Exoctica? pah! gimme a p bass

[BaggyMan 92]

Seen this comment come up on a number of bass themed youtube videos.  The P bass is the bass is now the bass of choice.  Seems that conventional wisdom is now that after 'all these years' that good ol' Leo hit the nail firmly on the noggin.  The p bass sits sonically at the best place in the mix cutting through where other basses fail.  

Now I have owned many, many .....many basses and they all have their character, good n bad points and most recently started building bits basses up out of choice parts.  What model ? first one was a Jazz next three..p basses. 

A few years ago seemed that the active bass was king, ever more elaborate tone shaping designs to define the nuance of the very soul of your sound. But is it me or is the elaborate, complex, bass becoming niche? 

So, what has changed?? why is the p bass, possible only through electrification more complicated than a stick, suddenly in the zeitgeist?

[TheGreek 3,337]

2 minutes ago, BaggyMan said:

The P bass is the bass is now currently the bass of choice.

I remember when the Jazz bass was the weapon of choice...I wonder whether your statement will stand the test of time and if in, say, 10 years something else hasn't taken it's place.

[chris_b 2,477]

3 minutes ago, BaggyMan said:

So, what has changed??

Nothing has changed.

The guys who wanted and/or needed to play P basses always did. The guys who pick basses because of a "trend" didn't affect those who wanted the P bass sound.

I've owned a P bass since 1968 and have owned active Jazz style basses since the late 90's. I didn't even know J and P basses were going in or out of fashion during that time!

If the P bass is a "trend" guys those guys will probably be off on another fad soon and people like me will still be rocking the basses we've always used.

[Delberthot 585]

I don't follow trends in any area of my life. I buy what is the best fit for me whether it be a roll of tape, a new car, caviar, 4 star daydream, think I'll buy me a football team.

If the perfect bass for me was called the Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord III then I would still play it as long as it played well and looked good ( I may cover the name up though ) 

I'm not about to play something because someone says it's cool and trendy

[Osiris 855]

13 minutes ago, Delberthot said:

If the perfect bass for me was called the Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord III then I would still play it as long as it played well and looked good ( I may cover the name up though ) 

I'd buy one of those on the strength of the name alone 

Oh, and yeah, gimme a P bass (at least the pickup) too - although I'm playing a P/J Mustang these days as I struggle with full sized basses these days. 

[tauzero 721]

I didn't realise it was that time of day already. Thought there were still a few hours to go before the next "I love P/I hate P" thread.

[Rich 2,907]

I had a Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord IV at one time. You didn't miss much, to be honest.

[phil.c60 159]

I think you will find that it's the Gaylord VI that's on trend at the moment. Especially on Twitter. Whatever TF that is.

[Dan Dare 720]

Horses for courses. Seems to me there is a big difference between a bass that gets the job done and one that appeals on a personal level. Much of what we like/lust over in exotic instruments is superfluous (imho, natch) to the job at hand. Beautiful timbers, active p/us with endless tone shaping options, etc, etc may appeal to us as bass nerds, but they don't make a lot of difference out in the so-called 'real world', where providing a foundation to the music is the name of the game. Nowt wrong with wanting instruments made from those beautiful timbers, of course, but the difference in practical terms between them and something like a P bass is largely in our heads.

[BaggyMan 92]

oh i wasn't going for the hate/love p bass thread, far from it, i was musing over the ever changing market when one day the massively complicated exotique wooded through neck style is king then the collective morph over to simplicity (and then I guess creep back again. ) Don't get me wrong I have owned pretty much every type of bass 'cept  gibson (just dont like 'em, trendy or not) or any of the the uber expensive makes.  

[Muzz 885]

All my basses are active, most of them have a split-coil pickup in the right position, the ones that do sound like P-basses if I want them to.

Do I win a prize? 😀

[BaggyMan 92]

ill put you name into the free draw for the Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord IV

 

[Conan 363]

I reckon a Jazz on the neck pickup sounds reasonably like a P (especially in a band mix). Others deny this and think I'm daft. i don't care.

Can a P bass do what a J does? No. Which is the better bass to own if you only own one? The J I would say...

Hides behind the sofa.... 

[JapanAxe 270]

I was interested to see that in this recent video, Scott Devine eschews active EQ as a means to great bass tone:

 

[bearhart74 51]

15 hours ago, Rich said:

I had a Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord IV at one time. You didn't miss much, to be honest.

does that come with the Fuzz Beiten tuning system?

[Muzz 885]

And yet he bought a verrrry expensive FBass with lots of knobs...

He lost me at "An active bass doesn't sound better than a passive bass, because if it did, we would all play active basses...", which shows a fundamental misunderstanding of, well, people, and the zillions of reasons people buy both active and passive basses.

Clickbait, as we've discussed before...

 

[Muzz 885]

1 hour ago, BaggyMan said:

ill put you name into the free draw for the Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord IV

 

Me too, please. Are they any good for metal?

[Rich 2,907]

Someone will be along in a minute to tell us how much better the Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord I was.

[acidbass 74]

I think the whole P Bass tone ideal is a bit of art imitating life. It was the only recorded bass sound throughout the 50s and 60s on 1000s of records which subconsciously dictated how electric bass should sound. Ergo, engineers know how to mix it 'properly' due to years of having that exact tone thrust upon them.

My point is that any bass can sound good given the right context, and the P Bass just got a bit lucky.

[Muzz 885]

Wasn't that the one with the active trussrod? It put the Banana back into Bananaboat, IIRC...

[Davo-London 120]

Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord II was the zenith, after that the quality went down as the grey-suits moved in. They even brought in a marketing company who wanted to change the product name!  Instead, they introduced Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord III, with new neck wood.

Davo

[Cato 1,633]

1 hour ago, Rich said:

Someone will be along in a minute to tell us how much better the Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord I was.

Yep.

Mickey Shitenbacker got it right first time.

[Muzz 885]

True, it all went off the rails once his lad Mickey Shitenbacker II got involved...remember the digital display with combined tuner, anemometer and temperature gauge? The one that used to pick up Radio Three?

 

[TheGreek 3,337]

Hmmm...Shitenbacker Bananaboat Gaylord I...must remember to get one of those...

[BaggyMan 92]

Haha the p bass format I went for was with a jazz neck, and I also have built a Jazz, and have a Lakland jazz.  

 

As for the Shitenbacker the Mk1 are quite collectable these days