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The P Bass Growl

#43
My P is ash/rw, strings are Chromes, amp is set flat, and the bass is as loud and as clear as my active Ibanez. Every note is just ridiculously apparent.

Growl comes with hand placement and tone knob adjustment.

wraub
 
#44
hsech said:
I think the "growl" come from the amp settings. I have an American Standard PBass and definitly like the sound. You go from sounding like hitting a wet cardboard box with a hot dog to getting a good blues or rock sound. My PBass just sounds different with different amps.
Click to expand...

My Spector growls through whatever amp I put it through. My Dean practice amp or my Ampeg PF-500. It growled through my SWR SM-500 and my Yorkville XS-800. It's not an amp thing.
 
#45
Fuzzbass said:
As for P-bass growl specifically, well, John Entwistle's playing on Live at Leeds four decades ago is still a classic example. On that album it comes out a little better when he's playing pickstyle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZUMg6Maht4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea0759BeJ2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg3fmZyE3cg

P.S. On that album Entwistle is panned full left and Townshend full right, so if you want to hear Ox' playing in all its glory, pan left!
Click to expand...

No finer example of "that" P-bass tone. Some strange, terrifying trinity of a growl, a honk and a woof.

So that's a Fender Precision, Rotosound RS66s and a heavily overdriven tube amp. Job's a good 'un.
 
#47
I put DR fatbeams (marcus miller sigs) on my franken-PJ after becoming disillusioned with my tone in general (my black beauties were starting to lose their coating) and it might just be the warmest and most beautiful growl i've heard yet. I can definitely see why Ps have been used on pretty much every record of the past century.
 
#48
BrandonBass said:
Not saying a pbass cant be present in the mix, but definitely harder to do so compared to a rick or jazz. Rocco doesnt play in a band w distorted guitars etc.

Same reason James Jamerson is present in the mix, cause the mix he plays in are usually quite sparse with lots of sonic space for him to do his fills
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Feel free to post any "sparse" sounding Motown tracks...they were about as dense as a medical textbook. I play up against two distorted guitars every week and a Precision does a better job than any Jazz cutting through, and I owned two J's. Precisions being able to handle dense (or sparse) mixes is exactly why they are so popular. :eyebrow:
 
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#49
To me, my P's growl with stainless steel rounds, played with a pick. I play ampegs, so I usually dial in a lot of mids, bass at 1:00 treble at 1:00 or 2:00, and on my portaflex, I use the ultra low button.

The band in my sig has me playing a road worn P with SS rounds and a pick through an SVT and an 810 with a blend of mic and DI at the board if you'd like to hear what I think of as growl.
 
#51
petrus61 said:
Feel free to post any "sparse" sounding Motown tracks...they were about as dense as a medical textbook. I play up against two distorted guitars every week and a Precision does a better job than any Jazz cutting through, and I owned two J's. Precisions being able to handle dense (or sparse) mixes is exactly why they are so popular. :eyebrow:
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, I liken my Ric's tone to more of a really bright aggressive P sound than a J bass. Mine's an '03 4003 with a baseball bat of a neck, which more resembles a P than a J.

But it has two single coils like a J? The Bridge pup is MUCH closer to the P position than a J bass' bridge pup is:cool: It's bright, but very mid-heavy.
 
#53
I love me some P Bass growl/grind/whatever everyone calls it! I am pretty much a P Bass enthusiast anymore and this video is by far my favorite P Bass sound ever, I would give anything to get this sound like he does though. Let me know what you think of his low note growl.

Bass is from 1:38-3:08


Of course you know he is picking and really digging in but believe it or not he is using light gauge Rotosound Flatwound strings and his bass is plugged directly into one of those 60's or 70's (correct me if I am wrong about this) PA systems, the really really heavy ones with the natural wood color, huge horns, and two 15" speakers. Should be clean too, directly plugged in no effects.
 
#54
tabdog said:
I pluck hard and close to the bridge
and I like low action so the frets
growl. The settings depend on the
bass and the amp. Just too many
variables there,

Tabdog
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+1

You can make (almost) any bass "growl" by diong this. Althgough some of 'em will do it more than others and in a different way. If you've ever heard a Warwick Thumb played hard at the bridge you know what I mean.
 
#55
Mike M. said:
To me, P basses as have a "grind" to the sound and Jazz basses have a "growl" to thier sound especially within the bridge pickup.

Just my opinion.
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I may be too much of a newb to even have an opinion, but I agree with Mike M. The original '62 pickup played with flats (AVRI '62 P for example) has a low-fi grind that I just love. It's accentuated of course with a tube amp. Some Ps have cleaner tones, especially via solid state gear, YMMV.
 

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