Why no J-MM with Jazz in bridge and MM in neck?

Nic. · #1 01-08-2011, 10:13 AM

Just wondering.

Because, at the moment, I have this jazz bass which I use for rock where I never ever use the neck pickup. I'm using the rather bright, metallic bridge tone. The neck has a dull tone. It just doesn't have the aggressiveness I was looking for.

I've heard a musicman style in neck before and I kinda liked it.

Well, I know the musicman bridge has a massive amount of love, so that's why people pair it with a J neck. But is the MM neck so unlikeable that I can't find a single MMJ on talkbass? I'm thinking of making this mod to my jazz when I have the budget, especially since I can coiltap it to get a single coil neck if needed...

(by the way, if anyone has a nice MM 4 string to sell, I might consider... when I have the budget haha)

GMSweet · #2 01-08-2011, 03:41 PM

Nic

Check out Warrior basses. I don't have any experience with them, but they have that config. There is a Warrior club over in the basses forum.

Matt

**line6man** · #3 01-08-2011, 04:09 PM

A guy from the Warmoth forum has a Jazz bass with a MM neck. I'll have to find the picture.

The problem with having a MM in the neck and a J in the bridge is that you will have a great difference in output between the two.

MMs are hot pickups while Js are relatively quiet. Combine that with the fact that a pickup in the bridge position will have less output than in the neck postion, because the string is vibrating less toward the end node.

StereoPlayer · #4 01-08-2011, 04:22 PM

I just finished this build.....link in my SIG.

Nic. · #5 01-08-2011, 08:12 PM

Thanks guys!

Stereoplayer- it's a fretless, right? I'm using an epoxied fretless with this project. How's the sound? You said a full bass and thin treble?

line6man- Ah, I see... well, I guess I'll probably have to either balance the height or put some internal trim to lower the volume of the MM. I'm using active electronics on this one anyway, so it shouldn't be an issue...

GMSweet- Whoa that bass looks awesome :O!

**line6man** · #6 01-08-2011, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nic.

line6man- Ah, I see... well, I guess I'll probably have to either balance the height or put some internal trim to lower the volume of the MM. I'm using active electronics on this one anyway, so it shouldn't be an issue...

Ok, if you run separate buffers/gain boost circuits on each pickup, you could balance them out without too much trouble.

StereoPlayer · #7 01-08-2011, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nic.

Thanks guys!

Stereoplayer- it's a fretless, right? I'm using an epoxied fretless with this project. How's the sound? You said a full bass and thin treble?

Yes fretless!

The neck PU is the cheap one that came with the kit. I kind of like the neck PU to sound that way, treble/mids, lower output. I usually have both PU's on(stereo) and get a great full sound that way.
I have a early 70's Ric, the treble PU is very thin sounding, but when combined with the bass PU....incredible!

Nic. · #8 01-08-2011, 08:28 PM

Oh I get what you mean now! Makes sense.

i_got_a_mohawk · #9 01-08-2011, 08:30 PM

The reason it isn't 'standard' is because with the MM at the bridge and the J at the neck, both pickups are in their traditional positions.

And you know us bass players . . . we fear change . . .

(ok, ok, so he's a drummer, point still stands

)

For what it's worth, I do like the sound of a neck MM pickup, use it quite often

Nic. · #10 01-08-2011, 08:33 PM

I've to admit I didn't know a jazz in the neck was a standard ^^" after all, due to the PJ config and the jaco bridge-soloed being mentioned all over the forum, I thought bridge was the standard. As for me, I always used a jazz in the neck while playing, well, jazz, but for an aggressive tone when playing rock or metal I always soloed the bridge. So I assumed that my jazz in the neck was being wasted, since this bass that I had in mind was pretty much solely for my rock usage.

**line6man** · #11 01-08-2011, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by line6man

A guy from the Warmoth forum has a Jazz bass with a MM neck. I'll have to find the picture.

Ok, here is that bass I was talking about. This bass belongs to Unofficial Warmoth member AprioriMark.

Nic. · #12 01-08-2011, 09:01 PM

Thanks! I'll go look his username up...

Edit: He has 39 guitars/basses? Holy ****... :O

arjune · #13 01-08-2011, 09:02 PM

I actually saw a MTD like this. Mike Tobias' nephew, the bassist for the band We Versus The Shark, had one. 32" four string with a MM in the neck and J in the bridge. How crazy is that?

i_got_a_mohawk · #14 01-09-2011, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nic.

I've to admit I didn't know a jazz in the neck was a standard ^^" after all, due to the PJ config and the jaco bridge-soloed being mentioned all over the forum, I thought bridge was the standard. As for me, I always used a jazz in the neck while playing, well, jazz, but for an aggressive tone when playing rock or metal I always soloed the bridge. So I assumed that my jazz in the neck was being wasted, since this bass that I had in mind was pretty much solely for my rock usage.

Well, there's two pickups on a Jazz.

You couldn't have a J pup in the traditional bridge position and the MM in it's traditional position, but you have have the MM and stick the J in the traditional neck position.

And it's the other way around for the P/J bass.

**line6man** · #15 01-09-2011, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nic.

Thanks! I'll go look his username up...

Edit: He has 39 guitars/basses? Holy ****... :O

No, he had 60, and has recently informed me that he has lost track of his collection. I swear, the dude buys and sells guitar a week.

walterw · #16 01-09-2011, 10:07 PM

geez, i have one bass, and it's a plain ol' P-bass at that. i wonder if i'm really allowed to post on talkbass?