Which records more easily: Precision or Stingray?

[dukeorock]

This may to some extent be a semantic dispute; I think when the OP said "easier to record", and when people say P-basses "fit easier into the mix", what they really mean is somewhat different: that for certain styles of music (unstated but assumed to be fairly conventional, commercial styles of popular music), when the goal is to produce a fairly generic hit-record kind of sound, a P-bass is the standard choice because it fits well into that kind of mix. I wouldn't argue with that.

Why should it be assumed the music to be recorded is ‘generic’ at all? The person playing the bass is far more important than the type of bass itself

The Beach Boys
The Stranglers
Iron Maiden
Gentle Giant

Those are just off the top of my head, but that’s 4 very different sounding projects with 4 very different sounding players who all happened to be playing Fender Precisions. The basses weren’t particularly cool, not cool, good sounding or bad sounding until one of those people started playing them.

There’s a famous story where someone ran up to Chet Atkins right after a gig to say “your new guitar sounds amazing!” Chet laid the guitar on the floor and said, “How does it sound now?”

 

[Dr. Cheese]

This is a trick question because both P’s and MM’s can record so darn well!

For session work, I’ll bring a few basses, because you never know, but one of em is gonna be a P bass for sure.

There’s some truth in what you say.

 

[ajkula66]

What I mean is a bass that has no noise or distortion, and gets a clean tone.

What you're really referring to is a functional instrument and that aspect shouldn't even be a part of the debate.

I am talking about basses that sound good in a simple plug and play situation.

If the person behind the console knows what they're doing - and this is coming from someone who had spent thousands of hours on both sides of that equation in the old analog days - any functional instrument will do just fine.

I know my teacher has gone to flats to minimize string noise.

That fact alone would make *me* consider going to a different teacher.

One moves to flats because they want a particular array of sounds that can't be achieved otherwise, not to mask imperfections in their own playing. IMO, that is.

But to answer your original question - at least partially - Doc: I've never recorded a StingRay or played one in the studio. Plenty of P-Basses, even more Jazzes, my old G&L El Toro, Alembic Series I, Gibson Ripper, Status, Steinberger, Warwick, various Ibanez pieces...it all worked out in the end. Recording engineer is not there to complain about your bass - or any instrument for that fact - but to make it work. Period. Some of them need to be reminded of that fact, though.

I was quite young when I got tired of condescending attitudes and decided to learn the trade myself, more than three decades ago. One of the best decisions I've ever made for a variety of reasons, one of them being gaining a proper understanding of what's actually achievable in the recording studio, first hand.

My experiences only.

 

[AcridSaint]

I just came here to say that the L1000 resents the Stingray being called Leo Fenders "other" single humbucker design

 

[Dr. Cheese]

What you're really referring to is a functional instrument and that aspect shouldn't even be a part of the debate.



If the person behind the console knows what they're doing - and this is coming from someone who had spent thousands of hours on both sides of that equation in the old analog days - any functional instrument will do just fine.



That fact alone would make *me* consider going to a different teacher.

One moves to flats because they want a particular array of sounds that can't be achieved otherwise, not to mask imperfections in their own playing. IMO, that is.

But to answer your original question - at least partially - Doc: I've never recorded a StingRay or played one in the studio. Plenty of P-Basses, even more Jazzes, my old G&L El Toro, Alembic Series I, Gibson Ripper, Status, Steinberger, Warwick, various Ibanez pieces...it all worked out in the end. Recording engineer is not there to complain about your bass - or any instrument for that fact - but to make it work. Period. Some of them need to be reminded of that fact, though.

I was quite young when I got tired of condescending attitudes and decided to learn the trade myself, more than three decades ago. One of the best decisions I've ever made for a variety of reasons, one of them being gaining a proper understanding of what's actually achievable in the recording studio, first hand.

My experiences only.

I am not a bass newbie myself, and I trust my teacher’s choices when it comes to his strings. I agree 100% that a competent engineer should be able a good instrument sound good. The reality is that in so many situations the bassist is not in a position to put an arrogant or lazy engineer in his place.

 

[pbass2]

I want to hear from guys with serious studio time about which is easier to get a good tone out of for recording and why.

Well, for the kind of music I have done sessions for, it's the Pbass hands-down. That includes: rock, Americana, neo soul, country, punk, various electronic genres, and mainstream pop. The 'Ray tone just isn't typically called for in my experience. I do love that sound though, but it is a very specific tone. The Pbass just kinda blends into any setting.

 

[JimmyM]

Why should it be assumed the music to be recorded is ‘generic’ at all? The person playing the bass is far more important than the type of bass itself

The Beach Boys
The Stranglers
Iron Maiden
Gentle Giant

Those are just off the top of my head, but that’s 4 very different sounding projects with 4 very different sounding players who all happened to be playing Fender Precisions. The basses weren’t particularly cool, not cool, good sounding or bad sounding until one of those people started playing them.

There’s a famous story where someone ran up to Chet Atkins right after a gig to say “your new guitar sounds amazing!” Chet laid the guitar on the floor and said, “How does it sound now?”

Generic...lol! That's the word of people who are pissed that their favorite gear isn't the most popular.

 

[ajkula66]

I am not a bass newbie myself,

I know this, and appreciate your videos and general attitude towards playing. You're a positive guy in a vastly negative world. Seriously.

and I trust my teacher’s choices when it comes to his strings.

Oh by all means everyone is free to choose whichever strings/basses/amps/jeans/cars/ISPs they find suitable for their needs. My point was aimed at a very different angle of that story and represented no more than a personal view.

I agree 100% that a competent engineer should be able a good instrument sound good. The reality is that in so many situations the bassist is not in a position to put an arrogant or lazy engineer in his place.

Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree on your second point. Life is way too short for tolerating incompetent people once we've passed the age of 25...IMO, that is.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I know this, and appreciate your videos and general attitude towards playing. You're a positive guy in a vastly negative world. Seriously.



Oh by all means everyone is free to choose whichever strings/basses/amps/jeans/cars/ISPs they find suitable for their needs. My point was aimed at a very different angle of that story and represented no more than a personal view.



Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree on your second point. Life is way too short for tolerating incompetent people once we've passed the age of 25...IMO, that is.

Thank you for the kind words!

 

[FugaziBomb]

I would say P Bass over stingray. I've even done a few studio sessions in which I brought my Ray (for virtue of it being the "nicest" bass I own) only to be asked to use the house Precision. I think it boils down to the P Bass putting out a lot of frequency information between 160hz and 1khz. EQ tends to sound best when it is cutting frequencies in lieu of boosting them. All of that frequency information gives an engineer a big block of frequency to sculpt from. I'm not a huge P Bass fan myself, but I recognize its utility as far a basic bass tone.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Generic...lol! That's the word of people who are pissed that their favorite gear isn't the most popular.

There is more than a little truth there. I say this as a guy who was Non-Fender for a long time.

 

[mpdd]

no so sure about a stingray, but the L2000 seems to be either too hot or bassy for my apogee jam/garage band stuff

 

[Pbassmanca]

Yet, once McCartney was given his Rickenbacker he favored it for recording perhaps 75% of the songs he did with the Beatles.

Anything would have been better than that Hofner.......

 

[GreyBeard]

Thinking that the only bass for recording is a p or j or a ray would be like telling a guitar player that the only kind of guitar one should bring to a recording session is a Strat, or Tele, or Les Paul. I say bring the bass that you are the most comfortable with. In my case it would be my 95 SR5 with some well worn strings so as to keep down the round wound string noise.

 

[Craig4003]

Why should it be assumed the music to be recorded is ‘generic’ at all?

It shouldn't, but I didn't say that. I was referring to a generic type of hit-record mix (I'm sure you understand the difference between the music and the mix). Also, if certain kinds of "fairly generic hit-record sound" involve a P-bass, it does not follow that everything recorded with a P-bass has or is meant to have a generic hit-record sound, so invoking the Beach Boys, Gentle Giant, etc. is beside the point. I'm just trying to make sense of what seems to me like a rather over-generalized claim, that the P-bass is "easier to record" or "fits better in the mix" (I still suspect these two claims are closely related), as if this were true universally, rather than just when certain kinds of sounds are desired for the final product.

To the best of my knowledge, none of the artists who have recorded with non-Fender (even non-Precision) basses over the last 50 years have had any great trouble getting a good recorded sound from their instrument. Both lists (artists and non-Precision basses) are rather long and diverse.

 

[Craig4003]

Anything would have been better than that Hofner.......

He still uses that Hofner to this day both in the studio and live. It's not an instrument I would choose for myself, but it seems to do the job just fine.

 

[dukeorock]

I know many of you could add to this, so here’s a thought...

Sometimes I do sessions where the producer is hiring a bass player and I happen to be one that they think could work. Sometimes they hire ME. Maybe they’re a fan of a band I am/was in or they heard a record or two I’ve done and they want THAT. If it’s the latter, the options open up a bunch and I’ll bring whatever I want. I’ll still probably include a P bass or two because I happen to like em

 

[dukeorock]

Thinking that the only bass for recording is a p or j or a ray would be like telling a guitar player that the only kind of guitar one should bring to a recording session is a Strat, or Tele, or Les Paul. I say bring the bass that you are the most comfortable with. In my case it would be my 95 SR5 with some well worn strings so as to keep down the round wound string noise. Most if not all DAW packages these days come with a bass guitar plugin that can make just about any bass sound like any bass with a few clicks. Bring the bass that you play the best.

Do you do sessions? Because I’m not aware of a plugin that makes any bass sound like any other bass with a few clicks, nor do I think I’d want to!

It shouldn't, but I didn't say that. I was referring to a generic type of hit-record mix (I'm sure you understand the difference between the music and the mix). Also, if certain kinds of "fairly generic hit-record sound" involve a P-bass, it does not follow that everything recorded with a P-bass has or is meant to have a generic hit-record sound, so invoking the Beach Boys, Gentle Giant, etc. is beside the point. I'm just trying to make sense for what seems to me like a rather over-generalized claim, that the P-bass is "easier to record" or "fits better in the mix" (I still suspect these two claims are closely related), as if this were true universally, rather than just when certain kinds of sounds are desired for the final product.

To the best of my knowledge, none of the artists who have recorded with non-Fender (even non-Precision) basses over the last 50 years have had any great trouble getting a good recorded sound from their instrument. Both lists (artists and non-Precision basses) are rather long and diverse.

I don’t feel as argumentative as you seem to think, from what I’m reading. Texts do get easily misinterpreted, so apologies if I’m coming off as combative. Just think it’s fun to look at from different angles. My first response to the OP was that I happen to think P’s and MM’s both record quite well and there’s plenty of evidence for both. BUT, I don’t think mentioning a diverse sample set of bassists all using a P is beside the point, or not my point, anyway! I think the bassist has a greater impact on the tone than the bass itself. thats what I’m saying.

 

[mpdd]

now that i think about it, i had really good luck with my gibson grabber back in the 90s

 

[Tony In Philly]

Not to open up a can of worms, aren't most recording engineers more receptive to flatwound strings in general (due to having less overtones) and less partial to the actual bass brand/model? That's what I've read somewhere anyway.