Fretless J or P???

[deathbloomslife]

Is there a major difference between tones of a fretless Precision bass or a fretless jazz bass??? I'm looking into buying a fretless bass of some sort from SX. I've looked around for other fretless basses with a non-Fender body and more modern look to them, but according to all of the feedback I've received, SX is the only one worth buying.

If you guys could suggest another brand, I'd be very appreciative.

Thanks,
~Ryan

 

[wateroftyne]

In an extremely general non-scientific nutshell...

If you want a honky, barky tone like Jaco, go for a J.

If you want a thumpy, gloopy tone like Rick Danko, go for a P.

 

[BurningSkies]

The 'classic' fender fretless sound is the Jazz...that bridge pickup is magic for fretless tone. The P is nice but doesn't have the same characteristic...I find the sound a little more 'polite'

 

[Sammy Camden]

Or you could do what I did. I bought a used '95 AmStd P-Bass, fretless with lines. I added a Lace Sensor J-Bass bridge pup. This bass has some serious tone to it. I can go from deep, thumpy P, to honky, sharp J, and many sounds inbetween. There's always more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[tplyons]

As a P-lover, I'll say a fretless jazz is much more lovable. The fretless P-bass is more of a niche instrument IMO.

 

[Ian Perge]

The P is nice but doesn't have the same characteristic...I find the sound a little more 'polite'

The collective recordings of Mr. Tony Franklin would like to disagree with you.

 

[Jonki]

i got a fretless p, nice sound, but its up to you what you like.

but my fretless p has a very big bottomed sound, i friggin love it

 

[wateroftyne]

What Jonki said. It's a very organic sound.. nothing polite about it, unless you want it to be...

 

[Aussiephoenix]

i got a fretless p, nice sound, but its up to you what you like.

but my fretless p has a very big bottomed sound, i friggin love it

+1 I love the sound of my fretless P. even the band loves it... its not... "polite" as someone mentioned... it grinds hard and heavy when pushed, got lots of punch and drone. maybe mine is a bad example though, as it does have some really crazy innards, and a standard P could be completely diferent sounding.