:
Dirty little secret some of those guys have P's or have had P's.

P-Liscious :bassist:
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I'm sure that when they're sitting around at home they think, "Well I can play this Fodera (Zon if you're Manring), built and set up by one of the most talented luthiers of our time, but I think I will play a mass produced, tonally limited instrument with less range and (likely) poor playability that wouldn't know clarity if it hit it in the pickguard!"

Sorry. :hiding:
 
#71
Alistair R said:
Every bassist should own a P bass at some stage throughout their playing career.
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Fealach said:
Or at least play one long enough to know they can't stand them.
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I actually agree with both - the first for all bass players and the second for myself personally. I owned a Prestige-level (higher QC, woods, Bassline "hot" P/J pickups, Hipshot tuner and BAII bridge, and neck/fret work) Ibanez RKB-900 P/J that would easily smoke most "official" MIA Precisions until at least the 2008 redesign... long enough to realize that in most ways, I'm simply not a fan of Precision Basses, both in neck and body size as well as tonally. However, by owning and playing it a good deal it did show me that I was cut out to be a Jazz/Single Coil pickup player, and that those were a great deal of constructing "My Sound" both live and recorded.

If I was doing more studio work I would have either kept that Ibanez (as a Player and Construction-wise, it was a steal at the price I paid) or purchase a decent P for my use, but as I went on a "Bass Diet" and sold off a great deal of the sheer mass of basses I owned for a much smaller amount of higher-end and higher-quality (My Mike Lulls and Spectors) instruments.
 
#74
I've been playing for 13+ years now and only recently have I bought my first Fender (a MIM Jazz V - very decent sounding specimen, I like it a lot, to my surprise it sounds better than some MIA Fenders I tried). I've never been much of a Fender guy and never felt the need to own a P-Bass (even though I love John Deacon's sound and playing)... However, I recorded one album entirely on a nice old Aria (which I sold not so long ago and kind of regret it) and found that the with the neck p-up soloed it gave a very good P-Bass sound... and it was exactly what about half of the songs on that album called for! It sat in the mix perfectly.

I think a good P-Bass (not necessarily with a Fender decal on its headstock) is a very nice addition to one's bass arsenal and it can get the job done more often than not. I myself, being an Alembic maniac (not that I own one yet but I borrowed 2 for one recording session and totally loved them, got high praise on the tone from the engineer, too), if I was to make my living doing studio work, would get both: a Jazz and a Precision (probably a new American Std 5-string - tried one lately and liked it a lot). Fenders or their good clones are still what producers want quite often (fortunately, not all the time).

So... If it speaks to you, definitely get it. You won't go wrong.
 
#80
Bongolation said:
As far as bass playing is concerned, I have no (0) interest in pop music in which a Precision and an SVT would not be considered a proper gigging pro rig.

That doesn't mean that a P and an SVT would necessarily be required or "best," but they do define a broad style and philosophy of bass (as opposed to "post-Jaco horizon-expanding bass guitar").

If you can't play it fine on a Precision, I don't want to listen to it.

If I see a band in which the bass player has a six-string, through-neck with twelve knobs and a spalted Gambian skunkwood top running to an expanded rack-unit head with fifty lights, I can safely say that with about a 99% certainty I never want to hear that group's music. Run!
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You sound like a real open-minded guy. :rollno:
 

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