Majid

Many thanks Jonesy for your feedback. That’s a fair point and it was also suggested by one of my friends (l mean exploring eq options before buying another PU. That’s what I’m doing these days. The tone of 70’s JBs is obviously different though, thanks to PU spacing and that’s what I love. But I might be happy enough with the tone I get down the road by either eq’ing or PU upgrade on my current jb. I’ll definitely keep your recommended PU in mind as an option. Cheers!

Hi there, I bought a Fender am pro ii jazz bass 2.5 months ago and got a better tone after I adjusted the bass a bit. But ultimately I found out that I’m more fan of 70’s jazz bass sounds as I love playing funk style and slap technique on jb. Since I can’t return my bass anylonger, alternatively I’m looking into upgrading the pick ups. Obviously I’m looking for PU with brighter and 70’s like sound. I know pick up poaition in 70’s playes a key role, but I’ve heard some 60’s jb with brighter sound and closer to 70’s compared to what I can hear from mine. That’s why I think it might be due to V-mod ii PU on my bass. BTW, I have SS D’addario strings 45-105 on my jb at the moment. 1- do you think that changing my PUs would help to get closer to what I like and is it worth spending money on that? 2- What PU you would recommend such as Aguilar ag 4j-70 or DiMarzio J mode or Fender 70’s single coil etc.? I’d really appreciate your feedbacks 🙏🙏🙏

Dear Bass lovers, Thanks to your great advises and after having adjusted the truss rod and lowered the action on my Fender J bass, I got closer to the tone I was looking for. Now I intend to buy a multi effect pedal but I am stuck between Zoom 1 four B and Zoom MS60 B. Please note that, looper and drum machine are not driving factors for me as I already have a NUX JTC looper/drum machine. Any thought on a comparison between these two pedals?

Many thanks Shoulderpet.

Hi Shoulderpet, Did you attach any track for me to listen? I can’t find any…..

I should also say that I noticed that I like a tone with a bit of fret buzz (It might sound funny or weird though but I really do). For this reason lowering the action gave a very good feeling to my tone in my ears. But I don't know to what extend a fret buzz can be considered as normal. Look at this video around (time 2:43 to 3:08): What do you think about this tone? and is his action considered as super low?

I agree with you Tdw. I should admit that there are several things involved behind the scene than I don’t see when watching a video or listening to a track. By the way, I lowered the action and also adjusted the truss rod, I should say that now I’m feeling a huge difference on both playability and the tone. It’s much easier to pop the strings now and actially the tone is closer to what Iike thanks a lot to you and to others who helped me with the valid comments. Now I’m looking forward to receiving my preamp and see how it can have an impact on the tone further.

This is an example of what tone I like to get from my fender

Thanks Tdw for your reply and proposed options/solutions. For your information, I boosted treble even more and added more high mid + cut down low mid on my combo then got closer to the tone I was looking for. I ordered a booster preamp online and now waiting for it. Next step is to lower the action. To clarify something here, I must say that I definitley like the fender tone. Although I talked about the comparison between my yamaha and fender but my main aim is to get a tone similat to what I have heard from other fenders. That’s what I like and try to obtain through my fender. I said my Yamaha sounds clearer but it is not my ideal tone. My expectation was higher on my fender cause I know what a fender should sound like.

Thanks for your explanation Shoulderpet.

Ok I will…..but when I’m saying that I had this feeling while I was playing them off-amp, do you still think that it’s something in addition to a high action?

Hi Tdw, I measured the action. On Fender it’s nearly 1 mm higher than on Yamaha. By the way, today I was popping the strings on both basses off-amp (without connecting them to amp/speaker) just to feel the difference. What I noticed was that I need to put less force on Yamaha (to pull the string less harder) to get a popping sound compared to on the fender. Could the higher action on Fender be the reason? By this test, I found out the reason or one of the reasons for the tone difference between my yamaha and fender when slapping could be something mechanical in addition to amp and electronic circuit i.e. action height or something like that, could I be concluding correctly?

Hi Horrorshowbass, I checked zoom B1four. It’s a cool effect as it provides a lot of functions with a reasonable price. I have a NUX JTC looper with drum machine though. I mean I dont need those functions. When I was talking to Thomann and Gear4music customer service, they suggested me to go for a booster, micro amp or simple preamp as I already have the possibility to adjust the bass mid and treble on my combo. That’s why they proposed a simple one like MXR Micro Amp M133 or TC spark booster.

Hi Tdw, I measured the action. On Fender it’s nearly 1 mm higher than on Yamaha. By the way, today I was popping the strings on both basses off-amp (without connecting them to amp/speaker) just to feel the difference. What I noticed was that I need to put less force on Yamaha (to pull the string less harder) to get a popping sound compared to on the fender. Could the higher action on Fender be the reason? By this test, I found out the reason or one of the reasons for the tone difference between my yamaha and fender when slapping could be something mechanical in addition to amp and electronic circuit i.e. action height or something like that, could I be concluding correctly?

Thanks. I will check the zoom b4 as well. Do you have any idea about the two preamps I mentioned above?

By the way, do you have any idea about how high the action should be roughly for slapping purpose. I understand that it’s probably different from bass to bass and there is no firm standard for that but just as a rough figure based on your experience with Fender J bass…..

I’ll look into both the fender action height comparing with Yamaha’s and also the treble adjustment impact on the fender via a preamp. Both points are valid and worth checking. And then I’ll get back with a result. Many thanks for all the good feedbacks and guidance. cheers!

That’s a good point. I’ll measure that but from what I felt they are almost the same.

Thanks Shoulderpet. I’m still in the 30-day return time frame. So I can check the preamp and if it’s not fully satisfying with that solution either, I have a possibility to return the Fender pro II and go for a more expensive model e.g. a fender am j bass ultra which also has an active circuit in it (a bit more expensive around 350€ more) I’m not sure if it’s worth paying that extra money though.

Yeah a lighter gauge string would help. I’m using the same string set as on my Yamaha though but again I get a more clear and treble sound on Yamaha. Maybe it is the nature of an active Yamaha.

My issue as I mentioned above is not the tonal personality. My issue is that when I pop the string I have to pop it harder than I use to in order to get a crisp and piercing sound. Also when I double pop or play ghost popping notes they are not clearly heard specially on the D string. G string does better.

I don’t think that the stringe are very close to the pick ups. I agree with you that different fender J basses have different personalities and tones. However, I’m comparing the videos and demos I had watched on youtube about these Fender J pro II with mine and see a difference. That’s why I think probably they have been using a booster/preamp to boost the signal and maybe adjust it a bit more with Eq! I’m also comparing its sound with my active Yamaha RBX which give me a possibility to adjust the tone via an onboard preamp and get ehat I’m looking for in tone. I know that it’s not a fair comparison but do you think if an outboard booster/preamp could help me have more clear sound?

I turned all the pick up control and tone all the way up. On the amp, When using my Yamaha then I put the low and high mid on 9 o’clock, bass on 12 o’clock and treble on 2 O’clock. But when I connect the Fender, I have to turn the treble up to around 4 or 5 O’clock, bass to 2 O’clock with cutting low mid and adding a bit to high mid to get a bit brighter sound.

Thanks Tdw and shoulderpet. But I dont think that the combo can’t produce the high freq. The reason is that I can get a bright sound with my Yamaha RBX 374 when slapping with the same string set and the same combo. But again maybe it’s because my Yamaha is an active bass and also it has basically a thinner tone. That’s why I was suggested to use an outboard preamp/booster.