CosmicRay
Supporting Member
To the OP's question...
"Can I be happy with a Jazz?" -
Ecstatic would be my reply.
"Can I be happy with a Jazz?" -
Ecstatic would be my reply.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Me neither. I have no real neck dive to speak of. Mine has a BA II bridge that might help the weight distribution a bit.
Yes a Jazz will work in your situation. If you want to get closer to a P sound just favor the Neck pickup. I went from a P to a Jazz and every time I try to go back to the P I return to the Jazz. I'd say the P has the tone edge for pick playing, but you can also get by with a Jazz. G&L makes a nice Jazz bass, as do Fender, Squier and a bunch of others.
I like how others sound playing a jazz bass. I like jazz bass necks. I like a jazz pickup in the bridge position (P/J). I don't like the body shape (both aesthetically and ergonomically) and I really don't like the majority of sounds I get out of them. But hey, that's just me. You may feel different.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
For me, the neck pickup is all about treble/snap/bright.
I might consider the MM for my second bass...
specifically the HH model, lots of tones you can get from that, including jazz-like.
CosmicRay
Supporting Member
I have two J's - a '74 & a NOS '64 - neither have any neck dive for me to complain about. It's the weight. Not too bad on the V-64, but the '74 weighs a ton.
Got it new in '74 and has been my one and only until the mid 1990's - then the re-issue came along.
I am now building the lightest J bass I possibly can.
Chambered body @ 4lbs 8oz / Neck approx. 2lbs (?) / Gotoh carbon-o-lite tuners @ 132 grams total / Fralin split J pups / Babicz FCH-4 Bass Bridge / 920D Custom Concentric J Bass Control plate upgrade, toggle & black concentric knobs.
I hope it will all come together in at less than 7.5 - 8lbs.
What you actually need are two Precisions, one strung with flats and one with rounds, and a Jazz.
I've found that my passive instruments (both Ps and Js) all seem to benefit tonally live when I play through an outboard preamp. My current favorite is the Sadowsky SBP-1, which in addition to being able to boost bass and treble frequencies, adds a certain open presence and subtle heft to my ears that makes the signal less dry without overly coloring it. It's really simple, you can go out of it into your amp, and it also has a great built-in DI if you need to go FOH.
I'm throwing this out because, although it's an additional expense if you're not already using a preamp, you can maintain the relative simplicity of the passive instrument, and also have some option to boost frequencies that might seem lacking at first. Another option is a pedal that allows for EQ adjustment like the Boss GEB-7. Of course, there is EQ on your amp, as well, but personally, I like to leave my amps pretty flat and make adjustments on my pedals...YMMV.
As was already mentioned, the series/parallel mod is great for a passive Jazz to give it an extra boost when you want.
It's my suspicion that many try a new bass in a live situation with the same settings they've used for other basses, and are underwhelmed or totally disappointed, because the new bass doesn't "cut through" or "sit in the mix". Boosting overall output volume is not always the solution. The fact is, there are pickups that sound really incredible that are lower output, or may be voiced differently, and it may take some listening and adjusting to figure that out before you get the best result in a band situation. Sound-wise, though, I've gotten some of my best results in a live band situation using Jazz basses, so I don't think you'll have a problem, there.
I'm throwing this out because, although it's an additional expense if you're not already using a preamp, you can maintain the relative simplicity of the passive instrument, and also have some option to boost frequencies that might seem lacking at first. Another option is a pedal that allows for EQ adjustment like the Boss GEB-7. Of course, there is EQ on your amp, as well, but personally, I like to leave my amps pretty flat and make adjustments on my pedals...YMMV.
As was already mentioned, the series/parallel mod is great for a passive Jazz to give it an extra boost when you want.
It's my suspicion that many try a new bass in a live situation with the same settings they've used for other basses, and are underwhelmed or totally disappointed, because the new bass doesn't "cut through" or "sit in the mix". Boosting overall output volume is not always the solution. The fact is, there are pickups that sound really incredible that are lower output, or may be voiced differently, and it may take some listening and adjusting to figure that out before you get the best result in a band situation. Sound-wise, though, I've gotten some of my best results in a live band situation using Jazz basses, so I don't think you'll have a problem, there.
Stick with the precision. The jazz bass sacrifices that mix-filling nature in order to provide high-end snap.
Unless you just want to add a bass for the sake of adding a bass. I've done that and been happy about the decision. But check this out: I recently picked up a sweet Roscoe with the typical two pickup setup. I only use the neck pickup solo'd with the low-mids cranked. Gets a really nice P bass sound that way. I always end up wanting a precision sound, no matter what I'm playing.
I think since a lot of J's tend to be on the heavier side, they might be perceived as in general hanging on a strap well, with the neck at a nice angle, and that is indeed true for many. But I've never had an issue with any of the P's I've owned. My lightest is my US Glaub at about 8.25 lbs and it hangs there perfectly on the strap, no dive.
I think you'd be reasonably happy with a jazz as they are a good fit for the styles of music you play.
I played jazz basses for a long time in all the musical situations you've described (and more) and always found them to yield a variety of good tones, but they need a powerful amp with lots of speaker surface area to really shine in a live situation, especially on an outdoor gig, otherwise the tone can be a bit thin ( especially when using a lot of bridge pickup ).
1) Jaco, the undisputed king of the bridge pickup, always sounded great live, but he knew what gear to use. Not one, but TWO 200w SS Acoustic 360's with the rearward firing 18" speaker.
2) Larry Graham always sounded great live with S & the FS and GCS. Rig: same 200w SS Acoustic 360 with rearward firing 18"
3) John Paul Jones always sounded great live with LZ. Rig: same as #2
4) Family Man Barrett always sounded great great live with Bob Marley. Rig: same as #2
5) Not sure what Marcus Miller uses as his preferred live rig, but I bet he's moving a lot of air to sound as great as he does.
So yes, a jazz bass can sound really good, but IMO they need a bit of 'help' to do so on their own.
Of course a lot of this advice is moot if you're playing through a big FOH set-up, but if you're not, it helps if you can move sufficient air. If you have a few hundred watts pushing a 4x10 (or similar), you should be good for medium sized gigs at the very least.
(These days I'm a Yamaha BB man as I find the PJ set up to be superior to either stand alone P or JJ - though I do own a good Precision and love the way it plays & sounds)
Last edited:
Not at all. Just a general comment about having the gear to work most playing situations. I had a nice Precision and a 'good' amp with an LDS cab. I really wasn't noticed until I got a 2nd 2 x 10 and a Hartke LH1000. Then things got easier.
Nowadays tho', with even 1/2 decent PA support, a modest rig is fine in most semi-pro situations. It's just always good to have a rig for all seasons.
"For the music we play (classic rock, a little new and old-school country, blues rock) with guitar and drums, it provides a sound that sits in the mix well."
If you're talking about a guitar/bass/drums trio, then that's one time I personally almost always prefer the Jazz over a P (and I'm mostly a P guy). With everything dimed, the J can fill up more sonic real estate and be very supportive, but it doesn't poke out of the mix in your face. That slight scoop plays real well with rock guitar. How "thumpy" it is will largely be determined by your playing technique.
If you're talking about a guitar/bass/drums trio, then that's one time I personally almost always prefer the Jazz over a P (and I'm mostly a P guy). With everything dimed, the J can fill up more sonic real estate and be very supportive, but it doesn't poke out of the mix in your face. That slight scoop plays real well with rock guitar. How "thumpy" it is will largely be determined by your playing technique.
A Jazz with the capability to switch the pickups between parallel & series will come close to covering the tones of a Jazz and a Precision. A Jbass with the pickups in series has less high end, more lows & mids, and higher output than the J pups in parallel. The pickups in series essentially creates a humbucker with the two coils spaced further apart that the two coils that create a P pickup. Switching back to parallel gives you a typical Jazz tone.
It’s a simple mod that doesn’t require many parts & doesn’t require any major modifications. A push-pull pot will do the switching. I chose to put a micro-toggle switch in mine because I already have stack knob volumes / tones. The mini-toggle is right between the two volume/tone stacks. If I had a VVT setup, I’d change the tone pot to a push-pull or push-push.
Last edited:
When I was younger I went through a lot of Jazzes. It's all I ever played. Then I bought my first Precision about 10 years ago and never wanted to play anything else ever again other than my Musicmaster. I even bought a Jazz a few years ago and then sold it. Nothing against Jazzes, but I guess I'm just a Precision guy.
