Why is P-Bass still the best?

[Batmensch]

I don't care if it is indeed the best or not to everybody else. All I care about is that I like it the best.

 

[Snarf]

This "sits in the mix" trope is a perfect example.

With which strings?

With which pickups?

Why can't the mix engineer make a different bass "sit in the mix"?

Strings don't matter. Pickups don't matter too much, as long as it's the same split coil design with materials that don't deviate too much from the original.

The thing about engineers: No one wants to do work they don't have to do. Engineers don't have to do much with a Fender to make it fit in the correct sonic space. There are no obtrusive frequencies. It's not stepping on any other instrument's sound. It doesn't get lost. Why screw with that ideal dynamic?

 

[--Vissinger --]

without regard to issues of quality .... It creates the sound that most people associate with the role of the bass.

I mostly play P basses, but ofttimes either the Zon fretted or fretless 5-string. For most situations .. the P bass does the job.

 

[Hopkins]

Disagree, I love a P, but for me Leo got it right when the Jazz came out. IMHO they cut through a mix instead of just sitting in it. I think they sound better in the mix, they are more versatile and I think they just look better than a P

 

[redhed]

I think I agree, but I like the MusicMan Stingray the best. Kinda like a P-bass......

 

[Bongolation]

Strings don't matter.

Strings are the most radically underrated component in a bass's recorded sound.

 

[Session1969]

I think I agree, but I like the MusicMan Stingray the best. Kinda like a P-bass......

Come on now.

 

[dmac1961]

it's simple to operate and difficult to screw up.

That's it in a nutshell.

 

[tonyciv]

I believe the split pup was an ingenious tweek to the original design, and added the definitive touch to the model.

 

[SactoBass]

I love a P, but for me Leo got it right when the Jazz came out. IMHO they cut through a mix instead of just sitting in it. I think they sound better in the mix, they are more versatile and I think they just look better than a P

My opinion matches Hopkins'.

 

[PazzoBasso]

From the Fender website...

"...it was simply time for a new Fender bass. And just as the Strat expanded on the Tele rather than supplanting it, this new bass would complement the Precision by offering great tonal versatility and a design that went beyond the utilitarian to the realm of the sleekly stylish.

If the P was a Chevy, the new deluxe model would be a Ferrari. Leo Fender himself said so. In a Guitar Player magazine interview years later, he said, “Well, it’s like a car, you know—you come out with a standard model, then you have a deluxe model—a Cadillac version.” Once again, Leo built it and, once again, Fender Sales chief Don Randall named it.

That model, the Fender Jazz Bass guitar, was introduced in 1960."

I think most will agree, the 60's were much cooler than the 50's... Let's attribute that to the Jazz bass, shall we?


P.S. - I don't hate P's (or Chevy's), but let's get real...

 

[Moosehead1966]

For some reason, this axe just seems to evoke the spirit of the bass for me more than any other model I've ever played. As they say, Leo got it right the first time!
Agree or disagree. Why?

I agree. Keep coming back to my coming to this conclusion (albeit with a jazz shallow neck..small hands and all). I'm getting ready to sell my U.S. Spector bolt-on NS-2J as part of this acceptance.. I accept I am a P man!

Marc

 

[ctmullins]

I disagree on so very many levels - aesthetically, ergonomically, sonically, from an engineering standpoint, a manufacturing standpoint, a flexibility standpoint.... The list is long.

 

[David Jayne]

I'm primarily a Precision player, but I have to say there's more nonsense written here about this bass than I could adequately refute in my remaining years.

People spout stuff about this bass because other bubbas say it and if they say it enough it becomes true even if it makes no sense.

This "sits in the mix" trope is a perfect example.

With which strings?

With which pickups?

Why can't the mix engineer make a different bass "sit in the mix"?

For someone who says he's primarily a P guy, you sure have a lot of questions!!!

Strings? Ferromagnetic ones will do.
Pickup? A Precision style pickup.



C'mon. You honestly don't believe that it's easier to slot into a mix than some other designs?

 

[tonyciv]

Verily, I love the J-bass, too. However, I have always found it to be a rather complex chore to "dial in" the right combination between the two pickups. The neck is also nice and thin to run all over the fingerboard with ease, but to me, nothing matches the "gravitas" of the P neck.

 

[bigmoosepi]

The P has its own problems, particularly dead spots -- which I can assure you your P has. Put some flats on it if you don't believe me. Some are better, some are worse.

if you can't hear them with rounds and you like rounds then I don't see how it's a problem.

 

[redhed]

Come on now.

Really you don't think so?

 

[darkstorm]

The only P pup basses Ive ever really liked where active preamp lodaed ones with bridge and neck sets of P pups. Crunchy voiced P pups. Best ecamples Ive played and owned being some BC Rich warlock and mockingbird basses with P ups and 2band eq.

 

[David Jayne]

if you can't hear them with rounds and you like rounds then I don't see how it's a problem.

Besides, many basses, Fender or otherwise have dead spots. Hell, even my MODULUS has a dead spot.

 

[AaronVonRock]

The Fender P set the standard for bass guitar in popular music. It (and all of it's copycats) has the look and sound the majority of musicians and non-musicians associate with bass. It's the most popular and recognizable bass guitar on the planet for a reason.

I don't own a P, by the way.