Deep Thoughts on Jazz Basses

[The Bass Clef]

I pretty much always run both pickups on full and I use the tone knob to get the right amount of clarity, or definition, or whatever you call it for the line I’m playing... usually tone is about 1/2 way up for fingers or pick, and about 3/4 to full for slappy stuff. If I want the Jaco finger punch, I’ll pluck over the bridge p/u and it gets me in that world. I don’t solo the bridge p/u like Jaco though, the full blast “zipper” just isn’t my thing. If it’s yours, please by all means, zip away. I’d say 95% of my playing is over the neck p/u (and both p/us volumes on full). That’s just THE sound of a Jazz bass for me, and what I feel is the best sound I pull out of a Jazz for the majority of normal everyday playing.

I look at a P Bass as a simple, one trick pony because it is, and it does that one trick wonderfully. And I look at a Jazz as more of a 3 trick pony... neck p/u solo’ed is the ”P Bass impersonation”. It’s cool. I’d rather have a P Bass, but it’ll do. Both p/us is THE jazz bass tone. Period. (insert obligatory “your mileage may vary” here, as not to offend someone who feels differently about their Jazz Bass tone). And then there’s the solo bridge p/u “Jaco zipper”. All the different volume knob combos in-between are basically irrelevant in the mix of the band, to me anyway. It’s those 3 that pop out as the clear “tricks” that a Jazz Bass does... And for me, the middle “trick” is the only one that I really care to use. I love that trick.

 

[dabbler]

Yeah, YMMV. Different strokes for different folks.

I adjust my J pups so that they give the same volume when soloed. My game tone is the bridge pup volume pulled back slightly from the neck volume done by ear until I hear a nice scoop, it is noticeably different from both full up. I also put a series/parallel mod on all of my main player J's, and that is my pseudo P setting. For everything but series mode, I use my time knob as needed.

PS are not quite one trick ponies, although it is true that their natural signature tone works in a LOT of situations, they are also responsive to hand locations and pick/pluck. And a P with flats and a series/parallel mod in parallel mode is a wonderful thing!

 

[Elusive1]

I generally use one pickup at a time, always dependent on the song. For the neck pickup, I either have the tone all the way on or all the way off, for the bridge pickup it's almost always fully off. Just my preference

 

[Joe Nerve]

I think you nailed the Jazz and P bass in your description, but left out an important part with the Jazz. Its a part I still need to work with and master...

On the 2 Jazz basses I own I noticed there's a blending area full of rich, warm, gooey sounds that can only be accessed when neither pickup is on 10. When I fiddle between 2 and 8 with both pickups, I get very different sounds and a lot more versatility out of the bass than I do when either of the pickups is dimed.

Only problem for me with that is that its tough to nail the same exact tone and volume twice. My favorite Jazz bass tones lie in that area though.

 

[chris_b]

If you run a Jazz with both pickups on full they do a weird cancellation thing. You get less volume, so I run the neck pickup full and the bridge pickup just dialled back from full. After that the EQ options on my Jazz gives it an unlimited variety of tones.

I'm sure the P bass is a 1 trick pony if that's all you can get out of it. Other tricks are available but it's down to the player to find them.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I prefer my Jazz Bass to be of the so called “Super “ status. Meaning, a 5 string with both passive and active options. Having a 4 string jazz in addition is icing on the cake.

Alder /Ebony seems to be that magic combination for my hands and ears.
Pearl bound and blocked is the preferred attire.
Both 60’s and 70’s pu spacing is liked yet if I had to go with just one I’m going 60’s. Marcus Miller Dunlop super brights are just right.

Both pu on full, slight boost on bass and treble and adjust tone knob as needed. The rest is in the thumb , fingers , Palm, and hand positions. No pick ever needed .
At times I might favor the bridge pu ever so slightly. Never will I solo or favor the neck pu. I like to have a Pbass with TI flats for that ” Classic Vibe”.

 

[10cc]

If you run a Jazz with both pickups on full they do a weird cancellation thing. You get less volume, so I run the neck pickup full and the bridge pickup just dialled back from full. After that the EQ options on my Jazz gives it an unlimited variety of tones.

I'm sure the P bass is a 1 trick pony if that's all you can get out of it. Other tricks are available but it's down to the player to find them.

Now that’s deep thoughts.

 

[mongo2]

I never use bridge pickups alone or in combination. Just not a fan of those tones.

 

[howlin]

"Jaco zipper"? *** is that?

 

[joel406]

All I will play any more are Jazz Basses. The new Fender American Pro with the new V-Mod pickups is doing it for me. And after 7 years is playing my American Standard 4 string I switched permanently to 5 string.

And while I never solo either pickup I’m always twitching those three knobs.

More/less neck.

More/less bridge.

More/less tone.


I set and leave my amp where I need it and have infinite tone possibilities.

 

[jnewmark]

I've pretty much run my jazz basses, ( all passive ), like the OP, both pups up full, Tone at about half. What I have noticed is that not all my passive J's have the same effect when you start experimenting with Volume levels on the pups. For example, my RW bass neck pup goes darker with just a tiny movement of the knob, whereas my MIM J doesn't seem to get there until almost a half turn. Tone knobs also seem to differ. My RW J's Tone knob doesn't seem to get more brighter until almost full up, whereas my '98 J's Tone knob gets brighter consistently with every turn; I hardly ever turn it up all the way.

 

[Bass V]

on a really good PJ the bridge soloed should be glorious, not just in a Jaco way but beefed up all the way to the max and everything in between. I only have a few examples that do it so well, my other PJs don't quite have 'it', my favorite is a very 'woody' Peavey Zodiac BXP with EMG HZs. then there's adding whatever mixture of P until you reach that universally agreed pinnacle of full P with the J bridge backed off a notch. but as Joe said, finding that Nirvana zone blend again can be tricky, even if nothing in the rig has been touched and it's just the next day that perfect sound may have vanished. I tend to stick with a great P bass, I can get most of the goods with that alone.

 

[bucephylus]

IME, @The Bass Clef ’s OP is fairly apropos to the passive Jazz Bass; with the caveat that many players using the passive J have pretty specific other things happening in the signal chain downstream of the bass to get it to sit up and sing.

About a decade ago I stopped fiddling with the passive J signal chain, and just started putting Sadowsky preamps in all of my J’s. Except my ‘62; that will always remain stock in my care. The onboard Sadowsky preamp opens up a lot of possibilities; and my final mod (once you’ve perverted the bass, why stop there?) was to install Delano JMVC pickups. That combination of Sadowsky preamp and Delano JMVC’s gives me access to almost any classic bass sound I want. I can still get the J growl, no problem; but, I also get legit P tones (not almost P tones) and the “Jaco Zipper” thing isn’t thin any more. So, all those tones work in busy mixes; which is the main issue with the passive tones.

Anyhow, we all play different kinds of gigs and have different needs and preferences. Whether you tend towards purity of the passive J or regard it as a breadboard for improvement, the tones are all in there. It’s a great axe.

 

[pacojas]

my custom shop pups have a flaw. they sound dull until they're "dimed", but with both on full they sound amazing. so, whatever works!

 

[Fresh Eddie]

I look at a P Bass as a simple, one trick pony because it is, and it does that one trick wonderfully.

I know the whole P vs J thing has been done to death, but I beg to differ about this. Just because it only has one pickup doesn't mean that it only has one sound. The one thing that I love about P-basses is that if you play them with the lighter touch they sound warm and polite, but when you really dig in you can get an aggressive clank that really cuts through the mix. You have quite a bit of control in your right hand with one.

I have a Jazz and I like it as well, they are all good instruments.

 

[NKBassman]

I pretty much always run both pickups on full and I use the tone knob to get the right amount of clarity, or definition, or whatever you call it for the line I’m playing... usually tone is about 1/2 way up for fingers or pick, and about 3/4 to full for slappy stuff. If I want the Jaco finger punch, I’ll pluck over the bridge p/u and it gets me in that world. I don’t solo the bridge p/u like Jaco though, the full blast “zipper” just isn’t my thing. If it’s yours, please by all means, zip away. I’d say 95% of my playing is over the neck p/u (and both p/us volumes on full). That’s just THE sound of a Jazz bass for me, and what I feel is the best sound I pull out of a Jazz for the majority of normal everyday playing.

I look at a P Bass as a simple, one trick pony because it is, and it does that one trick wonderfully. And I look at a Jazz as more of a 3 trick pony... neck p/u solo’ed is the ”P Bass impersonation”. It’s cool. I’d rather have a P Bass, but it’ll do. Both p/us is THE jazz bass tone. Period. (insert obligatory “your mileage may vary” here, as not to offend someone who feels differently about their Jazz Bass tone). And then there’s the solo bridge p/u “Jaco zipper”. All the different volume knob combos in-between are basically irrelevant in the mix of the band, to me anyway. It’s those 3 that pop out as the clear “tricks” that a Jazz Bass does... And for me, the middle “trick” is the only one that I really care to use. I love that trick.

Agree re. Jazz Bass applications. Disagree that P bass is a one trick pony. Anybody who says that has clearly not spent enough time on a P bass.

 

[The Bass Clef]

PS are not quite one trick ponies, although it is true that their natural signature tone works in a LOT of situations, they are also responsive to hand locations and pick/pluck. And a P with flats and a series/parallel mod in parallel mode is a wonderful thing!

Yes, I agree you can get different tones with different hand locations and picking techniques, and essentially add more tricks to a P. But that’s true with all basses, and more about the player than the bass I think. Modding it with a series/parallel switch is definitely another sound for sure. But a stock passive P sounds like a stock passive P, and is limited to that P sound, compared to say an Alembic with 10 different knobs. That’s why I call it a one trick pony.

If you run a Jazz with both pickups on full they do a weird cancellation thing. You get less volume, so I run the neck pickup full and the bridge pickup just dialled back from full. After that the EQ options on my Jazz gives it an unlimited variety of tones.

I'm sure the P bass is a 1 trick pony if that's all you can get out of it. Other tricks are available but it's down to the player to find them.

Yes, like I replied above, to get more out of a P it’s more about the player’s technique (which can be applied to any bass)... Even the true “one trick pony”: The new Joe Dart EBMM signature bass with only a volume knob and that’s it (no tone control). Not a fan of that bass, but definitely a fan of Joe.

Also, I think maybe where I differ from many of you is that if you have both pickups on full, as soon as you even start to dial back one of them back, you’re already well into that world. In other words, I have found for myself, that having the neck 100% & bridge 90% isn’t really all that much different in the mix than the neck at 100%/bridge 0%. Yes, there is a slight difference, but not huge. That’s why I think a jazz really has it’s 3 main sounds and everything else is just the fine tuning that goes unnoticed by most everyone else in the mix. No one has to agree with me, that’s just what I’ve come to think about a Jazz.

"Jaco zipper"? *** is that?

It’s just what I call his very midrange-y, kinda nasal tone. There’s a time and place for it, and it’s cool, just not my sound under normal circumstances.

I know the whole P vs J thing has been done to death, but I beg to differ about this. Just because it only has one pickup doesn't mean that it only has one sound. The one thing that I love about P-basses is that if you play them with the lighter touch they sound warm and polite, but when you really dig in you can get an aggressive clank that really cuts through the mix. You have quite a bit of control in your right hand with one.

I have a Jazz and I like it as well, they are all good instruments.

Like i replied above, that’s more about the player the the bass, and that’s true for all basses I think. Don’t read into my “one trick pony” description too much... I agree we can coax more out of it with technique. I just mean to imply that if a producer wants a P bass sound, no one says, “which one”. It’s understood a P sound is a P sound. It’s the thing it does - One pickup, one volume, one tone. Simple and not full of tricks like so many other basses.

 

[SteveHeissner]

I'm a one trick pony bass player. But it's good to know that I can now blame it on my P-bass.

 

[The Bass Clef]

I know the whole P vs J thing has been done to death, but I beg to differ about this. Just because it only has one pickup doesn't mean that it only has one sound. The one thing that I love about P-basses is that if you play them with the lighter touch they sound warm and polite, but when you really dig in you can get an aggressive clank that really cuts through the mix. You have quite a bit of control in your right hand with one.

I have a Jazz and I like it as well, they are all good instruments.

Agree re. Jazz Bass applications. Disagree that P bass is a one trick pony. Anybody who says that has clearly not spent enough time on a P bass.

See some of my replies above about that. I’ve spent 25 years on a P bass, so I know what I can get out of it and agree. But again, that’ more about the player and true for just about every bass. But I think the actual controls of a P bass are “one trick” compared to all the modern bass options we have now.

 

[NKBassman]

See some of my replies above about that. I’ve spent 25 years on a P bass, so I know what I can get out of it and agree. But again, that’ more about the player and true for just about every bass. But I think the actual controls of a P bass are “one trick” compared to all the modern bass options we have now.

I admittedly did only read the first post.
I have and play both, and ultimately prefer a Precision 9/10 times.