Love the look of both covers. For playing, I gotta have the pickup cover off. Covers on is a classic look that I like best.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
The way a P bass should be
- Thread starter Perfessor
- Start date
Apparently you have not studied string tree theory. Start with the movie Interstellar. Then read a book.
They look cool. They serve little other purpose which is why they became unused.
Are those "real" chrome pickup cover sounds or AI chrome pickup cover sounds?
Ahhh, the new age of....."is it real or AI?"
This p bass looks super !
I just did a spectrum analysis on a YouTube video wherein a guy plays the exact same thing with first no ashtray covering the pickup and then with the cover on. The spectrum with the higher, and brighter, trend lines is without the cover. The spectrum with the cover shows the mellowing of the tone.
I’m not convinced that I’m not living inside a computer simulation, so… I’m gonna go with the pickup cover sounds are genuine artificial waveforms generated by a carbon based life form that may or may not be a figment of our collective imagination.
I keep the bridge cover on my '78 Ibanez Silver Series just for aesthetics. The pickup cover is gone because it's completely useless and gets in the way.
This is the way a P bass should be. No pickguard, black headstock, black hardware, solid color, side jack hole and large pole pickups.
<Gratuitous P-bass pic warning>
I'm guessing I'm the only one here that is actually ok with dead spots (if they're in the 4th-5th fret region). Maybe that's because I've learned to embrace them after 40 years + of playing Fenders, and the decreased sustain of the C, Db and D on the G string is part of the vibe. If I want sustain and even response I'll play another bass.
What I don't like so much are hot spots - my '62 P shown here has a very pronounced one at the 8th fret C on the E string, as well as a couple of other places - when I'm recording with that bass, if I look at a waveform of any of those notes they're twice as loud as anything else. The tort partially makes up for it, though.
Re. chrome pickup covers: I like the way they look but I can't play for s**t with them on.
I'm guessing I'm the only one here that is actually ok with dead spots (if they're in the 4th-5th fret region). Maybe that's because I've learned to embrace them after 40 years + of playing Fenders, and the decreased sustain of the C, Db and D on the G string is part of the vibe. If I want sustain and even response I'll play another bass.
What I don't like so much are hot spots - my '62 P shown here has a very pronounced one at the 8th fret C on the E string, as well as a couple of other places - when I'm recording with that bass, if I look at a waveform of any of those notes they're twice as loud as anything else. The tort partially makes up for it, though.
Re. chrome pickup covers: I like the way they look but I can't play for s**t with them on.
Last edited:
This picture is definitely how a p bass should be, true 60 years ago and still true today, IMO of course.
Logic, rationality, and cause-and-effect completely aside, if a bass came from the factory with covers, mine are going to have them. I'll just have to find work-arounds for hum and dead spots.
yes,my 71 P has noticeable hot spots on the E string around that area, just learned to tread carefully
