Great Bass to cover everything in studio

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  • phil_bphil_b Frets: 2010
    @Winny_Pooh there would be no strangers playing it! The studio is for fun and it would only be me and bass players in my band.

    I did think about 2 cheaper bass guitars, so thanks for the suggestion.

    I guess I would rather have one quality bass that does all I ever need it to, and ‘proper’ bass players would take their own basses anyway.
    Does the bass player in your band not already have a bass
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    Most versatile I had was a Reggie Hamilton Custom shop Jazz 5 string. I bought one secondhand for £1300 about 8 years ago. It has precision and Jazz pickup. Superb active/passive bass. I only sold it because it looked too new. Kind of wish I still had it ...
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2177
    I like the PJ format, giving the classic precision sound that suits most things for me, plus the option of getting the gnarly Jaco bridge pickup type sound on occasions.

    That's what I have with my inexpensive Squier Vintage Modified bass which suits my guitarist needs for home recording. If I ever have the money, I'd probably be looking at something like the Fender Ultra Precision in the OP - something versatile, light and noiseless.

    It's not a competition.
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  • RockerRocker Frets: 4947
    Spend £800 on a second-hand P-Bass (don't put flats on it unless all your clients are pensioners and/or shit) and spend the rest on something else like a nice Ampeg or outboard pre-amp.

    Nothing wrong with being a pensioner who plays bass. If you hang around long enough you too will become one. 
    Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]

    Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2177
    edited May 2021
    ...don't put flats on it unless all your clients are pensioners and/or shit...

    ...or Pino Palladino

    It's not a competition.
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  • MattBansheeMattBanshee Frets: 1498
    ...don't put flats on it unless all your clients are pensioners and/or shit...

    ...or Pino Palladino

    My apologies, he still has a few months left to go
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  • proggyproggy Frets: 5827
    If you opt for that lime green Charvel you'll have a few quid left over to buy some sun glasses. You'll need them.
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26753
    ...don't put flats on it unless all your clients are pensioners and/or shit...

    ...or Pino Palladino

    Or James Jamerson, or Donald Duck Dunn, or Carole Kaye, or Paul McCartney, of John Deacon, or Steve Harris and basically every other session player through the 60s and 70s... 
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • MattBansheeMattBanshee Frets: 1498
    ...don't put flats on it unless all your clients are pensioners and/or shit...

    ...or Pino Palladino

    Or James Jamerson, or Donald Duck Dunn, or Carole Kaye, or Paul McCartney, of John Deacon, or Steve Harris and basically every other session player through the 60s and 70s... 
    So, all pensioners?
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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 23941
    ...don't put flats on it unless all your clients are pensioners and/or shit...

    ...or Pino Palladino

    Or James Jamerson, or Donald Duck Dunn, or Carole Kaye, or Paul McCartney, of John Deacon, or Steve Harris and basically every other session player through the 60s and 70s... 
    So, all pensioners?
    Joe Dart isn’t a pensioner. Not shit either.
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26753
    ...don't put flats on it unless all your clients are pensioners and/or shit...

    ...or Pino Palladino

    Or James Jamerson, or Donald Duck Dunn, or Carole Kaye, or Paul McCartney, of John Deacon, or Steve Harris and basically every other session player through the 60s and 70s... 
    So, all pensioners?
    Honestly if your criteria for good music is based on age you must listen to some right shit... 
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    ...don't put flats on it unless all your clients are pensioners and/or shit...

    ...or Pino Palladino

    Or James Jamerson, or Donald Duck Dunn, or Carole Kaye, or Paul McCartney, of John Deacon, or Steve Harris and basically every other session player through the 60s and 70s... 
    Loads of later bands used a P-bass, and new ones still do.
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14323
    ICBM said:
    '79 P-Basses are actually among the least bad examples of late-70s Fenders in my experience - they're usually heavy, but that actually suits them quite well and they sound powerful and punchy. There's really nothing else to get wrong :).
    You just described my 1978/79 factory fretless. For over ten years, it was the only bass guitar I owned.

    The stock grey bobbin Fender pickup was never to my liking. I replaced it with, variously, an EMG-P, a Seymour Duncan Active EQ "switches" type, a Lightnin' Rods, a DiMarzio Will Power and, finally, back to the Duncan switches. I occasionally think about adding a J pickup in the "Seventies" position but another Duncan "switch" type is the only one I would consider. 
    Be seeing you.
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  • MattBansheeMattBanshee Frets: 1498
    ...don't put flats on it unless all your clients are pensioners and/or shit...

    ...or Pino Palladino

    Or James Jamerson, or Donald Duck Dunn, or Carole Kaye, or Paul McCartney, of John Deacon, or Steve Harris and basically every other session player through the 60s and 70s... 
    So, all pensioners?
    Honestly if your criteria for good music is based on age you must listen to some right shit... 
    I'm being belligerent about the regular insistence on this forum that the only possible option for recording is a P-Bass with flats. Now, I'm absolutely pro-P, I own two myself, and I even suggested buying a P-bass. What I was highlighting was the fact that for the OP's recording studio, a P-Bass with flats is great for people wanting to record classics or motown stuff, but for the vast majority of younger, modern rock bands the flatwounds just won't do.
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  • stickyfiddlestickyfiddle Frets: 26753
    I think that's why most of us suggested something with flats AND something with rounds, and a P and "something not a P". 

    Though I'll admit I'm firmly in the "if you can't play it on a P bass it's probably crap" camp ;)
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited May 2021
    I think that's why most of us suggested something with flats AND something with rounds, and a P and "something not a P". 

    Though I'll admit I'm firmly in the "if you can't play it on a P bass it's probably crap" camp
    I like the way a P-bass sits low in the mix, and leaves space for multiple guitars and synths. I am a fan of players like Hooky who uses his bass as a lead instrument, but that is a specific use case. While I used to be well into the Jam, I find that style of bass playing not to my taste these days, so on balance it's flats for me.
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    Funkfingers said:

    I occasionally think about adding a J pickup in the "Seventies" position but another Duncan "switch" type is the only one I would consider. 
    A J pickup is the quickest way to ruin a perfectly good P-Bass :).

    Although an active/noiseless/high-output type is the least of the evils...

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • ReggaebassReggaebass Frets: 63
    Just a suggestion, with a 2k budget you could get the best of both worlds and get a nice precision and a jazz , which would give you lots of tonal options, with your own choice of strings to suit what type of music you are playing
    Riddim up
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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 23941
    Just a suggestion, with a 2k budget you could get the best of both worlds and get a nice precision and a jazz , which would give you lots of tonal options, with your own choice of strings to suit what type of music you are playing
    This is certainly true. Could get a pair of used USA Fenders for that. Although really they are some of the most simple basses ever designed and Mexican ones are really good too.
    However if this for a pro business then sometimes having the USA name will impress the clients more. Especially those who have no idea about basses.

    I'd still tear the pickups out of the jazz and put in original model EMG J set. That will get rid of the hum and those pickups genuinely sound like 60s J pickups - that is what they were designed for. There is a reason why even among EMG haters that set is very popular. Just to name a few, Guy Pratt and Bobby Vega have recorded excellent traditional sounds with that set. No actual EQ added - just the Vol / Vol / Tone set that comes with it.


    The big 3 recorded basses are the P, the J and the Stingray, although the first 2 outnumber the 3rd by a long way.

    That being said, when recorded a Jazz on the neck pickup can sound remarkably like a P pickup with a bit of EQ-ing. Reduce the bass quite a bit, lower the treble a little and boost the mids a little and only bass anoraks will be able to tell the difference.


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  • fretmeisterfretmeister Frets: 23941
    ICBM said:
    Funkfingers said:

    I occasionally think about adding a J pickup in the "Seventies" position but another Duncan "switch" type is the only one I would consider. 
    A J pickup is the quickest way to ruin a perfectly good P-Bass :).

    Although an active/noiseless/high-output type is the least of the evils...
    A PJ with a 3 way switch to properly remove the J from the circuit seems to work better than 2 volumes or a balance control.
    I don't have the tech knowledge to know why and there's a good change my ears are lying, but I think I'm right! :D 

    The only time I haven't noticed the failings of a balance is when using EMG's specific ABC balance with is active and designed to solve any insertion loss.
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