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Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 8:59 pm
by WayToHip
DarkAxel wrote:rustywire wrote:phantasmagorovich wrote:I should stop looking at bass guitars on EBay. Well, or at least wait until I know the difference between a Preci and a JB.
Immediate physical diffs:
P Bass: Single "split" bucker pickup in middle position, wide C-neck.
J Bass: Dual single coil pickups in middle & bridge position, "fast" neck. Offset body.
Immediate tonal diffs:
J Bass is brighter, with more complex midrange and treble (obv) and has rep for being preferred among finger-pickers. A fretless J Bass is

and a transcendent experience.
It covers more sonic ground than the P Bass...but the P Bass is aptly named. Very well-suited voicing for more complicated band setups with multiple guitars or keys...and vocals.
Each one rules. I like J Bass with flatwounds and P Bass with rounds. Both love fuzz.
I own a marked fretless J. I'd like to get a P at some point...but anytime I see a Tele or Stang bass they sing to me like Sirens.
it's so strange for me that I keep reading people say J's have more complex midrange and stuff like that...
I just always feel that J's are boomier and actually have LESS mids than P's. J always feels scooped to me

smoother around the midrange with more snappy highs
P to me feels like having a lot of agressive, growly and cutting midrange, more "dry" tone

Almost like a mirror image, frequency-wise, to a Jazz Bass
i think it's a big difference because of the way the pickups are wired. I play a P/J and mostly play just the P pickup or perhaps about 50% of the J blended with it. When I go 50/50, I really do feel like I'm getting more high end focus but less mids and that the tone is getting this smoothness but less of that midrange impact which I usually prefer

I'm with DarkAxel on the J bass tone, I think they have less mids than a P but rustywire is right also, the bridge pickup with a J brings out a lot of higher mids and treble. A precision pickup has lower mids instead. Either way, the EQ of the amp and how the actual bass is played matters, pickups are just magnetic bars wrapped in wire under a string. As an afternote, I play mostly fingers and play on the fingerboard with an Epi Casady, clank and treble are my foes. Still, I want a P/J bass so I can get my thumpy round tone but have the option to roll up the treble or fully have the bridge full on and the P pickup at 75%.
In the end Phanta, I would recommend a bass with a P/J setup. Best of both worlds, thump and clank, with a few twist of knobs.
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 10:35 pm
by KaosCill8r
WayToHip wrote:DarkAxel wrote:rustywire wrote:phantasmagorovich wrote:I should stop looking at bass guitars on EBay. Well, or at least wait until I know the difference between a Preci and a JB.
Immediate physical diffs:
P Bass: Single "split" bucker pickup in middle position, wide C-neck.
J Bass: Dual single coil pickups in middle & bridge position, "fast" neck. Offset body.
Immediate tonal diffs:
J Bass is brighter, with more complex midrange and treble (obv) and has rep for being preferred among finger-pickers. A fretless J Bass is

and a transcendent experience.
It covers more sonic ground than the P Bass...but the P Bass is aptly named. Very well-suited voicing for more complicated band setups with multiple guitars or keys...and vocals.
Each one rules. I like J Bass with flatwounds and P Bass with rounds. Both love fuzz.
I own a marked fretless J. I'd like to get a P at some point...but anytime I see a Tele or Stang bass they sing to me like Sirens.
it's so strange for me that I keep reading people say J's have more complex midrange and stuff like that...
I just always feel that J's are boomier and actually have LESS mids than P's. J always feels scooped to me

smoother around the midrange with more snappy highs
P to me feels like having a lot of agressive, growly and cutting midrange, more "dry" tone

Almost like a mirror image, frequency-wise, to a Jazz Bass
i think it's a big difference because of the way the pickups are wired. I play a P/J and mostly play just the P pickup or perhaps about 50% of the J blended with it. When I go 50/50, I really do feel like I'm getting more high end focus but less mids and that the tone is getting this smoothness but less of that midrange impact which I usually prefer

I'm with DarkAxel on the J bass tone, I think they have less mids than a P but rustywire is right also, the bridge pickup with a J brings out a lot of higher mids and treble. A precision pickup has lower mids instead. Either way, the EQ of the amp and how the actual bass is played matters, pickups are just magnetic bars wrapped in wire under a string. As an afternote, I play mostly fingers and play on the fingerboard with an Epi Casady, clank and treble are my foes. Still, I want a P/J bass so I can get my thumpy round tone but have the option to roll up the treble or fully have the bridge full on and the P pickup at 75%.
In the end Phanta, I would recommend a bass with a P/J setup. Best of both worlds, thump and clank, with a few twist of knobs.
Squier VM Jaguar bass is the best of all worlds. Has the P/J pickup configuration, Jazz neck and the awesome Jaguar body shape. Not sure if the body shape makes much difference in the sound. But I love mine

Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 5:18 am
by DarkAxel
I find the active electronics atrocious, but I'm absolutely in love with the short scale model (passive). I've already recorded an EP on it a couple years ago and every time I play it, I just start contemplating buying
love my P/J, anyway. great combo. My Ibanez has a sort of medium neck, I find it somewhere between a J and a P, more on the P side though
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 5:37 am
by KaosCill8r
DarkAxel wrote:I find the active electronics atrocious, but I'm absolutely in love with the short scale model (passive). I've already recorded an EP on it a couple years ago and every time I play it, I just start contemplating buying
love my P/J, anyway. great combo. My Ibanez has a sort of medium neck, I find it somewhere between a J and a P, more on the P side though
Yeah the active bass boost is pretty crap. Why they did that is a mystery. When I get Some spare cash I plan on throwing some Duncan Quarter Pounder pickups in it.
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 8:21 am
by rustywire
Thinking the word "complex" is the weak link in my prev post...W/R/T "More complex midrange and treble" of a J-Bass, I def could have been clearer.
There's more mid/upper-mid content due to the single coils/bridge pickup...while the P has more lower-mid beef. Both have complex, detailed response in their own right. Prefer flatwounds on a J to compress the dynamic top end from fighting in guitar territory...plus they're kinder to fingers esp on a fretless.
Dem thuddy-thump dub tones from playing at the edge of the fretboard on a (fretless) J with flats...and the boingy-growl on a fretted P-Bass with rounds, playing where the bridge pickup *would go*
Active pickups?
Nope. Never. Foh.
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 10:07 am
by DarkAxel
rustywire wrote:Thinking the word "complex" is the weak link in my prev post...W/R/T "More complex midrange and treble" of a J-Bass, I def could have been clearer.
There's more mid/upper-mid content due to the single coils/bridge pickup...while the P has more lower-mid beef. Both have complex, detailed response in their own right. Prefer flatwounds on a J to compress the dynamic top end from fighting in guitar territory...plus they're kinder to fingers esp on a fretless.
Dem thuddy-thump dub tones from playing at the edge of the fretboard on a (fretless) J with flats...and the boingy-growl on a fretted P-Bass with rounds, playing where the bridge pickup *would go*

it's all beautiful. Didn't mean to sound like a dick or anything
ps: tried flats on my P/J, haven't gone back for almost half a year now. what happens when i get another bass? no idea lol...
back to the non-topic topic... i'm starting to think I need to really take a step back and think about how I build my bass board. I have close to 400 bucks (edit: no, over 400) in pedals I don't usually even use more than once/a set IF EVEN.
I should really get on a less-bullshit mode. Focue on getting a bunch of good dirt pedals (halfway there), good octave, one nice modulation and a good delay and reverb. Get rid of the CT5, tap trem, envelope filter and BF-2. I'm not a hoarder, I can't afford that. need to cleanse
i've been talking about it and not doing it for too long as well
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 11:45 am
by rustywire
No doubt, no worries.
When I began buying pedals I wanted as many options as possible, cheap to middle-of-the-road in pricing. As my tastes developed, I began hunting for more *interesting* effects and stuff that's less popular, obscure w/e.
To me it makes more sense to trade in 2, 3 even 4 dirt boxes I dabbled with here & there, for a pricy one that becomes fundamental in much of what I do. When they're
that good, I keep finding new, usable settings to explore.
My main geetar board has been the same for 3+ months, which is a new record! 7 big box fx maxing out the real estate of a pt2 sized board (24"x12") without being cramped. Thing is...I've gotta figure out how to incorporate a vintage PolyFlange when it arrives. I might finally go the "double board" route like I've been talking about doing for the past 2 years. Thinking like a PT-Jr + PT Mini.
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 12:52 pm
by Inconuucl
I'm unsure about the possessed, in one hand I fucking love its sound ,but I wish i had more control over it.
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:41 am
by Dandolin
^ Yeaz--I have purposely stayed away from Possessed demoz b/c hype (a lil bit) and sooo much glitch GAS, don't need another source. But I stupidly listened to a demo and it is on the GASlist because of the sound. The Sound! Personally, I think part of the appeal to me is also giving up some control. Just need to convince bandmates of the value of that value.
Edit--wait. Do you have one and are frustrated by lack of control producing undesirable results in your jawn? Or R GASing and unsure if you want to go there b/c apparent lack of control?
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:52 am
by Strange Tales
Possessed is one of my favorite pedals, both as a desktop pedal and as a floor pedal. You have quite a bit of control over everything, what were you looking to control specifically? It's a pain in the ass to learn because of it's stupid control names.
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:52 am
by Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.
its got all 5 senses. what more could u need?

Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:54 am
by Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.
Strange Tales wrote: It's a pain in the ass to learn because of it's stupid control names.
haha yea, i always refer back to that demo w/ the machinedrum on vimeo where he explains the controls, cuz i always forget.
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 11:19 am
by Eivind August
Are Snazzy FX hard to find new/used? I kinda want a Tracer City...
I heard he's starting up again this autumn, though.
Also, fak yeah, Possessed rules. Such a cool pedal. I like its craziness, as it means I don't have to tweak it to get different shades of weird. That being said, I do sometimes think about flipping it, as I could get by easily with my Raptio.
Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:05 pm
by Inconuucl
I've kinda been gassing for one of those nifty Strandberg headless guitars, mostly because I'm a sucker for beautiful oveengineered things.

Re: The Whatever Thread .. For Gear!!
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:08 pm
by Strange Tales