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Author Topic: P Bass Tone  (Read 2878 times)

Offline dfwkeys

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P Bass Tone
« on: August 11, 2008, 04:26:48 PM »
I'm considering buying a P bass, becase Pino Palladino sorta got  me hooked.. to get that tone, such as motown and Pino's tone, do they usually turn the tone Knob  all the way down to get a low end thump?

Thanks

Offline MikeGee

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Re: P Bass Tone
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2008, 08:08:25 PM »
I donno but I will be getting a Squier P bass very soon to get that Motown sound. When I played one in the music store I had the tone know about 66% towards the low end.

Offline dremy2006

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Re: P Bass Tone
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2008, 08:48:24 PM »
yeah tone knob down... i have ah fender MIM with DiMarzio DP127 Split P pickups and ah Leo Quan Bass Bridge II... TIGHT...
Allowing the Creator To use His Creation To Create for you.....

Offline dfwkeys

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Re: P Bass Tone
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2008, 10:43:20 AM »
Cool... I think I might go ahead and purchase just to get that sound for certain songs that I want...but my main axe is the jazz bass

Offline MikeGee

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Re: P Bass Tone
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2008, 04:30:14 PM »
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-FEN-326800-505--P-On

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-FEN-136100-LIST



i compared these 2 basses side by side one after the other using the same combo. To me my oppinion the Squier was the better instrument in feel and tone.

bassboyblue

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Re: P Bass Tone
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2008, 08:49:48 PM »
I'm considering buying a P bass, becase Pino Palladino sorta got  me hooked.. to get that tone, such as motown and Pino's tone, do they usually turn the tone Knob  all the way down to get a low end thump?

Thanks
I actually know Pino,iv'e known him for many years,since the early days when he was playing in bands here in Wales,anyway,to answer you question,tone is 1/2 to 3/4 up,and he uses flats,Labella's i think,i use TI flats on one of my 5 strings and love them,hope this is of use to you.

Offline MrSteve

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Re: P Bass Tone
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2008, 11:29:47 PM »
Playing with flatwounds is a big part of the battle. I know from reading about James Jamerson that he had a few particular elements that contributed to that Motown sound.

His '62 P-Bass had the bell with a foam mute and he never changed his heavy guage Labella flats (the exact same strings as Pino). Those two elements right there helped to fatten his sound. He played with his tone and volume on the bass all the way up and, for live gigs, used his amp EQ to set the treble at half and the bass as high as it would go. The Motown guitarists hardly ever used amps in the studio, though, so Jamerson would just plug into the console and turn his volume up just past the point of overdrive. Then it was up to the engineers to set limiters and equalizers on his signal to keep it from overpowering everything else in the mix.

You'll never get it quite perfect (even the Motown guys seemed to lose the magic when they moved to LA), but that should point you in the right direction.
"Sing to him a new song, play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts" - Psalms 33:3

bassboyblue

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Re: P Bass Tone
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2008, 06:23:42 AM »
The tone all ends up in the hands of the player,you can let 2 guys play the same bass with exactly the same bass/amp settings and they can sound different!the way you play relly does make the change IMO. ;)

Offline MrSteve

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Re: P Bass Tone
« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2008, 08:02:31 AM »
Yeah, but by the same token, you have one guy playing a P-bass strung with five-year-old flatwounds running kind of hot through a tube amp and then move him to a MusicMan with brand new roundwounds running through all kinds of compression to a solid-state amp. His technique won't even it all out.

Technique definitely matters but setup and all is important too.
"Sing to him a new song, play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts" - Psalms 33:3

Offline MikeGee

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Re: P Bass Tone
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2008, 03:48:45 PM »
The tone all ends up in the hands of the player,you can let 2 guys play the same bass with exactly the same bass/amp settings and they can sound different!the way you play relly does make the change IMO. ;)


very true but there has to be a limit.
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