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Precision Bass Sound
- Thread starter Don Carter
- Start date
Could make for a good country song. I bet his mama tried to steer him right.
If you have a decent P that's setup well you won't need any pedals. To paraphrase Michael League, a pbass is "all the frequencies you want, and none of the ones you don't".
You lost me. Maybe I misunderstood, but didn't you say earlier the OP should get a P-bass, and now you say it's all about the sound? What am I missing here? Lots of basses can sound so similar to a P that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in a blind test.Now I understand "minimalist".Also, playing live or not has no bearing on this. It's all about the sound/tone/texture of the bass parts and a live mix can still capture that.
Edit:
The irony is that 90% of the time I play a P.
I don't know if it's "scared of change" so much as "can't be bothered with change", at least when in comes to the bass in the music industry at large. The P-bass is a, really THE, known commodity, and basslines are often thought of as merely a commodity:
"We're not here to innovate, we're here to replicate!"
Having said that, I only recently and for the first time saw footage of Geddy playing a P-bass with Rush and to my ear it sounded way more "Geddy" than "P-bass". I've seen it argued here that very few people can tell the difference with certainty once the bass is "in the mix". I think that's likely true for the most part, but I've never had the ability to discern tonal variation like others I've worked with, so I can't really judge. These days, I'm not a "one sound" guy. I think that there are countless awesome bass tones out there, so if someone wanted a P-bass, I'd be totally OK with that, although they would probably want fretted, so I'd have to buy another bass. (Say it isn't so!) I've played bass for 45 years now, and have only ever owned one P-bass, a killer Tony Franklin signature I bought here a few weeks ago.
Motown tribute band? 3TSB P-bass all day, every day, though I'm not sure about the foam mute.
I do love the 3TSB though! There may be another P-bass in my future.
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I’ve heard that and I don’t believe that. If producer/bandleader/soundman (what ever) asks or chooses P because he is scared of change and chooses for that reason ”worse" sounding P Bass, he is very unwise, uncompetent and got soon find another job.Because people are scared of change and doing something different?
I believe you did misunderstand me. When I said "get a P-Bass" and "it's all about the sound", I mean it's all about the classic sound of the P-Bass. Many of us who grew up playing Fender Precisions can definitely tell the difference in a blind test, self included. I guess I should be saying Precision but there are a lot of P-Basses that sound like the original Precision. I think the OP has the ideal bass for the job in the 77 Precision. The difficulty in playing that could be the set-up, or the neck. If I recall the 77 neck was a bit larger, but I could be wrong. I have small hands and my P-Bass has a Jazz neck on it's and it a breeze to play. However, my preference is a 32" scale P-Bass or 32" scale Stu Hamm Urge with classic Precision pickups. They're definitely a lot faster.
Here are two examples. The first one I just completed. The second on is my Stu Hamm Urge. Both sound the same and play with very little effort.
PS: Nothing like the kitchen table to work on them!
I think what's been lost in the conversation is that the guitar player simply made the comment to the OP that would allow him to replicate the original sound, nothing more. All those suggesting the OP tell the guitar player to buy this or that obviously didn't catch that this is a Chicago Tribute Band, or chose to ignore it, and there-in lies the difference. If it was simply a cover band then it probably wouldn't make a difference.
Imagine a Rush Tribute Band with a bass player playing a Gibson EB-O.
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Thank you all again for your great and sometimes hilarious responses. I am so glad I joined this community.
I plugged in both basses and left the 77 Precision adjustments alone. I was able to get a close sound by cutting out the highs on the Warwick and turning the midrange all the way up. I turned down the lows just a bit.
I am also going to have the Fender worked on. Lots of good suggestions there.
I will be reading posts about other topics. I appreciate you all.
I plugged in both basses and left the 77 Precision adjustments alone. I was able to get a close sound by cutting out the highs on the Warwick and turning the midrange all the way up. I turned down the lows just a bit.
I am also going to have the Fender worked on. Lots of good suggestions there.
I will be reading posts about other topics. I appreciate you all.
You might get in a ballpark using the neck pickup on your Warwick and with careful EQing..and maybe with some preamp (like Aguilar TH or the aforementioned Tech 21 YYZ)...but I woud use a Pbass if I were you.
I found (another) P bass I’d like to have. I’ve been wanting another Fretless, regret selling my Warwick. I’d have to put a Fretless neck on it but that’s okay. I usually upgrade my basses anyway with Hipshot, Seymour Duncan’s etc. My current P has the Vintage (SPB-1) pickups. Love ‘em. Is there anyone hear familiar with the SD Quarter Pounders that could tell me the difference between the two?
Don’t sell your ‘77 P just like that. My 1977 has a wide neck pocket and some dents in the neck here and there. It’s completely original and sounds amazing with Fender flats. Invest in a proper setup.
I’ve had a lot of P’s (Am Pro, Player, Am Standard, etc.), but the ’77 truly has that classic, dirty ‘ratty’ P sound that seems to come more from the wood itself rather than just the pickups.
I’ve had a lot of P’s (Am Pro, Player, Am Standard, etc.), but the ’77 truly has that classic, dirty ‘ratty’ P sound that seems to come more from the wood itself rather than just the pickups.
