I Like J Basses Better Than P Basses

[Rip Van Dan]

I've seen posts like that before . . . is pre-70s and post-70s the same spacing?

The 70's era spacing measures 4" from center to center of the pickups. The 60's era and post 70's era use the standard 3.6" spacing. My 1965 Jazz that I bought in 1966 had the 3.6" 60's spacing and my 1982 Jazz that I bought in 1985 has the 4" spacing. My '82 also has an all-maple neck whereas my '65 was maple with a rosewood fingerboard. My '82 has a little brighter sound primarily because the bridge pickup is closer to the bridge. It also has far more sustain than my '65 did but a fair amount of that might be because of the all-maple neck. My '82 also growls easier than my '65 did.

Here's a pick of both 60's and 70's spacing side by side the one on the right is my '82 Jazz with the 70's spacing. There's less than 1/2" difference but being 0.4" closer to the bridge is easily visible and it makes a noticeable difference in the sound.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

to all the Jazz bass players. Do you usually dime both the neck and bridge pickup or do you do something else?

Yes, since 1966, I've primarily run all the controls all the way up. So V, V, and T, are all dimed. These are both passive Jazz Basses and their "grease-pot" controls are unable to boost anything. All they do is cut. So when you cut any one of them it lowers the signal you send to your amp. Actually, that part wouldn't bother me except I really like what I call the "round sound" that running the volumes and tone dimed produces. Another advantage is that when you run both pickups at the same volume setting you get a humbucking effect, so no 60Hz hum out of my bass.

I typically change the timbre of my sound by changing where I pluck the strings. It's really easy because if I need a little brighter sound I'll move my plucking hand back towards the bridge a bit (a little or a lot, whatever it takes). If I want it to growl, I'll dig into the strings over the bridge pickup. if I want a warmer/darker sound, I'll move it towards the base of the neck or even above that. There are times though when just moving my my plucking hand over the base of the neck doesn't get me the darkness of sound I'm looking for and I will drop the tone knob down to about half, but that's pretty rare for me. Normally I run everything wide open.

Because I'm typically running all my controls all the way up (gets everything out of the bass it has to offer), I then make any EQ adjustments at the amp. If the room I'm playing in doesn't have any weird sonic nuances, I typically run my EQ flat with my Eden amps, adding a little boost up to about 1:30 at ~250Hz in the low-mids. With my DNA amp, I run that same slight boost in the low mids, but it's at 500hz. I also add a touch of bass EQ boost up to about 1 o'clock because the Bass EQ on my Eden amps shelves at 30Hz and my DNA800 is set at 35Hz. Just a touch gives me the same sound as I get with my Eden gear.

So, yeah, I'm an all the way up guy with my passive Jazz bass.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I meant OP.

LOL....ignore my post with shots of my and my bass then. I'd looked at me avatar and it's small enough and I have my bass tilted enough that it could be mistaken for a flat bottomed body like a P-bass instead of the offset that it actually is. So I pulled out a larger version of it.

 

[58kites]

IMHO they nailed it in the 70s.
I'm disappointed they went back, just saying.

60s J is still better than anything P tho

I REALLY tried to resist saying that

My reply to that is... a Jazz bass is just a Fender bass with an extra pickup that's not needed.

 

[Dust2Dust]

2 Shay

 

[Blues Bass 2]

I keep trying to like and use P basses but I just like the tone of Jazz basses better . I've had a BB425 , a VM P bass 5 and last an Ibanez Talman 605 . All three were really great basses and sounded good with the band but I realize they just aren't for me . I keep seeing tons of P basses on videos of songs my band plays and ones we are learning and they fit perfectly so I keep having the urge but I must resist .
Jazzes for me .

 

[Dust2Dust]

To be perfectly honest, besides preferring the tone of a jazz bass, the offset pickups on a P bass mess with me looks wise. I tried to fix how my pickups were sitting on my Ibanez Mikro. The bass-side block was sitting a lot lower than the other and tilted forward toward the neck and when I tried to raise it and make it sit flat (like every other pickup I've ever seen) the treble side pickup lost more than half its volume. I put the bass side block back down where it was before (low and tilted) and I got all my sound back but I hate the way it looks with one side looking normal and the other all low and tilted.

 

[shoot-r]

I like basses that my ears and hands like.

Just so happens, it's a old, 4 string, passive Jazz.

 

[roccobass]

I do too. Not chest beating, it's just my first love and I have tried several other different makers, but I keep coming back to that Fender Jazz sound and design. No active, no drop D, nothing fancy and two pickups.

However, to each their own.

 

[majbass]

I go back and forth on this. I like playing the Jazz more, but the Precision is so dependable and just always works well.

 

[muggsy]

I prefer P basses. I have tried repeatedly to like J basses and have owned several, including a '74 Fender, a Fender Marcus Miller, a Sadowsky ultra vintage J, and a Lakland Skyline Joe Osborn. Sold em all. I currently have a Lakland Glaub P/J and that's close enough for me.

 

[58kites]

I prefer P basses. I have tried repeatedly to like J basses and have owned several, including a '74 Fender, a Fender Marcus Miller, a Sadowsky ultra vintage J, and a Lakland Skyline Joe Osborn. Sold em all. I currently have a Lakland Glaub P/J and that's close enough for me.

I prefer the smaller/lighter body shape of a Precision over a Jazz ...and really prefer a P-ish shape that has been trimmed a bit more yet.
I don't like the J pickguard and control plate combination, I prefer just the pickguard on a P bass ...or in many cases a bass with no pickguard.
I don't like noisy single coil pickups and I don't like a bridge pickup.
I prefer the wider but shallow neck of an old Precision ('57 or '58 maybe?) over the Fender Jazz neck.
My favorite necks are on Yamahas and Peaveys.

 

[adk teleman]

I have both, but favor my Ps. I’m a simple guy, I prefer to focus on my playing and not trying to dial in the tone. With my P I always get it right away. That said, play what you love and brings a smile to your face!

 

[tvbop]

Had a little play in the lounge earlier....dead flats..Ampeg BA110. P's sure are funny ole things...kinda meh at home, nothing really shouts...but go crank the volume on a stage and that meh suddenly morfs into a hard hitting thunder. Funny ole things P's. Love em.

 

[SharpCat]

I wish Yamaha made a J.

 

[GIBrat51]

There, I said it

Hey, that's great! You can buy all the Jazz Basses that I won't be buying; I'll keep the left handed, A-spec necked '78 P-Bass that I've had for 35 years - and we'll both be happy. Over the decades that I've been playing bass, I've found that my Rickenbackers and my Danelectros more than satisfy any need I have for dual single-coil basses...

 

[Kerem Koseoglu]

That's like saying 'I prefer spoons better than forks,' which makes sense if you mostly eat certain types of food

 

[Welshbass66]

I wish Yamaha made a J.

I had a BB1500A a few years ago. The best J bass ever! Sadly they didn't do a 5 string

 

[SharpCat]

OH! That just got added to my wish list.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

POPCORNS all day here guys .. I'm lucky enough to like both models