Fender Precision Bass

PorterhouseMusic

PorterhouseMusic

Mitakuye Oyasin
I love this guitar. It has been superb. It's 100% stock except I've changed the pick guard once or twice.

Work was going well in 1998/99 and I started collecting the kind of gear that would allow me to make home recordings by myself. I think it was actually 1999 that suddenly MARS was going out of business. The only DFW location was right across the street from my appt and I was in there all the time. Over a months time or so they blew everything out. I went in there the day before they chained the doors shut and it was sliiiiim pickin's. The huge guitar wall was nearly bare. This American P-bass was one of just a handful of guitars left. It was marked down heavily for liquidation. So I went and pulled out some cash, came back, and asked the salesman if he would take $400.00 for it tax title and license- that's all I had. So I took it home.

I love that classic sound.

It's still super clean although it has been played a lot. But yeah - great guitar that has served me well. I've been playing bass a lot recently and I thought I'd share.

Pbass lovers out there?

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I dig my son's Jazz. Agree that the feel of those necks is something special.

I call the sound of the Pbass "rolling thunder". Just seems apt.
 
I've never had the luxury of a 'great' or 'name' bass. I did have a Fender Musicmaster
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a couple of times in the 80s. When I first got one, I thought that simply because it was a Fender, it must be quality. It took me months to save up for it. It was certainly a step up from my shitty 2nd-hand Kay and while I loved that bass, I only 'liked' its sound, or to put it another way, there was nothing about its sound that made me gush at the mouth. I sold it after a while and stopped playing for 18 months but then I bought another. I had it converted to a fretless which changed the entire nature of the way it had to be played and after 3 or 4 years, I gave up. Again, it was OK but there wasn't anything outstanding about its tone. I swapped it for an Aria which I used for about 11 years before I went 5-string.
It was actually the Aria that taught me something priceless about bass guitars which is that a bass guitar is a bass guitar. I have never found anything inherently wonderful about any particular bass, either in tone or in my hands. People might think I'm just trying to be an iconoclast ~ I'm not. I genuinely have never heard a bass that made me froth at the mouth. What I've found is that they really are just tools and it is how I manipulate the tool that determines how it's going to sound at any one time. I'm rather like that with guitars too, whether electric or acoustic, banjos, mandolins, electric pianos, organs etc. For a long time, I thought I'd like a Rickenbacker bass because I like some songs that feature a Rickenbacker guitar but then I realized that by creating approximations to my ears of particular bass sounds {and not only bass}, I had access to a wide variety of bass sounds and at that point, any desire for any particular brand disappeared.
My bass is an average hunk of wood and metal. My bass sounds are not.
 
grimtraveller said:
I've never had the luxury of a 'great' or 'name' bass. I did have a Fender Musicmaster View attachment 141172 a couple of times in the 80s. When I first got one, I thought that simply because it was a Fender, it must be quality. It took me months to save up for it. It was certainly a step up from my shitty 2nd-hand Kay and while I loved that bass, I only 'liked' its sound, or to put it another way, there was nothing about its sound that made me gush at the mouth. I sold it after a while and stopped playing for 18 months but then I bought another. I had it converted to a fretless which changed the entire nature of the way it had to be played and after 3 or 4 years, I gave up. Again, it was OK but there wasn't anything outstanding about its tone. I swapped it for an Aria which I used for about 11 years before I went 5-string.
It was actually the Aria that taught me something priceless about bass guitars which is that a bass guitar is a bass guitar. I have never found anything inherently wonderful about any particular bass, either in tone or in my hands. People might think I'm just trying to be an iconoclast ~ I'm not. I genuinely have never heard a bass that made me froth at the mouth. What I've found is that they really are just tools and it is how I manipulate the tool that determines how it's going to sound at any one time. I'm rather like that with guitars too, whether electric or acoustic, banjos, mandolins, electric pianos, organs etc. For a long time, I thought I'd like a Rickenbacker bass because I like some songs that feature a Rickenbacker guitar but then I realized that by creating approximations to my ears of particular bass sounds {and not only bass}, I had access to a wide variety of bass sounds and at that point, any desire for any particular brand disappeared.
My bass is an average hunk of wood and metal. My bass sounds are not.
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That's interesting! Since I'd played quite a few but never owned a bass I don't think I'd spent any time thinking about what my preferences were. Then I got this guitar and it was: "yeah, that sound". Immediately- straight into any board or amp.
 
PorterhouseMusic said:
Then I got this guitar and it was: "yeah, that sound". Immediately- straight into any board or amp.
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My friend who used to play drums on a lot of my stuff had a Fender Precision. He may still have actually. He's been living in the States for years and I think that's the only instrument he has kept. I was a little intrigued when I first heard he'd got it but when I heard him play it, it didn't sound any way unique to me. Maybe it was just the way he played it. He's a multi-instrumentalist but I always think of him as a drummer. I never liked his style of bass playing but then, I never liked his style of guitar either, even though he's a much better guitarist than I'll ever be. I knew his parents before he was ever alive.
I have a variety of bass tones that I employ, combinations of pick or fingers or thimbles, using one amp, or two amps or just the guitar amp or bass amp, line out and DI then blended or just DI or just the line out or a Behringer BD21 or the BD21 with amp or line out or miked with an SM58 or the bass drum mic of one of my drum kit mic sets. There are so many ways I can go, so many EQs I can juggle or not use EQ at all, that there is no one sound I will ever have. My bass is a Wesley 5-string. I won it on an Ebay auction in 2005. Some guy used to build them as part of a university business project. I couldn't even tell you what its sound is because I rarely just plug in and play. And to make matters even more awkward, I have flatwound strings on it. I guess I went the other way to a lot of bass players by not establishing a signature sound. I guess, for me, the bass has many tones, a bit like the kick and snare drums.
 
I like what was said about the Peavy 'cheapie'. A while back now, I was a bit flush and needed a nice bass - one that would be easy to play for long periods, in a pit band. I went into the music shop and looked at the basses - but NOT the headstocks. Some I hated before touching, some I hated when I prodded the strings, but every one that felt nice and looked nice, I played - then kept or rejected. In the end I had just 3. A Fender Jazz, a Peavey and another I can't remember. The Peavey played the nicest and had the right tone for me. I remember the Fender and it was just more sort of 'industrial' - heavier weight, more effort to get the strings down. The Peavey was like the Fender, a 5 String and the low B was a real note, not just a thump as on so many others. I then looked at the price tag, and it was half the price of the Fender. Love that bass - still play it. eventually, in a band the Peavy tone was a bit wrong, and some songs involved playing very hard which the Peavey's low action did not like at all. I bought an American Jazz - which I always played in that band, but the Peavey is still nicer to play, and lighter - now I'm ancient. I even put neon strings on the Fender - great on stage in LED lighting. In fact, the only set of strings for a bass I have ever put on. My first 1976 bass still has, like the others, it's original strings. I have never broken one, and they sound OK for my needs!
 

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grimtraveller said:
I have a variety of bass tones that I employ, combinations of pick or fingers or thimbles, using one amp, or two amps or just the guitar amp or bass amp, line out and DI then blended or just DI or just the line out or a Behringer BD21 or the BD21 with amp or line out or miked with an SM58 or the bass drum mic of one of my drum kit mic sets. There are so many ways I can go, so many EQs I can juggle or not use EQ at all, that there is no one sound I will ever have. My bass is a Wesley 5-string. I won it on an Ebay auction in 2005. Some guy used to build them as part of a university business project. I couldn't even tell you what its sound is because I rarely just plug in and play. And to make matters even more awkward, I have flatwound strings on it. I guess I went the other way to a lot of bass players by not establishing a signature sound. I guess, for me, the bass has many tones, a bit like the kick and snare drums.
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I also record my bass in a variety of ways. Over the years. Although it's primarily straight through the RNDI because that's just so strong and reliable. But I like experimenting and have had luck with that. I'll dampen the strings by shoving a felt cloth under the strings at the bridge, DI and amp to two channels, fingers, gtr picks, felt picks, choke up on the strings, and I also have the BDI21. There is a shit ton of variety to be found by just experimenting. :thumbs up:

(sorry about the giant photo - I'd posted that from my phone and didn't realize. resized)
 
PorterhouseMusic said:
I also record my bass in a variety of ways. Over the years. Although it's primarily straight through the RNDI because that's just so strong and reliable. But I like experimenting and have had luck with that. I'll dampen the strings by shoving a felt cloth under the strings at the bridge, DI and amp to two channels, fingers, gtr picks, felt picks, choke up on the strings, and I also have the BDI21. There is a shit ton of variety to be found by just experimenting
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We're on the same page.
I remember years ago, one of our contributors, Ezy Willis, a guy I always had a lot of time for, was talking about bass and he said something to the effect that "a bass is just a bass. No song became a hit because of the bass tone" but I always felt that was missing the point. True, most people just hear "the bass" but those of us that have to go a little further out and hear a little more of what the bass is doing sonically. The key is not in slathering it with a shitload of effects.
Unless that's what the song requires.
 
Agree.

The other really strong secret weapon I have sometimes in my bass signal chain is my EQP clone. It is a tone shaping beast. So much tonal variation there by turning knobs.
 
Rob, the "cheapo" Peavey is a BX4, it has the printed woodgrain finish, but a fairly slender neck, which fits me perfectly. I changed the strings from roundwounds to "Groundwounds", which are smoother. They still retain some of the "boing" of a roundwound string but feel closer to a flatwound. I think I paid $175 for it new years back.

It is very easy to play, lightweight and decent action. It just doesn't have that P-bass sound.


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My primary bass is a 2003 American Precision bass with TI flats. I bought it in probably 2005 or so and have had it since then. I own a few basses, but this is the one that I always come back to.

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This is my guy. First thing was a set of La Bella Flats, .045-.105. It fits me like a glove and does everything I want it to do.
I love the neck. Not too fat, and plenty wide enough. Volume and tone control, very simple. I was using a Keely compressor stomp. but I realized I didn't really need it live. I use a dbx 166xs for recording.
I have a Yamaha BB 350 in the stable. My real bass player has a Ricky 4001 and a Peavey Rudy Sarzo that I use sometimes. All the necks are just a little too narrow for my taste, He uses the P more times than not. (Probably cause he doesn't need to schlep his axe around!)
I'll take the PB all day
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Old Music Guy said:
This is my guy. First thing was a set of La Bella Flats, .045-.105. It fits me like a glove and does everything I want it to do.
I love the neck. Not too fat, and plenty wide enough. Volume and tone control, very simple. I was using a Keely compressor stomp. but I realized I didn't really need it live. I use a dbx 166xs for recording.
I have a Yamaha BB 350 in the stable. My real bass player has a Ricky 4001 and a Peavey Rudy Sarzo that I use sometimes. All the necks are just a little too narrow for my taste, He uses the P more times than not. (Probably cause he doesn't need to schlep his axe around!)
I'll take the PB all day
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Another beautiful Pbass. Schwing!
 
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