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P Bass..... it just works!

BAG

BAG

May 5, 2014
7,502
17,070
New Zealand
#1
My daughter asked me to do a bass line for her new original that she is recording for a school project. It's a very jazzy feel of a song so i thought I'd try it with my fretless jazz bass. Did one take with both pickups on full, then did a take with just the bridge pickup to try for that buurpy mwah tone. With both of these takes i tried quite a bit of eq-ing after the fact but they both disappeared in the mix with only an acoustic guitar and vocal track to compete with.

I grabbed my Pbass with flats and did a take with a pick and it is definitely the best of the three takes. Even sounds more like an upright tone on the walking line than the fretless.

Ok, I'm just a novice when it comes to recording and i love the sound of my fretless in the lounge room, but i was still surprised how much better the P sounded on the recording.
 
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#8
BAG said:
. . . but i was still surprised how much better the P sounded on the recording.
Click to expand...

Fender managed to put the right pickup in the right place. I'd assume there was a lot of experimenting from Fender and feed back from the musicians that used to hang out at the factory. My guess is that they knew what they were doing because bass gear at the time couldn't handle anything bigger or lower. The P bass focusses on the low mids which is where the producers, artists and players preferred the bass lines to be. Once the P bass was in the studio, and sounding that good, something better had to come along to take over. Nothing did. That's a perfect example of evolution.
 
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#12
I studied recording in college. My school had a 24-track studio that operated 24 hours a day, run by the students. Once our instructors knew they could trust the newer pupils to NOT stick the U87 inside a kick drum, we could sign up for an 8-hour shift. It was a glorious time! :cool:

Anyhoo, when I was there, I received LOTS of seat time... and hand down, the best sounding (and easiest) electric bass I ever recorded was a stock 70s Fender P, run into a direct box.

Boom.

Done.

It just worked.
 
Last edited:
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#13
This is in respect to live sound, but I struggled for the better part of an hour trying to get one of my favorite jazz basses to sit “right” in my bands foh for a show tonight. Stage sound was ok, just not where I wanted it out front. Out of desperation I grabbed my p bass to compare, and five minutes later the bass was perfectly dialed in between the drums and guitars. It was that easy...
 
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#14
One of my local bars hosts a blues jam on weekends. Every once in a while I drop in. I know the bandleader pretty well and he usually puts together a pretty talented group although not always the same people. He's used several bass players over the years that I have known him. One guy played a P and when I knew he was playing , I usually wouldn't even take my bass. I would just use his. We have known each other for a while so I knew he was OK with this. He hasn't been around lately so as not to impose on anyone , when I drop by these days , I bring my own bass. On a couple of occasions , the guys playing had some pretty fancy and expensive basses. On two occasions that I can remember vividly , I thought their bass tone was awful. Sounded like duck farts to me and this isn't what a solid blues bass should sound like , at least to my way of thinking. When I got called up to play a few songs I was told on both occasions that I could adjust anything I needed on the rig and I expected to have to make some major changes. Got up on stage , plugged in and hit a couple of notes on my P Bass to see what I needed to do. Sounded great. Didn't have to touch a thing. I was amazed.
Yeah , there are some things a P Bass won't do but when you are looking for a good solid sound that works well with most music , for me at least , it's just the easiest and most reliable way to go.
 
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#16
somebrains said:
I love this guy's thought process.
My favorite mods were for working guys that wanted very specific things they needed to gig.
I very much use my P's in parallel most of the time, I'm a J guy after all.
I love the reasons he setup his bass the way he did.
If he isn't a member I should reach out to him and ask him to join TB.


Click to expand...


That first video may be the best PJ demo I've seen yet. It's definitely a good walkthrough of all the different tones.
 
#19
BAG said:
My daughter asked me to do a bass line for her new original that she is recording for a school project. It's a very jazzy feel of a song so i thought I'd try it with my fretless jazz bass. Did one take with both pickups on full, then did a take with just the bridge pickup to try for that buurpy mwah tone. With both of these takes i tried quite a bit of eq-ing after the fact but they both disappeared in the mix with only an acoustic guitar and vocal track to compete with.

I grabbed my Pbass with flats and did a take with a pick and it is definitely the best of the three takes. Even sounds more like an upright tone on the walking line than the fretless.

Ok, I'm just a novice when it comes to recording and i love the sound of my fretless in the lounge room, but i was still surprised how much better the P sounded on the recording.
Click to expand...
It may be interesting and worthwhile to note that the soloed neck pickup of my American Original '60s Jazz Bass is equal to the middiest and crispiest of the P basses with the tone full on...
A good jazz bass, and that particular model is a good jazz bass indeed, can be quite versatile tone wise ... I own 3 P basses as well however
 
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