An incredibly biased love letter: The Fender Blacktop Precision Bass

    I think the Blacktop series is one of the best series that Fender has introduced in a while. The original series itself included a Jazz bass with P pickups, a P-Bass with humbuckers and a Strat and Tele with alnicos. It’s a really solid lineup, and if I were a guitarist I would be all over the guitar variations. However today I’m talking about the bass, specifically the P-bass.

A year ago I was in a search for THE bass. The one that I wouldn’t have to replace in a long time and the one that could handle whatever I threw at it. Fender has generally been the move for me when it comes to 4 strings. I’m comfortable with them, I know them and I can shred on them. I wanted something a bit different this time around, already having my traditional Precision and Jazz bases (pun intended) covered.

    I was leaning towards a couple of Fender models, especially the 70’s Jazz Bass, which is still on the “I want this” list. However I saw a bass that I hadn’t seen in too many stores that day and I kind of had to try it. Enter the Blacktop. My previous experience with humbuckers had been with active 5ers and a Thunderbird. Those were ok but didn’t really blow me away. I plug this thing in and there it is. That tone.

    I generally try to demo basses with some covers. I try songs that require different tones and movement. That day it was “2112” by Rush and “Content”/ “Leaving New York” by The Picturesque. On “2112” especially this bass sang.

 It took me a few months to accurately compare its tone to something. One day I had the realization that it sounds like a Rick. It gets that sort of growly purr that those basses can. This is rad for a variety of reasons. I value dexterity when it comes to my instruments. I have a variety, but nothing that could touch the Rick thing, which is a tone of it’s own. I’ve always wanted a Rickenbacker, and still do, but I don’t have that kind of money readily available. This Fender can hit that tone, but it does it by still being distinctly Fender. I don’t really know what “Distinctively Fender” means. The sensation I’m trying to describe is the feel of a Fender with a tone that was something else, but yet something familiar at the same time.  It was Fender in feel and sound, but at the same time it wasn’t.

I have basses that sing, I have basses that growl and I have basses that purr. If I need to I can make any of my basses go where I need them. However those other basses don't roar on command. I usually add some overdrive to my tone when running my Jazz or P basses. I don’t with this one. I don’t need to. It’s such a responsive thing, If I dig in I get the growl right back. If I want crunch I just need to dig in a bit more and if I want to lay back I just need to simmer down a bit. It’s one of the most responsive basses I own.

     The Blacktop series it seems has been discontinued, which sucks. The guitars look rad and the P-bass is a deadly weapon. I’ve been on the lookout for one of the black models to mod, hopefully one day I’ll be able to build my “Stealth” p-bass. But my silver one will be around for a while. It was just one of those weird occurrences where you find THE instrument.

Microphones die and drumsticks shatter

The summer so far:

The first few weeks of our recording expedition have been like dusting off old things tucked away for safekeeping. Diligently working to discover which cables, mics, camera angles and drum setups work for what we are trying to achieve. Sometimes I think that the emergency trips to Sam Ash or Guitar Center for xlr’s and drumheads have occurred way to many times.The realist in me knows that those trips represent progress in this shakedown period, this stress test if you will, finding out what’s viable.

It’s been 4 weeks of countless takes and equally innumerable songs to figure out what works and what doesn't, and it's still a shifting entity. Just the other day we had to make an emergency kick drum mic switch. I used to think that I cursed at inanimate objects a lot, until Monday. I broke every record I’d previously held. I’ve also never wanted to smash a mic out of sheer frustration more than I did in that moment, but alas calmer heads prevailed. Toady even, a snare wire broke. Luckily I had Ludwig snare available, it graciously and selflessly sacrificed its snare wires so we could keep going. I have resigned myself to the fact that the things we require will never not break; it’s a matter of when. 

At the end of the day, with equipment decay and all, this has been such a rewarding journey. I think I speak for both of us when I say that. Above all else this has been an exercise in using our collective ideas and visions to create a finished product. While its taken us a month or so to hone that vision into a tangible thing that we are proud of, I think the work is paying off. More importantly, the practice and experience we’ve gained will only lead to better endeavors in the future. 

about 20 songs have been recorded, my list of "things to mix" is growing increasingly longer and more intricate. I've never done anything like this before, and it might be just what I need. This isn't just a stress test for equipment, this is a stress test for me. This is an opportunity to see if I'm prepared. Hopefully my abilities will be judged soon, I'm ready.