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Only a P-bass?

#21
Dr. Cheese said:
I was killing time at GC today, playing a really nice MIA P-bass that was only $1,199. The fact all items in store are 15% off for the rest of the month got the wheels spinning in my mind. It would be cool to simplify and just play a P-bass for a while (although a P5 would be even better!:bassist:)
Click to expand...

mine:

Bassincase.jpg


Mine came in at $1250 Canadian after a $120 rebate due to a paint chip. Which makes $1199 in US bucks for a 4 banger seem kinda steep to me -- though mine was actually listed for C$1370, so maybe I'm totally off-base here. What do the 5vers cost down there?

EDIT: I'm pretty much a Lakland guy and have been a Fender hater for 20 years, so this buy was, er... strange for me. It just felt like the LOG bass kept slipping further away, though. And honestly, after the initial LOG membership pricing is over, it's not really a deal against the Fender Am. Std. I bought, especially considering the hard case the Fender comes with. That being said, I still think the LOG bass is going to be a *very* sweet axe, and will come in a colour combo I like a whole lot better.
 
#24
I really like the sound of my P with fingers, but with a pick it seems not as good as my Jazz. It feels like I can dig in and hit harder with the Jazz and the notes still ring. Who knows, maybe it's just me.
 
#26
I've avoided P basses in my 30+ years of playing, not really sure why. I just preferred 2 pup, preamped basses and only 5ers, maybe that's why. But I started playing with a blues band in Dec '09 and I felt a P bass would do well there.

Plus, I'd read so many good things about the '08 Am St Fenders. Then a TBer offered a P5 just like Roadkills pic above for much less than a $grand in January, so I hadda bite. I was even on that LOG list but hadda jump on this deal.

Its been fun using it in the blues band, really enjoying it. Well, a couple weeks ago a soul/Motown/funk band that I played with last year called me to do some shows with them starting in June. I'd always use a Cirrus 5, 55-02D, Jobo5 or a MTD KZ5 with that band. But I did my first gig with them last weekend.

Well the P5 and whole rig just sounded awesome in those tunes, Barry White, Temptations, Marvin Gaye and newer Ledisi, Maxwell tunes. Just alot of great 70's soul/funk style tunes that were most likely recorded with a P bass. The drummer told me he really dug my new sound and we locked in better than before. And before getting this P5 I'd never used a pick but I'm doing that now, mostly in the blues tunes.

Plus adding my VT pedal is just making my entire tone fun and revitalizing my playing. All those 2 pup, preamped basses have been in thier cases since the first of the year, a shame, guess I should take em out for a spin now and then. But I'm glad I decided to finally try a P bass, real glad. Oh and yeah, a LOG P bass would still be cool...maybe...one day. :eyebrow:
 
#29
I love a P bass, but honestly every time I've tried going on these experiments where I play nothing but P bass it just doesn't work out well for me or those I play with. I usually wind up missing my Jazz basses, and then finally someone I'm gigging with will ask me when I'm going to break them back out. They'll usually say something like "That red bass sounds good and all, but your white basses sound the best." The Red is a Lakland Duck Dunn. The White basses are DJ's. I've seldom had people go crazy over the sound of my Pbass, but people flip over the DJ's all the time.

I think P basses are fantastic, and in certain settings they are destined to work really well. But my experience with P basses along with the comments of others is more than enough for me to feel that they aren't ideal for covering a wide range of musical genres.

The jazz bass will always be the bass to rule them all. IMHO/E.
 
#31
IPA said:
I really like the sound of my P with fingers, but with a pick it seems not as good as my Jazz. It feels like I can dig in and hit harder with the Jazz and the notes still ring. Who knows, maybe it's just me.
Click to expand...
Well, you can add me to that list, 'cause back when I played with a pick I got much better attack/definition out of JBs than PBs. I used to own both in the '70s, and I'd routinely use the J with the P neck to get the sound I wanted along with the room I wanted up near the nut. I can do more or less the same experiment with a Charvel/Jackson (Japanese) I own now, by switching among neck pickup, bridge pickup, and both. The differences are obvious with a pick, and even with fingers. The neck pickup alone just doesn't give me that initial punchy transient.
 
#32
Dr. Cheese said:
I was killing time at GC today, playing a really nice MIA P-bass that was only $1,199. The fact all items in store are 15% off for the rest of the month got the wheels spinning in my mind. It would be cool to simplify and just play a P-bass for a while (although a P5 would be even better!:bassist:)
Click to expand...

Is that sale still going on? I'm looking to buy a mia P bass in oly white rosewood fret board.
 
#34
craig.p said:
Well, you can add me to that list, 'cause back when I played with a pick I got much better attack/definition out of JBs than PBs. I used to own both in the '70s, and I'd routinely use the J with the P neck to get the sound I wanted along with the room I wanted up near the nut. I can do more or less the same experiment with a Charvel/Jackson (Japanese) I own now, by switching among neck pickup, bridge pickup, and both. The differences are obvious with a pick, and even with fingers. The neck pickup alone just doesn't give me that initial punchy transient.
Click to expand...

To my ears folks like Julie Slick and John Wetton sound awfully good using a P-bass with a pick.
 
#37
Darkstrike said:
With the 35" scale, and the 22 frets, and the full size looking pickguard, that P pickup seems to be way closer to the bridge than normal, almost half way between the P position and the Stingray position..... odd.
Click to expand...

That's just a graphic mockup and not the actual bass, so I'm guessing the placement and/or size of things may not be exact. Think it was intended more to give people a basic idea of what if would look like with the colors and blocks.
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c
 

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