Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Why is P-Bass still the best?
- Thread starter tonyciv
- Start date
- Status
For the record, the "Jazz Bass" was never actually intended for Jazz. It was merely a product tie-in with the Jazzmaster guitar when Fender was first nosing into its pointless complexity phase.
Another of Leo's "bright" ideas that shot the product in the foot. People actually didn't buy the Jazz because, "Uh, but...I don't play Jazz!" Seriously. You could barely give those things away, and considering it was developed not for Jazz musicians using electric bass (all fourteen of them) but to accommodate failed kid guitarists who had to play bass or get kicked out of the band, that name was the kiss of death. Plus it cost more.
Invalid Link Removed, I've played my Jazzes more. It's not like I hate them. I do consider them electronically mis-engineered and somewhat awkwardly shaped, and being a bassist rather than a "bass guitarist," I don't regard bridge pickups as anything but dead weight anyway...but if I'm only using the neck pickup, I'd rather it was hum-cancelling as it's one less thing to worry about in the studio (I can't gig anymore).
I think the relative (and very much belated) popularity of the Jazz over the past twenty years or so was more a trend than a seriously reasoned decision by most buyers and it appears that the trend is going toward the Precision again. I wouldn't read too much into either. Just monkey see, monkey do.
My first bass was a 1975 Precision (given to me to play by the pastor of a church). But I've never owned one since. I appreciated the gift, but never liked the sound or feel...so, it's not the best for me.
If mass marketing determined what we played....we'd all be playing a Precision Bass through an Ampeg amp (I've owned an SVT and didn't care for the sound or weight of the "beast").
I now play a Pushic and an Alembic bass through a Carvin 600 watt head into a Genz Benz 212 Neo cab. The feel and sound is perfect for me. To each their own.
If mass marketing determined what we played....we'd all be playing a Precision Bass through an Ampeg amp (I've owned an SVT and didn't care for the sound or weight of the "beast").
I now play a Pushic and an Alembic bass through a Carvin 600 watt head into a Genz Benz 212 Neo cab. The feel and sound is perfect for me. To each their own.
I am aware of that. I was responding to a post that said p basses don't sound good in jazz. With which I disagree.
I managed to avoid the Fender P for the first 20 years that I played. I detested the things and I can't really explain why.
On my return to bass playing, I started buying and testing them.
Still didn't care for them. They were OK.
THen it got weirder. As I was playing with the different people in town trying to find a band home, I found myself always grabbing a P when I was entering unchartered waters. It was one of the least liked basses that I own but was like a security blanket as I knew that while it wasn't my best sounding bass, I could make it work and get acceptable tone out of it every single time that I picked it up.
I now play in a cover band that plays a few originals. I spend half my time on a 63 NAV in spite of my Super j5 aboslutely crushing it in tone, fit, feel, finish, playability, etc. But I can't get my interpretation of a P tone out of the Super J.
Soooo, I ordered this.
It won't arrive until November/December. It will finally allow me to leave the Fender at home as it corrects all of things the hold back the Fender in my hands.
Don't ever let a Fender P in the house. You can't get rid of the things. And if you do, you'll only buy another.
To me it is nowhere near the best bass ever. Yet I can no longer function without at least one in the stable.
Best bass ever? No. Critical tool for me now that commands an unfair amount of play time ? Yes.
It is what it is.
On my return to bass playing, I started buying and testing them.
Still didn't care for them. They were OK.
THen it got weirder. As I was playing with the different people in town trying to find a band home, I found myself always grabbing a P when I was entering unchartered waters. It was one of the least liked basses that I own but was like a security blanket as I knew that while it wasn't my best sounding bass, I could make it work and get acceptable tone out of it every single time that I picked it up.
I now play in a cover band that plays a few originals. I spend half my time on a 63 NAV in spite of my Super j5 aboslutely crushing it in tone, fit, feel, finish, playability, etc. But I can't get my interpretation of a P tone out of the Super J.
Soooo, I ordered this.
It won't arrive until November/December. It will finally allow me to leave the Fender at home as it corrects all of things the hold back the Fender in my hands.
Don't ever let a Fender P in the house. You can't get rid of the things. And if you do, you'll only buy another.
To me it is nowhere near the best bass ever. Yet I can no longer function without at least one in the stable.
Best bass ever? No. Critical tool for me now that commands an unfair amount of play time ? Yes.
It is what it is.
Boy, I'm glad I don't dwell in Negative-Land! You know, where everything has to be compartmentalized in tight little boxes from which there is no escape or it's wrong, and every minor perceived flaw a bass has, even the ones that exist only in your heads, are reasons to commit suicide after making everyone around you as depressed as you are.
Something that requiers a 7 string bass
In all seriousness? I fully support your message.
Pray tell, what song "requires" a 7-string bass?
I think the word ''best'' is something we shouldn't use in the music world 
I can only say that you like what you like
Simple! It all has to do with what kind of sound you want and of course what music you play. Look at Robert Trujillo : J-style pickups all the way. He likes the sound a lot. Yes he played some P-basses in the past and some MM basses (Music Man), but for him, J-pickups are the answer.
I don't like both if they are single. Something like a P/MM configuration gets my vote, but I prefer some Dual Coil pickups, soapbar style
I can only say that you like what you like
Simple! It all has to do with what kind of sound you want and of course what music you play. Look at Robert Trujillo : J-style pickups all the way. He likes the sound a lot. Yes he played some P-basses in the past and some MM basses (Music Man), but for him, J-pickups are the answer.I don't like both if they are single. Something like a P/MM configuration gets my vote, but I prefer some Dual Coil pickups, soapbar style
Yep.
I like Precision AND Jazz basses(even if they are Fender) so shoot me.
+1. I like Ps, Js, and PJs. I don't discriminate.
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,027
- 1
- 31,768
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
The Ric 4003 is the best.
No, wait, it's the Thunderbird. Yah, the T-bird is the best.
Nope, that's not it either. It's the Ibanez SoundGear.
Whoops, I meant to say its the Starfire...
Actually it's the Tobias!
No, wait, it's the Thunderbird. Yah, the T-bird is the best.
Nope, that's not it either. It's the Ibanez SoundGear.
Whoops, I meant to say its the Starfire...
Actually it's the Tobias!
I have yet to hear any band, no matter the genre, that has a P-bass being used, where the P-bass did not fit right in.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
The p-bass has many problems ...
first they put the freakin pickup in backwards ...
The p-pickup sounds so much better reversed.
The p-bass has a really nice body shape and a really nice neck, but it should really have a 2nd pickup.
first they put the freakin pickup in backwards ...
The p-pickup sounds so much better reversed.
The p-bass has a really nice body shape and a really nice neck, but it should really have a 2nd pickup.
I can't rationalize having a bass that only has one pickup that's so far from the bridge. If anything, one of my favorite basses is the old Fender P deluxe (passive, with a doublejazz humbucker in the bridge position) and I like that P thump, but I simply can't own a bass that only has that.
Some guys like their ladies petite, some like 6 ft amazons, some like blonds, some like red heads.... The diversity is what makes this world interesting.
I like P basses.
I like P basses.
The P bass to me is like the Beatles. Not my favorite. Still great. Some people's favorite. Influenced everything that came after it.
No foolin' - all I can say is, that must be one seriously depressing recording studio...
Me, I'll stick to playing in front of happy, enthusiastic crowds - there aren't too many things more enjoyable than watching hotties shake it to your band's playing - and getting paid to drink while doing so... I probably spent 2 out of 3 hours stage time playing a P Bass last night - and believe it or not, it actually worked out extremely well, hahaha!!!
- georgestrings
That's Mr. Toad's wild ride right there.
Misery really does love company.
If only we TBers spent as much time worrying about our chops versus the gear we play.
Love them or hate them, P basses won't likely be giving up their ubiquity any time soon. That's right! I busted big with ubiquity, thus causing snug pants for members of the grammar patrol, near and far.
- Status
