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Jazz GAS, please advise
- Thread starter chickenJames
- Start date
Check out the Sire M7 from Marcus Miller. CHeck out the reviews on here and basschat. I've not found anyone who has tried it not love it, it's meant to play, feel and sound like a bass three times it's price.
They're also pretty nice looking. Around £400 I think.
They're also pretty nice looking. Around £400 I think.
yeah, I got to say, I wouldn't expect to be asking this in any of the shops round here, but maybe I'm just being timid
Depends on the shop. There used to be two where I live that were all pro. You'd go in, tell them what you were looking for, give them a price range, and they'd sit you down with 2 or 3 at a time plus an amp as close to what you were using as possible, and let you have at it as long as you liked. No rush, no pressure - and best of all, no sticky strings or necks.
When I was shoping for a 5-string (went in thinking Fender but walked out with a Spector) I had just about decided, but wanted to know if it would work with a lighter string gauge. They said it would and asked if I thought I'd be taking it. I said yeah, and they changed out the strings - and also adjusted the truss rod a hair and checked the intonation before they put it in the case. Only charged me $20 for the strings too.
You don't get many places like that anymore.
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Just picked up a 74 Reissue Jazz, Natural, Maple Board with white pearl block inlays. Best bass I have ever played......
Some may scoff but my Squier Affinity J-Bass Plays and sounds like a dream Bought used for $99 with Alder body (1/16th thinner than my MIM P) tone knob goes linearly from bassy to tebbly with no drastic jumps Volume knobs the same. Satin neck, full sized tuners that actually stay in tune if it were not for the "thinner" body I would think it was MIM that accidentally got a Squier sticker
Finger style funk like Prestia or Porter?! Nothing sits in the mix like a Precision. Also avail in white/tort!
Agree there. The PBass has the low mids that can really cut if you want them to. To make a Jazz bass cut in the mids I have to employ a free tricks. There is a reason why the Jbass with both pickups on sounds so good for slap. It scoops those low mids out.
Don't get me wrong, a jazz bass can cut through a mix. I mean Jaco proved that. But he was in a band with guys who were world class players and also experts on giving each other space in a mix.
The Jazz bass can get pretty barky in the highs and it takes some processing knowledge to get it to cut properly. The Pbass is easy as heck to put up front in a mix if you are playing finger style.
My main point is just to keep in mind what your band sounds like when you pick a Jazz bass or a Pbass.
My two cents: Buy an American Standard. I tried MIMs and an off brand or two and was nevertheless satisfied until I got my 2012 MIA.
I also think you may eventually want a P-Bass in your arsenal. I can't live without a P-Bass. I can live without a Jazz, nice as they are.
I also think you may eventually want a P-Bass in your arsenal. I can't live without a P-Bass. I can live without a Jazz, nice as they are.
Haha, I did it!
I've ended up with a new MIA Jazz Std, Mystic Red, maple.
I tried a 2010 used and a different new, and the one I've gone with plays way better. All three sounded good, not much to separate them, but this one was much faster and smoother. So there we are! Thanks for the help guys, I'll put up a picture later...
And even better, it was on special offer as it's a discontinued colour
I've ended up with a new MIA Jazz Std, Mystic Red, maple.
I tried a 2010 used and a different new, and the one I've gone with plays way better. All three sounded good, not much to separate them, but this one was much faster and smoother. So there we are! Thanks for the help guys, I'll put up a picture later...
And even better, it was on special offer as it's a discontinued colour
Sure. If the OP uses flats then it makes perfect sense to me that he would want to hear a bass that he likes with flats on it. I wouldn't expect the salesperson to switch the strings for me but I would expect the salesperson to let me change them for a test drive. As long as you are upfront with the salesperson I don't see why this would be an unreasonable request at any decent music store.Seriously?
Where do you live? I'm moving there.
Glad you got something you're happy with. And don't mind the Precision-heads; contrary to what some of them would have you believe, a P-free life can be just dandy.Haha, I did it!
I've ended up with a new MIA Jazz Std, Mystic Red, maple.
I tried a 2010 used and a different new, and the one I've gone with plays way better. All three sounded good, not much to separate them, but this one was much faster and smoother. So there we are! Thanks for the help guys, I'll put up a picture later...
And even better, it was on special offer as it's a discontinued colour
Not unreasonable. And some places would gladly take you for a free set of strings. But I've never thrown a set of flats on a bass where the truss rod didn't need an adjustment (due to the higher tension of most flats) to get the action back into a comfortable playing range if it were strung with rounds first. Especially the light guages most new basses come with these days. And a knowledgeable music salesman would know that.
Then, if you decided not, they'd probably decide to restring it (most people prefer rounds), likely adjust the truss rod (we're talking a decent shop right?), and probably put new rounds on it since most rounds sound a little dead once they're pulled and reinstalled. (And the kiddies just love that super bright and clanky sound folks!) Plus, reloaded strings are also a lot more likely to break. Not good from a customer satisfaction viewpoint. (Hey man! I just got this bass from you yesterday and my E-string already broke! *** kinda BS is that?)
So while asking for a change to flats may not be "unreasonable," I can still see several reasons why it is "so not gonna happen" as my young niece would say. At least not until you establish you're well past the tire kicking stage. Because the margins on most new instruments isn't that great that many stores will - or can afford to - bend over backwards to sell you a $1000 bass. That's just the reality of the retail music business these days.
I suppose it's nice to know that if you have several thousand dollars to spend however, companies like Fedora still will. After you put down a substantial deposit of course.
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If the neck on a bass moves enough to make it uncomfortable to play in the time is takes to change strings then you might not want to buy that bass anyway.
I demoed a boatload of jazz basses years ago (probably 50+) and finally gave up and built a warmoth, because the best sounding ones were always in an ugly color, or needed some fretwork, or whatever, and I decided I could build one to my own specs for the same price as an MIA with the work that it needed. My sense, (at least around 2007) was that the MIM basses were pretty nice, but had lame pickups, but that is an easy enough fix.
The set up matters quite a bit, and many I played (even new) were really really poorly set up (There was one marcus Miller at a guitar center where I could have gotten my wrist under the strings at the 18th fret). In general, I think with some work, you can probably turn any MIA or even MIM into a totally serviceable instrument. At a minimum, a set up. Possibly some fret work. Depending on whether you like the sound, swapping pickups is easy (and you can set it back to stock if you hold onto the old ones). I can't see the future, but I'd be sort of surprised if any current production fender is going to have the crazy appreciation of the vintage ones, so I'd be less concerned about keeping them stock. 50s-60s fender pricing is driven in part by the fact that many of them are great instruments (I played a 65 Jazz once I would have swapped a kidney for), but also by their scarcity and association with famous players at the beginning of the rock era. Modern fenders are produced in much larger numbers, and I'm not sure anybody is especially famous for playing a 2009 MIM J bass or something like that.
As for maple v rosewood, if there are tonal differences, they are relatively minor. To me, the bigger concern is in feel and look (unfortunately I like the feel of maple and look of rosewood with most colors). Tone wise, you're buying a whole instrument. If it sounds good to you, doesn't make much difference what the board is.
The set up matters quite a bit, and many I played (even new) were really really poorly set up (There was one marcus Miller at a guitar center where I could have gotten my wrist under the strings at the 18th fret). In general, I think with some work, you can probably turn any MIA or even MIM into a totally serviceable instrument. At a minimum, a set up. Possibly some fret work. Depending on whether you like the sound, swapping pickups is easy (and you can set it back to stock if you hold onto the old ones). I can't see the future, but I'd be sort of surprised if any current production fender is going to have the crazy appreciation of the vintage ones, so I'd be less concerned about keeping them stock. 50s-60s fender pricing is driven in part by the fact that many of them are great instruments (I played a 65 Jazz once I would have swapped a kidney for), but also by their scarcity and association with famous players at the beginning of the rock era. Modern fenders are produced in much larger numbers, and I'm not sure anybody is especially famous for playing a 2009 MIM J bass or something like that.
As for maple v rosewood, if there are tonal differences, they are relatively minor. To me, the bigger concern is in feel and look (unfortunately I like the feel of maple and look of rosewood with most colors). Tone wise, you're buying a whole instrument. If it sounds good to you, doesn't make much difference what the board is.
If the neck on a bass moves enough to make it uncomfortable to play in the time is takes to change strings then you might not want to buy that bass anyway.
Dunno about that...
I have a really fine American Jazz that needed a serious rod adjustment about an hour after I pulled the rounds I had on it and loaded it up with Roto 77's. It doesn't always take long if it's going to need to be adjusted. But it'll certainly need it within a few days in almost every case. At least from my own experience. YMMV depending upon how fussy you are about the action on your bass. But on my Jazz it was enough to approach being unplayably high.
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