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How do YOU define "Jazz Bass"?
- Thread starter 2cooltoolz
- Start date
There are multiple variations of V-twin driven motorcycles. Many have the "potato, potato, potato" sound and many have the "look"; but, there is only one Harley Davidson motorcycle company. Not that the others are not good and some might say better; still, the original is self defined. All others have to measure up.
My Warwick Corvette has Jazz style pups but I have never thought of it as a Jazz clone...it is what it is and a Jazz is a Jazz...
My Warwick Corvette has Jazz style pups but I have never thought of it as a Jazz clone...it is what it is and a Jazz is a Jazz...
I have an Aria DMB380. it's a Mosrite copy in surf green. It has 2 jazz style p'ups (aria calls them FB1 single coils). They have the correct jazz p'up spacing,though the neck p'up is slanted like a strat bridge p'up. It has a 20 fret neck w/ 1.5" nut. The waist is off-set. It has vvt pots in a straight line,and it nails "that sound" in all tone settings I try. The p'ups are dead quiet. Oh, it also has a 2+2 head stock,does that disqualify it? I don't call it a jazz bass,I call her Pearl,my grandmother's name. All I know is when I play her,I get everything I ever wanted from a "J" bass in a Mosrite-looking body. Sounds as much like a jazz as my '09 CV 60's did. What say ya'll?
IT'S THE SOUND!
So distinct!
I guess it's the body shape, pickup positioning, and neck style too.
So distinct!
I guess it's the body shape, pickup positioning, and neck style too.
I consider a Jazz Bass to be a Fender. Copies are "Jazz-styled" or "Jazz-inspired" basses but I don't care if people want to call them Jazz Basses 
For example, the Carvin SB4000 is a Jazz-styled bass. Its body shape is clearly inspired by a Fender Jazz Bass even though it looks different. I wouldn't consider anything with two single-coil pickups a Jazz Bass if the body shape is different enough...like my newly acquired Warwick Corvette Standard. It doesn't have the offset body or inline headstock.
For example, the Carvin SB4000 is a Jazz-styled bass. Its body shape is clearly inspired by a Fender Jazz Bass even though it looks different. I wouldn't consider anything with two single-coil pickups a Jazz Bass if the body shape is different enough...like my newly acquired Warwick Corvette Standard. It doesn't have the offset body or inline headstock.
If you have to ask, it's probably not a Jazz. If it looks and sounds like one then it is. The title was "how do you define Jazz Bass" not "how do you define FENDER Jazz bass"
Leo's entire original design. That includes the general (and sometimes overlooked) idea behind Fender's guitars: a very good and reliable instrument that has become affordable through assembly line construction... once a good design has been made. Leo Fender *has* produced some very good designs, and the Jazz is one of them. Lots of designs *inspired* by the Jazz could thus be called Jazzes, because they take the essentials of the original idea, only adding personal touches. IMO, Jazzes that go too much towards an *exclusive* design -and those include Fender's (the company) own "Custom Shop" idea- are actually going *away* from the Jazz or Precision or Strat or Tele concept.
Conclusion: any bass that features the components of the original idea, *even with lesser materials and lesser construction quality*, is to be called a "Jazz"... and thus could be a very bad one!
Conclusion: any bass that features the components of the original idea, *even with lesser materials and lesser construction quality*, is to be called a "Jazz"... and thus could be a very bad one!
I class anything with two J pickups as a jazz. They produce the jazz bass sound only in a different packaging (the body/neck), therefore IMO they are what makes a jazz bass.
I voted, "you know one when you see one." But, after reading this entire thread I have changed my mind, a Jazz is a Fender and everything else is just riding on the coattails of the Fender. I guess that I don't have a problem with people who feel the need to copy them, after all, there are plenty of Fender haters out there for some reason. I love the people who have tried to advance the concept, like Sadowsky, but they definitely have a sound that differs from the true Jazz. All the pickup makers who are trying to make a "better" Jazz pickup...who defines better? Everyday I am amazed at how well Leo nailed the Jazz (and the P although I am not a P person) more than 50 years ago and they are still the standards by which every other bass is measured. There are many flavors of basses these days thanks to guys like Jack Casady, Phil Lesh, Rick Turner and Ron Wickersham. But, I would bet that if you could only have one bass that the VAST majority of bass players would pick either a FENDER J or a FENDER P as their one and only and BTW be quite happy with their selection.
I have to agree with all who say if it isn't made by Fender, and doesn't have the name "JAZZ BASS" on the head-stock, it can only be a copy. Same goes for the Precision. If a guitar has the shape of a strat, and has 3 single-coil pickups, but is not made by Fender, it is still just a copy, no matter how much you paid for it.
If you can play it and make it sound good in a jazz band - then it's a jazz bass. Or... just look at the offset body. Looking at Fender's website, there are a good amount of basses listed under "Jazz Bass" that don't follow the traditional & original design - neck profile, pickups, you name it - it's all variety now. Then again, I'm not sure if Leo is rolling in his grave due to those "modern/cosmetic" changes... or at least how many times he's rolled in it.
I know it doesnt seem quite like a jazz bass if its not the same body shape, but i think a jazz bass is defined more by its sound and thin neck than what it looks like. Honestly though, im surprised at how many people said it has to be fender. They may have rights to the name Jazz bass, but they dont have rights to the name of the pickups, which are the most important thing.
I base it on the pickups. Although there are jazz basses with different electronics. Definitely not a fine line between any bass and a jazz bass.
I voted "I know one when I see it.” but the real answer is "I know one when I play it." It's the whole package. The tone, the feel, the looks.
I clicked on "I know one when I see one" because even though each of the things you have as options contributes to what is a jazz bass, none by itself is the end all be all. I can find something that is NOT a jazz bass that has any one of those options.
IMHO (as one who plays mainly NON-jazz basses) a jazz bass has an offset body and two single coil pickups. After that, it's all up for grabs.
Then there is the difference between a Jazz Bass and a jazz style bass. A Jazz Bass is a Fender or a Squier. A jazz style bass can be a Sadowsky, a Lull, an Alleva-Coppola, a Lakland, etc.
But that's just me.
IMHO (as one who plays mainly NON-jazz basses) a jazz bass has an offset body and two single coil pickups. After that, it's all up for grabs.
Then there is the difference between a Jazz Bass and a jazz style bass. A Jazz Bass is a Fender or a Squier. A jazz style bass can be a Sadowsky, a Lull, an Alleva-Coppola, a Lakland, etc.
But that's just me.
I think its amusing that a control plate or in line tuners determine what a "Jazz Bass" is.
Single coil pickups. Thats it. A Jazz bass with a p neck is still a jazz bass
Single coil pickups. Thats it. A Jazz bass with a p neck is still a jazz bass
