Unhappy

[SonnyBassPlayer]

The perfect tone is something we'll never reach if not for a few days, and than as soon as we get used to something we start craving for something else... Just get a decent P bass (Squier CV, Modern Player w/upgraded pickup, or a Vintera) and you may be on the right path. In case you need to sell, part with the bass you use less.

 

[LukeFRC]

Btw I think there is a massive difference between chasing tone or ‘the one’ - and working out what kinda pickups you like. 
 

I like P basses. I like the look, idea of jazz basses. I really like hearing other people play them - but for me it never works out - and I have tried! 
I also don’t mind musicman type - for years I played Warwick’s where the PJ set up essential covers the MM sweet spot. So that’s what I like.
My main bass is a freak of a Sadowsky metro that doesn’t sound like a jazz bass in the low mids for some reason - so that gets the love, and I’ve a Lakland 55-94 which is essentially a jazz with the ability to have a MM style pickup at thr bridge… but the pickups are fat and warm with pleantly of low mids … so more precision like … so that stays!
 

where do you like your pickups  @Supernaut? Work that out and except for freaks like my metro, you can narrow down from randomly chasing ‘tone’ to knowing more or less what you’re looking for… and know when a whole bass just isn’t you vs a set of pickups isn’t you…

 

@Clarky has two very very nice basses for sale at present - I know for a fact that the beautiful blue one I would like to like I wouldn’t get on with, but the other one I would if I could justify two Ps! 

[martthebass]

On 15/11/2021 at 10:09, neepheid said:

I wonder if it's middle age that does it.  I certainly find myself shying away from active electronics, and I do need a P more than I used to...

 

I'm wondering that too.

In my formative years it was active to the max, new strings all the time, lots of HiFi etc, but now often as not I reach for my trusty JMJ Mustang, back off the tone and just play.

I have a new Status CW sig S2 that I love and will never sell for sentimental reasons but I often think it's the bass I would have died for 30 years ago...

[Jonesy]

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

 

Exactly the model I always looked for (but r/w board). That's the lovely B profile neck, as it's called (the Jazz width is the A neck and the standard Pbass is C).

 

They're so nice that I almost considered selling my other basses and buying another one, just so I could have a P with flats and P with rounds. I soon came to my senses, but I do always keep an eye out for another one, just in case.......

[goonerjoe]

I bought a brand new Sandberg VS4 last year as a present to myself... did months of research, paid up, did months of waiting, got it, was blown away by it... but I don't "love it"... I have no idea why. Every time I look at it, it doesn't make me want to pick it up and play it, whereas my old Precision was the opposite... Now i'm looking at new P basses. When will I learn...

[SumOne]

I've never owned a P Bass and read too many threads like this so it feels like an itch that needs to be scratched!

 

Also, I think  it might be an age thing but I'm feeling the pull of Passive vs Active....but I really dislike noise, a P seems to deal with that better J setup.

 

My hestitations are: I've definitely become a 5 string player and that doesn't really fit the traditional look of a P Bass, any particular P that works well as a 5 string? And I generally play dubby Reggae (using more of the neck pickup and playing in front of it), and occasional slap: Passive P's don't seem popular for either of them so perhaps they're not for me....woth a try though!

 

 

[LukeFRC]

31 minutes ago, SumOne said:

I've never owned a P Bass and read too many threads like this so it feels like an itch that needs to be scratched!

 

Also, I think  it might be an age thing but I'm feeling the pull of Passive vs Active....but I really dislike noise, a P seems to deal with that better J setup.

 

My hestitations are: I've definitely become a 5 string player and that doesn't really fit the traditional look of a P Bass, any particular P that works well as a 5 string? And I generally play dubby Reggae (using more of the neck pickup and playing in front of it), and occasional slap: Passive P's don't seem popular for either of them so perhaps they're not for me....woth a try though!

 

 

there's a Freedom custom guitar research one for sale right now that's an Active 5 string P .... Freedom are super high end Japanese luthier 

[ead]

I'm rather enjoying an imitation '57 transition P bass atm.  That is to say the single coil p/up with the more carved body.  Sit's nicely in the mix and with flats on sounds lush.

[Ander87]

I've tried a lot of everything in my 3 years as a bassist.

 

Musicman Stingray Specials, Alpher customs, Sadowsky metros, Merlos, Sei Bass, Sandberg, Lakland, Fender Boxer japan, headless Ibby 5's, Dingwall D-Roc....

 

After all that, my 3 basses now are all p basses with jazz necks...! passive electronics all of them with sweet spots via tone switch (killswitch, bypass, 22pf, 47pf) and different pickups across them - NP4V, NP4A and P Blade by Nordstrand.

 

I think tones depend a lot with the type of music you do, but I'm glad to see that a P bass will have your back for most of music produced - for what I do (motown/soul/neosoul/pop/rock/punk) these cover me plenty.

 

I can say this is the happiest I've been after roaming so many different basses... I would not say no to a PJ Alpher though, but price/tone ratio is solid with these Limelights:

 

[LukeFRC]

1 hour ago, Ander87 said:

Musicman Stingray Specials, Alpher customs, Sadowsky metros, Merlos, Sei Bass, Sandberg, Lakland, Fender Boxer japan, headless Ibby 5's, Dingwall D-Roc....

That’s quite some going for your first 3 years! 

[Ander87]

Just now, LukeFRC said:

That’s quite some going for your first 3 years! 

 

I know eh? I can be a super gassed up person, but I genuinely think P basses is where my heart is - at least it has been for the last 7 months, quite a stable thing considering...!

 

The problem is I had been playing guitar for a while and I was used to the fine stuff lol. Having said that, 1k£ a bass is a justified budget considering I gig them all three and I'm in 2 bands etc... 

[TheLowDown]

On 15/11/2021 at 09:25, Supernaut said:

I'm not sure if it's all in my head but I'm just unhappy with where my tone is right now. 
 

I have two very good basses, a Sandberg TM4 SL and a Bacchus Woodline Craft Jazz, but I can't seem to gel with them. 
 

Something keeps telling me that I need a Precision. Every time I pick one up, it's the sound I'm after but I've never found 'the one'. I think subconsciously, I'm trying to make my current two basses sound more P like but that's not what they're built to do. 
 

Should I get rid and start afresh? Advice/thoughts welcome. 

It will pass. It sounds like it's not the basses you're dissatisfied with but something closer to home. Sometimes if I'm whizzed off with life or people or whatever, I find I will 'transfer' it onto something else and then blame the stinky poo out of it. "The garden looks like crap", "the tone on my basses really don't do it for me anymore", "family are doing my head in", blah.

 

 

[gareth]

12 hours ago, TheLowDown said:

It will pass. It sounds like it's not the basses you're dissatisfied with but something closer to home. Sometimes if I'm whizzed off with life or people or whatever, I find I will 'transfer' it onto something else and then blame the stinky poo out of it. "The garden looks like crap", "the tone on my basses really don't do it for me anymore", "family are doing my head in", blah.

 

 

We’ll probably never know as the OP has made no further posts since starting this thread

[TrevorG]

After owning a number of decent basses including Spector and Alembic I jumped for joy finding my Precision. It was as if I’d stopped beating around the bush and finally gone where everyone else had always been. Bass lines felt more intuitive because it was the same instrument many bass lines were written on. Not saying other basses can’t do it but a decent P can save a lot of searching. 

[Ander87]

10 minutes ago, TrevorG said:

 

After owning a number of decent basses including Spector and Alembic I jumped for joy finding my Precision. It was as if I’d stopped beating around the bush and finally gone where everyone else had always been. Bass lines felt more intuitive because it was the same instrument many bass lines were written on. Not saying other basses can’t do it but a decent P can save a lot of searching.

 

Amen!!!! Exactly how I felt after a million basses. Everything in my house is a P Bass and that makes total sense. 
 

Best,

 

Ander. 

[neepheid]

It's starting to sound a bit koolaid-y in here...

[LukeFRC]

3 hours ago, Ander87 said:

Amen!!!! Exactly how I felt after a million basses. Everything in my house is a P Bass and that makes total sense. 
 

Best,

 

Ander. 

until you turn the purple one into a stingray right? 

[Ander87]

1 minute ago, LukeFRC said:

until you turn the purple one into a stingray right? 

Shhhhh it’s gonna be a PJ so it still works as a P - the stingray feels too risky 😂

[SumOne]

Isn't the actual Bass (as in neck and body) just one relatively small piece of the tone? Personally, I choose a Bass mostly down to erganomics as the tone can be altered a lot via technique, strings, setup, pickups, preamp, EQ, pedals like compression and drive, and amp +cab choice. Perhaps that's a bit 'Triggers Broom' though! 

 

 

 

 

 

[neepheid]

9 minutes ago, SumOne said:

Isn't the actual Bass (as in neck and body) just one relatively small piece of the tone? Personally, I choose a Bass mostly down to erganomics as the tone can be altered a lot via technique, strings, setup, pickups, preamp, EQ, pedals like compression and drive, and amp +cab choice. Perhaps that's a bit 'Triggers Broom' though! 

 

I'd go so far as to say it's the smallest piece of the tone to the point of being irrelevant.  But that's for another holy war thread somewhere.

[TrevorG]

13 hours ago, Ander87 said:

Shhhhh it’s gonna be a PJ so it still works as a P - the stingray feels too risky 😂

Lol!! I didn’t say I’d sold the Spector or the Alembic, did I(the Alembic was stolen)? Variety is the spice of life but the P is its  bread and butter.

Edited November 30, 2021 by TrevorG

[gareth]

On 15/11/2021 at 09:25, Supernaut said:

I'm not sure if it's all in my head but I'm just unhappy with where my tone is right now. 
 

I have two very good basses, a Sandberg TM4 SL and a Bacchus Woodline Craft Jazz, but I can't seem to gel with them. 
 

Something keeps telling me that I need a Precision. Every time I pick one up, it's the sound I'm after but I've never found 'the one'. I think subconsciously, I'm trying to make my current two basses sound more P like but that's not what they're built to do. 
 

Should I get rid and start afresh? Advice/thoughts welcome. 

The OP started this thread on 15/11/2021 and many basschaters have offered the advice/thoughts the OP requested

 

It’s always good to receive some feedback or response when one has offered the requested advice/thoughts

 

Any feedback, response or comments about the advice/thoughts so far proffered on your thread @Supernaut?

Edited January 28, 2022 by gareth

[diskwave]

I played a 77 Stingray from 80 to 92 and never really felt happy, and I'd forgotten all about P basses  but I was stuck and that was that. A few years later I sold it and picked up a P bass. Problem solved, but not entirely. What I've come to realise is it's taken decades of technique to get to where Iam now.... sometimes a problem can begin in ur fingers. Check ur technique before spending money.