Jazz Bass recording advice

I used my pickup heights ( I use AERO alnico5 and they are very sensitive to height), to dial in my wide open sound, and then use location of my right hand for variation. I dont know how anyone else does it.

 

Have all the cavities shielded, good wiring, work more on get tone with your hands, and if you start recording a lot may have to get a quiet bass for studio use. But a good studio you should have less of an issue, lighting and grounding issues should be addressed in the studio's design.

 

Put both volumes on 10, and then roll the neck off just a bit. See if that is quiet enough and gives you that extra definition. The turn it back up and roll of the bridge a bit. That first little bit of travel makes a lot of difference.

Because of the way that the pickups load against each other, it is normal to have the tone circuit dump some extra highs when both pots are open. I have noticed this on traditional single coil Jbasses, as well as on my Read J with Bartolini CB stacks. I used to have a Lull M5 with humbucking J pickups and it was similar but the preamp buffers fixed a lot of the uneven response.

I would not worry too much about hum unless you are recording the bass in a very exposed way, or if it is really horrible. A good shielding job will fix it, but don't be surprised if you notice a difference in tone after it is done.

Get the tone right and just play.