Jazz basses, what's the point?

[Misdee]

14 hours ago, TheGhostofJaco said:

I personally think a fender gets through the mix better for me. The sadowsky has amazing tone but it disappears a bit in the mix, when the fender just sits in a beautiful space. I should say that my fender is actually a Moollon and it has a very warm and rich tone to it. 
 

I just played on a dance track with both and the Moollon won. Sat on top of the kick as was super clear to hear in the mix. 
 

Active basses sometimes have that compressed sound that can be amazing for slapping but can work against when playing finger style.  Sadowsky moreso because the mids are more scooped. Not that they won’t work or anything, but it matter what you are looking for. 

 

 I totally agree that there's respective merits to traditional Fender-style style Jazz Basses and more modern active versions.

 

I think a lot depends on how, or indeed if, you use the Sadowsky preamp. With a two band boost-only preamp there is a tendency for players to boost treble and bass, and the inevitable consequences is that it makes Sadowsky basses sound more recessed in the midrange. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but as you quite rightly point out, it's not what you want in certain situations.

 

I'm not a huge fan of that modern scooped-out, thump and sizzle Jazz Bass tone.  Marcus Miller makes it sound great but it's tiresome that so many players just want to copy that tone. For years I shied away from active Jazz-style basses for exactly that reason.

 

However, it's quite possible to EQ a Sadowsky so it sounds anything but scooped. Not least of all, those basses sound good either in passive mode or active but with no added boost or just a little bit. Or add some mids externally and boost the bass or treble (but not both) depending on whether you want to be deep or bright and bit more gritty. You can also attenuate with the VTC. There's lots of ways approach it. 

 

Also, being able to pan between the two pickups on a Sadowsky opens up a lot of tonal possibilities that can be harder to achieve on a conventional passive Jazz with two volume controls.

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

Maybe my ears are puny or I'm easy to please, but I don't get these problems despite switching between wildly different basses.

[Woodinblack]

3 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Maybe my ears are puny or I'm easy to please, but I don't get these problems despite switching between wildly different basses.

 

I don't - but then I am convinced that a lot of people listen with their eyes!