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P bass vs RIC

i meant pickup wise

You're asking to get beaten around the head and neck with the "use a search!" and "read the sticky" clubs, here. :D

Both basses are great for metal. Lemmy sounds great on a Ric, Tim Commerford sounds great on a J, and Steve Harris sounds great on a P. Countless guys use Spector, but that doesn't mean that they're the "best bass for metal".

You might try figuring out what metal sound you're looking for and then use the bass that is used in that sound. Also recognize that a lot of what makes one bass sound different from another bass gets lost in all of the effects that a lot of metal guys use.
 
You're asking to get beaten around the head and neck with the "use a search!" and "read the sticky" clubs, here. :D

Both basses are great for metal. Lemmy sounds great on a Ric, Tim Commerford sounds great on a J, and Steve Harris sounds great on a P. Countless guys use Spector, but that doesn't mean that they're the "best bass for metal".

You might try figuring out what metal sound you're looking for and then use the bass that is used in that sound. Also recognize that a lot of what makes one bass sound different from another bass gets lost in all of the effects that a lot of metal guys use.

He speaks the truth.

To answer your inquiry about the pickup, I still say P for the exact same reason - bigger bottom (series wiring for fat sound).
 
You will meet more ladies with the Ric .

No, you must have missed it. He said he was playing metal. ;)

Steve Harris: "The P Bass"
Lemmy from Motorhead: "No, dummie, the Ric"

If they came to blows, it would be interesting to see. I think Lemmy could definitely take him in a fair fight, but Harris usually has a 10-foot tall monster on stage with him, so there's that. Lemmy has that wart, tis true, but Steve is rocking those awesome wristbands.

Now, if you're talking modern metal, you'll want something blacker and pointier than either a P or Ric.

All kidding aside, both basses would be fine choices. Hopefully you can try them out in a store and decide which one speaks to you more, in terms of sound, feel, or hopefully both.
 
as stated before, Cliff Burton used a Ric with metallica, and so did DD Verni on the early Overkill albums. Steve Harris has been using p-bass forever, and Alex webster even used one on two of the early Cannibal Corpse albums (butchered at birth and eaten back to life)