After 25 years of 6 string mayhem I'm attempting to master strings of a thicker variety

I've played a lot of bass over the years but always with a pick and always from the mentality of a guitarist. Considering how much more prominent bass is in today's music and my long standing fascination with how the Geddy's and Claypool's and Entwhistle's of the world can hammer the ever loving poop out of their instruments while adding a buttload of musicality to a composition I've been finding myself with a bass in my hands far more often than a guitar. Now that I understand more about chord structure and how to walk around those structures in relation to the timing of a piece I've started abandoning the pick, ignoring all the years of guitar knowledge (the stuff that doesn't apply to bass anyway) and building my right hand strength/agility/technique. I'm getting pretty good at my two fingered walking, three fingered gallops, down stroking chords with the nails of my fingers and even throwing in some slaps here and there (but pops are still tripping me up). All stuff I thought took years of practice or some special talent.
 
It is extremely fun and I think will be very beneficial to my one man band creations. Honestly aside from losing a little bit of attack over the pick method it sounds better and for many things it's actually easier to play this way.
 
No real point. Just enjoying a new world of musical possibilities I never thought I'd have access to without having collaborators.

Love me some Butler. Very much the type of grooves that seem to flow out when I start fiddling around in the darker modes.
 
And I definitely think this is going to help my song writing. I've always been a riff oriented songwriter which is somewhat restrictive to the bass and even drums to an extent. It's almost like writing a song from the top down (or I guess the middle down). As I'm playing with bass grooves I can hear all these really free flowing guitar possibilities and drum beats clamoring around in my head. Very liberating.

Beepster
I do however need to install a much better pickup on my P-Bass. This stock Squier thingie is not very conducive to fingered nuances. Doesn't help that it's half smashed either. lol
 

Tell me about it! For the time being, the one bass in the house is a little Squier Bronco with what looks like a guitar pick up on it. But it was primarily intended to be a learner instrument for my wife. And it's okay to record our demos, considering the style of music we're working on. 
 
In an ideal world, I'd probably opt for one of these:

 
And a Thunderbird - I've always wanted one.
 
I guess I could put a bass upgrade on the list. There are many affordable alternatives which I would appreciate. but these days, priorities are sound treatment and a new Mac.

I should imagine there are thousands of guitarists out there, myself included, who have never owned a bass but who pick one up every now and then and have a ball.