P and J basses get lost in live mixes?

[Clark Dark]

J's lost in the mix ???

circa 2008 AWB live



circa 1975 KC & the Sunshine Band live



both basses look passive. It's hard to keep a good J down

 

[Shannon]

Changing strings on almost any bass and it will cut through a mix.....

Change strings?! Are you MAD? (grin)

I have heard all this before, but reading other posts here has shown me that the bassist just needs to use flats, turn down, go in the back, and make the guitarist look good/better, because carrots.

 

[SteveCS]

Change strings?! Are you MAD? (grin)

I have heard all this before, but reading other posts here has shown me that the bassist just needs to use flats, turn down, go in the back, and make the guitarist look good/better, because carrots.

Isn't that what OPs video is moaning about?

 

[drumvsbass]

A precision with maple fingerboard and flats run through a 15 inch speaker is never wrong.

 

[Machiavelli]

This guy can play and seems like a nice guy, but he has so much bad advice:

-buy more expensive for resale
-lost on mixes nonesense
-double h humbuckers have more magnets and so change the sound
-schecter hellraiser most versatile bass


Its all absurd

 

[Ggaa]

Running a passiveized Wick LX w/ Bart jazz pups. I punch up the lo mids at the amp, that cuts through the mix, and I sometimes get unsolicited compliments on the tone/clarity from sound crew, bassists and an occasional drummer(never about my playing, now that I think about it...) Rumble 200 bright switch on, 2x GK 115s, mud knob
off, Fatbeams.

 

[pbass2]

Personally, I prefer a bass sound that sits in the mix properly, vs. "cutting through".

 

[Humabass]

I gigged with a Lakland 4-94 with DR roundwounds for years and always struggled to hear myself during a gig although in the club or at festivals the bass sounded amazing (per soundmen and audience members). While playing with a blues band I started using my 71 Jazz or Pedigo PJ (mostly with the P pup) with TI flats and suddenly could hear myself very well and the basses sounded great in the club or at festivals ( per soundmen and audience members). Go figure. P basses have become so popular lately maybe due to guys like Michael League, Sam Wilkes, Joe Ayoub, Sean Hurley, and of course prior to them Pino. I still have a love/hate relationship with P basses. I think they sound great in the song but I can't stand their sound when soloed. I think I'm just a two pickup guy. I can deal with a P but have never liked the sound or pup placement of Stingray/Sterlings.

 

[Alexander]

You have to be pretty good at messing things up to lose a p-bass in a mix.

WORD

 

[Dincrest]

So how about Nathan Navarro's bass shootouts:

#1 has a Stingray and a Dingwall in it:

#2 has a Fender Jazz in it:

 

[logdrum]

Wait for it ....


The HPF police will be in shortly.

 

[logdrum]

Just give everyone headphones like Snarky Puppy does.

 

[Savage_Dreams]

anything can get lost in a mix depending on what you do with it from eq/playing style/strings/gear/...etc to things out of your control like the engineer. musicman works for his needs, good for him.

 

[QweziRider]

Would you agree on that?

Nope. Never had an issue with mine being heard.

 

[Marcus Willett]

I think everything should cut through the mix. But y'know equally... so there's a uniform amount of cutting. So it like balances, all the cutting through. That way everybody cuts through and you can hear everything in a balanced way, but y'know cutting.

Through

 

[outoftune]

I'd say that a proper Pbass has an inherent mid focus that not only cuts through a mix, but also perfectly slots into most mixes in a near tetris type fashion (hence its ubiquity from stage to studio)

This all day.

 

[JSandbloom]

Dudes on dope. Plus, it's about sitting in a mix not punching through. Don't be that guy.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

The term "cut through the mix" is probably the most overused and abused marketing term in the bass guitar related consumer market. If I had a nickel for each time I read or heard that term in an a product advertisement or biased review I could buy the Sadowsky I'm currently gassing for.

 

[bearfoot]

IMO, any bass , any instrument, can get lost in a mix, and that is the musicians' and the mixer's fault 100% of the time.

I once watched an entire evening of "sludge" metal. 2 bassists used Stingrays, both were totally buried. One bassist used a P-bass and that was the only bass guitar anyone heard in the audience that night.

This is not a P-bass magic statement, as I've had P's get buried too. They don't have enough high snap/bark when you need it.

More often than not, at most shows I've attended in recent years, the problem is not bass getting buried, it's excessive bass that buries all the vocals and overwhelms the guitars.

 

[DWBass]

That's probably why they're not very popular.

Right. Never happened to me. Been playing Jazz basses since forever. I have a P as well. Very present.