anybody else never use the bridge pickup on a jazz bass?

I always use it...it's what gives the bass its grit imo.

 

I'm sure someone on here will tell us the technical differences...it sounds "like" a p-bass split coil...but whatever works for you. I tend to roll off the bridge pup 10% or so.

 

bridge jazz pickups always sound really bad and thin when soloed from my experience. but with the neck it sounds great, even better than the P tone with the neck soloed. you probably should have gotten P; idk the technical, but tonally it is the same to my ears.

 

For many years, I would dime the neck pickup and have the bridge pickup at 80 or 90%. But for the last year or so, I've been liking the tone I get when I dime both of them.

 

I didnt use the back 'stock' pup.. Now that I have 3 jazzes with duncans ,I use both and blend to taste. Pups are a huge game changer, I found there is no one solution for all bases. My 66 has vintage, my 96 strung through has sd-2 and the 74 is rewound by Duncan.,and man they sound so much better than stock...ymmv etc etc.

 

I can't say I "never" use the bridge pickup on my jazz. But I can say almost never.

Neck pickup soloed plus flats gives something very close to the bass sound on "Band on the Run", which is one of my fave tones. I get a little bit of hum but it's usually not worth worrying about considering how awesome it sounds.

If I ever do a new custom build, it would be a J with no bridge pickup. That would be awesome!

 

I say play how you like to. Personally, 85% of the time, I have both pickups dimed. 10% of the time, I turn the bridge pickup down just enough to make the bass howl like a P-bass. The other 5% of the time, I do the same thing with the neck pickup just enough to give it a hint of bridge pickup quack. Percentages are approximate.

 

I usually have the bridge pickup louder that the neck pickup

 

+1. I think it just has to be there. I just roll the bridge pup off a little so i don't get too much growl but i get a satisfying bite. I wanna get a "rarrr" not a "ROOOOAAAAARRRR!"

...if you know what I mean

 

I guess I'm on the opposite side of the fence: I love the bridge pup soloed on a jazz.

 

Well it all depends on what type of music you are playing.

 

It doesn't sound like a P bass - sounds MUCH better IMO!!

I always have the neck pickup up full, and blend the bridge pickup to taste - sometimes fully off, sometimes fully on, mostly somewhere in the middle.

 

When I'm playing, I fiddle with my knobs quite a lot. I'd say that my most common setting is the neck dimed and the bridge about 90%. I find that a very slight reduction in the bridge volume allows the tone of the neck pickup to really come through, while maintaining some nice clarity. For jazz stuff, if I'm playing electric, I often solo my neck pickup. If I start playing hard in any show (usually because I'm getting really in to it), my hand gravitates towards the bridge, and I usually end up diming both pickups when I do that. If I have the tone control completely rolled off, I sometimes like to dime the bridge pickup and let the neck sit back a bit. I love that smooth growl. It doesn't cut through too well though, so I usually only use that setting for sparsely-populated songs.

 

I hate bridge pickups, so no, I rarely use it.

 

I have tried it before. The sound is cool. I don't like going without the bridge pickup all the time though. I prefer leaving the neck pickup on full, but without the bridge pickup, it doesn't have enough edge to the tone (for me anyway). So I dial it in just enough to add growl. I don't like soloing the bridge pickup or making it louder than the neck pickup, but I still like it.