diskwave

Blimey Ive been down this rabbit hole a million times. What is bass? What is its purpose? If you want ur bass to sound like a lead guitar and neglect the purpose of the job then I suppose sadly new music has basically decided that bass is no longer an instrument that is required....almost like shooting one self in the foot because of the need to be different. Sounds like a rather sad state of affairs.

Honestly I really am a nice guy but I do enjoy robust debate. Primus?. What bass, hes playing it as a lead instrument....come off it r u serious? MM?....hes slapping it which is nothing new, we were doing that 40 years ago Janek?. Thats just Jaco with a variation. The other band is just a bassless noise...sorry

Nope been at it a long time and Ive just bought another bass so Im def not a troll.....But when I see young players today fretting over "their tone" I have to have a chortle...cause its all been done, there is no "new bass tone"....How can there be. We've had the bridge PU punch of Jaco, Bernie Edwards, John Taylor and John Patitucci, the synth bass of Jan Hammer with the clank of Geddy and Squire and the smooth woody P tone on a million top ten hits....Guess if you have a new tone we havent heard before then maybe we ought to be all ears.

I think most here are missing the point. There are basically with some subtle variations three bass tones. Jaco, Squire and everyone else. The Jaco tone is used by cruisers, pit guys and jazzers across the board with subtle variations. The Squire "clank" and variations is used by Punks, Metal heads etc etc And the rest which is a soft P bassy type of tone by just about everybody else. There are no other radically different tones from those listed...unless you use a flanger reverb, or whah peddle all the time.

Compared to the Mex P I had years ago and even my current VM P which is nice its light and day...just noticed the body edges and arm cut are completely smoothed over as all American Fenders are/were....it all adds the feel of quality...not super light at 8.6 Ibs but I cant put it down the neck is kind of slick and comfy.....Anyway, just felt it needed a shout out. If the American Fenders are better, what ever that means then so be it...its definitely not worth the extra £1000 to me, no way.

Been playing drums for a few years and spent a lot on good cymbals which Covid has messed with big time so sold them and bought a sweet Classic Vibe Squire P bass for home noodling. How do they do it for the money...incredible workmanship and sounds, well, like a P bass. There's no doubt about it the balance of power is moving away from Fender, this thing is crazy good easily as good if not better than any Fender I've owned over the years and I've had a few. Surprised Fender allows it really.

Another great comment. I think about all the different rigs and basses I've played and its always the same responses from band mates...."sounds good man" and "nice groove mate".....I have never had anyone on stage or off stage say..."bass sounds crap, old fruit".

This in spades. Probably the most enlightening paragraph ever written on BC. Id even go so far as saying don't let anyone tell you you need a fancy rig or bass....but definitely do listen to the guy who says you need to work on ur technique and practise more.

Yes ok a bit of an exaggeration, of course a jazz bridge PU sounds different to a J neck PU or Tele bass PU. I meant in general. Out front most basses do sound very similiar.

I gave up worrying about tone years ago after seeing a bassist using a very fancy active bass in a big live production supporting a big name singer, he might as well have been plucking a chicken....awful muddy drone. The one for me now is an instrument that is light and comfortable to play..I almost dont care what it sounds like...all basses basically sound the same ...don't they?

Totally agree with the above. Traditionally bass was there to support the mix....to rumble along underneath with a hint of definition. The upfront sound we have had for the past 40 odd years is thanks to one man...Jaco, which is great but its very specialised and unique...trouble is since then everyone including serious band leaders want the bass to sound like a lead instrument.....hence the popularity of active high mid focused instruments which are everywhere...ironically especially in the jazz fusion, cruisers, pit scene etc......but yes played carefully the P bass is where its at....rolling along underneath with a hint of definition.

Bit of cool comfort in these strange times.

Ha...I was the biggest Fender gear snob on the planet....but after picking up my VM P it all went out the window. For a few quid I bought a lightweight nice feeling bass and those Duncan PU's are pretty good

Speaking generaly have to say Sky Arts on Freeview is so re-freshing, so many good little programmes, and yes the eagles were really good.

For me its all about the amount of cash I lay down. Spent a few quid on various "vintage" ,models over the years and then one day on a quest for strings at PMT picked up a Squire Vintage Mod P without even thinking about it.....for £250 it smoked the 70's P I had at the time. I've still got it and the old P is long gone. Having said the thick neck on the vintage P was to die for but the bass was heavy and terribly uneven across the strings.

Or a RW Jazz, they feel all kinda soft and gooey, cant explain...but very nice.

There was some European guy on the Tube many years ago sat in a studio with a rack of vintage P's...beer belly and wearing a cardy.....My goodness could he groove on a 60's P with old flats. I'd never heard anything like it before or since.....cant find the darn vid now...maybe he pulled it.

Indonesian? If its a Vintage Modified P with the Duncan PU's then you are in for a treat. I have two, one which I will never sell.

Yep Nile Rogers is def the owner of the magic sauce....so many great tunes, masterfully recorded.

Ha the good ole days....bass playing goodlyness... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-8HHrvB2Jw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTev_FDh_Ik

Totaly agree plus you can still find "good ones" the same way now and again one can find a "good" Fender.

I own two lowly Indo Vintage Modified P's after a lifetime of playing this and that. One of them is so good its crazy. Lightweight, with a perfect neck and with the SD PU's as standard. For the price its both stunning and playable but still deemed a beginners instrument..and I would love to see myself at Glasto on stage with it.

Just struck by the small number of P basses in these lists yet unlike years ago there are so few for sale on any of the various selling platforms, tis a mystery

Oops sorry...each to their own.