fender jazz, sound. and suggestions

[kyledood93]

my buddy was telling me about something he did to the wiring to one of his jazz bases, i think he said he put his pickups in parallel to a push pull knob and he swore that if you pulled it it sounded like a p bass and if you pushed it sounded like a j bass.

Have any of you heard this or am i just crazy? lol

while i have you, whats some good mods to make to my fender J?
its a MIM but i kind of like that dirty mid range. I'm heavily influenced by Matt freeman (Rancid). any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bigswifty1]

Jazz pups are in parallel normally. It's a common mod to wire a switch (usually pulling on one of the volume pots) to switch the pups into serial.

The mod usually means that when switched to series you have no individual volume control for each pickup, only a master volume.

The sound to me is similar to the normal scoopy jazz sound with both pups maxed, only rather more gain of course. A slightly thicker sound.

I can say that the mod sounds nothing remotely like any of Matt Freeman's punk (And Out Come the Wolves era) sounds to my ears. Maybe some of his Life Won't Wait sounds a little more perhaps, but if I was trying to sound like Matt, this isn't the mod I would make.

I have both of my J's with this modification. I find I don't use it much, but it's a simple mod and it's there if you want it.

Mike

 

[kyledood93]

Thanks for the reply mike. And I get what your saying. Would there be any mods you would suggest to get that signature sound?

 

[Unrepresented]

I'm a Matt Freeman fan as well. Most P bass fan will tell you that it's not the same, but it is closer.

To my ears the mod shifts the scooped jazz sound significantly and moves the emphasis to the darker low mids, and as stated above it definitely increases the output.

Part of Matt's sound was a very angry amp, an aggressive pick style and bright strings. The mod is going to get you closer, and with the rest of the pieces will definitely get you most of the way, and for much cheaper than a new bass.

 

[CSEbass]

Saying Jazz pickups on a Fender Jazz bass wired in parallel is a bit
misleading. I take any and all of the Mfg's information at face value. Just like hearing that all Fender 4-string Jazz basses have a L/S set of pickups. I.E 3.625" Neck and 3.750" Bridge.
You will commonly see a Jazz wired like this:
http://www.bestbassgear.com/wiring-diagrams/volume-volume-tone.pdf

Incorporating a DPDT switch to toggle between series/parallel is definitely possible and the tonal changes can lend themselves to your style if it fits. Experimenting is totally worth it.
Standard series wiring lends itself to the best output and midrange. Parallel is half the output of Series with more treble and less mids.

For mod's to emphasis and improve your current MIM Jazz I would suggest an aluminum low mass bridge with better saddle and intonation adjustments. A'la Hipshot A-Style. Higher Mass bridge will loose some of that punchy feel a Jazz has. I would also suggest upgrading the pickups to something that caters to you tonally. Nordstrand NJ4SV or NJ4SE would be good choices for the style of music and are both humcancelling. The NJ4SE would be better for the midrange you are working with. You can still series/parallel select them as well. Just my .02

 

[Joe Louvar]

Nope, the mod will only make the Jazz bass sound different - if you truly want the P sound, get a P bass.

my buddy was telling me about something he did to the wiring to one of his jazz bases, i think he said he put his pickups in parallel to a push pull knob and he swore that if you pulled it it sounded like a p bass and if you pushed it sounded like a j bass.

Have any of you heard this or am i just crazy? lol