Yeah, I used to think it was all about gear snobs...until I got schooled on a series of recording sessions in 1983. I wanted to play my 76 Precision instead of the singer's bass, a 65 Jazz. I was not a fan of it...it played badly, the neck was dinged to hell and back, it had ancient strings on it, and he wouldn't let me do a thing to it to improve it. But the producer said it had the sound. Naturally I thought he was high on coke (he was, but that's another story) and I dug in my heels and made him record two takes of a song we were doing so I could prove my bass was the best choice. Man, that Jazz Bass fell in that track so nicely and clearly had the superior sound, and there was no question of it.
From that moment on, I never questioned it when someone wanted me to play a different bass than the one I want to use. Except the singer in my current band...he hates any bass I bring in unless it's a Fender or something that's close to it. He doesn't care whether I use a straight-up Precision or one of my PJ's, but he thinks they sound way better than any of my other basses. But every now and then I like to bring in one of my oddball basses, and since he's not the bandleader, I do it. I brought in my Longhorn for a gig a few nights ago, as a matter of fact. And then 30 seconds into one of these gigs, I realize our singer is absolutely right that a Fender works better overall for our stuff, and the other basses once again get relegated to occasional specialty use.
So my advice is that the people in this thread telling you to play what you want and don't worry about it are wrong. If the band is important to you, play the Jazz. If it's not, play whatever you want and run the risk of them finding someone who will.
