Jazz basses, what's the point?

[basshead56]

On 29/05/2025 at 08:11, jezzaboy said:

A few months back I bought a 60th aniv Mexican road worn Jazz form Bass Bros. Usually I buy a Jazz, keep it for a few weeks, sell on losing a few bob and repeat this at regular intervals. But this bass has got under my skin and I don`t know why. The "wear" on the top edge of the body looks like it was done with a sander and I`m not very keen on the concentric vol and tone set up but there is just something about it I love.

 

Must be getting mellow in my old age.

 

 

It was exactly one of these that re-stoked my love of the Jazz!

Picked one up in March last year - lovely Firemist Silver, which is more of a light blue if I'm honest... But WOW! The feel of the neck, the sound of the pickups, the matching headstock and the lovely stacked knobs! Truly beautiful and almost impossible to put down! It does feel like a genuine vintage bass, for the most part.

 

Since then I have added a few more Jazz basses: a 2003 Am Deluxe QMT, a 2010 Victor Bailey, a 98 American Standard and 2 x American Pro II's (the most recent being the Dark Night, which will serve as the last bass i ever buy - still no one believes me hahaha)

 

I started off on a Jazz many many ago (Mexican Standard J - still at my parents house in Ireland to this day) but decided the P was way more punk back then hahaha.  Always preferred the look and the feel of the Jazz but preferred the sound of the Precision - maybe that's why I love my pink Mark Hoppus Mk 1 so much!

 

I agree with some of the above posts around them sounding a little less full when compared with a P. They definitely need a bit more tweaking when trying to get them to sound more bottom-heavy but I do find them to be incredibly versatile when it comes to dialing in some different tonal options. It has taken me a long time to learn that the trick is NOT having both pickups and tone all the way up.

 

I like swapping back and forth between J's and Stingrays live.

I do find myself having to play a little bit lighter when playing with fingers and swapping from P or Stingray to a Jazz, as I find the Jazz pickups are a little less forgiving when it comes to 'digging in' - never a problem with any of my Precisions!

[Stub Mandrel]

Tonight, despite being in a good room and my eq virtually flat, my jazz sounded lifeless.

 

It was only 2/3 of the way through the rehearsal I realised that I had tried the tones off, neck pickup backed off a bit reggae sound before we started. I'd reset my volumes but not the tones...

 

Anyway... it's originals and for one song I needed inspiration and a more aggressive sound. I found both with a pick. The changed sound inspired me to a much better bassline.

[Terry M.]

No idea if this has been said before but I'm in the Jazz camp because it can do a P "impersonation" whereas a P can't impersonate a J. I like both 60s and 70s pickup spacing but lean towards the 60s for more authority in a band mix. I'll take either however.

Edited Thursday at 17:46 by Terry M.

[Lozz196]

Agree Terry, I can get pretty near my Precisions with my Jazz, front pickup on full, bridge pickup 30%, tone 70%. 

[Stub Mandrel]

2 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Agree Terry, I can get pretty near my Precisions with my Jazz, front pickup on full, bridge pickup 30%, tone 70%. 

 

My default setting is about that with tone full.

 

I like both pups up as well for the 'hollow' sound. 

[Bass Direct]

I dont think the P can emulate a Jazz, and certainly it cant be done the other way round, the solution is to have both

 

[JapanAxe]

Just now, Bass Direct said:

I dont think the P can emulate a Jazz, and certainly it cant be done the other way round, the solution is to have both

 

In a range of finishes!

[Terry M.]

30 minutes ago, Bass Direct said:

I dont think the P can emulate a Jazz, and certainly it cant be done the other way round, the solution is to have both

 

The Jazz can "impersonate" a P bass using neck pickup only rather than emulate one. Two very different terms ☺️

In a live setting it gets close enough-a blind test in that environment would yield interesting results 👍

Edited 15 hours ago by Terry M.

[SimonK]

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

The Jazz can "impersonate" a P bass using neck pickup only rather than emulate one. Two very different terms ☺️

In a live setting it gets close enough-a blind test in that environment would yield interesting results 👍

 

Surely the obvious comment would be to get a PJ bass if you wanted to cover both?

[Terry M.]

2 hours ago, SimonK said:

 

Surely the obvious comment would be to get a PJ bass if you wanted to cover both?

If I want to cover both I'm happy with just the J personally. It's close enough to me and still gets the job done. I wouldn't necessarily see a PJ as an obvious solution,on both pickups it's not J enough to my ear.

Edited 12 hours ago by Terry M.

[Chienmortbb]

14 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

If I want to cover both I'm happy with just the J personally. It's close enough to me and still gets the job done. I would necessarily see a PJ as an obvious solution,on both pickups it's not J enough to my ear.

A J is just nut P enough for me. I have mostly P/Js and without fail the J pup at the. Bridge is so low it is unusable. 

[Terry M.]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

A J is just nut P enough for me. I have mostly P/Js and without fail the J pup at the. Bridge is so low it is unusable. 

It would be very interesting to see how many of us could tell the difference between a P and a neck only J on a recording.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

A J is just nut P enough for me. I have mostly P/Js and without fail the J pup at the. Bridge is so low it is unusable. 

 

I fitted neodymium magnets to my Squier Jaguar which balanced the p and j nicely (they were very poor before).  I made a PJ (precision) bitsa with Wilkinson pickups and they balance quite well, as does my Sire P10 which is active. 

 

Vintage style pickups really don't seem to like the PJ configuration. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Stub Mandrel

[mikeswals]

On 11/11/2016 at 07:42, FinnDave said:

but whenever I turn up to play with a band and get one of my JBs out, they always ask if I've brought a P bass with me, as no matter who I play with, they always prefer the sound of the Precision.

 

I am utterly suprised anyone that isn't a bass player, can even tell the difference between a Precision and a Jazz to ask for one. For anyone I have played and worked with, all they see is Fender on the headstock.

 

And no one has ever asked me to bring any specific bass. 

[mikeswals]

On 11/11/2016 at 07:42, FinnDave said:

but whenever I turn up to play with a band and get one of my JBs out, they always ask if I've brought a P bass with me, as no matter who I play with, they always prefer the sound of the Precision.

 

I am utterly suprised anyone that isn't a bass player, can even tell the difference between a Precision and a Jazz to ask for one. For anyone I have played and worked with, all they see is Fender on the headstock.

 

And no one has ever asked me to bring any specific bass. 

[Stub Mandrel]

TBH I take what I feel like to gigs, a combination of what suits the music, what deserves an outing, if the venue is a bit rough and how I feel.

[Terry M.]

14 minutes ago, mikeswals said:

 

I am utterly suprised anyone that isn't a bass player, can even tell the difference between a Precision and a Jazz to ask for one. For anyone I have played and worked with, all they see is Fender on the headstock.

 

And no one has ever asked me to bring any specific bass. 

I agree with this. I feel like the choice of bass is for the bassist but the end-product is for everybody else. If a bass can be heard and you play it well I don't think most people care what it is,and why should they? Most paying audience members and music consumers wouldn't successfully identify a bass from an electric guitar. Play what you like and play well.

[Misdee]

I  recently found an old recording I did before the lockdown ect with my Fender AVRI 74 Jazz with Thomastik flats on played through a V2 BDDI and a Diamond bass compressor and it sounds amazing. I had to double check it was me! I wish I could play like that now. I must have been feeling good that day.

 

I've got a Sadowsky Jazz Bass and those basses have got a sound of their own that I really like, but they never seem to quite match the low-end heft of a good Fender.

[Terry M.]

43 minutes ago, Misdee said:

I've got a Sadowsky Jazz Bass and those basses have got a sound of their own that I really like, but they never seem to quite match the low-end heft of a good Fender.

This is exactly why I feel Sadowskys are better for being heard in a mix over Fender. You feel the Fender but really hear the Sad more in my experience.Depends on what your goals are. Currently rocking a Fender Player Plus Jazz V with a modified onboard Sad preamp with the VTC and when I play live I hear notes in a way I never did with unmodded Fenders whether American or Mexican.

Edited 10 hours ago by Terry M.

[HeadlessBassist]

7 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

This is exactly why I feel Sadowskys are better for being heard in a mix over Fender. You feel the Fender but really hear the Sad more in my experience.Depends on what your goals are. Currently rocking a Fender Player Plus Jazz V with a modified onboard Sad preamp with the VTC and when I play live I hear notes in a way I never did with Fenders whether American or Mexican.

 

That’s what Roger’s Preamps were always meant to do - make a Jazz-style Bass much more present and punch through. They have very well chosen frequencies, whereas the Fender Preamps are more polite and sit back more. I always liked my Dimension Elite, but the preamp never really did it for me. The increased top end was welcome, if polite sounding, but the frequencies weren’t as well chosen as a Sadowsky.