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Getting the best tone out of a Jazz bass


Cat Burrito

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I like so many bands where the bassist uses a Jazz bass. I've owned a couple over the years and my latest one I've lived with for a few years is an American standard from 2008. My issue was always that on it's own, it sounded fantastic, in a small 3 piece arrangement there was a noticeable lack of bottom end. I strung mine with flats for a while which gave it a 60s Scott Walker type vibe and it sat nicely in the mix of a 2 guitar band but lately I wanted more of an 80s alternative sound so recently went back to roundwounds. I've found by rolling back both the tone and the bridge pickup slightly, I can keep that Jazz sound whilst getting a thicker sounding bass. 

 

I can't be the only bass player to feel this way. I don't have this issue with my other basses so don't think it's my playing but always find the Jazz suffers in a smaller band setup. I just wondered how others got the best from a Jazz. Did you perhaps not feel this was a problem, change your amp settings, play around with the controls on the bass or change the pickups. Or a combination. Interested in people's thoughts. 

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What amp and/cab are you using?

 

ampeg cabs have a natural bump at about 200Hz which always helped my jazzes deliver massive amounts of low end whenever I’ve played. Currently I’ve got a custom bass cab with a sub woofer in it and it’s equally deep.

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I just bypassed the amp EQ with mine and, often, biased slightly towards the bridge pickup. From there, adjusted the tone to taste. It sounded grand, had enough mids to be heard and more than enough lows once the guitars started sharing the mid frequencies. Usually, removing a little low end from the guitars shows the bass has more than enough lows without having to boost the crap out of it and make a thick low-frequency fog out of everything.

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7 minutes ago, Cat Burrito said:

I like so many bands where the bassist uses a Jazz bass. I've owned a couple over the years and my latest one I've lived with for a few years is an American standard from 2008. My issue was always that on it's own, it sounded fantastic, in a small 3 piece arrangement there was a noticeable lack of bottom end. I strung mine with flats for a while which gave it a 60s Scott Walker type vibe and it sat nicely in the mix of a 2 guitar band but lately I wanted more of an 80s alternative sound so recently went back to roundwounds. I've found by rolling back both the tone and the bridge pickup slightly, I can keep that Jazz sound whilst getting a thicker sounding bass. 

 

I can't be the only bass player to feel this way. I don't have this issue with my other basses so don't think it's my playing but always find the Jazz suffers in a smaller band setup. I just wondered how others got the best from a Jazz. Did you perhaps not feel this was a problem, change your amp settings, play around with the controls on the bass or change the pickups. Or a combination. Interested in people's thoughts. 


I completely understand this as I have always felt the same way. I also struggle ergonomically with the Jazz body but would certainly persevere more if I could get a sound I liked. 
 

In my Fretless I switched over to EMG JAX pickups and harness which has helped a lot but I still set the EQ similarly to you. I think the only way for me to get a thicker sound I like would be to go down the old S1 switch route, with a series/parallel option. 

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2 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

What amp and/cab are you using?

 

ampeg cabs have a natural bump at about 200Hz which always helped my jazzes deliver massive amounts of low end whenever I’ve played. Currently I’ve got a custom bass cab with a sub woofer in it and it’s equally deep.

I have used Ampeg in the past but I tend to use an Orange AD200B through a 4x10 Orange cab. It's in the practice amps too. Every amp I try. I take out any other bass (Hofner, Rickenbacker, Precision, Thunderbird) and the issue isn't there.

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Jazzes are pretty versatile on their own. You can get many different sounds by using the tone controls and switching pickups. Of course you can also add more bass via the EQ on your amp, if need be.

 

My solution was to buy a John East Retro pre amp, which turns your Jazz into an incredibly versatile instrument. I bought mine for about £100 from Basschat and recently I bought Fender style knobs for it from John East's website, so it looks just like a passive Jazz.

 

It has a parametric mid control, which offers a pretty deep low mid frequency. I tend to pick that and turn it to maximum.

 

The bass is boost only so it's best to use it sparingly, unless you want to get into reggae territory.

 

If you DI straight to the desk, the pre amp also allows you to tailor your sound, before it gets to the sound engineer.

Edited by gjones
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21 minutes ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

I think the only way for me to get a thicker sound I like would be to go down the old S1 switch route, with a series/parallel option. 

I changed my preamp to a 2 vol, 2 tone, early jazz setup but it came with the option of a series/parallel switch. Series mode really changes the character of the bass and has solved the issue you are talking about... at least for me anyway. Thicker bass tone, less brittle sound.

I also put an alnico 2 magnet in the bridge position as that has a more mid emphasise, but left the neck as an alnico 5.

A series/parallel switch will let you go from standard jazz sounds with the nuances of the pickup blend, to a wide spaced humbucker.

Edited by Boodang
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Jazzes are what I play the most , and I find that tweaking the pickups /tone controls just very slightly can change the sound completely , have a good tweak about to find the sweet spot you’re looking for.   just as an aside, I recently bought an Ampeg classic preamp pedal and the sound variations is really great 

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I found that using neck pickup on full and bringing in the bridge pickup to about a quarter gave me a Precisiony type tone, but focused a little lower maybe, not so many mids. I also changed the eq on my amps, being a Precision player I generally scoop mids and boost highs, with the Jazz I didn’t really need to do this.

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 On a Jazz Bass I like to set my tone on full, neck pickup on full and bridge pickup on about 80 percent. Like a P Bass but not really, if you see what I mean.

 

Generally speaking, I think Jazz Basses have plenty of low end. However, to my ears it's the complex upper-mid frequencies that really give that bass it's characteristic sound. It's quite easy for your ears to focus on the prominence of those mids at the detriment of the lower frequencies that may well be present at the same time.

 

When it comes to basses, I have learnt over the years that it's best to let them be themselves, if you see what I mean ie let a Jazz Bass be a bit toppy, let a P Bass sound hollow with chunky mids, let a Stingray sound zingy and scooped.

 

That Am St Jazz was/is a very good example of the classic Fender Jazz so I really don't think you have any worries regarding the bass itself. Your amp/ cab setup looks like it is pretty tasty, and as you say, it sounds fine with other models of bass. Maybe you just don't like the sound of a Jazz Bass in an ensemble setting?

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At the risk of repeating myself (but I'm going to anyway!), every Jazz should have a series/parallel switch... cheap and easy to do, still retains the original sound but unlocks a humbucking sound which is already sitting there waiting to be unleashed with a simple switch mod.

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4 hours ago, Old Horse Murphy said:


I also struggle ergonomically with the Jazz body but would certainly persevere more if I could get a sound I liked. 
 

 

Then you must try a G&L Tribute Jb-2

 

Many dealers were selling these for £250 round Christmas time and they can still be had new for £300

 

They are a revelation - jazz tones in a p body 

4D012904-7726-4EB6-A3E5-8F03F82AAB99.jpeg

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17 minutes ago, gareth said:

Then you must try a G&L Tribute Jb-2

 

Many dealers were selling these for £250 round Christmas time and they can still be had new for £300

 

They are a revelation - jazz tones in a p body 

4D012904-7726-4EB6-A3E5-8F03F82AAB99.jpeg


Thanks. I've just been eyeing one up funnily enough, but I also had a P Bass body built a while ago for my Fretless along the same lines. It does make such a difference. 

 

 

FEF02394-FB99-4C57-B2BD-9562E15532A0.jpeg

Edited by Old Horse Murphy
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I agree with you about the lack of bottom end and I’ve always found gigging a p bass has more balls - the exception is I did some jazz gigs using the sublime Tony Franklin with soloed jazz bridge pup or with the addition of the bridge pup on less than full volume 

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I really like the sound of my J, but there is a thick grindy rock tone that a P does as standard that I can’t really get with the J. (assuming normal single coil pickups and wiring)

 

On the other hand, when I try and play Jazz walking bass on my P it sounds just wrong.

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As a serial J bass user in a 3-piece band I can't say that I have noticed the problem.  I have also trained our guitarist to not boost his low frequencies to leave me space.  I can pretty much use any bass I like this way.

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