molan Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 For a short period I owned one of each but becuase they were stored at two different venues over 50 miles apart I never got to play them back to back. Spent more time with the JO and got a pretty good feel for the sound of it. Mine was fitted with Fralin pickups and a J-Retro active pre. My DJ has a set of Aero pickups and stock passive Lakland pre. Having now sold the JO & bought the DJ home I'm really surprised at quite how different they sound. Obviously there's more to it than the basses themselves as they different pickups & pre controls & active vs passive. I'm struggling a bit to get a sound I like out of the DJ whilst the JO sounded really nice right across the board. The DJ with bridge pickup only and tone on full is my favourite sound but I'm not at all sure about the neck pickup or blended sounds. To add a bit of additional perspective to this I generally tend to keep pickups pretty evenly balanced on my basses & have never really biased towards the bridge. I'm also usually an 'active' player rather than passive so maybe it's just been a long time since I've heard a full on passive neck pickup sound! Maybe I should think about installing something active? I wouldn't need something as flexible as the East though, maybe an Aguilar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Hi mate, I played a DJ5 at martthebass' house a while back. It was the passive one & sounded like the classic jazz sound you've always had in your mind. But again, it only does that one sound really. I know what you're saying about active basses. There's just so much more push & sparkle to the sound. I've sold all my passives now as well. Rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martthebass Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 (edited) [quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='314883' date='Oct 26 2008, 08:34 AM']Hi mate, I played a DJ5 at martthebass' house a while back. It was the passive one & sounded like the classic jazz sound you've always had in your mind. But again, it only does that one sound really. I know what you're saying about active basses. There's just so much more push & sparkle to the sound. I've sold all my passives now as well. Rich.[/quote] My DJ5 was stock Lakky Pre and Lakky Pups - not sure how different they are to the Aero's in the older DJ's. I'd agree with Rich on the sound. It did a great vintage Jazz vibe but IMHO wasn't the most flexible bass I've owned. I tried a JO4 in Electro just after I sold the DJ, on balance it sempt much brighter to me with a more 'modern' Jazz type sound, again just my opinion but I preferred the JO. Edited October 26, 2008 by martthebass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayFW Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 I have a DJ 4 fitted with aeros which I recently put a J retro into. Passive it was a very good sounding bass but the J retro has transformed it. What I find really useful is how the sweepable mid makes it easy to eq for different rooms. I was saving up for a NYC Sadowsky but I've put that on hold since fitting the J retro - I don't honestly think I can justify the outlay when my DJ sounds so good now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 (edited) [quote name='martthebass' post='315221' date='Oct 26 2008, 05:27 PM']My DJ5 was stock Lakky Pre and Lakky Pups - not sure how different they are to the Aero's in the older DJ's.[/quote] Im going to sound stupid here but i didnt think the DJ5 came with a pre amp in it. I thought it was either passive or it came with the J-retro preamp. Go on, tell me im an idiot. EDIT: Ok, i assume you guys just mean the stock lakland passive circuit. Sorry, I got a bit confused. Edited October 27, 2008 by dave_bass5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 [quote name='rayfw' post='315373' date='Oct 26 2008, 09:34 PM']I have a DJ 4 fitted with aeros which I recently put a J retro into. Passive it was a very good sounding bass but the J retro has transformed it. What I find really useful is how the sweepable mid makes it easy to eq for different rooms. I was saving up for a NYC Sadowsky but I've put that on hold since fitting the J retro - I don't honestly think I can justify the outlay when my DJ sounds so good now.[/quote] I had this bass before Ray. My favourite tone passive was all up full on the pots, then back the neck pup back by around a quarter of a turn. Lovely jazz honk, and to me, every bit as nice as the JO I used to have with the Fralins in it. Truely superb bass, I just couldn't resist Rays' Stingray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P-T-P Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Definitely quite different basses. I've owned both JO5 and DJ5 with maple and rosewood boards, active and passive controls. The bass I kept is a DJ5, maple board with Aeros and a Bartolini NTBT eq fitted, no passive option. I've gone through a bunch of back-up basses since I got it (including JO5 and a rosewood passive DJ5) and while all of them have, in their own way, made noises that I've thought were great, as soon I put the DJ5 back on, I'm reminded of everything that was missing. A JO5 with maple board, Fralins and a J-Retro fitted was a very versatile bit of kit, but there wasn't a single tone that came from it that I didn't think the DJ5 could do better. The passive DJ5 was, to my mind, the most versatile of passive basses I've played. The tone control on it was very versatile indeed, much more so than on either of the JO5's when passive, though again, they made some lovely noises. The DJ5 with Aeros is very much a modern retro affair - sorta classic jazz bass but with a more focused, thicker bottom end and crunchier top. Loud too. The JO5 is much more old school. For me the DJ does it but I can see how it's not for everyone because it's not subtle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted November 22, 2008 Author Share Posted November 22, 2008 Had my first chance to really try out the DJ this week at rehearsal at decent stage volumes & against a live drummer. Really impressed at how it seemed to come alive when played much louder and digging in a bit more. Great slap tone as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigmondo Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 Am learning much from this, thanks all. Some really useful observations for me on the JO ta Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_russ Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 I'm liking the idea of getting a JO5 and having a precision pickup put in the neck position- I don't fancy waiting for the bob glaub 5 to come out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 [quote name='mr_russ' post='335348' date='Nov 24 2008, 11:01 AM']I don't fancy waiting for the bob glaub 5 to come out[/quote] Amen to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veils Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 I had a DJ, probably one of the weakest basses I have ever owned. It was sold pretty quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayFW Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 [quote name='Veils' post='336997' date='Nov 26 2008, 09:23 AM']I had a DJ, probably one of the weakest basses I have ever owned. It was sold pretty quickly.[/quote] Horses for courses I suppose. My DJ4 (with J Retro admittedly) is perfect for the funk band I'm currently in and I have some pretty tasty sounding basses including a Warwick Dolphin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veils Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 True enough. Don't get me wrong, it felt real nice to play, just the tone was a bit lacking for me. I guess if I had upgraded it in a similar way I would have had an entirely different beast on my hands. I must learn to not be so scathing :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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