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Is there anything that cannot be done with a Fender Jazz?
- Thread starter alexlocurto
- Start date
I love my P-bass but I might not have bought it if I had discovered the series mod for my Jazz first.
+1! Stupid "offset" body.
In all seriousness, if I had to choose a P or a J, I'd take the J. It's more versatile tonally. Sure, it can't do a P thump but it gets close. It also doesn't have the volume imbalance of a P/J.
That being said, if you use ANY sort of pre-amp on either bass, you're set.
You are right in principle, but missing the essential phrase 'to your satisfaction'. That changes everything.
There's a post floating around Talkbass that says something along the lines of this: The Fender Jazz is the best bass for anything. Play metal? Get a black one. I didn't buy it at first. Then, one of my favorite metal bands posted this. I buy it now.
cant get good tone
I never was able to get cozy with my Jazz, until I added the "Series/Parallel" switch. Now it's a one of my main players, and I've used it in a LOT of different playing situations.
A Passive Jazz can't do a P with flats tone and it can't do a super modern sounding active dual coil tone.
Still, a Jazz is one of the most versatile basses out there IMO.
Still, a Jazz is one of the most versatile basses out there IMO.
One sound which I was never able to emulate on a Jazz was the classic deep, clanging Rickenbacker tone. If you roll off the extremes on a Ric and aim for a nice, smooth, melodic tone, then it can sound very Jazz-like indeed - but the punchy and clanging Ric tone was outwith my capabilities on a Jazz, anyway!
Has anyone here had the opposite experience? Can anyone get a convincing clanging Ric tone from their Jazz?
Has anyone here had the opposite experience? Can anyone get a convincing clanging Ric tone from their Jazz?
well they both have single coils so maybe with new set of rotos and the right amp you might. maybe your just not doing it right 
They were here in California, but it's sort of beside my point, which was that among Fender basses, the Precision was hugely more popular than the Jazz. There are lots of reasons, and the awkward body shape of the Jazz was very high among them. It was also the kiss of death for the Gibson Thunderbirds. Fender guitars, BTW, were extremely unpopular (if you doubt me, read Clapton on this). Fender amps and basses were what kept the company alive.
[The technical history of how electric bass evolved is fascinating to me, but from my point of view, the introduction of the Fender Jazz Bass was the unnoticed beginning of the fork between electric bass and "bass guitar."]
Back when my only bass was a P, I would often miss a Jazz. When I play a Jazz, I never seem to think "gee, I wish I jad a P bass right now. TB causes GAS though so now I want both!
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Its certainly one of the most versatile models around.
I ran a commercial recording studio for 10 years and worked with pretty much every major brand bass model out there as well as many not so common. In terms of getting the best tone for a variety of musical styles, I found the Jazz Bass to be the easiest to work with, followed by the P Bass and the Rick 4001/4003.
When I wanted to buy a bass for the studio to have available to clients, I picked up a used 1976 Jazz Bass. It became a favorite with a lot of my songwriter clients and even some bands. As a result, that bass ended up on a lot of local LA artist's demos and CDs. Recently when I decided to get back into writing and recording my own original material again after a 12 year retirement, I bought a new 2013 American Deluxe Jazz Bass. Sadly...When I closed my studio, I sold off most of the gear, including that beautiful 76 Jazz Bass. The only upside was that I got close to 1000% more than I originally paid for it back in 1981.(Back in the days when you could get used 70s Fenders for less than $200.00)
The Jazz Bass neck is in my opinion the easiest to play of any bass model/design out there.
And to those that say that a Jazz can't sound just like a P bass...I beg to differ!
+1 point by point
I've often heard jazzes manipulated to sound like a p, hi-fi modern soapbars, jaco fingerstyle, uprightish sound, rickenbacker, you name it. I've only heard p's sound like a p.
I would add that the second most versatile setup would be a tie between soapbar/humbuckers and a pj.
I would add that the second most versatile setup would be a tie between soapbar/humbuckers and a pj.
