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Road worn jazz bass? Sounds too thin!!


djmac75

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Hey guys... New to the forum. Been playing bass along time and recently picked up a Road Worn jazz bass when on tour in Hong Kong. Got a great deal on it at £500. 

SO here's the deal! I have been playing in a rock band with my trust 2012 American Fender P bass and after playing the Road Worn in the same band? It just doesn't have the depth of the P. 

Now i know that the P bass is a heavier monster in terms of build and that single coil delivers a mightier punch generally... But the difference in output from the pickups is massive. Gain input the mark bass rig need to be at about 12 o clock before it starts clipping with the Road worn where as its at 3 o clock for the AM standard P bass. 

 

So here's my question? Anybody changed out the pickups on the RW to increase the output signal and give it more beef? Its a nice feeling instrument and it has a decent 60's mid bite to the sound but just not the depth of tone? IS this a general vibe with the Jazz bass in comparison to the P bass? 

Ok answers on a postcard...

djmac :-)  

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Hello and welcome. 

Id say if your happy with the feel  Of the bass, just pop in a new set of pickups. Sounds easy! This is where the fun starts. I’ve used Delano, Aguilar, Bartolini, Fender custom, and Lindy Fralin. I like them all. It takes a bit of research. The other option is to fit a new preamp. The John East preamps are excellent. Enjoy the search!

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I think it`s the difference between Jazzes & Precisions in general. I`ve found this, and to be honest, as a die-hard Precision player my ears are tuned to the P-bass, so setting up a Jazz eq in the mix just never sounds right to me, I can`t seem to coax those great tones out of one as I`m just expecting the Precision sound when I play - that might be part of the problem here maybe?

The Jazz tone is much thinner in comparison, I did find that the Seymour Duncan Hot Stack was a good Jazz pickup, didn`t change the sound, just bulked it out and gave more of the same.

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As Lozz has said, the Jazz does sound thinner compared to the Precision, its just the way it is. It can also depend on what pickups you have in the Jazz. My 66 Jazz has Barts and sounds thinner than my 75 Jazz but sounds so sweet. The 75 has Fender 75 vintage pickups and sounds more rounded but less dynamics tonally.

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I found that Jazz's always have a more focused sound when I play them and P bass's just have more thump in the frequencies I like to hear. :) 

I think it's just one of those things. I stopped messing around changing pick-ups a long time ago as I found it was never really worth it for me.

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I love playing jazz basses right up until I get them in a band situation, then exactly this. 

I'm sure with the right combination of pre-amp and pups you can get it to sound right, but it's always been easier for me to resort to a P-ish bass.  

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Same as said,i was used to Jazz's then got a Jap P and all it really had was bottom,non of the options of the J.Then i got a Sadowksy metro vintage Jazz and even the passive tone is immense right across the strings

Edited by jazzmanb
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3 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I think it`s the difference between Jazzes & Precisions in general. I`ve found this, and to be honest, as a die-hard Precision player my ears are tuned to the P-bass, so setting up a Jazz eq in the mix just never sounds right to me, I can`t seem to coax those great tones out of one as I`m just expecting the Precision sound when I play - that might be part of the problem here maybe?

The Jazz tone is much thinner in comparison, I did find that the Seymour Duncan Hot Stack was a good Jazz pickup, didn`t change the sound, just bulked it out and gave more of the same.

As Lozz (and others) have said -  there is just a difference between the J and P sounds in general
But of course, if they sounded exactly the same.... what would be the point in having the different types of bass? ;)

I had a Roadworn Jazz - just like you, I also played a P (well, a P/J to be precise). I had similar thoughts to you, and actually did get around to swapping the pickups
After placing a wanted ad on a local Facebook guitar,amp,gear exchange forum - someone offered me a set of old (1970's 80's) DiMarzio J pickups
I fitted them and was blown away at how good the bass sounded! It still had that jazz "honk" / "burble" but with a much higher output and a lot more "bite"
Luckily, I'd bought the pickups cheaply too :) - so that's my first recommendation... and old set of DiMarzios! (they still do a couple of sets these days too - check out eBay - think they're around £100)

My second recommendation is to try a pre-amp pedal. You'd be amazed at how much you can shape the EQ, and boost different frequencies.
I use an MXR (the one with the second switch for boost / distortion) but you can pick up a Behringer for around £30 - and these are pretty damn good (bit noisy when you crank them up, esp on treble - but still good value)
It's a nice, simple solution, and you don't even have to unscrew your scratch-plate, let alone your pickups. And the Behringer is cheaper than the cheapest pickups or on-board pre-amp

It's a case of getting used to the differences between a J and a P, and maybe learning when one suits a particular band or setting, or even which songs are suited to which bass, and how to switch tones quickly on your rig.
I traded my old RW Jazz, and though I'm really pleased with the bass I got in return, I do wish I still had that RW Jazz - it was an amazing bass... lovely sound, lovely feel to it, so comfortable....
Hmmmm, now I want one again ;)

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After going through many different basses over the years, its the precision tone I like and settled on, I've owned a few jazzes as well, but to me, they sounded thin, and I guess I just didn't like the tone, but on a whim, I recently purchased a road worn jazz from a fellow B/C'er, and I'm blown away at the playability and tone, it certainly isn't lacking in depth, and the output is comparable with all my P's, I've gigged it and the drummer complimented me on how great it sounded throughout the set which was mainly classic rock.

Maybe as others have suggested, could it be down to dodgy wiring/pots etc? 

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Nice one guys! Great replies and its true!! The P-bass is the one for underpinning and beefing out the bottom end of the band... Still i've heard some jazz basses that have great warmth and definition...and have just ordered the custom shop pickups to replace the MIM standard alnico stock pickups in the Road Worn jazz bass. THey sound ok i guess and have that jaco burp... which is a useful sound in some situations... soloing etc and advanced tonal shaping! Lets see if it brings any warmth to it and/or higher output. 

Great to be a part of this community. Big respect all. :-) 

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5 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

If there;s no phase issue, wiring in a series/parallel switch to be able to switch the pickups in series (like the Fender S1 switch) might help make it sound more beefy.

This works. Not a difficult mod, if you can use a soldering iron. I did it nearly 20 years back, and it's been great. There's a schematic and a picture on talkbass (am I allowed to mention talkbass?). Have a look at the FAQ on their pickups forum. You don't need to ruin your bass by adding an extra switch - you can use a push-pull pot with attached DPDT switch.

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5 hours ago, FuNkShUi said:

If your jazz sounds too thin, stick some flats on it.
You can thank me later ;)

A man that thinks like me! ;-) Yeah i stuck the flats back on her today and will install the custom shop pickups... Then i will keep her for some old skool funk vibes and the like. My P bass is the work horse for everything else and when i very occasionally do theatre gigs these days pull out the 5 string MM sire. I must admit that my 1880 german flatback gets most of my attention. 

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4 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

Why try to make a J more like a P when you already have a P? Horses for courses and all that.

It's why I'm sold on the P/J - it's got all the grunt of a P bass
but you can dial in a bit of that Jazz tone too :)
If you want it / when you want it / leave it out if you want..... great

Edited by Marc S
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4 hours ago, Marc S said:

It's why I'm sold on the P/J - it's got all the grunt of a P bass
but you can dial in a bit of that Jazz tone too :)
If you want it / when you want it / leave it out if you want..... great

I have a Mex PJ and it doesn't really do the heavy, thick P bass sound. An approximation of it, but not quite the same. It's very versatile, however and does J tone as Marc says.

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