Its funny how P basses can sound so different. I hate that clangy rounds tone, it doesnt cut thru well. I run dead flats and get a very dry mid range bark....Like a J bass bridge PU but darker with more heft, it just works with everything.
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(Only) NOW I understand the P bass
- Thread starter vindibona1
- Start date
I just have to add to my own thread...
This past Friday night I chose my P5 to gig with. It's so pretty. And I love my Sandberg so much. But it was lonely and was crying "take me"!
Unbeknownst to me, my favorite soprano sax/flute player was in with us and my P5, with just a little compression via my Fishman Platinum Pro EQ/DI box just gave the loveliest sound. My sound was warm, but thick and was "present" in the mix without being edgy nor did it require a lot of volume to blend nicely with a Nord Stage 4, the sax/flute and an acoustic guitar mixed in with two voices. Great fun. I'll have to play my P5 more often.
FWIW I have Ernie Ball Cobalt Flat strings on it that are a couple months old and just work so well with my Precision 5.
This past Friday night I chose my P5 to gig with. It's so pretty. And I love my Sandberg so much. But it was lonely and was crying "take me"!
Unbeknownst to me, my favorite soprano sax/flute player was in with us and my P5, with just a little compression via my Fishman Platinum Pro EQ/DI box just gave the loveliest sound. My sound was warm, but thick and was "present" in the mix without being edgy nor did it require a lot of volume to blend nicely with a Nord Stage 4, the sax/flute and an acoustic guitar mixed in with two voices. Great fun. I'll have to play my P5 more often.
FWIW I have Ernie Ball Cobalt Flat strings on it that are a couple months old and just work so well with my Precision 5.
I borrowed my middle school teacher's J one summer to teach myself how to play. And all through high school, there were 2 Fenders in the stable. I think one was a P, but I have a picture with the Jazz.
Every now and then I wish I would have lost them under my bed or something; I don't think the band director would have cared all that much. This was also in the mid-80s, from 85-90. Faces obscured to protect the innocent.
My 1974 Precision with TI Jazz Flats I started on Precision then went to Jazz Bass and G&L L-2000 then had my 5 string phase first a Stingray5 and then a G&L 2500 then back to a Jazz then in the past few years went back to Precision I just find I prefer the simplicity not having fiddle with a instrument and fight it to get the right tone because it had for me the right tone when I pick it up it’s the sound in my head !
That's so cool to have pictures from way back when! You looked like a pretty happy bass player.
That's sure a sweet looking old school sunburst there and I wish my '74 Strat still looked like that!
Amazing how non-musician Leo Fender came up with such an iconic sound that people keep coming back to.
I did live sound for a few years. I played bass before doing sound so I *knew* about the P bass but after mixing a number of bands in a live setting I really LEARNED about the P bass, equally so the Musicman.
0 work required to make either of those show up in a mix.
0 work required to make either of those show up in a mix.
If my P Bass doesn't sell locally, switching to flats and hoping for the best might be a possibility. It works beautifully for Steve Harris after all.
It's interesting how the simplicity of a P bass just works. I have a Jazz 4 and a Jazz 5 which have both been upgraded with Aguilar noiseless pickups and the 5er has an Audere preamp. They are both fabulous and I never understood the need for a P bass. But my blue one came along, brand new, in the TSA case, at a ridiculously low price and it was just an opportunity I couldn't pass up because of the price. I was hesitant to take it on gigs because that it didn't sound like much in my music room. But in the mix with other instruments it sounds amazing.
Like Peanut Butter and Jelly I don't remember the last time I put jelly on my sandwich.
Until now!That explains it : I'm strictly 4 stringers - I never pay any attention to 5 stringers
My guitar player also dabbles in bass, but owns an active Ibanez.
I’m not knocking Ibanez, but it does seem to be a common go-to brand for guitar players picking up a bass.
He doesn’t know much about basses, didn’t know if he had an active preamp or not, doesn’t know what the pickups are, wouldn’t know a P from a J, but can tell you anything about any of his guitars.
Anyway, we record every practice and use IEMs, and every single P bass I’ve brought to practices he’s responded to with some variation of “that! That bass! That’s the tone! It’s perfect!” I own currently 4 different American Fender passive P basses (2 5’s and 2 4’s) all with very different pickups. Doesn’t matter if I’m using flats or rounds, pick or fingers, it’s the only bass type I own that gets that reaction from him.
Others I’ve brought include:
- Stingray Special HH 5
- Sterling Ray5 H
- Sterling Ray35 H
- Thunderbird
- Epiphone Embassy
- Jazz bass
- Charvel with active/passive and reverse split coil/J config 5
- Fender American Deluxe Dimension HH 5 and 4
The Peavey Patriot Bass(Super Ferrite) pickup position is well closer to the bridge than the Fender split p pickup location, so a Patriot Bass does not sound like a Precision Bass. The Patriot has a more cutting/edgy sound that is less bassy than a Precision.
If you want to hear a Peavey single Super Ferrite pickup in the "P sweet spot" the Peavey T20 Bass and Peavey Gen 1 Fury Bass (the Slant Fury) both do everything a good P Bass does but slightly better to my ear.
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I suppose you’re probably right, it’s been in its case pretty much since I started using P basses around 2007 or so. I wouldn’t say it’s that much closer to the bridge than the treble side of a P split coil, but I’ll concede to you as I expect you’ve likely taken measurements or something. I do recall the Patriot difference in sound compared to a P - honkier, a lot more high mids, so some added snarl, and lots of punch. I’ve actually never heard of the Slant Fury or the T20 in 42 years of playing bass, let alone seen one, let alone seen one for sale. Lots of Patriots and later Fury’s though, and of course many many P basses. They do look interesting, but I’ll save that market for people who care about them more than I do. My Patriot was a fine soldier for a solid 22 years (not 25 years, my mistake) but it’s been primarily in its case for 15-17 or so years for reasons.
You are correct, I measured it years ago... and the Patriot pickup is closer to the bridge than the treble side of the split P pickup.
Your description of the sound of a Patriot bass is spot on, lots of punch and snarl, more high-mids.
The Patriot does cut through, but I like the sound of a split P bass better, and I like the sound of the Gen 1 Fury/T20 better (those both share the same slant mounted Super Ferrite pickup in the split P bass location).
Guitar Center's website currently has three used Peavey T20 basses for sale and four Patriots as well.
The Peavey T20 Bass and Gen 1 Fury Bass were each only made for two or three years until Peavey caved to the pressure to produce a split P Precision type bass (like everyone else) and the Gen 2 Fury became a better P Bass for my tastes.
I prefer the Peavey necks and the Fury's more svelte body size/shape.
Here are pics of my Gen 1 slant Fury.
Also pics of my '87 Gen 2 Fury with an EMG GZR P pickup in it.
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Ibanez makes great basses. I've owned, in purchase order, a BTB675, then a Gio 206B, the BTB1825, the first on the left in the photo and very recently a SR375F fretless (not in photo). I loved the BTB675 and in a way regretted selling it, missed it and replaced it with the 1825. The Gio 6er just didn't take, but for the $100 I paid used (and sold for $300 it was a great experience and unbelievable for a cheap bass after I replaced the 2 band preamp with a $10 Chinese 3 band. FWIW, the Yamaha, far right was sold last week. GREAT bass for the money, but it became an un-needed backup.
But circling back to the thread topic, I didn't know how much I would appreciate my Precision 5. The Jazz 5 plays great, but is mostly eye candy now, but I won't sell it and "break up the set"
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Update - I'm making this a reality. I brought my P Bass home from consignment after 2.5 months yesterday. I played it all afternoon and I realized that putting flats on it is a great idea.
I got to really understand my P Bass yesterday after four years of ownership. For me, it's best suited for slower music such as doom metal, some traditional heavy metal, hard rock, and blues. So I need to approach my bass as a tool for that music.
Its a good sound. I was watching/listening to a graph of James Jamerson playing ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ on YT just tonight. Setting aside the fine note choices, that “flats on a P” sound can just hit the spot.
I just flashed back to Scott Devine talking about how that sound has such a narrow tonal spectrum! He played that song too as the example! A P with La Bella flats is a classic sound! It's either those or Rotosound 77s for my P Bass.
