The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Fender Basses => Topic started by: uwe on November 15, 2011, 06:38:12 AM
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Edith is hell-bent on turning me into a Fenderista and her affection for Messrs Waters, Gilmour, Wright and Mason has climbed new heights with this here
(http://media.fmicdirect.com/fender/images/products/guitars/0147000306_frt_wmd_001.jpg)
That neck is a flight deck!!! But the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder is an unbelievable growl machine - if that is an indication of how the SD pups will sound with the Novoselic RD, then no one needs to be worried. Very well and accurately made made too with nicely low and buzz-free action. Forceful G string.
"We don't need no education ..." 8)
My 5th Fender ... :-[ :-[ :-X I will soon have to retire from the Gibson forum in shame ...
Waters is generally perceived as a simplistic bassist with Gilmour having played quite a few lines and tracks in the studio, but on the 74 live recording of Dark Side (which came out in the Experience Edition of the newly Dark Side studio remaster) I was surprised to hear just how busy, melodic and inventive he could be before the confinements of concept albums such as The Wall took over and strangled his bass playing.
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If it makes you feel better, the Quarter Pounder is SD's attempt to take the P-Bass to Gibson land: it's way hot (compared to vintage P pickups) and very heavy in the upper mids. I can't imagine that bass sounds much like the low end that graced those sessions at Abbey Road in the 70's.
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Even Roger Waters doesn't know anymore what "components" his P was made up of at any given time and trust Alan Parsons to make any bass sound like he wants to hear it in his ears!!! I find the bass on the studio Dark Side "unobstrusive" to say something nice about it while on the live version Waters sounds in places like Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash with his sparse little melodies.
But this little Black(-eyed) P does sound Brit in its raunchiness and you could very well imagine Mike Dirnt playing it or JJ Burnel from The Stranglers.
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Wow, cool!!
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It looks cool, but I dislike Quarter Pounders.
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Together with the snappy maple neck it of course makes for a bass clamoring to be heard. Not unlike the DiMarzio split coil in the Yamaha Attitude which is possibly even more souped up. When I last saw Waters touring Dark Side and The Wall his sound was quite akin to that bass, deep lows, snarly treble, hard pick attack. I don't see this so much as a faithful Fender but as a Roger Waters bass. I believe that with his specimen the only thing still Fender is the body, everything else has been replaced from other makers over the years.
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A P-Bass always sounds better...even with the electronics turned off...IMHO...
That looks really nice, although Candy apple red is my favorite color.
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Mighty cool look, IMO.
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I love QP's. I reckon its a 50/50 crap shoot with old Fender pups. There are a few great soulding old Fender pups out there but there are a lot of badly wound and crap sounding ones as well. I've had at least 3 sets of 70's pups that were rubbish IMO. I threw a set of 74 Jazz pups in the bin goiong back years. These days I would get them rewound and get the strength of the poles checked and adjusted. Back then there was no one who could do it here. The modern pups seem to be a lot more consistant.
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It looks great! I just noticed that the bridge is black but the tuners are chrome - interesting - it works!
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I love QP's. I reckon its a 50/50 crap shoot with old Fender pups. There are a few great soulding old Fender pups out there but there are a lot of badly wound and crap sounding ones as well. I've had at least 3 sets of 70's pups that were rubbish IMO. I threw a set of 74 Jazz pups in the bin goiong back years. These days I would get them rewound and get the strength of the poles checked and adjusted. Back then there was no one who could do it here. The modern pups seem to be a lot more consistant.
I agree with you about the inconsistencies of old pickups, but compared to the various modern versions of the original design (Fender's American Standard or Original Vintage, Seymour's Vintage and Antiquities, etc.) the QPs don't sound much like what I think of as Precision sound. YMMV of course.
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I agree with you about the inconsistencies of old pickups, but compared to the various modern versions of the original design (Fender's American Standard or Original Vintage, Seymour's Vintage and Antiquities, etc.) the QPs don't sound much like what I think of as Precision sound. YMMV of course.
No argument from me. I think they are an improvement on a theme.
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Consistency is what I preach with my preference of the TB Plus pups over sixties and seventies TBird pups.
And as regards the RW Signature, yes it really does have an all black dark side (of the moon) and a lighter maple and chrome one. If that is a coincidence or someone put a thought to it I don"t know, it certainly strengthens the "P body with replacement neck put on later" look.
As for the SD QPs, I'm no old Fender expert, but what I hear is certainly Fenderoar in the mids, more bass than you would normally expect with a P and a sharp treble snap just below where it might be uncomfortable. It's the kind of bass you can plug in any rig and be heard. I'll take it to the rehearsal together with my two other Ps (MIJ Sting and MIU eighties reissue of an early sixties one in fretless) tonight, let's commit some Fender adultery!
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I'm very curious about how it compares to other Ps.
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Me too...was always curious about the quarter pounders.
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Too much high end and not enough mids to sound like a traditional P. That's not necessarily bad, just depends on what sound you're looking for. But there's a reason Seymour doesn't classify the QP with the vintage-type offerings. It isn't, and it isn't meant to be.
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OMG BLACK/CHROME MIXED HARDWARE!!! :P :P :P
(http://www.eworldpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Terror.jpg)
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LOL - certainly not a vintage sound that escaped my SVT rig yesterday as I played it. That bass is a razor blade and even made my also brought along Grabber II sound docile and that is something! I wouldn't play it in an Eagles tribute band, but as we were rehearsing Nirvana's Teen Spirit (with a keyboard-synth line, a ballad chorus and me playing Metallica's "Enter Sandman"-riff in the verse and bridge which fits perfectly, well, the songs did come out around the same time ...), it sounded great and the whole band agreed. Snarly little monster.
And to give SD credit, they advocate their QPs as pups for "punk, grunge, hard rock and heavy metal", so you get what it says on the tin.
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So not for those that like the traditional or slightly modified traditional sound of a P
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No. A bass for young angry men.
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Suits a young hearted angry lawyer.
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At any rate, you are a lucky man. And she must be a beautiful woman.
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I sometimes wonder with her whether I would stand much of a chance against David Gilmour!
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Uwe Congrats on the new bass! I have more than a few Fenders lying around for the most part I really don't know what to do wit them :( My Fretless '75 parts bass being the exception. But I do appreciate their utilitarianism and Fenders QC through out their line is very good. One thing i love about Fender these days is there is something for everyone :) Endless variation on two platforms, as a Fellow Gibson player I can only dream. http://youtu.be/3RdCZn-rbjc