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Why the P bass obsession

#101
Did anyone post "Because Leo got it right...." yet? That one always makes me laugh.

I have an amazing 1974 P that rarely gets played. I will never sell it as it gets almost 100% utilization for my blues, oldies and recording work.

They sound great and sound guys and engineers are used to working with them.

Out of the 10 basses I own including the P, there are 5-6 other basses that I would reach for over the P for my classic rock and metal gigs.
 
#103
pholli00 said:
Random opinion: It's hard to imagine something getting everything so right the first time, and that's what the Precision is.
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Damnit, I said to myself to sit on my hands, but "the first time"? The P bass everyone knows and loves today is based upon the 1957 one, which is arguably the third design iteration, is it not? If it was right the first time, then everyone would be playing P basses which resemble the original 1951 model, and we'd all have chafed forearms.

File under somewhat pedantic "just sayin'"... ;)
 
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#107
P basses are very versatile, but instead of easy versatility with knobs and switches its all in the technique. It may sound silly or primitive, but really move your hands around, using different muting and plucking techniques, being real mindful of your fret hand and what its doing, really is what gives a simple bass like a P its magic.
Also I like the dead horse threads, knowledgeable (and usually civil) people swarm to inform a new guy (or old guy, new to our community) of what we collectively think. Dead horse threads answer simple questions to the max
 
#108
Six pages in less than twelve hours. Excellent! We should be up to a hundred pages by the end of the week. It's the awesome power of a P-Bass to cause that to happen. Would a Jazz bass thread grow this fast? Nope. Not a chance. An Alembic thread? Nope. An Ibanez thread? No way! Only a thread about P-Basses can do this. Throw in a little discussion about relics and we will be truly off to the races. Precision Bass guitars are the root of all that's good, true, and loquacious on Talkbass and in the world. Get with it or be a sad, lonely old shell of a person who regrets resisting the true path of P-Bassdom.
 
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#111
My Stingray has been my number one for a long time and I had a Warwick that came close to knocking it out of that spot, but even the Warwick is now gone.

Yet my Precision, which was the next bass I bought after the Stingray, is the only one of those that came after the Stingray that still remains. I'm definitely a knob, switch, and multiple-pickup guy but, the more I use my Precision, the more I find I like about it. I expect it to remain in my stable with my Stingray for a long, long time.
 
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#114
neepheid said:
File under somewhat pedantic "just sayin'"... ;)
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#115
P-Basses just always seem like a one trick pony to me. Their tone just doesn't have the same quality of growl as a Jazz or bridge humbucker. I also hate the way they look. The aesthetics of the Jazz body are just much more appealing. I do prefer the P necks and spacing at the bridge over the Jazz (at least for 4 strings).

Edit: I should add that i do own a P-bass, because you just have to have that "sound" available for your arsenal. You can get other basses and configurations that will for for a Jazz, but nothing else sounds like a P.
 
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#117
JRuben said:
I have nothing against precision bass guitars, they can play very good in the right hands. They aren't anything crazy though. I always felt like they have a very bland tone. They don't have much versitility either. I much prefer the depth and range of a jazz for example. Im just curious about everyone else's thoughts on this.
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Like any bass, it all comes down to the individual instrument. I'm not a P player myself, but I have played some P's in stores and I was like "oh, man, this sounds good" and I've played other P's that didn't do it for me. There's been a hell of a lot of great bass lines over the decades that sound great done on a P.
 

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