NBD! Finally, I understand the appeal :D

[Mornats]

I'm really chuffed with this bass and quite surprised myself by with this purchase.

I've always thought that Fender precisions were the most boring bass you could get. This comes from years of seeing every cheap rubbish copy looking like a P bass. I'm thinking Argos and the old Kay's catalogue here. So I've always associated them with the bog-standard bass and have always lusted after something different, something that stands out a bit more. So after years of going round the houses, trying out every bass I could and buying various ones (several Bass Collections, a Yamaha TRBX, a couple of the Tanglewood-made Overwaters, a Dean) I found myself playing a Mexican Fender purely by accident. Now, I've picked up loads of MIM Fenders in shops and they've never lasted more than 10 seconds in my hands. I hated them. Never rated them. Never played a good one.

Until now!

I was in my local PMT in Bristol. Great shop, great guys and great service. I saw a Squire Classic Vibe 50's P bass and loved the look of it. So I tried it. Really nice bass, nice sound but I couldn't get away with the pickup shape as I couldn't rest my thumb on it and I'm just too used to that. But the sound kinda rang with me so I picked up the nearest P bass and tried it. It was brilliant. Sounded just as a P should and played so well that I sat there for a while having a go. I couldn't find a thing wrong with it. So I popped in today and picked it up after trading in my Overwater/Tanglewood Classic Jazz.


So here it is. It's a Mexican standard precision and has the alder body in arctic white with white pickguard and maple fretboard.

It just totally works as a bass and sounds great. So now I totally see the appeal of a standard P. This will compliment my Squier VM Jazz nicely and I'll be selling my other basses and will just settle for these two. (For now anyway, I'm still a basschatter )

Just had a play and took some pics so behold the beauty of my new P bass! Check out that nice grain on the fretboard too!

Edited September 19, 2015 by Mornats

[discreet]

A warm welcome to the proper bass club - even though you're a bit late.
You can't beat that colour combo either. It looks like a mint guard to me, but that may just be the pic. Very nice!

[Mornats]

I know, what took me so long?! Thought you'd approve of the colour too. It looks stunning in the flesh. Easily the best colour in the MIM standard range I reckon.

The pickguard is described as "parchment" in colour but I can see the mint tones in the pics and on the bass itself. It's lovely regardless.

[Mornats]

I have to add that the setup on this bass is absolutely spot-on. The bass guy in PMT Bristol insists on checking over every bass and setting them up if they need it. It certainly helped with my buying decision. I also checked the frets with my fret level tester ruler thing that I got from Crimson Guitars and every fret is spot-on level. The action is just perfect too. Pickups look a little crooked but the sound is even across all strings (I see this on most P basses actually).

[Pinball]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1442668060' post='2868641']
I have to add that the setup on this bass is absolutely spot-on. The bass guy in PMT Bristol insists on checking over every bass and setting them up if they need it. It certainly helped with my buying decision.
[/quote]
+1 on that PMT Bristol
I tried a Mexican Jazz Standard and they had it set up brilliantly so I tried another and that was great too. Nice
Congratulations

[gary mac]

Congrats and welcome to the world of the P.

Took me a good few years to get the P bass love but now I keep buying them, particularly 60's & 70's ones


That does look so good and love the grain on the headstock.

[Hobbayne]

Well done! Congrats on buying your first proper bass. Now you can take the tag off.

[madshadows]

Great looking bass, congrats on the new P

John

[Lozz196]

Congrats on the Precision, the post 2012 MIMs are great basses, have had a few, still got one, a 2012 Precision, doubt I`ll be letting it go (stoopidly kept buying them then selling, til I realised just how good a bass they really are). Mine also has some nice grain on the fretboard, maybe that`s a feature they`re purposely putting in?

I`ve also got a different pickup on its way for mine, a Custom Shop 62 so that it sounds the same as my US Standard, but this is more an OCD thing than need. The pickups in these are fine, really nice sound to them.

I love my US Standard but I really don`t see £700 worth of difference between the two - a couple of hundred at best. MIMs have certainly raised their game over the last few years.

Edited September 19, 2015 by Lozz196

[Naetharu]

Fantastic bass! Loving the grain in the maple neck too.

[luckman67]

[attachment=201033:2014 Precision.jpg]It took me over 20 years to get & understand, just how good the Fender Precision is with just 1 pickup, volume and tone. Since I got one in January it's all I need.

[Subbeh]

Yup, they're the definitive bass guitar for a reason and that one looks fantastic, congrats!

[Hobbayne]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1442684311' post='2868783']
I love my US Standard but I really don`t see £700 worth of difference between the two - a couple of hundred at best. MIMs have certainly raised their game over the last few years.
[/quote]

Indeed. I was never a fan of MIM Fenders, But now the Nate Mendel I bought recently is now my main go to bass.

[miles'tone]

Love that colour combo! You could fit into any musical situation with that one.
Congratulations!
(better late than never 😉)

[merlin]

want want want,sold on some real good "P" basses,well Christmas is coming,congrates on your new bass it looks great.

[luckman67]

All I added was a set of Fender flatwounds & straplocks,really into the whole Precision thing now

[tom1946]

I have the exact same one and it's easily the best P I own, I also have a USA model too but I keep picking this one up to gig with. Dunno about yours but the pickup in mine is superb with a high output, much better than any I've owned, it's immense! Just a bit heavy for my back but, well err......

took me ages to find this one but boy it's worth it.

[Mornats]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1442684311' post='2868783']
Congrats on the Precision, the post 2012 MIMs are great basses...
[/quote]

Yeah, I was well impressed with this one. Before picking this one up I'd never played a MIM that I rated as being a good bass but a lot of people have said the post-2012 ones are better and they most definitely are. I'd have guessed it was a USA P bass if I'd played it blind.

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1442685839' post='2868793']
Fantastic bass! Loving the grain in the maple neck too.
[/quote]

That was part of the appeal. They've put some lovely wood on these fretboards. My Squier VM jazz has a nice birdseye maple board which looks lovely so they're putting in some nice details these days.

[quote name='tom1946' timestamp='1442760520' post='2869262']
I have the exact same one and it's easily the best P I own, I also have a USA model too but I keep picking this one up to gig with. Dunno about yours but the pickup in mine is superb with a high output, much better than any I've owned, it's immense! Just a bit heavy for my back but, well err......

took me ages to find this one but boy it's worth it.
[/quote]

Tricky to compare for me as my other main bass has Entwistle JBXN pickups in it and has the power of an active bass despite being passive. Although I've just this minute done an A/B test and I can say that the P bass isn't far behind the neodymium pickups in terms of power output.

I'd love to hear what mine would sound like with a KiOgon wiring harness and Entwistle pickups (as they sound superb in my jazz) but I don't want to lose the classic P sound so will leave it be for now.

[dave_bass5]

This looks gorgeous, especially the neck.
Ive gone back and forth between P bass for the past 12 years. Sometimes i find them boring but i also love the simplicity of them.

If they came with jazz size necks as standard (i mean all, know a few do) id have a lot more basses than i need.

[Jonnyboy Rotten]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1442666406' post='2868622']
I saw a Squire Classic Vibe 50's P bass and loved the look of it. So I tried it. Really nice bass, nice sound but I couldn't get away with the pickup shape as I couldn't rest my thumb on it and I'm just too used to that. But the sound kinda rang with me so I picked up the nearest P bass and tried it. It was brilliant. Sounded just as a P should and played so well that I sat there for a while having a go. I couldn't find a thing wrong with it.

[/quote]

Nice bass! Welcome to P-land! I couldn't quite understand what you meant here. Do you mean that the Squier CV P pickups are placed differently or have a different profile so can't rest your thumb on them, whereas the fender pickups are different shape or position somehow which means you can do it?

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1443104782' post='2872257']
Nice bass! Welcome to P-land! I couldn't quite understand what you meant here. Do you mean that the Squier CV P pickups are placed differently or have a different profile so can't rest your thumb on them, whereas the fender pickups are different shape or position somehow which means you can do it?
[/quote]

The 50s CVP has a different pup to the 60's CVP.

[Marc S]

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1443104395' post='2872250']
This looks gorgeous, especially the neck.
Ive gone back and forth between P bass for the past 12 years. Sometimes i find them boring but i also love the simplicity of them.

If they came with jazz size necks as standard (i mean all, know a few do) id have a lot more basses than i need.
[/quote]

I went off Fender P's for years
And around a year or so I came back to them

Far from being boring, I think it's a plain & simple classic style, and classic sound
and the controls are simple too. I've had many basses over the years
and I like the fact that the controls on the bass are simple
Do the EQ tweaking on the amp
When you're playing live, it's so easy to tweak the wrong switch or control when you're mid-set (or even mid song!)

For me, the slimmer P necks of recent years has brought me back to re-discover the P bass
My Squier CV 60's P is fab, my US P is fab
I'm so glad I came back to the P bass

I've come full circle too - but I think I've learned a bit from my experimenting....

When you find a P you like - you know you've got a good bass
Welcome back

[ras52]

Very nice!

[lowhand_mike]

you lot are really not helping me dislike P basses, its not fair i tell ya

oh good score bth

[Mornats]

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1443104395' post='2872250']
If they came with jazz size necks as standard (i mean all, know a few do) id have a lot more basses than i need.
[/quote]

I'm a big fan of slim jazz bass necks and this one didn't feel like the old P bass baseball bat neck that I've experienced on older basses. It's a 2015 P bass and I believe it's part of the 2012 onwards range. It's chunkier than a jazz but I only noticed the extra size when I compared it to my jazz. I really like it, it feels substantial but not large.

[quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1443104782' post='2872257']
Nice bass! Welcome to P-land! I couldn't quite understand what you meant here. Do you mean that the Squier CV P pickups are placed differently or have a different profile so can't rest your thumb on them, whereas the fender pickups are different shape or position somehow which means you can do it?
[/quote]

It's a different shape (as dave_bass mentioned). Check out the photo here: http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/squier-classic-vibe-p-bass-50s-bass-guitar-white-blonde.html my thumb rested just under the E string so I couldn't rest my thumb on the pickup which is a habit (a bad habit?) that I've gotten into.

I love the simplicity of the controls too. I found that despite the number of knobs on the bass, I'd always set the tone controls flat and the pickup pan dead in the middle. At the moment I'm really liking the tone when it's rolled off from full a bit, all the way down to halfway off. That's a nice sound in that range.

I've still yet to play it live but hope to take it out over the next few weeks to see how it sounds against a semi-acoustic guitar and vocals. I suspect it'll shine nicely.

A couple of minor gripes now that I've had it a week. On the pic below you'll notice that the strings don't pass directly over all of the pole pieces. If you check out the E and G strings and note how far they are from the sides of the neck you'll see they're not quite centre either. It doesn't affect the playability or the sound or the volume of each individual string so it's only my OCD it bugs. I don't think I should be bothered by it really.



Secondly, the jack socket crackles a bit if I move the jack lead so I'm gonna see if PMT can take a look at it. I wouldn't really judge this model negatively because of that though as these things can happen. It probably just loosened up a little when I removed the plastic covering from the pickguard and can be fixed easily.

Overall though, I'm glad I've joined the P club