New Carvin P bass, about time?

[TimBosby]

I dunno. I'm still not totally sure.
On a lot of P/Js, the J pickup doesn't seem to make a huge difference, and doesn't necessarily sound great solo. But in that video, I definitely noticed it, and it sounded great solo. That being said, I'll still mostly use the P pickup. If I do get a J pickup, the question becomes single coil or humbucker. The bass in the video had a single coil but did not seem to suffer from 60 cycle hum. My Sb5001 has two single coil Js...it has 60 cycle hum, but it's comparatively quiet; maybe Carvin puts a dummy coil in there or something? Not sure.

 

[aproud1]

I think I wish I would have done a master vol + blend on this bass for that reason. I don't think going pure 50/50 has the wow factor on this bass as it does on the SB's.

Thats pretty straight forward to rewire with a blend pot.

Have struggled with most PJ's with the notable exception of my Reverend. I have noticed, depending on the group, slightly backing off one of the pickups can move you forward a bit in the mix. Some bands it's the P but usually I find myself backing off the J.

Pickup height can help this quite a bit too. YMMV.


Anyone order a fretless PB yet????

 

[Jarrett]

Good info, thanks. I noticed fingering over the P versus J pickup helps on this bass as well to get you out there.

 

[Lia_G]

Cross-posting from my NBD thread.

Well, I've been in the process of selling off a lot of basses, and just recently acquired an Ibanez GWB35 that I really like. But I got a trade offer for this mint Carvin PB5 fretless for some non-music stuff I was selling, and couldn't pass it up. I'm a sucker for a good fretless, and this one is gorgeous. Got it tonight, and it plays and sounds as good as it looks. I'll have to play it for a while to decide if I want to keep it, as I've been liking the narrow string spacing on the Ibanez, and this one has the 19mm spacing, but it really is a stellar instrument. Needs no setup ... the action is very low and fast, but with no buzzing. Just about perfect. The tone of this new Carvin P pickup is really great, nice rich singing mids that really compliment a fretless. Not that it's weak on the top or bottom. It's definitely a full-range pickup, but those mids just really sing.

I've got a gig with the Brian James Band tomorrow night (funky blues and soul) and will take it and the GWB35 and switch back and forth to see what feels and sounds the best.

No pics, no bass, so ...

Carvin PB5 Fretless by wwgtsc, on Flickr

Carvin PB5 Fretless by wwgtsc, on Flickr

Carvin PB5 Fretless by wwgtsc, on Flickr

Cheers,
Liam

 

[Thundar]

Liam, that PB5 is AMAZING...WOW! I love that whole package. Im looking forward to seeing better pictures, hope its a keeper!

 

[Lia_G]

Thanks man. Yeah, it's a beauty. And the only extra-cost items on it are the matching headstock and the gold hardware. The guy included the invoice from the original purchase, and it was $997 including the hardshell case and shipping.

I suck at taking pictures. The only camera I have is my iPhone, and I can never seem to hold still enough to not get a little blur in the pictures, so I don't know if there will be any better pics forthcoming. Although we've got a professional photographer coming to the gig tomorrow night to take some promo shots, so maybe I can get him to snap a few pics.

Cheers,
Liam

 

[jeff7bass]

Very SWEET bass. I'm not worthy!! I love my new B40 though. Beat out all my other basses as my main gigging bass.

 

[CapnSev]

So that's where that honeyburst fretless went! You would be the greatest person ever if you put up some sound clips of that thing. Pretty please?

 

[Lia_G]

So that's where that honeyburst fretless went! You would be the greatest person ever if you put up some sound clips of that thing. Pretty please?

We're going to try to get some videos of tomorrow night's gig, so I'll do my best. Maybe this weekend I can do some solo recording as well.

Cheers,
Liam

 

[TimBosby]

Lol! That's the honeyburst fretless that was in the in-stock section on Carvin.com. The bass that made me change my mind about honeyburst and now I am GASing badly for a honeyburst PB4.

 

[Lia_G]

Yeah, I just read back through the thread latel last night and saw the pics from the in stock page posted. Seems like the bass definitely generated some interest here. For good reason. It's gorgeous, and plays and sounds delicious. I've just got to make my mind up on the 19mm spacing to decide if I'm going to keep it. Will k ow more after using it tonight on the gig.

Cheers,
Liam

 

[Lia_G]

Okay, got back from the debut gig for the PB5 an hour ago or so, and here are my thoughts. It was perfect. It played very easily and sounded great in the mix. I was playing an all-Carvin rig tonight: the PB5, my BX500 head, and 2 x 112AG stack. For part of the night I used a Sansamp VT Bass pedal on a really mild setting (bass, mid and character at noon, drive and treble at 9:00).

This was with the Brian James Band, with Tim Gonzalez on harp. He plays with Los Lonely Boys, and has played and recorded with many top artists around town. We're lucky to have him. Drummer was Rick Brothers, who toured with Gretchen Wilson, among others.

The tone was thick and punchy, and sounded great. After a few songs, the soundman asked me to cut a little at 400hz to clear things up a bit (I wasn't in the PA, so he couldn't do it), so I dialed that frequency up on my lower para mid on the BX500 and cut to about 10:00, and that seemed to satisfy him. I had been using that control to boost at around 125hz, and found I needed to boost overall volume a little after switching to the 400hz cut.

Here's a pic of the rig after the gig:

Carvin rig by wwgtsc, on Flickr

Here's an iPhone video of one of Tim's tunes, Straight From the Heart. You'll see what an amazing harp player he is. I just got the mp3 for this one after work today, and just had a chance to listen a couple of times before the gig, so it wasn't my best or most creative playing. Not sure how much of the PB5 tone will come through in the video over the cameraphone mic. Tim was very pleased though, as was the audience, which is all that really matters.



Cheers,
Liam

 

[TimBosby]

I really love the shade of that honeyburst. I wonder if it will look as good over ash as over alder.

 

[Blues Bass 2]

Okay, got back from the debut gig for the PB5 an hour ago or so, and here are my thoughts. It was perfect. It played very easily and sounded great in the mix. I was playing an all-Carvin rig tonight: the PB5, my BX500 head, and 2 x 112AG stack. For part of the night I used a Sansamp VT Bass pedal on a really mild setting (bass, mid and character at noon, drive and treble at 9:00).

This was with the Brian James Band, with Tim Gonzalez on harp. He plays with Los Lonely Boys, and has played and recorded with many top artists around town. We're lucky to have him. Drummer was Rick Brothers, who toured with Gretchen Wilson, among others.

The tone was thick and punchy, and sounded great. After a few songs, the soundman asked me to cut a little at 400hz to clear things up a bit (I wasn't in the PA, so he couldn't do it), so I dialed that frequency up on my lower para mid on the BX500 and cut to about 10:00, and that seemed to satisfy him. I had been using that control to boost at around 125hz, and found I needed to boost overall volume a little after switching to the 400hz cut.

Here's a pic of the rig after the gig:

Carvin rig by wwgtsc, on Flickr

Here's an iPhone video of one of Tim's tunes, Straight From the Heart. You'll see what an amazing harp player he is. I just got the mp3 for this one after work today, and just had a chance to listen a couple of times before the gig, so it wasn't my best or most creative playing. Not sure how much of the PB5 tone will come through in the video over the cameraphone mic. Tim was very pleased though, as was the audience, which is all that really matters.



Cheers,
Liam

Great tone and playing . That really sits in the mix , I can hear everything you are playing . Good band too .

 

[Herrick]

Hi Liam G. Your fretless PB5 looks amazing. Glad to hear it sounds as good as it looks. I have to post pictures of my PB5. I took them but haven't put them on the PC yet.

 

[Lia_G]

Great tone and playing . That really sits in the mix , I can hear everything you are playing . Good band too .

Thanks very much. Wish I had had more time with the tune to come up with a more interesting line, but there's always next time.

Tim's awesome.

Cheers,
Liam

 

[Jarrett]

I used my PBJ on the third gig last night. This time with a church band and I had the same problem cutting through the mix again. The BL kept looking back at me saying turn up. He's used to being able to hear me clearly in the mix with my SB5000. I usually run my master around 3 with the SB and I'm heard no problem. Last night I was on 5 and still they were saying they couldn't hear me clearly.

I was using a Carvin BX250 and SWR Golight 2x10. I tried running the Contour flat, at noon, a little towards scooped even and it didn't really have any effect on the cutting through. I tried rolling back the volume on the P pickup a hair, that seemed to help some. Later, I tried favoring the P pickup some and that seemed to cause a little more mix loss.

I love the way the bass looks, feels and plays. I even love the sound of it by itself and recorded, but in a live mix, I'm still fighting to find it's sonic space there. I might try dialing out some 400 like the soundman suggested in the previous post to see if that helps.

 

[TimBosby]

So, someone help me out. I am really confused. I thought that the P/J version of the PB-4/PB-5 was available with EITHER a single-coil J bridge pickup or a "J-style" humbucker. But now I'm seeing that the bridge humbucker appears to be more of the fat wide humbucker with exposed pole pieces. Which is fine but visually I think it looks a little crowded in terms of the pickup placement. The P/J with the single coil looks more visually appealing but I'm worried about noise/60 cycle hum with a P neck pickup and a single coil J bridge pickup. Is there no stacked J bridge humbucker option?

Here is what I am looking at:

 

[Lia_G]

So, someone help me out. I am really confused. I thought that the P/J version of the PB-4/PB-5 was available with EITHER a single-coil J bridge pickup or a "J-style" humbucker. But now I'm seeing that the bridge humbucker appears to be more of the fat wide humbucker with exposed pole pieces. Which is fine but visually I think it looks a little crowded in terms of the pickup placement. The P/J with the single coil looks more visually appealing but I'm worried about noise/60 cycle hum with a P neck pickup and a single coil J bridge pickup. Is there no stacked J bridge humbucker option?

The P pickup is extremely hot. They had to wire up a new bridge J pickup to match its output - that's not the standard J99A they're matching with it. The stacked humbucker J pickup they offer would not match well at all, as it would be way too low in output. I was surprised at just how hot this P pickup is. It's hotter than my active basses, and way hotter than any passive bass I have.

Cheers,
Liam

 

[TimBosby]

Hmm. That is encouraging. I love hot P pickups. Maybe I'll just go with a single P since I planned on using mostly the P anyway. I would consider a P/single coil but I'm worried about noise / 60 cycle hum when I solo the P. I played my SB5001 today which has two single coil Js. There's definitely a lot of noise when either pickup is soloed, but I found that rolling off the tone a bit and turning the highs down on the EQ helps quite a bit.

Liam, what is your opinion on the neck? Since you have a PB5, you may not be able to answer about the PB4. I have large hands and find a 1.5" inch nut to be too narrow in most cases. I know the PB4 has a 1.54" nut but that's basically the same thing. Anyway I can play Jazz basses with 1.5" nuts pretty effectively but only if the neck profile (back of the neck width I guess) is wide/chunky/meaty enough. I just can't play shallow necks. If there's no bulk to the neck, I find it hurts my hands because I feel like I am pinching too much. Along the same lines I wonder if a 14" radius, or maybe 12" or 10" would be best for me? I realize this only affects the fretboard but maybe it would make it "feel" more comfortable in my large hands.

^ Carvin said they could add .04" to the thickness (not width, but vertical thickness) of the neck to make it more like an SB4000 neck for $100 more, that would render it non-returnable and I'm not willing to risk that because that 10 day trial period is crucial.

The P pickup is extremely hot. They had to wire up a new bridge J pickup to match its output - that's not the standard J99A they're matching with it. The stacked humbucker J pickup they offer would not match well at all, as it would be way too low in output. I was surprised at just how hot this P pickup is. It's hotter than my active basses, and way hotter than any passive bass I have.

Cheers,
Liam