P bass advice please...

[bremen]

1 hour ago, gjones said:

I've never heard a Precision, going through a FOH PA, that didn't sound woolly (except for a Fender Telecaster bass, at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival) which had a big lump of foam at the bridge to give it definition and attack). 

 

On the other hand I've heard some great Precision sounds, where the bass is not going through the FOA PA and I'm hearing the bassists own amp with his/her own EQ settings.

 

So I would fall in line with what others have already said and get a good preamp so that you can have your sound for when you have to go through the FOA, or play through an amp that isn't yours.

 

 

I'd agree with that.

Unfortunately some foh "engineers" flat out refuse to do anything other than say here's the house DI box, plug your bass into that. If you argue you know they have the power of God when the gig starts and will wreak vengeance upon you for your impudence.

 

Best solution to that is to employ a very scary looking roady to stand over them.

[diskwave]

How to remove "wooliness" on any bass.  Dial back the bass knob and push the mids and, also treble but less so. Get the mids right and the bass component will happen naturally. My P bass wears dead Chromes thru Ampeg and I might as well be playing the bridge PU on a J bass.. only with more heft.

[Jackroadkill]

A set of rounds and, if you want to push the boat out a bit, an upgrade of the pots and cap can be good, too.

[ead]

Might I suggest a J East P Retro onboard preamp.  You can push the mids when you need to, have the scooped sound when you need it and go passive if you need to.  Brucie Bonus is that the tone control works on both active and passive modes.

 

No mods needed to you bass either.

[BassAdder60]

I’m a PBass player and I know that woolly tone you speak of !

 

My cure was better amps, better cabs and sticking with Roundwounds 

 

It really brings the PBass to life in a band with fresh strings and it doesn’t have to be woolly but clear and full 

 

I tried pickup changes in the past and the Dimarzio P was an aggressive upgrade with gnarly mids but today I’m happy with stock pickups that came in both my basses as they cover most of the tonal range I seek 

Edited Wednesday at 07:33 by BassAdder60

[Vanheusen77]

”Bite” is, like most adjectives in music very subjective. To me, a P bass with round wounds played in anger (preferably with a pick, but finger style works too) is one of the most aggressive bass sounds there is. A Stingray for example have more treble, but less of those scratchy grinding mids. Same with a J bass. A PJ might be an idea but like you said, it’s better to just buy another bass rather than mod your favourite. A lot is eq actually, so a preamp or eq pedal might do wonders. And of course roundwounds is the way to go. 

Edited Wednesday at 17:48 by Vanheusen77

[tom.android]

Strings, strings, strings. 
 

Still want flats but less boomy-y with loads more mids and upper mids? - TI jazz flats. 

Then there’s rounds but heaps of difference here. My favourite ‘dark’ sounding ones are GHS Blanced Nickles. 
 

Or go all the way up to steels and discover that your tone knob actually does something. Steel wounds on a P works for Lee Sklar, right? 
 

I’m really into the idea of matching the right bass / pickups combination with the right strings. 
 

Getting your low end under control onstage is another part of the equation, mind.

[chris_b]

On 14/09/2024 at 11:26, uk_lefty said:

So, I've got a Fender player P bass. It sounds perfect with Ernie Ball flats being played through a valve amp with the gain set nice and high. I don't always have this luxury though and sometimes I want a bit more bite from it. Example: I played a festival last weekend and had v little time to set up using unfamiliar kit, the sound was very woolly.

 

When you play festivals you get what you get. You can have a good sound or a bad sound, it's in the lap of the gods. You won't sort out any FOH issues with your equipment.

 

If your P bass sounds "perfect" through your rig, you don't need to do anything. For the situations where you might want something your bass can't give, try a preamp.

[Lozz196]

In my last band because I both had a fairly specific sound and because I used so many gear shares/provided rigs I went with getting my sound from a preamp pedal. That way FOH always got what I wanted them to, and then stage set up I’d adjust to something I liked. This not always possible mind, but main thing was the sound to the audience.

[tom.android]

2 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

When you play festivals you get what you get. You can have a good sound or a bad sound, it's in the lap of the gods. You won't sort out any FOH issues with your equipment.

 

If your P bass sounds "perfect" through your rig, you don't need to do anything. For the situations where you might want something your bass can't give, try a preamp.

True and wise.

 

Something else to consider might be a preamp feeding some IEMs so you can get some clarity in your ears without changing sound to FOH.

[Baloney Balderdash]

Get a tube preamp that can approximate the tone you get through your tube amp.