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Jazz vs precision?

#5
The way I see the difference between a Jazz and a Precision is that the Jazz, with its single-coil pickups and faster, narrow neck, lends itself to playing a more articulate and busier style, whereas the Precision, with its thumpier sound and wider neck, lends itself more to a player who prefers to sit in the mix and lay down a solid groove, with simpler lines but with more sustain in individual notes. I play a Precision, because my job in my band is to sit in the pocket with the drummer and lay down a solid groove for the vocalist and guitarists to do their thing. Of course, as always, YMMV.
 
#8
LuckySeven77 said:
Oh ok sorry. Can one use a j bass to play like rock and heavy stuff, and can jazz basses be eq-ed to sound like a p bass?
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A jazz can be used for anything, so short answer: yes.

As for the second question, you can eq it to make it sound similar to a P, but only the Precision sounds like a Precision. It's like cheesecake flavored icecream. Might as well just get cheesecake.

Edit: ****, kind of want cheesecake now...
 
#9
LuckySeven77 said:
Oh ok sorry. Can one use a j bass to play like rock and heavy stuff, and can jazz basses be eq-ed to sound like a p bass?
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If it's not you now - it'll be someone else tomorrow asking the same questions - so I don't mind at all. It keeps the site getting hits and the responses are always informative - even if a few of us have heard this all before.

Well - those who troll aren't fun and they get into the fuel supply once in a while - but you can either iggy them or snap back - but wait a while as some are just having a bad day or they broke something on their bass and are just looking to swing their fist a little for relief.

We all start somewhere and I certainly asked a lot of re-hashed questions when I first got here too.

Now - the issue at hand is the sound of a J equaling a P if you use some EQ in an amp.

To which I say soundly: no.

This is another red flag in front of some people, but I can definitely hear a substantial difference in the two basses - EQ or not.

The P has a deep resonant growl to it - especially if you cut back the Highs and pump the vol on the bass to max and just control the final output from the amp.

I find that the newer-hotter p'ups I just got into the P are a little harder to keep that 'P-sound" as they are a little brighter (Higher tone or accentuating the Highs a little more) - so I added a .1uF cap on a switch to the Tone pot. That got it all back!

The Js on the other hand are a little more elusive to describe for tone. They are certainly very versatile and can go a lot of places the P cannot for sounds and resonances and such - but they don't 'do' a P well at all.

I find the Js as sortta like an alto voice in a choir - they are there - they can be heard - but they don't stand out as that's the job for the soprano.

Now don't get me wrong here - an alto solo is a wonderful thing to hear - but their real strength is making the music 'full' and vibrant in my simile here.

The P - as it was designed - is the backbone of the music. It gets the feet moving and the mood of the music is almost it's own personal domain.

Gosh - this Vicadin makes me somewhat more prosaic than normal.

If you don't understand what I'm saying - stand by - someone will be here to tell you where I am wrong and make their own statement soon.

<edit - I see they've already been here!>
 
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#12
Well personally I find Jazz basses to be more powerful and more for if you like to be a stronger bassist. Not to mention with two pickups and often several EQ choices it gives a lot more variety. A P-Bass is almost completely different. To me at least it can be a lot more mellow and in fact when I'm playing reggae and slower things I use the P-bass pickup on my Jackson. Overall though if you heard the two basses right next to each other the difference is immense.
 
#13
Another benefit of all the similar threads? SEO. There is no more better way to pop up on Google than to have a lot of something on your site. I'm going to go do this Google search, just for giggles: "best bass for metal?"

Back now. Huh. TB was only second in the ranking. Oh well. I found TB from a lot of high-ranking searches on Google.
 
#14
UnfortunateTony said:
Well personally I find Jazz basses to be more powerful and more for if you like to be a stronger bassist. Not to mention with two pickups and often several EQ choices it gives a lot more variety. A P-Bass is almost completely different. To me at least it can be a lot more mellow and in fact when I'm playing reggae and slower things I use the P-bass pickup on my Jackson. Overall though if you heard the two basses right next to each other the difference is immense.
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Don't tell that to any punk player...
 
#17
UnfortunateTony said:
Well I'm not saying that a P-bass can't be used for other things it certainly can. I've seen a lot of harder rock players use P-basses and get a great sound out of it.
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You should've added that to your statement then. You have to remember this dude is new. P basses can be just as aggressive and heavy sounding as a J bass is,and a J bass can be just as warm and fat as a P bass. And both can be played for any genre of music.
 

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