First thoughts on a P bass from a Jazz guy

[jweber76]

I will always prefer the look of the J to the P...I have 3 J's and 1 P but one of my J's is a P/J Aerodyne that has the P pup soloed all of the time. I also strongly favor my neck pickups in the J's. funny thing though, my P has been getting tons of attention lately...maybe just because its the one I have out...or maybe its something more...the vacillation dance goes on.

 

[ersheff]

This thread makes me happy, because I think it's the first time that I've heard people talk seriously about soloing the neck J pickup.

I love the sound of a P-bass. I enjoy playing P-basses when I have the chance. But I own a J-bass. And I don't gig enough to justify buying another bass.
I've owned this J-bass for 10 years or so, so it feels comfortable to me now. In fact, if I ever went with a P-bass of any kind, I'd probably frankenstein one and put a J neck on it.
I just ordered a noiseless Lindy Fralin 5% overwound neck pickup for my J-bass. The pickups I currently have in it are stock, but the bridge pup and the bridge volume pot aren't even wired anymore. They're just for show.
I put flats on the J-bass a few weeks ago, and I'm loving it.
Anyway, I'm hoping that once I get the Fralin installed, I'll find that I'm splitting the difference between a J and a P by having an overwound noiseless pup and flats on a Jazz.

 

[electracoyote]

I think I need a Ric to.......Had one years ago and sold it

Yes, you do.

They make great tie-breakers.

 

[johnk_10]

one of my p's has a neck that's 1.5" at the nut (j bass width) and it's very comfy.

i play my j basses with only the neck pickupon 90% of the time, and on one of them i tried alot of different pickups in it. i tried the split coil fralins but found them too midrangy and harsh (for me, it kinda hurt to listen to it), but i still wanted the hum cancelling so i tried the duncan hot stacks. i actually liked them alot but they were lacking a bit of high end and lost some of the single coil vibe. now i have some dimarzio ultrajazzes in it and i'm very happy with it. they are dead quiet but still retain almost all of the single coil's tone.

 

[MarcMurder]

ive been like that forever but i could never pull the trigger on putting money towards a "nicer" jazz because i like one volume knob only. i love p basses tremendously but when i put on the jazz its just comfy. either way i always find myself finding just one more thing better on the pros and cons list of jazz vs. p ..

i guess im just a precision bass guy

EDIT: although on ALL my basses i swap em instantly for a Jazz radius neck.

 

[jweber76]

To the OP'S original title "first thoughts on a P bass from a Jazz guy" mine were these, in this order:
(picks up P bass he just inherited) "ugh, what's up with this pickguard? "
"wow, this fretboard is wider than it looks. "

(plugs in and starts jamming) "holy crap this thing is punchy as hell!!)

(rolls back tone knob a bit...) "woah"

Followed very shortly by my Aerodyne purchase to fill my sudden need for a J body with that punch and a subsequent debate with my fellow gear junkie bandmates about converting my American Standard J to a P/J. I didn't do it but I gave it some serious thought.

 

[burl0029]

If one bass is the goal, [one bass to rule them all, and in the mix bind them] perhaps a bit of modding is the route to go. You pick the bass you like the look and feel of best, then you add the missing pickup into it.

I love my P bass, but I also love my Jaguar (Jazz-ish in flavor). My next evolution will be getting another Jag and reconfiguring the pups. I've kicked around the idea of dropping a P pup between the two J pups, or possibly changing things up completely and putting a MM pup between them (or in the bridge spot, or neck spot; the possibilities are endless). In the J-P-J configuration, you could use a simple 5-way switch to get any of the combinations you might like. To preserve a more stock look, you could get a rotary knob-type pickup selector.

All that said, I'm still keeping my P, no matter how awesome my new Jag becomes as it was my first nice bass and it sounds so good.

 

[johnk_10]

i prefer the way that a p bass sounds so much that when i built myself a couple of custom jazzmaster basses i rearranged the 4 coils in a nordstrand MM4.4 to run them in a 'split p ' mode on one of the selector settings. it's also mounted in the same exact location as a split P pickup, and it does the p bass 'thang' very well.

 

[countbassiedad]

My son has taken over my franken P so I'm putting Dimarzio Area J's in my Jazz so I can solo the neck (split coils).

Also, dare I say that a Stingray HH is a good compromise between the two (neck width, tonal options, etc). The Stingray HH with an Xtender is my swiss army bass. The others are just for variety (and everyone has to have at least one Fender).

My way around the ugly pickguard shape was to go black on black like the Roger Waters sig model. The wide neck feels awkward to me but now that I have the Ray my J seems too skinny and the P seems too fat (for me its the Stingray that has the Goldilocks neck).

 

[burl0029]

johnk_10, are you still rocking the Jags you modded? Those looked pretty sweet.

 

[johnk_10]

johnk_10, are you still rocking the Jags you modded? Those looked pretty sweet.

i still use the jags occasionally, but the jmasters and my semi hollow ric custom (in my avatar) are my two 'go to' basses.

 

[atomicdog]

I own Ps and Js (and a P/J). I own a Geddy and wouldn't recommend it for your 'nice' J bass. Too modern, too aggressive, too bright. Try the AM Std. Or better yet, the fretless Jaco Tribute JB--I frickin' love that bass!

 

[gigslut]

There are so many uber-boutique machines with deeper lows, glassier highs, and super cool parametric active EQ. But all that super duper stuff just seems to get in the way of good tone as often as it may help achieve it.

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