Fender Jazz Just WON'T Cut Through!

[Pet Sounds]

How do you know you're not cutting through? Is this your perception from the stage, or are you hearing about this from the audience and/or sound man? My experience with Jazz Basses is that they're heard better from a bit of a distance than from up close to the amp. Back in the'90s, I thought my '96 American Standard didn't cut through until I let somebody else sit in and listened from the crowd.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Do not buy an on-board preamp (yet). Your amp already has a preamp with tone controls. Use those first.

Another way to view this question is "what is masking my bass". It may not be that the bass doesn't cut through, but something else in the mix is covering it up. Get that thing under control and you'll find your missing bass.

This. WHAT is masking the bass? That's a very good question... checking beyond the normal confirming that the pickups are sound, have normal or typical DCR/output and are at appropriate height(s) on the instrument.

 

[Lo-E]

for cutting through I roll the neck pickup back just about an 1/8th turn or just until your hear that mid growl come in, then I roll my tone knob back about half.. never have a problem cutting thru and each note is very articulate.

I agree with this 100%. I don’t roll the tone back but it’s the same idea.

I've used J-basses on and off for decades. There are a lot of sounds available on a J but there are only two that I have found to be consistently useful on the bandstand: bridge pickup rolled off very slightly or neck pickup rolled off very slightly. Either one of those cuts better than either pickup soloed at full or both at full.

I would try these two settings before trying any of the mods mentioned so far in this thread. The next thing I would try is adjusting pickup height.

If all those fail, then you could look into new pickups, series/parallel switching, a preamp or all of the above but rolling back one of the volumes or the other is free. Just turn it back slowly and you will hear the tone change. Stop there. If that doesn't work for you, roll it back up to full and roll the other one down the same amount. I can't speak to your personal situation but that's always worked for me.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

I'm at my wit's end with this Fender Jazz Standard, I cannot get an articulate tone out of it when playing with my band (classic rock trio, not overly loud). All of my other basses (a lot of other basses) all work, some active, some passive, some with rounds, some with flats. I run a mid heavy EQ and never have a problem cutting through, except for this particular bass. I've run it with both pickups, just bridge, just neck. Just neck is the best but it's still not what I want or expect. It's strung with round steels.

What else can I try before I sell it?

EDIT: I should say that the bass sounds fantastic by itself.

I think it's perhaps three things, or maybe some combination of them:
-Other things NOT you or that bass that is "competing" or unusually loud in bass frequencies that masks the sound
-The room/environment in this specific case is acoustically not good with this specific bass
-Your volume or the volume of the instrument is not up enough to be heard or cut through.

I dunno.

I have a fretted (passive) Jazz Bass I used on a recent gig. It didn't cut through very well, but... I know why. I am used to normally using a (active) Stingray, and despite the Stingray having more output, the tone of the Jazz Bass doesn't have the top end definition the Stingray has. It's not quite the Jazz Bass mid-scoop, as I often EQ the Stingray that way as well for certain songs and moments. There's nothing wrong with my bass- I just have to accept at least as it currently is, it's a passive Jazz Bass, and it's simply not going to sound like my Stingray. I'll continue to use that Jazz Bass and put it into gig rotation here and there and continue to use/experiment with it. My active Jazz Bass however, slices and dices with the best of them, and has PLENTY of definition.

It would be interesting if you could try a different Jazz Bass on the same gig in the same place and see if it's a "Jazz Bass just doesn't work here" kind of thing....

BTW: What is an example of the right kind of Jazz Bass sound, and what's going on with others in the band. Are they playing amps with a lot of low end?

 

[REV]

There are many suggestions in this thread. They cover just about all of the possibilities. One of them should get you at least part of the way there. The pickups in my Jazz bass are Fralins. I usually run the neck pickup full on (maybe backed off a little) and the bridge pickup at about 1/2 to 3/4. I use the tone knob to cut through. As long as all the players are at a reasonable volume level you shouldn't have any problem being heard.

 

[DaveParker39]

Sometimes an instrument just has a baked in EQ that doesn't do what you need it to. You can try messing with the electronics and boosting the missing frequencies, sometimes it helps, but sometimes it will just be like playing catchup. It's not the model or make necessarily, could be just that one instrument in particular.

 

[wyleeboxer]

I agree with this 100%. I don't roll the tone back but it's the same idea.

I've used J-basses on and off for decades. There are a lot of sounds available on a J but there are only two that I have found to be consistently useful on the bandstand: bridge pickup rolled off very slightly or neck pickup rolled off very slightly. Either one of those cuts better than either pickup soloed at full or both at full.

I would try these two settings before trying any of the mods mentioned so far in this thread. The next thing I would try is adjusting pickup height.

If all those fail, then you could look into new pickups, series/parallel switching, a preamp or all of the above but rolling back one of the volumes or the other is free. Just turn it back slowly and you will hear the tone change. Stop there. If that doesn't work for you, roll it back up to full and roll the other one down the same amount. I can't speak to your personal situation but that's always worked for me.

The truth!

 

[BGroovy]

lots of good suggestions here. My vote is start by raising pickups. Raise the bridge pickup as high as you can to the strings without the strings hitting it with your normal playing style. Play it solo'd, if it distorts lower it just a bit at a time until it doesn't.

Then adjust the neck pickup until the solo volume matches the solo volume of the bridge.

I see a lot of jazz basses with bridge pickups pretty low, and that bridge pickup cuts through. Raise it way up!

Takes 5 minutes, only requires a screwdriver, and you don't have to take anything apart. Can drastically change the tone of the bass.

 

[rickdog]

My amp has a gain adjustment on the input and I run it so the clip light "just doesn't come on" when thrashing the strings. I adjust it like this for all of my basses, so they are all hitting preamp about the same, I would think. I've even run this Jazz a little hot to see if it helps, it just gets louder but the definition still isn't there.

Different bass - different settings! What works for one may not be ideal for another. A life lesson (which I learned at great cost): if what you're doing isn't working for you, try doing something different.

I don't know what your amp is... I usually have some slightly overdriven tubes somewhere in my signal chain. My FrankenJazz (it has a third pickup) sounds best when I crank my little Ashdown CTM-30 up to where the meter starts to go into the red, or when I turn up the gain on my Ampeg SVT-3Pro until the "peak" light comes on a lot. My usual methodology is "turn it up until it's too distorted, then back off just a little." But that's for my tone goals and yours might be quite different.

Also, a number of people have mentioned backing off one of the pickups just a bit - I have Fralin rewound pickups in my Jazz, and backing off the bridge pickup takes it through a whole rainbow of tones, my favorite is with it turned down to about 9 (out of 10).

 

[MrAB4003]

Sell it and buy a Rickenbacker 4003. It can do everything and more that a Jazz Bass can do but better!

 

[shojii]

Sell it and buy a Rickenbacker 4003. It can do everything and more that a Jazz Bass can do but better!

Conversely, Geddy Lee made the shift from his Rick to Jazzes. YMMV.

 

[MrAB4003]

Conversely, Geddy Lee made the shift from his Rick to Jazzes. YMMV.

Fair point! Geddy not only made his 1972 Jazz Bass cut through, but he made it his #1 bass.

However, Rickenbackers in the 1970s and 1980s weren't made as well as the 4003s of today. If the 4001s from back then had the improvements (e.g. V2 bridge, bridge pickup tone knob capacitor push-pull, single truss rod, and new treble bezel) that the current 4003s have, I don't think Geddy would have switched. He wanted more bottom end in his bass sound and the Jazz Bass gave him that in spades.

 

[Sharko]

I think this bass just isn’t for you. And that’s okay, there are too many good basses out there to waste time trying to polish a turd.

 

[faulknersj]

The true test of a bass is how it’s Charactar sits in the mix with a live band.

Some just don’t sit well in the mix and that’s when you sell that bass and buy a different one imho

 

[Sertsa]

Here's a suggestion from my audio engineering days. My starting point would be to look at/ listen to how the bass sounds with the guitar (or other instruments). I suspect they're both accenting the same frequencies, likely more so than your other bass(es). If so, I would work with the guitarist, if possible, to give each instrument its own space on the frequency spectrum, whether with your amps or mixer. You both will likely wind up with different EQ settings than playing alone, but focus on the overall sound with the band.

If the guitarist/other instrumentalist isn't cooperative, see if you can find some frequency space on your own. Then I'd try the other options. (Another quick way to test the frequency blend, if the guitarist has different instruments, is to try different blends. If the JB isn't coming through when a Les Paul is being played, see how it sounds with a Telecaster, for instance.)

 

[MrBassman22]

Your Guitar player may be in the way 'EQ-wise'. My guitarist cut his mid and added highs and now I've got way more space in the mix. I must add to that that I'm using EMG pick-ups that punch straight through (Ibanez 1505 EHB).



[Edit: what @Sertsa said. ;-))

 

[Bass Motifs]

Could be a dud bass?

For my jazz bass: one pickup slightly rolled off (usually neck), plucking towards bridge or over it, pick ups set high, mids up, bass down, tone full (unless soloing bridge in disco mode with tone off), a little bit of drive. Plus chrome cover on neck PU and tort.

Like you, sounds great alone on plain settings and with acoustic instruments, but disappears with drums / guitar / keys unless I do some of the above.

I do wonder if some of that is just being too close, and the effect further back is quite different? Best check that out before doing mods!!

 

[Om Patung]

This is the same reason why I sold my J Bass. Now I'm happy with my P Bass.

 

[RattleSnack]

What style of music is your band playing? What kind of gear are you competing with? Meaning, guitar and Keyboard rigs, type of guitars if any, brass instruments?

For example: If it is rock, is (are) your guitarist(s) playing short scale humbucker equipped Les Pauls or PRS guitars into amps with 12" speakers and the bass cranked up? They could be stomping all over your sonic territory and turning your bass sound to mush.

Much like bass, an electric guitar that sounds thick and rich on its own is not what you want for the whole band mix if you want the bass to be heard.
Everyone should get their little slice of the sound spectrum, and minimize the overlap.

Agreed, OP feels like general mix problem to me. My one experience long time ago that was similar, was with acustic guitar player with very bright sound. He played like he was paid per strumm. Like, loudly slamming strings all the time in style of drunken Gypsy Kings. My Jazz had no chance of being heard...

 

[Parzival]

What is in the mix? Someone mentioned Geddy and a Jazz. He had one guitar in the band. Hard not to cut through in a three piece.

Do you have two guitar players? A keyboard player? Rhythm guitars and keyboards can make it much harder to cut through.