P Bass and the Grammys

[rusthoneybass]

Nate from the foo's usually plays a Lakland P did he not last night?

 

[msb]

I didn't ... I was out in a bar playing my Pbass .

 

[GhettoBrassGuy]

Nate from the foo's usually plays a Lakland P did he not last night?

He has a Custom Shop P coming out based off of his 71 P...he probably played that or the original.

 

[GhettoBrassGuy]

Jamareo Artis had a Pino with Bruno. I saw the outline that the custom shop does of the tug bar on the pickguard.

 

[Britbonic]

I am SURELY not a P Bass expert by any stretch of the imagination. However, as long as you take this with the proverbial grain of salt', I am quite impressed with the Fender 'American Standard' P's on the moderate end of the price scale, and am blown away by my Nordstrand VP5 (which is the only P I own) on the higher end of the price scale. Lightweight, and my ash/maple model with the wonderful Nordstrand P pickup is on the 'bright, punchy end of the P Bass continuum. Pure IMO there. I've rarely found such a perfect instrument in its 'class' (i.e., J, P, whatever) than the Nordstrand VP5!

Fun to kind of 'change things up' after 30 years+ of active J inspired instruments! Really fits the type of pop music that I play at the moment.

I would 2nd the Am Std P's. Bought a NOS 2008 which now has a 2011 neck (thanks Fender) and it has become my number 1 player. I also have a 57AVRI with TI's that is my old school bass. Not all Fenders are great but quality has improved in recent years and with some searching you can find good ones.
Both of these are fantastic instruments, off the shelf production models.

 

[Baird6869]

I remember reading an article some years back that he used a Mesa bass rig for bass as well as his acoustic guitars and les Paul because he like the tone

Cool! Paul is a smart guy then.... I play my Les Paul Standard guitar through my Mesa head as well!

Strangely enough, it sounds almost as good as my high end Rivera combo amp.....

 

[Jackster007]

I saw that Ric; can't remember what song it was used on. Which one was it?

I think it was in the Beach Boys tribute

 

[Baird6869]

Question for those of you that have a few high end basses or can afford to play what you want....

What bass would you play at a gig like the Grammys? Lots of different bands for the sound guys to deal with and the fact you are playing a 1-3 song set HAS to be a consideration....

Personally, I have a big corporate gig (800-1000 people) this week (all backline is provided and i THINK i am getting a SVT and fridge) and I am bringing a '74 P and a '78 Stingray.... Whatever bass the sound guy can EQ better is what I will play.

I own crazy high output Les Paul Oversized and Bongo HH5 basses as well... I wouldn't bring them as they are harder to EQ. If I still owned my Sadowskys and Roscoes, I would also likely leave them at home for this gig (or the Grammys).

Also, I am playing only 5 songs and a bunch of filler sound bites between speakers/presenters..... Funk with slap, AC/DC, blues, U2, reggae, etc.... A sound guys nightmare!

 

[ksandvik]

I'm just now watching the Jamiroquai Montreux concert on youtube and the bass player switches bass guitars all the time. I would think any decent to good sound mixer should be able to handle that. As for Grammy concerts, they hire the best guys in the business...

 

[LowSide121]

People seem to be forgetting that Bruce's bassist was using a spector.

 

[Rickles]

I thought it was great to see so many P's last night. And when you consider it's been around in this form, nearly unchanged, since 1957!

 

[StuartV]

What bass would you play at a gig like the Grammys?

I would take my SB-2 and my StingRay 5. I'd play the SB-2 unless I felt like I wanted the Low B string for the songs I was going to be playing.

Might take my '66 P, too, if I were going to play anything where Flats would be the appropriate call on strings.

 

[fish slapper]

Product placement, they'll be checking the sales figures for P Basses over the next couple of weeks.

This is my theory as well. I'm an MBA student with a long career in Marketing and it makes sense. Now to put my tin foil hat back on.

 

[ksandvik]

This is my theory as well. I'm an MBA student with a long career in Marketing and it makes sense. Now to put my tin foil hat back on.

Maybe Fender has a huge inventory of P-basses they want to get rid of. Or they want kids to love Precisions as they are afraid the dubstep generation has switched to NI Massive. I just love conspiracy theories with no real life substance.

 

[tinman 1967]

I thought the bass player for Taylor Swift was great! Someone here said it was a Gretsch? I was thinking that.

Never saw the RIC during the Beach Boys gig, I guess I was too busy watching Mr. Wilson behind his piano.... thinking how great it was to see him out there.... Saw the Epi Jack bass, a bunch of P basses...

Great show I thought!

(though Im not much of a country fan........ I thought Taylor Swift knocked the bottom out of it!)

 

[sj_bass]

Question for those of you that have a few high end basses or can afford to play what you want....

What bass would you play at a gig like the Grammys?

Well, it would mainly depend on the artist I was supporting. For instance:

Bruno Mars: Fender '75 RI Jazz (either the burst or the natty, depending on the outfits).

Beach Boys: '73 Epi EA-260

Adele: '85 Fender P (in black/maple)

Foos: Gibson RD Artist

Pit band: Lakland JO4, 55-02

That's of course if I didn't suck...

 

[LucienBel]

What bass would you play at a gig like the Grammys?

Probably a Fender MIA Jazz. Fender has almost always been a go to gig bass in most situations for me. Sounds good, versatile, but still simple.

 

[Bassmunnky]

What I saw was return to guitar oriented rock at the Grammy's. Being an old fart, I appreciated it. I had an 20 something kid in my music class today actually bitch about the Macca closing performance, good lord, kids these days.

I'm not going to the Grammy's anytime soon, but hell, if I'm playing the show, I'm using the tried and true for my 4 minutes and 30 seconds of TV fame. Ain't gonna be no stinking battery or all kind of knobs to accidentally hit during that song, no sir, though I use a battery loaded bass on most of my gigs now.

And hell, it just looked cool all those Fenders didn't they. The Beach Boys tribute was full of Fender eye candy.

What a great show, cept for the Chris Brown jonk. Rejoice about the P time.

 

[JetBlackJazz]

sucks

 

[Mike M.]

I would 2nd the Am Std P's. Bought a NOS 2008 which now has a 2011 neck (thanks Fender) and it has become my number 1 player. I also have a 57AVRI with TI's that is my old school bass. Not all Fenders are great but quality has improved in recent years and with some searching you can find good ones.
Both of these are fantastic instruments, off the shelf production models.

One day I wouldn't mind owning an AM STD Precision. When I was looking for a good, 5 string (bought an AM STD 5 string Jazz) I tried the 4 string Precision and wow! The build quality and the playability were excellant!

Of what I've seen I think Fender has done a great job with the American Standards.