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P Bass, 5 String, 5 String P Bass or Both!?

P Bass, 5 String, Both or 5 string P?

  • 4 String P Bass

    Votes: 4 10.8%

  • Cost Effective 5 String

    Votes: 5 13.5%

  • 4 String P & 5 String

    Votes: 4 10.8%

  • 5 String P

    Votes: 21 56.8%

  • Stick with the Jazz and just wait for the Bongo!

    Votes: 3 8.1%
  • Total voters
    37
Big Ginger Bass

Big Ginger Bass

Jul 8, 2009
28
4
Swindon
#1
Hi guys,

So after much deliberation I recently part exchanged my 2 Ibanez basses to help fund a Bongo 6 which I have ordered - and manage to catch in Stealth Pearl before it was discontinued!

However I'm not expected to be able to collect said Bongo until 2016 (I was told roughly 12 weeks) as it still needs to built in the US and shipped over here to the UK.

So at this point I am left with just my MIM Fender Jazz which I love to pieces however I'm kind craving a cheaper beater/new toy in the meantime!

I've always wanted a P-bass as a counterpart to my Jazz, however rather I was looking into getting a mid-high end Squier such as a Vintage Modified - They're £280/$425 to buy new here in the UK roughly.

However at the same time parting with both my 5 and current 6 to fund the Bongo will leave me having not played extended range bass for 3 months or so until I have my Bongo!

So I was also toying with getting a good value 5 string to keep myself somewhat up to scratch in the meantime.... however I could just split the difference and get a 5 string P Bass, but I don't know if they have a good B string or what have you - should I just stick with a 4 string P if I were to get one?

So to summerise

P Bass? 4 or 5? (Feel free to suggest a different model I only used Vintage Modified as an example?)

Cost Effective 5 string (Again feel free to suggest)

Or possibly both?

Many thanks for reading, keep supporting the low end! :bassist:
 
#2
Why not a cheaper Ibanez 6 string, like a used 506 or something? Flip it for roughly the same cost when you get your Bongo.

If you really want a P, I'd likely just get the 5 string Squier VM P Bass, but those new Ibanez SR656 or SR756 (or 5 string equivalent) with the Nordtsand P/J pickups looks pretty sweet!
 
#6
Get a 6-string set of your favorite strings and just put that on your Jazz bass, adjust the bass of course. Play extended on the Jazz until the Bongo arrives. Then swap the strings back to where they belong once you get the Bongo.
 
#10
Big Ginger Bass said:
... I've always wanted a P-bass as a counterpart to my Jazz, however rather I was looking into getting a mid-high end Squier such as a Vintage Modified - They're £280/$425 to buy new here in the UK roughly ...
Click to expand...
The Squier VMP-5 is a great bass for the money. I have one and it's everything a P-Bass ought to be ... with a B string. Hard to go wrong with one of those.
 
#13
I second the Matt Freeman P Bass suggestion.

Love the P Bass, love 5 strings, but the 5 string P Basses out there just don't seem right to me.

A three bass collection of P Bass, J Bass, and 6 string Bongo covers it all pretty much.
 

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