Of course not. The message I reported seemed ambiguous and offensive. Judge for yourself, if you think it's normal and not offensive great, I misunderstood.
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Why does my P-bass sound so good?
- Thread starter stefaniw80401
- Start date
Of course not. The message I reported seemed ambiguous and offensive. Judge for yourself, if you think it's normal and not offensive great, I misunderstood.
Why? Because maybe that's just the tone we've been accustomed to and have come to expect?
I've owned a Precision bass in one form or another since 1979 when I bought my first bass, a Pbass and still have one. But this G&L SB-1 precision style, with the hotter MFD pickup really slays IMO. I'm not getting rid of any other basses I have, I like them all but I dig Precision style basses for their simplicity. No frikin batteries !!
For me its that mixture of mid range push with weight. My P for eg wears totally dead chromes and sounds so dry and slightly meh in the practise room...but stick it through a board or through a rig on stage and that indestinct dryness slams through the entire ensemble.
I played an original Stingray for years that cut like a knife BUT that's all it did it cut like a knife, it had no weight and I gradually tired of it and found myself looking at P basses simply because of the look, not realising the truth.
But all this dont come easy. You gotta 'play' a P bass, If I approached my current P bass the way I did as a kid it would sound really dull....Ive to play with a light positive touch which creates minimal string movement. hard to explain really.
I played an original Stingray for years that cut like a knife BUT that's all it did it cut like a knife, it had no weight and I gradually tired of it and found myself looking at P basses simply because of the look, not realising the truth.
But all this dont come easy. You gotta 'play' a P bass, If I approached my current P bass the way I did as a kid it would sound really dull....Ive to play with a light positive touch which creates minimal string movement. hard to explain really.
I like to think tone is in the amp. It gives me the excuse to buy another head and cab.
whats your point? Neither of which are a P bass. P pickups don't make a P bass. In addition, they are reverse P pickups.And yet, two of the basses in your profile photo have P pickups, but that's none of my business.
I don't know why your P bass sounds so good. . . . or why mine sounds so good, but I'm glad it does.
Thanks everybody for your insightful replies. I read each and every one of them.
No, I'm not trying to make my Q4 or BB70 sound like my P-bass, but thanks for turning me on to those Nordy split-coil J pups. I appreciate what my BB70 and Q4 bring to the table, it's just that it's a struggle sometimes -- most times in fact -- to get a "usuable" tone on stage -- endlessly tweaking the onboard preamps and my rig's EQ. I often bring my Carvin to gigs as a backup and also because I want to give my shoulder a break from the weight of the P-bass. I've never made it thru an entire set on the BB70 or Q4 before giving up for the P-bass.
One of you asked for me to post some sound samples. I'll get to that in the next couple of weeks. I think I'll make those DI into my recording console. I know the the bass rig makes a huge difference, but I'm guessing you'll want to hear the DI?
Others had great suggestions regarding putting my active basses (Spector Q4 and Carvin BB70) thru different bass rigs and/or EQ differently from my P-bass. For sure -- I've been discovering this since I'm blessed to have 2 different bass rigs: 200w Traynor SB112 combo amp and Mark Bass LM250 into 2 Ampeg SVT210AV cabs. The P-bass sounds great into either of these rigs, amp set flat'ish. Any, and all EQ tweaks, on the amps produce great usuable and inspiring range of stanky bass tones with the P-bass.
The Q4 and BB70 on the other hand are very mid-forward and challenging to control. I'm always pulling down the mid controls on the amps, and pushing up the bass control -- in an endless search for a nice fat bass tone that sits/cuts nicely between the kick and electric guitars. Trouble is the sub-bass rumble comes up, so I'm now using a HPF pedal before the amp so I can crank up the bass controls and chop off the rumble with the HPF. This is working great with all three of my basses...making the P-bass sound even better in fact.
On my BB70, I just changed out the old Cobalt flats (heavies) for KSB pressure wounds (mediums). Now it's a great slap machine bass. The mids are more balanced with the KSB strings, but I still need to boost up the bottom. We'll see how this sounds in my band practice this weekend.
Oh yeah -- one of you mentioned pup height -- I've gone down that road years ago. My pups, on all my basses, are as high as they can go on the edge of warbling the intonation. The Q4 and BB70 outputs are hotter than my P-bass. I've trimmed both pres as low as they can go in an effort to match my P-bass output. If I lower the pups, the volume goes down, but the tone gets thinner.
No, I'm not trying to make my Q4 or BB70 sound like my P-bass, but thanks for turning me on to those Nordy split-coil J pups. I appreciate what my BB70 and Q4 bring to the table, it's just that it's a struggle sometimes -- most times in fact -- to get a "usuable" tone on stage -- endlessly tweaking the onboard preamps and my rig's EQ. I often bring my Carvin to gigs as a backup and also because I want to give my shoulder a break from the weight of the P-bass. I've never made it thru an entire set on the BB70 or Q4 before giving up for the P-bass.
One of you asked for me to post some sound samples. I'll get to that in the next couple of weeks. I think I'll make those DI into my recording console. I know the the bass rig makes a huge difference, but I'm guessing you'll want to hear the DI?
Others had great suggestions regarding putting my active basses (Spector Q4 and Carvin BB70) thru different bass rigs and/or EQ differently from my P-bass. For sure -- I've been discovering this since I'm blessed to have 2 different bass rigs: 200w Traynor SB112 combo amp and Mark Bass LM250 into 2 Ampeg SVT210AV cabs. The P-bass sounds great into either of these rigs, amp set flat'ish. Any, and all EQ tweaks, on the amps produce great usuable and inspiring range of stanky bass tones with the P-bass.
The Q4 and BB70 on the other hand are very mid-forward and challenging to control. I'm always pulling down the mid controls on the amps, and pushing up the bass control -- in an endless search for a nice fat bass tone that sits/cuts nicely between the kick and electric guitars. Trouble is the sub-bass rumble comes up, so I'm now using a HPF pedal before the amp so I can crank up the bass controls and chop off the rumble with the HPF. This is working great with all three of my basses...making the P-bass sound even better in fact.
On my BB70, I just changed out the old Cobalt flats (heavies) for KSB pressure wounds (mediums). Now it's a great slap machine bass. The mids are more balanced with the KSB strings, but I still need to boost up the bottom. We'll see how this sounds in my band practice this weekend.
Oh yeah -- one of you mentioned pup height -- I've gone down that road years ago. My pups, on all my basses, are as high as they can go on the edge of warbling the intonation. The Q4 and BB70 outputs are hotter than my P-bass. I've trimmed both pres as low as they can go in an effort to match my P-bass output. If I lower the pups, the volume goes down, but the tone gets thinner.
This bass got its maiden gig at the Central Saloon in downtown Seattle last night.
It was an absolute joy to play. Thus the reason P basses sound so good.
Bones
Fair question. J-MM definitely works, and it can give you something approaching a 60s and a 70s jazz in the same bass, plus a humbucker. I have successfully used a J-MM live and in the studio in situations where I’m sure a P would have been preferred. It worked, but I relied on the active EQ to get it there.
The MM pickup is often in the wrong place to do a great Stingray impersonation, and a jazz bass does the jazz bass thing better. The whole thing hides in the mix more compared to a P pickup. I’d never turn a bass away because of that pickup configuration, but all things being equal, I’d choose single M or single P over J-MM
Similar to my experience. I had an original 2 band for a time. Yes it cut very well, but I never got it to do much else, and I certainly tried. Others make a Ray sound great in a mix, perhaps due to their professionalism and great pro sound support (eg John Deacon), but in my humble experience, I always got better results from one of my split coil P basses.
I'm not sure why your P bass sounds so good. Please send it to me so I can evaluate it. I will submit a thorough critique. If I find anything remotely deficient I will take it off your hands immediately. I can't see it being fair on my part to expect you to suffer under such a burden. As a favor I will send your shipping expense.
I sold all my basses and got a Fender custom shop P once I played a precision in a band. They are simply the best.
Tried a £4000 custom shop Precision yesterday and I gotta say I was shocked how good it felt. Tried others and hated them but this one felt they way eulogisers describe them. However, there was no character in the sound. It was lifeless. I never know if it's my ears, lack of experienced or if they got it wrong. Anyone else had this?
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I've not tried any CS P-basses, but my 2017 Black Lacquer 50's Classic MIM P-bass is amazing IMO.
