Ha, I love the P bass for the same reason you guys don't, you just plug the thing in, turn the volume up, and it just sounds great. No unnecessary faffing about.
As an audio engineer I love P-Basses for this reason, only bass I've worked with live where you plug it into a cheap DI turn it up and great live bass sound.
Love Stingrays but for me, a P-bass...I feel passive basses are more...organic? I can get all the tones I need from a passive split single coil...so for me a P-bass is enough. And no-one (in my opinion) does P-bass like Fender. Fender haters please feel free to abuse me!
Yeah. P bass sounds perfect, closest to an actual classic upright bass. Other basses have all the controls just to make it sound worse. All this funky, bright stuff just makes it sound like a crappy sounding guitar and not a bass.
That "boring" p-bass sound sits perfectly in a mix. And sounds great in nearly any genre. It's no accident they were played on thousands of hit records.
Yep engineers dream cos it may be boring.... but it sits well and is easy to mix and change the tone. A P-Bass through an Ampeg SVT through an 8x10 is such a good combo, the 'tone rolled off' sound works great when you can boost the low end and high end through the sound of the Ampeg.
Super fun video. You mentioned the Police, but the diversity of genres recorded with Precision basses is epic. Everything from the Isley Brothers to Iron Maiden.
I know when the Stingray dropped lots of players switched to them, because they cut through the mix so much better. Of course in the disco era you wanted those basslines to pop. That's probably why I love the tone, it makes itself known. Same with J basses. Can't imagine Larry Graham thumping anything than a J.
Captain Lee is quite right that old fashioned basses leave you wanting more but, as you would expect from a bedroom guitarist, wrong about what. It's not that you're missing out on treble or definition, what you're missing is *a band*.
Lee, Nathan is a wonderful guest on the show, there's a guy in UK, Jay Parmar that I plead with you, please get him to guest on one of your shows. He is wonderfully fun, delightfully articulate, and passionately skilled.
The G&L L1000 got a bit of a raw deal in this little timeline exercise. It is Leo's ultimate evolution of the P-Bass. It has ingenious passive controls for treble and bass rather than just a mere tone cut, and its selector 3 way selector switch between parallel (like a Stingray), single coil (like a Jazz neck pickup), and Series "OMG" (ultimate hulk P-bass) where a capacitor cuts the highs from one of the humbuckers coils, which is perceived as a "bass boost".The MFD humbuckers are some of the hottest out there, with little need for an active boost. All in all, the L1000 is both a plug in and play bass, AND a flexible beast with very usable options. whereas the L2000 has more than enough tonal options
4:25 Lee says "This is your original P Bass", but in fact that's not the original P Bass at all. The original Precision released in 1951 had a slab body, single coil pickup, a telecaster style headstock and control plate, and a very different scratch plate (much like the Squier 51 - Fender Pawnshop 51/72 guitars). The version shown - with the split coil pickup, stratocaster style headstock and scratch plate - didn't appear until mid-year 1957.
Absolutely, yah boo sucks! to Andertons. The 51 Tele Precision bass is an awesome instrument, but of course they have nothing like that in stock. People repeatedly say how amazing it is that Leo got it right with the Tele, Precision and Strat. Fact is he didn't, those instruments all went through a number of changes in the early years. And he kept right on experimenting.
The video is a bit of a misnomer, these are just Fenders current US models based on each bass. So when they say original P-Bass they mean the famous P-Bass that was first released in 1951 (yes in the form you state which is different and in some ways alot cooler).
This made me want to buy a bass, then I remembered I have a bass over in the corner I haven't touched in years. I don't even know what scale strings with which it's set up. I loaned it to a guy in 2003 who was doing a Master's in music, and he got the degree. Turned out he was a bass player in the biggest band in his country and wanted to study more here in the US. I haven't played it seriously since. Still, this made me want to buy a bass. Good job.
You guys should check out the new Epiphone Embassy Pro Bass. It's like a throwback to an Epiphone take on the Precision Bass. Plus that Ivory White looks great. I'd buy one in a second if I wasn't flat broke.
The first P bass was quite different in some important ways: notably its single coil pickup, though also the body shape which was essentially a bigger Telecaster. Later, Fender brought back that shape in as the Fender Telecaster Bass with a new humbucking pickup. Having made that correction, I won't be too fussy by mentioning that implying the 4003 was the first Rickenbacker of its kind, that in truth it was an upgrade of the 4001. No, I won't mention that at all. The 1965 Fender Bass V added a high C string with very close string spacing, and wasn't very successful. When was the first 5 string bass with a low B?
Saw a Fender jazz bass (1960) last night in the hands of Herbie Flowers (war of the worlds 40th anniversary tour).. It doesn't look like any of those pristine ones. Plus it is a very controversial one.
I think Herbie`s is a 59 according to him but lots of debate about that. Great player and you gotta admire someone who can play the one bass for so long. It has played on many of the most popular records of our time.
@@michealfrancis770 --- When you see it up close it is hard not to feel the vibe of all those songs that he has ground out on it over the years. Sadly his vision and hearing are not what they were, but his mind is as sharp as ever. Was great to catch up with him at the 'after show' the other night
The Jazz bass has the most polished defined sound of the 3 of them, the P bass has the "boomiest" meatiest sound and the Stingray has the chunkiest snapiest sound
It's perhaps the big difference between basses and guitars, where electric guitar companies often develop a different way to do the same thing, one would imagine at a bass convention when they ask the crowd what they want in a new bass is "more of it"
I've used mainly fender jazz basses for nearly 40 years.. had a westone thunder 3, which was really punchy. I'm now using a Japanese 1992 precision. To be honest I think alot depends on the amp you use. My sound is punchy.. or even punky.. the jam.. stranglers .. dirty bass sound & I've achieved the sound with every bass using peavey amps. Just bought a fender 500 rumble & still get that punch
Descriptions of guitars: "its that sorta kinda thing like(plays guitar) "Isn't it that .where it starts to sorta(plays guitar) "This guitar feels great. The neck is great you can do the sorta(plays a lick) "You can hear it. Its the sorta thing like(plays guitar) Lmao. This is lees thing, but rob Pete n a cpl others including this newer guy except Rabea have taken it up. Regardless I love this channel just poking a bit of fun.always a good time. It kinda reminds me of like, sorta when you like(plays a lead tone) Cheers
That sucks, came here to hear all of the bass guitars to only have your bass player demo skip over the GL 1000. Because he felt that wasn't the sound Leo was going for. First time I ever came to Andertons to hear a demo and was disappointed I wanted to hear the comparison of all the basses to make a decision. And now I have to find it somewhere else. 🤔🤨
All sound good , The Jazz is just perfect . Stand in Lee vs. young Lee , both great . Love the drum Track as well . Bass just needs Drums to sound "Right" , IMO
Obviously you can't do every variation and this is mostly a selling kind of video, but as a "history of Leo's basses" thing... i miss seeing the original P-bass with the single coil pickup that they reissued on the first Telecaster basses in '58. And the Mustang bass, Fender's first attempt at a student level instrument, which has its own thing. And the later Telecaster bass with the big "widerange" humbucker. ... And i get the idea of keeping the amp settings the same for comparison, but it doesn't really do the passive basses justice. There's plenty of tone in a P-bass or a Jazz. Just takes a little tweak of the amp gain and tone to find it. P-basses are NOT usually "kinda dull and thuddy". A lot of players get a nice low mid growl out of them.
Why the thin amp setting? You'd get "more" oomph from letting it have some real bass setting. And, you'll only get certain character from the funk style playing, nothing like fat vintage Motown/country/ and rock styling.
buy something second hand like a Yamaha a Westone or an Aria Pro from Japan or if you want to spend money an Alembic maybe. They are all ace especially the active ones
You are missing something here in the terms of bass history in the UK. As Fender basses cost 2 to 3 times more than Gibson and Epiphone ones the British "Beat Bands" used Gibson or Epiphone. Jack Bruce/Andy Fraser/Jimmy Lea/Chas Chandler/Glenn Cornick used Gibsons or Epiphone. Those basses had more of an impact on the British music scene than Fender did.
Maybe they will do a video on the bass history of the UK...in the meantime this was about Leo Fender who is the Granddaddy of electric bass. Agree that Gibson/Epiphone were cheaper then but what the HELL has happened to Gibson now price-wise? IMHO Gibson have never produced a bass that comes anywhere near Fender - although I do like the retro-look of the new Epiphone Embassy...
Curious, I've heard EBMM patented the 4x2 headstock (and 3x1 bass) but i've seen other manufacturers (large one's even, like ESP and their Stream electric guitar and bass models). Is this a myth or does EBMM not care to enforce their IP?
Agreed. Stingrays then came with 4 and 6 bolt necks only afterwards, with the new Specials now having 5 bolts for more contour. G&L also later came with 4 and 6 bolts.
The Mexican one is probably enough for most people. It's also half the price the US one was before they discontinued it and it's the only place to get a production Fender with a vintage radius outside of the custom shop or Japan.
That's not the P bass he made in 1951. The first P bass had a single coil pickup with one magnet per string, and closer to the neck. The shape and the sound is different to the later split coil Precision.
You dont need active pickups, badass bridges, 5 bolt necks, to get a variation of tone - checkout this guy getting heaps of tones from the best bass Fender ever made - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gVSoJoJCPjQ.html
Passive treble and bass controls (cut only), and volume control. Switch goes from parallel, single coil to OMG mode (series with a capacitor that takes the treble off one of the coils). Mind you, L-2000, although it has an active mode, still has passive tone controls like L-1000 (bass and treble), the active mode isn't really a standard active preamp. What it basically does is turn on a buffer in one setting, and the other setting is a buffer with treble boost. For a more typical active G&L with 2 humbuckers and an actual active preamp, they have M-2000.
I had an American Pbass that was absolutely beautiful but I felt that the neck was a little too chunky...I now have a Mexican Pbass and the neck just seems a shade slimmer and is perfect....
Nathan is massively prejudiced against the Pbass. Dear Nathan, the Pbass is not the one trick pony you think it is. Honestly, you can play funk and jazz and even fusion stuff with it. Yes, even Jaco stuff. As the saying goes, free your mind and your Pbass will follow.
I don't think slap and soloing works on a Pbass...but I don't do either (like a LOT of bass players) so that's cool. The difference between tone off and tone full on is quite amazing for a single pickup bass in my opinion..Pbasses sit perfectly in a mix which is THE most important thing (again, in MY opinion)...
@@peterthomas1187 I have D'Addario Flex Steels (EFX220) roundwounds on my Fender 2008 Am. Std. Pbass and the slap sound (through Markbass amp + cabs) is funky as fcuk. Lots of twang.
Yeah, not enough love for G&L Wunkay from Nathan either.. :( Oh well, I'm a sucker for a P bass, Stingray and L-1000. I guess I just love Leo's single pickup basses :D
as said the l-1000 and l-2000 where done as a New Pbass and New Jazzbass by G&L. on the 1000 the humbucker is on pbass wich is not the case on the 2000
If you mean that L-1000 has the humbucker in a different position than L-2000, then you're wrong. They're both in the same position (P bass position basically).
I love this guy I bet he would be fun to grab a pint with and lee what can I say your like family at this point and with that said I will be expecting something nice for Christmas or boxing day ? I believe its the same thing please correct me if I'm wrong lol
