Do I reeeally need a Precision..? (edit: American Professional Classic Precision incoming...)

[Reggaebass]

Very nice, , looks good in the faded green 

[Jonesy]

Really cool, looking forward to hearing what you think about it!

[RichT]

13 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

That’s a beautiful colour scheme 

 

I wish to thank you for not saying "colourway". 

[jd56hawk]

I never believed in the "Every bass player needs a P bass" credo, but I still regret not buying this one.

Never saw a nicer P bass in my whole life.

[HeadlessBassist]

3 hours ago, jd56hawk said:

I never believed in the "Every bass player needs a P bass" credo, but I still regret not buying this one.

Never saw a nicer P bass in my whole life.

 

That's a nice looking Bass for sure. I'm curious JD, you sound like you place the aesthetics of a Bass very highly, whereas I mainly go for the feel, playability and sound of the bass in question. I stopped by the Gallery during my Precision research and chose the green American Professional Classic, because that particular instrument felt and sounded great to me. I'm not really bothered about colours  

[jd56hawk]

19 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

That's a nice looking Bass for sure. I'm curious JD, you sound like you place the aesthetics of a Bass very highly, whereas I mainly go for the feel, playability and sound of the bass in question. I stopped by the Gallery during my Precision research and chose the green American Professional Classic, because that particular instrument felt and sounded great to me. I'm not really bothered about colours  

These days, so many companies make good basses there's no need for me to even consider looking at something if it doesn't catch my eye. If I'm shopping for basses there's no way in the world that I'm going to plug in the one on the left if it's hanging next to the one on the right.

Even buying online, I'm going for something special.

Edited Thursday at 09:30 by jd56hawk

[HeadlessBassist]

Typically, now I've ordered my American Professional Classic Precision from the Bass Gallery, I spot these - Listen to the demo on the last frame in the list of pictures... Don't know what strings he's putting on these, but his timber choices and how he makes/winds the pickups sound sublime.

 

https://reverb.com/uk/item/92759611-alnus-bass-precision-bass-2025-aged-dakota-red

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 13:32 by HeadlessBassist

[Lozz196]

That does sound pretty amazing. 

[Stub Mandrel]

 

 

26 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

Typically, now I've ordered my American Professional Classic Precision from the Bass Gallery, I spot these - Listen to the demo on the last frame in the list of pictures... Don't know what strings he's putting on these, but his timber choices and how he makes/winds the pickups sound sublime.

 

https://reverb.com/uk/item/92759611-alnus-bass-precision-bass-2025-aged-dakota-red

 

 

 

 

It sounds remarkably like my Westone Thunder 1 - which is a compliment, I always say it sounds more like a Precision than a Precision. 

[jazzyvee]

I've never been asked to bring any kind of bass for a gig or dep. In actual fact i didn't even know what the P-bass  sound was until I joined this forum and read so much praise for them and decided to listened to examples.

I do have an active bass with two sets of P-style pickups and in recent years put on flats but i doubt it has the authentic tonality of a passive P bass. I've taken it on a few dep gigs and got close enough to the previous bass player's sound that they noticed. I personally don't think I 'need' that sound and It's never gonna be my first call bass sound but if that type of sound was needed, i'd bring it along and see what I could do with it. Sounds monster with rounds on tho.

Edited Thursday at 15:38 by jazzyvee

[EdBod]

I’ve used many US, Mexican and Japanese Ps, Js and Stingrays over the years for gigging. I’ve found that if they sound good at home they don’t always work well in the band.
 

I’ve struggled with Js in bands as the scooped sound with both pickups full, which is my favourite setting, often gets a bit lost. I end up going with more neck pickup which is more of a P bass sound but not quite as the pickup position is nearer the neck than on a P. 
 

I’m never fully happy with Stingrays. The three bands can sound a bit honky with too much mid. Two bands are better IMHO as long as bass and treble are only slightly boosted. I have one with a J pickup in the P position as well as the humbucker and I often prefer that. 

 

All the Ps I’ve had sound pretty similar. I’ve swapped pickups a couple of times but the difference is subtle. Strings make a bigger difference. I now prefer flats. I like the modern 1.65in wide 9.5in radius necks. Wider necks are ok but I find them less comfortable. 
 

I recently rediscovered my Mexican Player P which has flats and a Lindy Fralin pickup. After many rehearsals with a Stingray the guitarist said “now that sounds like a bass” when I played the P. I was a bit taken aback because I love the Stingrsy but he was right. It filled out the sound in all the right places.
 

The secret is using the tone knob to focus the sound or make it fuller and warmer. I even found it sounded great for slap. With flats! Usually I use a J with steel roundwounds for slap. I love only having two dials to fiddle with. Volume is always on full. Tone ether full, 90% or 50%. Simples! And it just sits well in the band mix effortlessly. I guess this is why so many bassists use a P. 
 

 

 

Edited Friday at 08:40 by EdBod

[BassAdder60]

When I gigged in the 90’s I used a USA Stingray and Ampeg SVT CL amps. I thought it was perfect however on a visit to Ashdown HQ years back to try a few heads I used a house PBass and thought ong it’s awful why didn’t I bring my Ray !

After a spell of non playing and all my gear had been sold I got back into playing gigs in the 2015 onwards era and got a PBass and Ashdown ABM600 and I loved the sound. 
Then I got a Stingray virtually the same as my old one and didn’t like the sound at all, it was getting buried in the mix. 
I don’t know why a Ray worked for me in the 90’s as it was still rock against Marshall Valve amps but today I think the PBass is the perfect rock bass and just works and sounds very good. 
 

I tried a JBass but wanted it to sound like a PBass which it didn’t of course !

 

I have two basic PBass guitars for gigging both tuned Eb one is the Player II series and my backup is the 2025 Standard Indonesian built which is nice too. I don’t think I will play anything else now