Slap players: Best PUPS/Bass style for Slap?

It really depends what kind of tone you’re going for. Ps can sound great slapped but they do sound different from Js. Can you post some examples of the sound you’re wanting to get?

 

Forget Me Nots (Patrice Rushen) has a slapped P bass.

 

String guage will definitely make a difference. Stanley Clarke uses pretty light strings (usually 40-90), whereas Marcus Miller is known for using 45-105. Steel vs nickel will also make a bit of a difference.

Ps and Js will respond differently when slapped but it also comes down to the individual bass. I’ve played jazz basses that responded really well when slapped and others that didn’t - even when the specs were identical (electronics, hardware, wood type). It would be the same with Ps. The one Precision I owned (a 2007 Fender ‘62 reissue) sounded really weak when slapped (it didn’t sound that great in general though).

 

your "generic" slap tone is likely a Jazz, ash body, fretted maple neck, possibly 70s pickup spacing (bridge pickup 1/2" closer to bridge), lowish action, into a fairly clean amp or pre amp with some mids pulled out and compressed. My MIJ Jazz does this sound naturally.

But beyond MArcus and a couple others, you CAN play this style on any combo of pickups. woods, etc. It just comes down to what you want out of the sounds youre making.

 

First of all, good call on trying some new round strings. (I de-fretted my first decent bass, thinking it was no good for slap, only to realize it was the strings that were super dead...)
IME the "scooped" EQ curve plays a big role in a good slap sound. (Aggressive midrange response combined with that aggressive technique can be a bit much.) A lot of designs reflect this: the "classic" Music Man & Sadowsky preamps with boost-only bass & treble and the J which is naturally scooped with both pickups on (and that often gets augmented with an onboard preamp for the "modern" sound). My passive Dingwall bass has a "blue cube" circuit that dumps midrange to help compensate for the extra bark-y pickups.
So while you are contemplating gear, you might also want to start experimenting with preamp settings.
As far as J-basses are concerned, FWIW I found the DiMarzio "Ultra-Jazz" pickups to be extra exquisitely scooped, but have since settled on good single coils (for a good, raw neck pickup and ample scoop with both).

 

You should be able to slap just fine on your P bass, especially with rounds. Might not be exactly the tone in your head, but should be plenty to tell whether your technique is there.

 

Boost your bass and treble on your amp and reduce mids a bit and your p bass will work fine, although I prefer a PJ for slap and J’s are the next best thing.

 

I'm not a slapping expert.
But I can venture to say that the most liked basses for slapping have historically been Music Man Stingrays and Fender Jazz Basses. The most popular combination has been round wound strings with a maple fingerboard.

Stanley Clarke has always been associated with Alembic basses.

People can slap on any bass, and get different sounds, but I don't think that's what you're asking.

 

I understand. My first basses were not very good vehicles for slap but at the time I had no idea and figured it was just me doing something wrong. Short of trying different basses it can be difficult to know (you could always post examples of yourself playing if you want feedback).

Something else I should have mentioned is set-up on your bass. The ideal string height for most heavy slappers is going to be fairly low (though not so low that the string chokes out when you strike or pop it).

 

I get a good sound with a PJ, with half wounds that I polished before I put them on. I scoop out about 500hz. Yeah, light gauge gives that piano bass sound

 

IMO, JJ basses (like the Jazz Bass) with Stainless Steel/Hex core strings are the epitome of "slap tone". Sure you can get cool tones slapping almost any bass, but that pick up config just seems to bite really well.

Dunlop Marcus Miller SS Super Bright strings are good to try out for this.

 

I have a Warwick FNA that I learned some slap fundamentals on, but found it challenging at the time and never made much progress -- it just didn't sound right, and I assumed that the technique was out of my grasp. Much later, I put DR Hi-Beams on it, and found that it just about would slap itself with those strings. That was a light-bulb moment for me.

 

Quarter pound J set

 

I have 20 basses, yeah, I know, it’s a bunch. When I hear the good slap players with the tone I want to hear, it sounds just like the longhorn (boner) Jazz bass I am now playing with the mids and treble cranked a bit, changing the pickups to DiMarzio area J’s seemed to be the secret sauce

 

You shouldn't have to pluck too hard. A common misconception about slap bass is that you need to play much harder when you really don't. Like any other technique, you can dig in, but shouldn't spend all that energy to just get that sound. I honestly think you will be pleasantly surprised at the difference the right bass and strings will make.

Sires are nice, I want one myself!