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Slapping a Precision

#42
hsp-sandiego said:
Slap on a P Bass can sound really good. Great Examples: Freddie Washington on Patrice Rushen's "Forget me Nots", Boz Scaggs "Low Down", S.O.S. Band "Take the Time, Do it Right". Strings are a big one here... Round Wound for sure. For a Pedal, I would think something like a Aguilar ToneHammer or really any Active Preamp in a pedal.
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Also listen to "Pops"Popwell on Larry Carlton's solo disc's from the late seventies.Listen to his solo in "Rio Samba"at 4:10.
 
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#43
Alban said:
Naturally. But the idea is, to have an instant-on sound for slap, aside from any global EQ settings.
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Why have a bass with one sound?
Isn't that why we have tone controls,tone pedals and amp tone controls?
To adjust a basses tone?I try to choose those who can closely approximate a good scooped and a midrange bridge sound.
Any bass that's "not quite there" can be "dialed in"by use of tone controls.
Onboard and off.
 
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#50
Of the options discussed so far, I think the MarkBass Mini Boost looks the most enticing for what you're after.

My Dingwall SuperP has a mid scoop/tone control built into the tone control. It has a centre detent and in one direction, it acts as a normal tone control and in the opposite direction, it's a mid scoop and has a surprisingly good slap sound.
 
#52
Watchootognbout said:
Why have a bass with one sound?
Isn't that why we have tone controls,tone pedals and amp tone controls?
To adjust a basses tone?I try to choose those who can closely approximate a good scooped and a midrange bridge sound.
Any bass that's "not quite there" can be "dialed in"by use of tone controls.
Onboard and off.
Click to expand...

Errmm yes that's the whole point of this thread. I am fully aware of the tonal possibilities of basses, amps and other gear, my (simple?) question in the OP was only about what specific pedals might be the most suitable for getting a bit of a midrange scoop on a P. Something which can be switched on and off on the fly.
The obvious things like EQ's and preamp pedals are known to me, I just wanted to see if there were other devices which do what I want (i.e. stuff like the Funkulator).

Anyway, I did a gig tonight using my MXR M81 as an EQ-pedal for slap, that worked fairly well, as expected. I might still check out a Mini Boost or a Funkulator at some point.
 
#54
I tried an Aguilar Tone Hammer to try to achieve this but ended up selling it. The Tone Hammer pedal definitely would get a super hot rodded sound, but I found I could get good practical results setting the amp up for fingerstyle tone with the P Bass tone rolled almost all the way down. Then when I wanted to slap I'd open up the tone control on the bass, sometimes all the way sometimes not. Bam! That exact tone of those great 70s funk records.

A lot of this really depends on your playing technique. Another interesting thing to note is that my 83 P Bass (Black n Maple) came to me with a Badass II bridge on it which I think enhanced the P Bass tone into a more hifi type of sound. Strings I have found to work best by far are GHS Super Steels but any SS rounds would get you there.
 
#55
Alban said:
Hey all,

I am currently rocking my '59 CS Precision as my main bass. It suits all my songs just fine, but I have been wondering about getting a pedal to get a bit more of a "modern" scooped slap tone for one or two songs which would benefit from that particular sound. I am not expecting any miracles of course; I understand that I won't get any sparkly graphite Statusesque tones from a P bass.

So the question is, what kind of device would do the trick? I have been looking at the Funkulator pedal, which seems to be built specifically for this purpose, but I don't know how well it works on a P bass.

I could just get a decent EQ like the Empress ParaEQ, but it could be overkill for my needs. Do you guys have any ideas on this?
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A simple Boss GEB-7 graphic EQ set to a "Scoop mid"setting.
 
#57
My active Sadowsky P5 sounds awesome slapped, all I have to do is boost some bass and treble (which I tend to do anyway).

As for old school P-bass slap funk, this is as good as it gets (skip to 0:30 if you're impatient). I'll take it over J-bass slap every time.


^^^ None of this helps the OP -- just showing my love for P-bass slap.
 
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