Help in taming very bright jazz bass

[buff]

Here is my dilemma, recently got one of fenders late 90's American traditional jazz basses. Other than an early SB2 bass i owned its the brightest bass acoustically and plugged in that ive owned. Nothing like Fender's MIJ 60's re issue basses Mexican classic or 62 reissue American jazzes ive owned, in tone. Ive popped in a pair of Wizard 84's because they're described as dark sounding, but they're still harsh and lacking in mid's. My main bass is a 4003 which i love for its woody tone, so really im looking for a pick up that'll cut through on the jazz and also tame the brightness it has while still sounding smooth. The weight and playability/sustain are great, so i'd rather not have to part with it. Could model J's be the answer ?

 

[Fleebag]

I've tried model j's, they're all mids and lows (very high output) might work. Strings are probably going to give you more bang for the buck in the tonal change dept. with flats being the obvious choice, once broken in pressure wounds will take a lot of the edge off too, they're like dead rounds out of the package, happy experimenting

 

[Nic.]

I had a similar problem with a MIJ Fender Jazz 5, even with 3-year-old-strings. I kept trying to love the bass, given that it was supposedly a "good" bass, but it just never worked out for me. Sold it in the end.

One piece of advice that might work for you - I never quite managed to get this bass to sound good to me without totally turning off the tone knob, but it sounded okay in the band mix when I lent it to a friend to use. Still bright, but not as much as I was used to. I don't know if that was because I was listening to it as a third party or because of her playing style, probably a bit of both. Had a similar experience with another bass. Perhaps you might want to try letting someone else play it, or try changing technique and see if that gets you what you want.

 

[buff]

I did a gig with it on Friday night and a sound man/friend commented on it sounding boomy and trebley without a lot of mids. This was through my ashdown head via sansamp rpm then VT pedal through a 2x12 into the pa. With treble cut back from the normal svt setting's i use but with the mids boosted.

 

[LoveThatBass]

Check and see if it has 500K pots. If so then replace them with 250K pots. Make sure it has a .047uf cap or even a .1uf.
Try Aguilar dual coil pickups.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Don't try at all unless you Really love something else about it pass it along and get another. . Cause you know Jazz basses are so rare..

 

[buff]

Have checked the pots, they've 037407 0822 stamped on them the cap has 4733-022. the last 3 and the 0 on the cap are slightly out of shape so might not be actually a 3 or 0. None of these numbers mean anything to me.

 

[LoveThatBass]

Have checked the pots, they've 037407 0822 stamped on them the cap has 4733-022. the last 3 and the 0 on the cap are slightly out of shape so might not be actually a 3 or 0. None of these numbers mean anything to me.

They are a part number and meaningless to me also. Unless you have an ohmeter to check them, a diagram or parts list, or call them I could not tell you what they are.

 

[RobbieK]

I'd recommend the series mod. Wiring the pickups in series (it can be done permanantly, or can be switchable) will give you more midrange, less treble and overall, a little more output. This is a very popular mod for jazz bass players to get closer to a P bass tone.

 

[buff]

Have dug around in my shed today and found some old 250 pots off a MIJ bass, have completely tamed the beast. Have now ordered new loom with the right cap.

 

[ctufankjian]

Try putting a dead set of boomers on there.

 

[winegamd]

Check and see if it has 500K pots. If so then replace them with 250K pots. Make sure it has a .047uf cap or even a .1uf.

This is the only option short of replacing the pickups.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

I have 3 words:
strings, strings, strings.
What are you using? have you tried something not so bright?
I'm in the process of finding different strings for my Am J. I put DR Fat Beams on it and they sound good, but are too bright. They sound great on my P, so I got some for the J, but they are not right.
I would suggest experimenting with strings first. It is less expensive and less work to change strings than to replace pickups.
I prefer rounds on a J, but I do have one with flats that don't have that zingy edge at all.

 

[DavC]

pressure wounds ...

250k pot ... new cap

play with the pickup height adjustments to see if you can find a bit better tone ...

I liked the model J pups with the adjustable pole pieces ... pretty thick pup

I would expect a J to sound very different from the 4003 ... needing lots of tone tweeks on equipment

 

[mickster2]

Much of the above advice is good - I'd also look at strings (flatwounds) before another round of pickup changes. Also look at your EQ - can you dial more mids in and turn down the treble at your amp? Does your cab have a tweeter - if so try turning this down / off. One other thing to consider is how you're running the 2 pups - if they're both on full, you'll get a classic Jazz scooped sound which can sound ok when practising solo but IME can be very mid-shy when in a band context.

Just something to considerbefore spending £££...

 

[akukulich]

I've got an '82 Jazz Bass that I bought new way back when I was in high school. It's tone was always lacking in mids, though the bass was never boomy. For a long time, I liked the tone, and paired with a Sadowsky outboard pre-amp, I got a good Marcus Miller type tone. Over the last couple of years I've tried some things to get some mids into the mix. Im using DR Nickel Lo-Riders and they help. I replaced the pots (250K) and cap (.047). That helped a bit. I put a set of Bartolini 9SU's in there. That helped more. The bass definitely has a more balanced output. But still, it's not got the sort of low-mid grunt of a 60s J Bass. That tone just isn't in the character of wood. I think you can shape the tone, but I don't think you can change it much beyond a certain point.

 

[TonyP-]

I've tried model j's, they're all mids and lows (very high output) might work. Strings are probably going to give you more bang for the buck in the tonal change dept. with flats being the obvious choice, once broken in pressure wounds will take a lot of the edge off too, they're like dead rounds out of the package, happy experimenting

I don't necessarily agree with that assessment with the Model Js.

Yes you do get more lower-mids but you won't loose a ton of highs (maybe a touch more compared to Nordstrands) I run both.

You could also order %5 over wound from Nordstrand (The El Camino style) I think those are even thicker then the Model Js.
The overwound increases mids and output and decreases your highs.

I think this would be your best bet.

 

[raventepes]

I have 3 words:
strings, strings, strings.
What are you using? have you tried something not so bright?
I'm in the process of finding different strings for my Am J. I put DR Fat Beams on it and they sound good, but are too bright. They sound great on my P, so I got some for the J, but they are not right.

Try some DR Sunbeams or Nickel Lo Riders. Should tame that brightness quite a bit.

 

[Kael]

+1 on the series mod. It's cheap (under 20 bucks) and reversible if you don't like it. Wil give you more low mids and muted high end. I almost always use my fretless J in this mode live.

Push/pull pot on the neck volume and you have access to series and regular modes. I honestly can't imagine a reason to not do this mod to any jazz bass.

 

[Fleebag]

I don't necessarily agree with that assessment with the Model Js.

Yes you do get more lower-mids but you won't loose a ton of highs (maybe a touch more compared to Nordstrands) I run both.

Fair enough, they seemed pretty dark on my alder/rosewood jazz , every instrument's different though. Some of the Bartolini p/ups are supposedly very dark from what I've read