Why does TalkBass love the P Bass so much?

[SDC1-ClickClack]

Load a Jazz with split coil humbuckers, (stacked coil humbuckers won’t get you there), then solo the neck and play with your thumb resting on the neck heel. (...snip...)

Hey, quit giving me orders, you're not the boss of me!
Oh, wait...

 

[BadMonk]

The answer is above my pay grade.
Seven basses - one P, three PJs, two Ray-like, one odd ball.
Actually all are short or medium scale so...see comment about pay grade above.

 

[JRA]

TERRIBLE food and such small portions, too ...

what the hell does that mean?! TIA

 

[vindibona1]

Don't get me wrong, I love it too-- but a Jazz bass can mimic the P tone quite well. Why not something more versatile, like a PJ?

I cannot speak for the PJ as I've never owned one. But owning 2 jazz basses and a newly acquired P bass I can tell you that there is a "thickness/fatness" of sound that cannot be duplicated on the jazz bass. Additionally, a lot of folks will put flat wounds on a P but not on a J which makes it harder still for the J to mimic the P. There are other basses that can pretty closely mimic both.

 

[IPA]

I thought TB was enamored with Spectors.

Spectors, Fenders, Fedoras, Squiers/Squires, short scales... we're just a passionate bunch.

 

[5StringBlues]

All we're saying is give Ps a chance.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

I believe that this was the P Bass target market...

...not a guitar player!

 

[badinage]

Same reason you grill burgers and dogs instead of salmon when the whole neighborhood's coming over.

I wonder if eleven herbs and spices works with duck.

 

[Larryfales]

There is true beauty in simplicity.

 

[scuzzy]

Right now I'm debating whether to use the p-bass with tijf's, tone rolled all the way off, or the Spector Euro PJ, with haz treble rolled back....in the morning. What should I choose?

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

Same reason you grill burgers and dogs instead of salmon when the whole neighborhood's coming over.

I wonder if eleven herbs and spices works with duck.

No, it doesn't...

(1959 Jazz Bass Prototype with P-90 single coils)

 

[badinage]

Original recipe.

 

[jd56hawk]

Wait, what about this P bass?

Or this one?

 

[Sam Dingle]

Because the only thing it won’t work for is a fretless bass tone

 

[MynameisMe]

I thought TB was enamored with Spectors.

I didn't get that one either.

 

[nonohmic]

I have a fretless P & a fretted Jazz but I plan on switching that around when finances permit.

What don't you like about the fretless P? I have a fretless J, and love it, but often want to put a fretless P together too. Mostly for the look.

 

[nonohmic]

Because the only thing it won’t work for is a fretless bass tone

Explain more.

 

[Pings Bass]

Demographics. This forum skews older and towards classic rock.

 

[MtManiac]

Because people like what they like, and the internet introduces people to different points of view than the one you’ve been stuck on for a while.

If so many people on TB like the P bass, what it means is a lot of people in TB like P basses. Not much more to it than that.

 

[Lowbrow]

Don't get me wrong, I love it too-- but a Jazz bass can mimic the P tone quite well. Why not something more versatile, like a PJ?

A J—z Bass does not sound like a Precision Bass.