P Bass - Which Brand?

[foxyFuze]

I picked up an old Vintage brand PJ bass a couple of months ago. With upgraded EMG pickups and a decent nut it fairs very well compared with more expensive models.  Seeing as I'm struggling to move on my other bass, I would be willing to sell, if you're interested.

[Kevsy71]

I love the Bruce Thomas Profile bass from Bass Centre: excellent pickup, very smooth neck finish and the perfect nut width/neck profile for my hands (between a vintage P and J). Only comes in one colour though!

Secondhand Fender MIMs are often excellent value and nice and light.

 

[EliasMooseblaster]

I shall continue to fly the flag for Schecter. The Model T is an excellent P/J bass. I've recently gone back to playing mine more regularly and remembered how much I love it. If you turn off the J pickup, you essentially have a beautifully-made Precision which sounds as good as an American Fender, but only costs a bit more than a Mexican one*.

 

*I'm assuming you can still get your hands on the passive Model Ts; the active ones cost a bit more, but I've heard they're also very good!

[SamPlaysBass]

Cheers for all the replies - I knew this was going to be a can of worms subject but it’s great to see everyone’s own opinions. After reading through, I’d love to try something Japanese, just to say I’ve owned and enjoyed one. Failing that, a roadworn Mexican such as the one suggested (which looks perfect, just waiting for funds) would be the way to go. 

 

I love how there’s so much personal preference about what is essentially the same design. Definitely siding towards a more vintage voicing, so I think I’m going to try a few out when I can find them. I’ll keep you updated 👌

[Jonny Boots]

A bit late on this topic, so sorry, you mention the Vintage V4. Personally I love them & having bought one of the new models I've sold on my others including a Fender. For the price (I paid 200quid) I haven't found anything near it, in fact for 3 times the price I couldnt. If you like a slim neck look at the new models, if a big chunky neck is more your thing then check out the Tony Butler sig model.

[la bam]

You could buy 5-10 vintage v4 reissues for the price of a USA precision.

I love my v4s to bits. BUT from what I can see, despite being called v4, the models are all slightly different.

The blk standard is my main bass. Love it. Laqured neck. Very easy to play, loads of tone control and power.

The v4 icon has an un laquered neck and different sounding pick ups. Definitely more vintage sounding.

One thing I have done is put shielding tape all over the back of the scratchplate and cavities. Works a treat. Cost less than a tender for a huge roll.

The blk was bought new for £230 (and I swapped for identical Wilkinson gold hardware).

The icon was bought as new for £95.

One weird thing I will mention is I have absolutely no idea how the pots are wired! I'm issued to one being volume, and one tone. These definitely are not that simple. The tone control definitely adds volume too the more you go to fully open. But it does add even more tone shaping possibilities.

I've had an excellent USA p in the past, the finish was like a work of art. But I genuinely feel these v4s are more playable and have more character about them. And cost nearly 10 times less.

If you had a range of them - with their different types of neck (laqured or unlaquered) and pick ups (modern or vintage), and you can buy straight replacement hardware in different colors, and scratchplates - you could create an awesome bitsa to your exact spec for next to nothing.

Edited August 30, 2018 by la bam

[uk_lefty]

Japanese Fender precisions can be had at a good second hand price. I love mine, quality and simplicity. Different types of string completely change the character, but it's always a Precision. The ultimate plug and play, no faffing about, gigging bass.

[gareth]

On 25 August 2018 at 18:37, jezzaboy said:

There is a 50`s P bass on here for £500 and that is crazy money. They are great basses and I don`t know why it`s not gone. 

+1

[afterimage]

Excellent  thread guys ,I have the mongrel called the pj basically a Mia special

Limited edition for Thomann

[Lw.]

P-basses are such an odd beast; they're arguably the most basic form of bass yet the variation in tone & feel is absolutely massive. 

If you are half-decent with a set of tools I'm sure you can make a perfectly usable bass from just buying the parts & bolting them together yourself but then you can get nice basses for not much money from the main manufacturers so what's the point? 

I went completely the other way & spent a fair bit on a (used) Fender Custom Shop (journey man '57 relic) - it's brilliant in every way, though the price was more than you're looking to pay. But it's essentially a posh version of the Roadworn series which is itself a more expensive version of the Classic 50's so I'd imagine there's a fair bit of the same DNA flowing through there. 

If I was to get a 2nd P I think I'd go for one of those cheap kits, replace the really bad bits & bolt it together myself so I've got something I can just leave in grotty gig venues & not worry about it.

[donslow]

They don’t come up very often but the highway one precisions are also very good value for money, made in corona, painted in Mexico, assembled in corona, high mass bridge, USA standard pickups with grease bucket tone circuit (although I have an spb3 and standard wiring as it helps with the wide range of music I play, in mine now) 

Picked mine up second hand for £500 including hard case and shipping

comfortable, light, and decent sounding, my go to precision now, to the point I’m thinking of selling my others

[Mister RLP]

Quote

They don’t come up very often but the highway one precisions are also very good value for money, made in corona, painted in Mexico, assembled in corona, high mass bridge, USA standard pickups with grease bucket tone circuit (although I have an spb3 and standard wiring as it helps with the wide range of music I play, in mine now) 

Picked mine up second hand for £500 including hard case and shipping

comfortable, light, and decent sounding, my go to precision now, to the point I’m thinking of selling my others

 

+1 One of my students at school managed to grab one of the last new Highway One P Basses on sale a few years ago. A very nice bass especially with some TI strings on. 

The best p-bass I've played is my Matt Freeman. I genuinely feel it's better crafted than the MIM and the USA pros that I've tried recently (IMO). They feel a bit chunky and possibly not worth £1200+.  Lots of people have suggested I sell what I have and buy one USA P bass but I really haven't found one that feels as comfortable.  This can't be right, can it? 

Edited September 8, 2018 by Mister RLP

[Lw.]

No necessarily - everyone's hands & ears are different. 

 

I was annoyed I missed out on those Matt Freeman's, I tried several of the "70s" one they replaced it with but they were all rubbish 😫

[PaulWarning]

Another Vote for Vintage V4's here, just bought a lefty on impulse off ebay, glad I did, now it's set up it plays as well as my USA P, frets not finished off as well and tuners are bit stiff but that's about it, I've played it twice now at gigs and in some ways I think I prefer it to my Fender Precision, it has more 'bark' to it

[Dapper Bandit]

Very surprised that when talking Japanese P-basses nobody has mentioned the Ibanez Blazer!

Played a ratty looking one against a MIA Fender years ago, bought it on the spot as it completely smoked the competition! Still massively underpriced for the quality so I'll probably never part with mine.

Slightly more expensive is the ESP Vintage 4, now discontinued and quite hard to find second hand but in my opinion this is probably the best P bass ever made. They crop up on here every so often and usually a similar price or cheaper than a US Fender and there is no competition in my mind, if money were no object I would buy every single one I see!

[BobVbass]

On 26/08/2018 at 10:13, Sibob said:

If you can find a used Skyline Lakland Precision (Bob Glaub, Duck Dunn, 44-64), that’s about as good as you’ll find for that £750 IMO.

Si

This all day long - I've been playing P basses for 35 years and have had loads, copies, squiers, jap, mexican US you name it (and still have a few) - the best one by a long way is my Lakland Skyline Duck Dunn special edition

[Jazzjames]

My Fender MIJ precision sounds absolutely great. Cost me £500.  So that’s my vote. Other manufacturers get close, but the japanese instruments offer a great blend of quality and value.

 

You could spend £5k on a ‘62 or £300 on a squier. Some of them are gonna sound weak, most of them will sound fine, and some of them will sound great. You need to test them to find out yourself.

[ead]

Interestingly (or maybe not), I ended up taking two P to rehearsal last night.  My '66 and an American Std made around 45 years later.  In isolation I love and gig both of them but I was surprised that they sound quite different.  They both have nickel rounds on and have the original fit p/ups and electronics.

If forced to choose I'd still pick the '66 which I would describe as smoother and more rounded while the 2011 is definitely the punchier of the two.  I imagine the age of the wood must play a small part in all of this.

[clunkie66]

On 11/09/2018 at 23:04, Jazzjames said:

My Fender MIJ precision sounds absolutely great. Cost me £500.  So that’s my vote. Other manufacturers get close, but the japanese instruments offer a great blend of quality and value.

 

You could spend £5k on a ‘62 or £300 on a squier. Some of them are gonna sound weak, most of them will sound fine, and some of them will sound great. You need to test them to find out yourself.

+1 on that - I have just had a mint '57 reissue imported from Japan, for a little over 500 quid. Beautiful quality, easily as nice as a USA model. Love it...

[The59Sound]

Has anyone ever owned a Squier PJ Special? The one before the VM line was released. 

[Geek99]

@The59Sound

Ask norris - I’m sure he has one 

Edited September 17, 2018 by Geek99

[Norris]

1 hour ago, The59Sound said:

Has anyone ever owned a Squier PJ Special? The one before the VM line was released. 

 

1 hour ago, Geek99 said:

Ask @Norris I’m sure he has one 

Yes. Lovely bass. Serial number starts IM04 = Indonesia 2004?

Beautiful slim neck, lovely finish in gunmetal metallic and still in excellent condition. I dropped a set of quarter pounders in and have fitted a drop tuner. The tone pot packed up so I got a @KiOgon loom and now have series/parallel switch. That caused a little headscratching to shoehorn it in, as it's fitted with mini pots and the routing is tight, with the scratch plate barely covering it

It's been my main gigging bass for a few years now despite several much more expensive basses in my collection

Edit: As for cost, the bass was £150 second hand from BC classifieds. SD QP set was £100. It's paid for itself many times over. I originally bought it as a project donor, but it was too nice to mess with. Even the original cheapo pups sounded pretty good

Edited September 17, 2018 by Norris

[Geek99]

@Norris your house looks very well organised. One day mine will look that good. 

[Norris]

3 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

@Norris your house looks very well organised. One day mine will look that good. 

Ha ha. I propped it up in the tidiest corner. I'm not showing the music room in public given the state it's in! The joys of having children 

[Geek99]

You just need to harness their energy

i have mine busy crushing grapes from the garden to make wine, it’s a science lesson

Edited September 17, 2018 by Geek99