What is wrong with my P Bass

[calumpiercy 0]

My P bass sounds very strange, almost out of phase with itself, is this possible? First bass you hear is mine, 2nd is another MIM P Bass. Both D.I. Any ideas why it sounds so much worse?

 

 

[Lozz196 4,769]

I don’t hear anything that would cause me concern, if anything I think bass one sounds much better and more Precision like. 

[Bassassin 1,920]

Both sound good to me, both identifiably "P". As likely to be inherent differences in strings/pickups as anything else.

[gjones 782]

The first one is a bit middier possibly? Still sounds fine to me. 

Is that the immigrant song by Led Zep?

Edited May 4, 2020 by gjones

[lou24d53 248]

18 minutes ago, gjones said:

The first one is a bit middier possibly? Still sounds fine to me. 

Is that the immigrant song by Led Zep?

I was waiting on the "aaaaahhhha ahhhhahha hhhahahaah" bit...!! :-) 

[police squad 512]

yep sounds fine to me too. Differences in pickups would probably be the thing here. Both sound just like a P bass, the 2nd bass sounds more scooped

[ClassicVibes 1,109]

Have you tried turning it off and on again? 

[Bassmingo 23]

Are both basses stock?  Same necks? Same country of origin? Same era?

Nothing really wrong with either but knowing more about each bass would help narrow down the difference. 

[Geek99 1,494]

[Geek99 1,494]

“precision-like” Sound is a fairly wide church you know, in the way that someone might say that a car sounds “a bit like a vw golf” 

[OliverBlackman 258]

pickup height and balance can make a huge difference

[Geek99 1,494]

2 hours ago, ClassicVibes said:

Have you tried turning it off and on again? 

 

[Bobthedog 1,117]

Can't help with the technical bit, but reading through the threads on this site, perhaps remove the tort pickguard?

[Geek99 1,494]

No, then it will look s h I t 

[drTStingray 664]

4 hours ago, Geek99 said:

No, then it will look s h I t 

As opposed to p u k e 😏😂👍

[drTStingray 664]

8 hours ago, calumpiercy said:

My P bass sounds very strange, almost out of phase with itself, is this possible? First bass you hear is mine, 2nd is another MIM P Bass. Both D.I. Any ideas why it sounds so much worse?

 

 

I agree they sound very different - have they got the same strings? The second one is more scooped sounding (particularly trebly)  whereas the first is much more ballsy sounding, in your face as it were. 

Its worth looking at pick up heights and maybe the outputs are different - the first sounds almost over driven to me. Some Precisions are louder than others. 

How do they fare back to back with the tone turned off (or at least down)? 

I know it's anathema but you could turn the bass volume down a bit on your one perhaps (unless the volume isn't linear - ie drops off very suddenly when you turn the control). 

Edited May 4, 2020 by drTStingray

[shoulderpet 127]

I agree with what has been said so far, cant hear anything bad about either of them, 1st bass is stronger in the mids 2nd sounds scooped, both sound fine to me , which bass is it you don't like the sound of?

[acidbass 222]

Much prefer the sound of bass #1! Definitely more like a P Bass.

[Geek99 1,494]

There we go, we’ve just got him calmed down and you go and stir the pot....

[madshadows 195]

Both sound good, #1 edges it slightly to my ears

John 😎 

[yorks5stringer 1,824]

They say it's all in the fingers, did you use the same hand each time ?

[Dood 1,523]

Does the first one have a lacquered Maple fretboard and the second have Rosewood?

[drTStingray 664]

My take on this is bass 2 is much more Roger Waters (P Floyd) eg Money, whereas bass 1 is more Peaches I K Brunel (Stranglers). 

Take your pick - both valid P bass tones. 

[ezbass 2,601]

Both P basses to my ears and like some of those above, I prefer bass number 1.

[mcnach 2,616]

On 04/05/2020 at 15:33, Lozz196 said:

I don’t hear anything that would cause me concern, if anything I think bass one sounds much better and more Precision like. 

 

That's exactly what I was going to say. Bass 1 sounds ok to me, I may EQ it a bit differently but it sounds like a P. Bass 2 sounds like someone turned down the mids, which some people may want, but not me, however it's still a Precision sound.

:shrug:

what pickups & strings are you using on both basses?