Fender Standard Jazz vs. Tribute JB2

[Youngspanion]

Gas has caught up with me again and now I'm aiming for a Jazz bass. Been looking at the Fender Standard MIM Jazz basses and the few that I have played at GC and SamAsh have me very interested. Seem to be well built with less bells and whistles then the American Standard. $600 price tag is the motivating factor. I just spent over a grand on a G&L L2k in March.

Then I see the JB 2 bass and the Tribute carries the same price tag. G&L is a top quality guitar and excellent customer service so that is a very compelling argument. But based on tone and playability, which bass would fit the "Jazz" bass better or would both do it well?

[Nedmundo]

Generally, I think of G&L Tributes as being a step (or more) up from MIM Fenders, but the latter have improved greatly in recent years and excellent ones are out there. With the G&L, you get the heavy duty bridge and the USA pickups, which are probably better than the stock Fender MIM components. The pickups are classic J-bass all the way, as I learned with a G&L JB.

The main issue that might affect the "Jazzness" of the JB-2 is its 21 fret neck and six bolt neck joint, as opposed to the classic 20 frets and four bolt joint. When the USA JB came out, I remember a G&L player/dealer saying he was surprised how different the JB and JB-2 sounded (USA JB-2), with the JB sounding more like a classic J-bass. He attributed this to the neck difference. Who knows? When I've tried JB-2's, they've sounded like J-basses to me, but I haven't done the back-to-back thing with a regular J-bass.

I'd be more inclined to go G&L if buying without playing first, but with all the MIM Fenders available to play, you could try several and wait until you find one of the great ones.