Minininjarob

Thanks that’s really helpful. I have a Player model, but I have a Musicman Sterling USA which has an amazing neck and I’d like to have the same on a P without messing with mine.

Whats the neck like?

Love my p bass. It’s perfect for a lot of songs I do but I wouldn’t mind keeping it downtuned and having another bass for more delicate tunes where I need to move around the fretboard more with my tiny hands. So are there any cheaper basses that have this, or is as simple as buying a P bass and a jazz neck and swapping them around? Are the necks mostly compatible with each other? Wouid prefer a Fender or Squire but open to thoughts about anything else. Budget is maybe around £500 but may mod it for a bit more after the initial purchase.

As someone who is relatively new to bass I have learnt that “building the sound” is nearly ALL about how you play, yes there are some instruments that sound a bit different and some pedals and amps can change the sound but the magic in in your fingers (or pick!). After 3 years of learning I’m in a band and play a lot of different styles of music. I’ve found on most occasions changing the way I play makes the key difference( rather than changing an amp setting or buying a new pedal. I play every way on my P-bass, from very soft, gentle and slow finger style (for ballads or when I play in my church) to absolutely beating the shit out of the strings with a pick (main band playing Skatepunk and metal songs). This discovery has made me realise that if you play the same way for every song and try to get the sound you want downstream with thousands of pounds of amps and pedals you’ll never get the sound you are after cos there’s always another product you can find online that will supposedly do a better job. Also you can spend months getting the perfect tone in your bedroom and it will probably sound like shit on a live stage, or at least not serve the band/music as it should do. After 3 years of playing I’ve settled on my set up of a fairly simple amp and cab setup (which is normally set quite flat on the eq), my P bass, a decent well set up compressor to even out my janky playing, a tuner and a fuzz and chorus pedals. That setup covers so much sonic ground it’s crazy. Good luck in your journey, and just enjoy the learning the music you love and playing with other people

Interesting video here, nice use of some driving P bass tones maybe through a pedal or whatever (let me know if you know what they are!)

I genuinely never noticed any change when they swapped it!

Looks like a good setup there but I’m surprised you have a traditional piano still - we sold ours and got an electric one in a ‘fake’ piano case as the acoustic one was so expensive to keep in tune.

Well the PMT I went into on Monday had a massive selection of guitars and amps and pedals, more than most other shops. Drum kits. Lots of keyboards/synths and basses too. Also a good range of PA and mixing stuff too. Never seen any Dj stuff in there.

I was at PMT Leeds on Monday and apart from a lack of bass strings to choose from everything looked normal in fact they had been having a move round of the store. Very odd.

As I said in original post intonation already checked thoroughly.

Ok so I was playing yesterday my Player P Bass and for probably the first time I had the tuner on when I fretted an F. On the open E the note was perfectly in tune but the F was WAY off no matter how I fretted it - it was way too sharp. Thinking back I have always thought the first fretted notes especially the F sounded a bit weird but I not very experienced so just brushed it off. Is the nut too high? Trying to figure out what’s wrong and that’s the only thing I can think of. Rest of the intonation seemed relatively ok.

I really like them. Much better than all the normal fake relic’d stuff.

Thanks all!

I read all the threads on here about older SS being so good but the cabs were heavy so I bought an old GK 400rb and a newish light GK 2x10 cab. Sounds amazing to me!

I can’t comment on the patch side of things but to get a MD sound you need to play with a pick (I use a .73 Dunlop MaxGrip after trying so many others - thick picks just do not work sound wise and with the speed he plays at) and you need to play HARD. The old adage of garbage in garbage out is perfect here. You can emulate the amps he uses (Fender Super Bassman into a 8x10) but if you provide all your gear with a lame weak signal it’s going to be fighting a losing battle. Mike is well known for have a very high action probably to avoid string buzz with how hard he plays. The precision he uses has a 59 or 62 pickup which are actually quite smooth sounding - and more similar to a Gibson G3 than you’d think. I’ve played a G3 and they sound great and probably not far off the signature P’s he has. I can get a great MD tone from my P into a GK 400rb and 2x10 with just a little compression and no other effects, but weirdly I can’t seem to make my USA MusicMan Sterling sound right at all for MD stuff. Gotta be a P!!

I shimmed my P bass with half a quality business card under the first two screws (bit nearest the neck). Worked perfectly and my P bass has never sounded so good, setup was super easy after that. All I did was loosen the strings off a lot, find the correct sized screwdriver and undid all the screws, slipped the business card in then put the screws back in. Only had to screw through a bit of cardboard which was very easy. It added a little bit of angle which was all that was needed. Found that tip on a website somewhere, and it was free! I took it out again to see if it was a fluke and no it wasn't....

Sorry I binned it, which I hate to do but I had to make some space around the house.

I am no electronics expert but take a look at Gallien Krueger amps from the 80/90's. Class A/B (I think?) with power transformers and loudness well beyond their specs. Bob Gallien specifically engineered his RB solid state amps to run at the limit without the issues you get when driving hard - he terms it "riding the (power) rails" - there is a youtube video of him explaining it. My solid state 400rb has no business with its rated 280w being as loud as it is, I run a 4x10 and 1x15 stack in our practice rooms and it simply cannot be turned up much as it completely drowns out the drums. It almost shouts at me "turn me up I love it!"..... I can't get enough o the sound of it tbh.

double post

The joyo pedals I have are briliant, I don't have the chorus but have a compressor and an overdrive and am very pleased with them. How about a 2nd hand Boss chorus? Thats what I bought for £65 IIRC.

Well I got it working great, following advice above. Couple of days later its seems to be a bit weird again..... TBH I might sell it on.