MIA Jazz or EBMM HS?

[iplaybasstexas]

I'm debating between an MIA jazz and a Musicman HS.

both are dream basses of mine, and hopefully i'll have both soon. But for now, i have enough to exhaust on one.

- MIA Jazz. Its my favorite color, discontinued. Sunset Orange Transparent. maple board, delicious. if needed, more susceptable to mods (audere, fralins, ultralights, etc)

-EBMM HS. Black sunburst, also maple board. Colorful, more versatile sound. less to work with. But a great sounding bass all the same.


The only stipulation separating is that the MIA jazz will be VERY hard to find since it was discontinued 5 years ago.

I play metal in one band, pop in another. Bass will probably be touring.

I like throaty, aggresive, deep tone. Down tuned usually. I have achieved amazing tone with both. I play a Mesa Titan or Markbass F1 through a Berg NV610 or Ampeg 810.

Help me out guys!

 

[yellofury]

you cant go wrong either way
I love my MIA Jazz and I have come to respect the EBMM

however all the sounds that I liked from the Ray were sounds I was getting from my Jazz or P Bass copy.. I you could always get the EBMM and down the line get a MIM Jazz and mod that if you feel necessary.You can upgrade the EBMM with Nordstands or something but honestly I doubt you would want to.

If you really love the Jazz Bass sound I say get that Jazz since you love the color and you may miss the chance to get that particular one. Just save or shoot for a EBMM down the road.

IMHO The EBMM is more aggressive and throaty and the Jazz more cutting and punchy

 

[iplaybasstexas]

exactly. but "cutting and punchy" isn't such a bad thing for the pop band i play in...which i'm touring with foremost.

throaty aggressive is my tone, the tone i love most. Thats my metal band and the pop band, but i can always change that in the pop band.

The EBMM's are readily available, while the color in this match are quite rare ( i haven't found another orange jazz with a maple board except one on here)

 

[yellofury]

seems like you already decided
If you want that Jazz I say get it man

you can always get the EBMM later
you can also always get a Jazz later too just not as easily as the trans orange
( a tort guard would look sick on that BTW)

 

[funkbass88]

I had this same exact decision when I finally saved enough money to get a good bass. The MusicMan or that beautiful Sunset Orange Transparent Jazz. I had played the jazz in a mom and pop shop and fell in love.......then someone bought it. A year or two later I got a job at a guitar shop and guess what they had? I used my first two or three paychecks to get the Jazz and have been playing nothing but Jazz basses ever since.

 

[jellymax]

the jazz bass is more versatile. with a volume for each pickup, you can get a
wide variety of tones from backing off either volume slightly or dramatically plus everything
in between. the tone with both up full is great as well.

with the stingray HS you have pickup on or pickup off, am i right? yes it has a few
excellent tones. plus its ability to cut thru on the gig is legendary

but

i am one of those guys that plays a jazz with the neck pickup slightly backed off.
nearly perfect for me.

 

[casio]

Well I have a sterling HS and play through mesa gear, and the gigs I have are fairly similar so I can have some input!
Basicaly, the HS can give you the sound of an active jazz very easily, it can give you the classic EBMM sound just as easily, and then you have the whole variety in between! not to mention that they have the most musicaly usable EQing I've seen on a bass in a long time!
So especialy for the facts of touring and all, I would vote for the EBMM for its solid construction, reliability, playability and sound.
Still, I couln't say I think you'll go wrong with the jazz!

 

[yamaha]

I really love my MIA Jazz, and the few times I've played EBMM's, I liked them too. I prefer, most times, the sweet does it all tone of the jazz (fits everywhere), but the MM also has better output, more aggressive, more kick tone. For pop, both would be awesome, IMO, but for metal, the MM's tone might be a little better than a Jazz.

 

[jsingles]

you arent going to have a versatility problem with a jazz.

I myself also lust for the jazz bass and a stingray.

I bought the jazz bass, and love it (though I still plan on getting the stingray later so I can have both)

 

[Bassorama57]

StingRay is more of a "bad boyz 'P' bass" than comparison to a Jazz; look at the MM Sterling HS instead - Sterling has more of a Jazz-like neck (though I find it's much quicker than a J), and an infinitely greater variety of tonal possibilities than either the 'Ray or a Jazz. I can "do" the MIA J on my Sterling HS; but I can also "do" StingRay and several other instruments inbetween. I think you'll find it *slightly* heavier, but far more substantial in terms of build quality, ease of set up, etc.

 

[iplaybasstexas]

the jazz is going to be more possible...the S-1 will give me some humbucker like tone, right?

 

[rayzak]

.... considering the Fender price hike, and the discontinued color, i'd go for the jazz right now and get the MM as soon as possible

 

[iplaybasstexas]

MM is having a price hike too i hear...

 

[Holy War]

easy...get both

 

[Tunaman]

I have both.
Its such a close call bro...

I feel I can change my tone on the fly better with the MM. Thats big for gigs man. I like changing the tone without moving the volumes

Tones are so close.
I vote the MM by a hair.

When you are trying the MM change your tones with the midrange control.

 

[85vf500rr]

Strait Music in Austin has 2 sunset orange Jazzes. One with a maple fretboard and one with rosewood. They've been there since new I think and the price I was quoted was just over $1000.