I've been playing bass about a year and half and have mostly concentrated on my playing and technique and have just started trying some things to find the tone I'm looking for. I hear the kind of tone I like on songs when listening to music but have no idea what stuff they're using to get it. I'm starting to realize this could be an expensive search not knowing that much about bass stuff. Guitar was a lot easier to dial in what I wanted or change guitars. On the amps thread I seem to read that the tone comes from the amp and eq, or the cab. On the strings thread the strings are emphasized, now I'm reading about pickups and they say they have alot of affect on the tone. I'm confused even though I know they all interact but where do I start? Do I just need to go play more varieties of setups? Right now I'm playing a Fender american Jazz 5 with d'arddario nickel rounds with stock pickups into a Traynor Yba200 and an Avatar 212. If I could articulate what I was looking for in tone it would be alot easier. Are there clips anywhere or song examples that would help describe different tones? Would pickups be the best place to start in changing what my setup sounds like. I haven't been real impressed with the tone I'm getting out of my jazz, it seems fairly thin sounding and I guess I'm looking for a thicker richer tone. I have a Carvin LB70 and I like the sound I'm getting with it better so I thought that changing pickups might be a place to start. Thanks in advance. Ron A