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P Bass Seems Overly Bright

#24
wayfarer55 said:
Hi, new to TalkBass here.
I have a 2005 Fender American Standard P bass that I recently bought. It looks and plays great but the pickup seems overly bright. Were these pickups brighter than usual in this era?
I have fiddled with the amp settings and tone control on the bass, but it still lacks the fat P bass sound that I'm seeking.
This bass has the S-1 switch but I leave it in the up (series) position all the time.
Any advice or suggestions are appreciated!
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Try rotating the knob nearest the jack counterclockwise.
 
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#25
wayfarer55 said:
Would you suggest through the body or top-load on flats? Thanks!
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.. depends on the kind of flats you choose, some mfg's do not recommend stringing certain flats through the body ..

... just a personal thing, but I prefer all my flats toploaded .. if for no other reason than flats last a very long time, and I may end up moving that set to a bass that does not STB, and I do not want that sharp witness point to be in my playing area on another bass that only toploads ...
 
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#27
wayfarer55 said:
Hi, new to TalkBass here.
I have a 2005 Fender American Standard P bass that I recently bought. It looks and plays great but the pickup seems overly bright. Were these pickups brighter than usual in this era? ...
Click to expand...

.. if they are the stock pups, they would likely be the 56003/4 set that were used from mid '94 through the early American Standards, then in 2000 all through the American Series (yours) up until they were switched in 2008 ...
 
#29
"The" "Classic" P-tone is a set of flats, a .047 tone cap, with the tone rolled off to about 7, give or take.

You need some of those bright overtones to help slot the mix and tie the drums and guitars together, the primary purpose of bass. It is always easy to roll off treble, you can never add what isn't there to begin with. As far as which flats, remembering that all strings have an initial zing when installed until they settle in to their signature tone:

Dark and woody: GHS
Start with zing, fade to consistent thump over time: D'Addario Chromes
Neutral, doesn't force its own character, but round tone with sustain: La Bella
Growly: Fender
Half way between Fender & Chromes: Ernie Ball
Sadowsky: a big tone a lot of people like
A little looser, mellow, almost scoop tone: Thomastik-Infeld - expensive
I've not played Pyramids, but think early Macca tone.

I've done both top-load the through-body-load. I don't hear any appreciable difference in tone, so go with top load for less stress on the string.
 
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#31
wayfarer55 said:
Hi, new to TalkBass here.
I have a 2005 Fender American Standard P bass that I recently bought. It looks and plays great but the pickup seems overly bright. Were these pickups brighter than usual in this era?
I have fiddled with the amp settings and tone control on the bass, but it still lacks the fat P bass sound that I'm seeking.
This bass has the S-1 switch but I leave it in the up (series) position all the time.
Any advice or suggestions are appreciated!
Click to expand...

YES, those Fender P pickups are bright as hell. You can either a) use the passive tone control to tame the highs or, 2) get some Nordstrand Vintage wind pickups. They are smooth sweet and punchy. Switching to flats, lowering the pickups, standing on your head etc etc are unusual solutions.
 
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#35
New La Bella flats have a nice thump to them.
I'd also replace your .05uF cap with a 0.1 for a bit of a darker tone like they used in the early days.

Exactly that. But you might be surprised with just the change of strings. Top mount La Bella.
 
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#38
Burwabit said:
For a lot of flats, same gauge means higher tension than rounds so you might have to tweak the truss rod to compensate. TIs are lower tension than most if not all flats. Loosely speaking I've been able to replace rounds with TIs without much tweaking (done this twice on a P5 and a Jazz 4). I generally run 45-100 in rounds.
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I recently put a set of Fender Stainless flats on my Dano (9050ML - .50 -.100), only because it's the only brand my local store had at the time. I usually run .45-.100's and being my first ever set of flats, didn't know about the tension difference until I strung it up. I had to make quite and adjustment to get the relief low enough to my liking, but all I can say is WOW! The sound and feel of flats is like nothing else. I am actually probably not going to run rounds again.. Ever.. Also, stainless strings are typically the brightest of the bunch followed by "chromes," at least in my experience.

I'd recommend these Fender flats as a decent, cheap first set for sure.
 
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