That post-punk P-bass sound...

[The fasting showman]

My favourite bass sound of this era is Pete Farndon on the 1st Pretenders album, the intro to 'Space invader' in particular.
I think of the new pickups around the current USA Fender 62 is fine, more important is to not cut mids on your amp and to play hard.
This is my favourite era of bass sounds when the recording technology of the day flattered bass to my ears and there seemed to be a desire to have bass guitar prominent in the mix (possibly thanks to disco maybe?); I seldom struggle to hear the bass parts of the players mentioned in this thread on a car stereo, mono radio etc.

[Paul S]

Worth mentioning Wizard pups, if you can find any secondhand they are great. For me the Wizard Trad nails that sound just perfectly.

[Lozz196]

[quote name='borisbrain' timestamp='1386437688' post='2300156']
Cheers Lozz. There's more on BT's tone if you delve into this interview he gave waaaay back...

[url="http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=8127"]http://www.elviscost...opic.php?t=8127[/url]
[/quote]

Awesome article, lots of great info on that.

[JapanAxe]

[quote name='borisbrain' timestamp='1386426516' post='2299981']
Bruce Thomas maintains a blog at www.brucethomas.co.uk and he seems quite happy to correspond with anyone who sends a comment. A while back I asked him about the signature tone he used for albums like This Year's Model, Armed Forces and Get Happy. This was his reply:
[color=#444444][font=minion-pro-1, minion-pro-2, Palatino, Georgia,]
My P bass had the pick ups rewound, wrongly as it happens but it turned out to be a happy accident and gave the bass a different sound in itself.[/font][/color][color=#444444][font=minion-pro-1, minion-pro-2, Palatino, Georgia,]
I never used Ampeg SVT equipement until later on — and only live. On the albums you referenced I used a Traynor monoblock head with a custom speaker rig containing 2×12″ speakers and 1×18″. obviously it was the 12″ speaker that was miked up — but I also mixed in the miked sound with a DI feed.[/font][/color][color=#444444][font=minion-pro-1, minion-pro-2, Palatino, Georgia,]
A vital part of the sound was a small Boss graphic EQ pedal which I used to roll out low bass and the honky mid tones (around 600 I think). The only other modification was a bit of compression.[/font][/color][color=#444444][font=minion-pro-1, minion-pro-2, Palatino, Georgia,]
Having said all of that, most of the punch you talk about comes from the way you pluck the strings. The only way to describe it is to say that if you try snapping your finger and thumb together to make that snapping sound, it’s a bit like that. Also important is releasing the string with your left hand, so you get a more staccato stabbing effect.[/font][/color][color=#444444][font=minion-pro-1, minion-pro-2, Palatino, Georgia,]
Try getting that kind of punchy sound just playing the bass acoustically without plugging it in to anything and you’re half way there. On some of the clips I put on youtube I turned the amp right down, so you might be able to hear what I mean.[/font][/color]

It's worth wading through the site for the occasional nuggets of wisdom, and some video of his playing. Pickup wise, I think that SPB1s would be the closest match to his custom-wound pickups. Or you could just get one of his signature P basses, made through the Bass Centre in London.

BB
[/quote]

I was about to start a Bruce Thomas thread but found this one.

Mrs Axe got me an Elvis Costello compilation CD for Christmas. It covers the first 10 years and most of the tracks feature the same Attractions line-up. I am sitting at home sweating out a cold, and have just listened to 'Detectives', 'Chelsea', and 'Pump It Up' in succession. What fantastic bass lines, and a tone to die for. Off to check out BT's website now.

[Marsy]

Yeah?

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=bass&sub=vintage&pickup=51_flat_pole&series=p_bass

[Cyrene]

I've been listening to Savages. It'll be a while before I get anywhere near that sound.