Why Do We Keep Coming Back to the P-Bass?

[JonathanPDX]

All lead players. None of them want to just sit under the music.

Clearly you have never listened to a single one of the named musicians.

 

[ravlin]

Never-minding the nostalgia, and acknowledging that I'm not a p-bass aficionado at all. Any 2 pickup bass is filtering out some harmonic content when both pickups are used. If a player/producer/whoever wants actual full spectrum sound, for whatever subsequent purpose, they need a single pickup instrument. Many 2 pickup basses do not have a pickup in an ideal location for solo use, a P bass does. It's well established that subtractive EQ is superior to boosting, so that full spectrum sound has clear advantages down the chain.
I'll even be more of a dork and add that the p-pickup is fairly unique in that it can be set up for string to string balance unlike most jazz/soapbar types.

 

[Discount Bassy]

Meh. Don't like 'em. Played and gigged a P-clone for years until I could afford a better bass. After that, I never looked back or thought to pick it up.

 

[mikecd1]

Give me a bass with one split-coil pickup in the sweet spot - what's that spell?

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

Whether you want to look at the top "name" bass players, or the big touring acts (Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, etc.) or just regional/national touring acts. Doesn't matter how you break it down, the vast majority of those bass players are not on the road with P-basses.

I've seen Amos Heller and Tony Russell both using P basses

 

[lokerola]

I like how it sounds. I’m a sucker for ye olde P-Bass. Medium scale!

 

[crazycloud]

Give me a bass with one split-coil pickup in the sweet spot - what's that spell?

Sweet spot, by backside. One of the most recorded basses in history is Lee Sklar's Frankenstein and both P's are reversed active EMGs and neither is where Leo designated it should be. Obviously all those recording engineers had no problem getting it to fit into the mixes.

 

[Root 5]

I think P style basses have endured because they provide a simple, pleasing, functional and effective ‘bass’ tone to music. They work as advertised.

 

[retslock]

They bring reliability in the studio. Unless you have had to do a proper mix and realize how well they fit into a mix without jumping through hoops vs the efforts that are sometimes needed to fit other types into a mix you may not really get it. I don't love P's for everything but there is one in the studio and its there for a reason.

An instrument does not have to bring anything new. Most recordings have nothing new sonically.

Classical instruments for example are still pretty much the way they've been for a few hundred years. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[retslock]

This

Over the past 45 years I've owned and played a lot of different basses, but I started with a Precision and I've always had one. I dig the body style and tone far more than the Jazz. Although my current one also has a Jazz bridge pickup.

P-Basses are just my goto bass when I want that simple "punch in the face" bass tone.

Yep, I fell in love with the body shape as a teenager and I still have the one I bought in 1974. It paid my rent for a few decades. Yours is pretty.

 

[emilythemartian]

I like how it sounds. I’m a sucker for ye olde P-Bass. Medium scale!

Oo what's your medium scale P of choice?

 

[CrimsonGhost]

It's the industry standard and a sound that always works and our ears were raised on it. If you have a different bass and it's just not sounding right that day you pickup a "P-Bass" and it's home.

 

[JimmyM]

Well if you want to talk history then everything is just trying to double the upright so we may as well just walk away there, since the upright is older by far.

I have no idea what that even means. People still use uprights plenty, but no one maker or build style ever dominated the market.

The question was "coming back to" the P-bass in the modern context. You can't compare the 80's to the 2020's, the entire industry is different. What the audience expects to hear is different. Maybe in 1974 your college buddies expected to hear a P-bass tone because it was common on a lot of their favorite records. Today music is so compressed the average 25-year-old doesn't even have a sense of what the bass sounds like because 90% of their listening experience has been MP3s run through phone speakers.

Again, I’m failing to understand what you’re trying to say and what anyone of that has to do with the popularity of P basses. Are you trying to say that P’s and J’s don’t sell and get imitated by tons of makers? I know you’re angry about something but it seems way misdirected and random.

 

[socialleper]

Nostalgia?

Producers that don't respect the bass enough to learn about other tones?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Hey everyone,

First-time poster here, long-time lurker. I’ve been playing for a while, tried a bunch of different basses over the years, active, passive, 5-string, short scale, modern boutique builds, but somehow, I always find myself coming back to a plain old Precision Bass.


There’s something about that simplicity. One pickup. One tone knob. But the sound? Massive. Sits in the mix like it was born there. No frills, just punch.


So here’s my question for you all:
What is it about the P-Bass that keeps it relevant decade after decade — even with so many high-tech options out there?


Thanks,
Paleet

I could ask the same question, but sub Thunderbird everywhere you said P-Bass.

 

[Kansas]

You don't need a Pbass until you need one, and then nothing takes its place.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

You don't need a Pbass until you need one, and then nothing takes its place.

I’ve never needed one. Not to disparage them.

 

[Ostie]

I have one.They’re okay. I have half a dozen others Id pull off the rack first.

 

[REMBO]

The P Bass Is The Best! I Don’t Need Or Want Any Other Bass!

 

[JonathanPDX]

I have no idea what that even means. People still use uprights plenty, but no one maker or build style ever dominated the market.


Again, I’m failing to understand what you’re trying to say and what anyone of that has to do with the popularity of P basses. Are you trying to say that P’s and J’s don’t sell and get imitated by tons of makers? I know you’re angry about something but it seems way misdirected and random.

I'm not mad at anyone, I just think the whole thing is silly. A bunch of old dudes clutching their P-basses like rifles because Fox News told you that the government is coming to take them away.

Sure, yeah, P-basses are just fine. But they aren't the go-to for the vast majority of modern players and there are very, very few actual name players out there in today's music business who use one as their primary bass. It's not 1969 anymore and that's okay. You can enjoy the past without constantly screaming at all the kids get off your lawn.