More umph from my jazz

[pappabass]

Hey, the sterling ray 34 is killer. My son has one. And you are still playing a jazz? I had the same issue with my perfect fender mim jazz. It could not match the sound of a bottom of the line, beat-up house bass ibanez with active eq. Never owned a jazz again.

 

[nilorius]

Try out more different amps and cabs with your MIM.

 

[fhm555]

I'm not looking for active sound just more beef and low end

Dimarzio Model J pickups are your answer. You can spend more, but after a couple of years trying onboard pre amps and endless aftermarket pickups i'm back to the stock MIM control setup with a set of Dimarzio Model J's, they will make you the god of thunder if that's what you want, but they will also give you a ton of options in tone from deep to screeching if that's your desire.
If you'd rather have a pickup set that sounds like a hotter version of the stock set, Dimarzio Ultra J's will give you that. I've got an MIM J with Model J's and another one with Ultra J's. The Model j's for R&R and blues, the Ultra J's for country and Americana.
Another great thing is they are split coil humbuckers so no single coil buzz.

 

[rtslinger]

A lot of people use SansAmp products to beef up a jazz (and other basses).

I agree with this solution

 

[Bullitt5135]

Have you checked the pickup height? I just picked up a Squier jazz with MIM pickups, and it's got balls for days.

From the Fender website:

PICKUPS
Setting pickups too high can cause a number of unusual occurrences. Depress strings at last fret. Using a 6" (150 mm) ruler, measure the distance from the bottom of the first and fourth strings to top of the pole piece. A good rule of thumb is that the distance should be greatest at the fourth-string neck pickup position and closest at the first-string bridge pickup position. Follow the measurement guidelines from the chart below as starting points. The distance will vary according to the amount of magnetic pull from the pickup.

Note: Larger string gauges need wider vibrational allowances. If you have a five-string bass or are using heavier-gauge strings, your measurements must be increased accordingly.

Bass Side | Treble Side
Vintage style 8/64" (3.2 mm) | 6/64" (2.4 mm)
Noiseless™ Series 8/64" (3.2 mm) | 6/64" (2.4 mm)
Standard "J" or "P" 7/64" (2.8 mm) | 5/64" (2 mm)
Special Design Humbuckers 7/64" (2.8 mm) | 5/64" (2 mm)

 

[57pbass]

I always bring a P Bass and an active J Bass to my gigs.nA passive J Bass never gets me the desired sounds I'm looking for. This usually happens in larger rooms. Get a Sans Amp or a Sadowsky prep amp pedal. They should solve your problem.

 

[stingray69]

I agree with this solution

I'm not saying it's the only solution - overwound pickups, single coil series mods, SansAmp, they're all different means to the same end.

No right or wrong to getting to the same end result, although one of the strongest advantages of the SansAmp is that obviously, you can easily use it on any other instruments in your collection and the amount of the effect (including bass boost) is adjustable, whereas pickup swaps and series mods are a fixed variable. I have tried all of the suggested solutions and IME, the SansAmp brings the most amount of what I call "beef" in both a solo or live mix.

 

[iiipopes]

There is a pretty significant loss to the mids when both pickups are dimed on a jazz bass, boosting the mids is the cure for this. Different basses react differently to eq settings.

Concur. The reason for the volume drop is impedance drop from the two pickups being wired in parallel. The way I deal with the volume drop is to wire a .01 microfarad capacitor in-line from the hot lead of the bridge pickup to the bridge volume pot. This cuts a little bit of lows, but there aren't that many lows coming out of a bridge pickup of a J-bass anyway. It keeps the impedance from dropping and keeps the volume up when both pickups are dimed. Yes, the overall output of the bridge pickup is cut a little bit, but if this is a bass that the bridge pickup is not going to be soloed or used for extreme treble slap, it works well. I have this mod on all my passive basses. The only basses I don't have this mod on have the EMG ABC, which sums the signals without dropping impedance, and therefore retains volume over the range of the sweep from neck to bridge pickups.

 

[bbh]

Some loose more mids than others. Easy fix is to correctly measure the heights as a starting point. Then adjust the poles so strings are same volume per pickup. Then adjust pickup height to reach your desired tone.
The other way to go is just figure out how to change your technique to make the problem go away. A lot of tone issues can be adjusted this way. I find each instrument plays best when you do what it wants. Most of mine require a slightly different touch by the player.
Hope that makes sense.

 

[peteybass]

Lollars always do it for me.

 

[Pet Sounds]

Lollars always do it for me.

I'm a long-time Precision Bass guy who always felt Js lacked "beef." I bought a Nash JB-63 with Lollars last spring and it immediately became my main bass. I still love P-Basses, but now I feel like I have the low-mid strength I've been looking for in a Jazz. Sounds great live and recorded.

 

[SlimBaixo]

Aguilar Hot pups. Solved my issue and haven't looked back since.

 

[sotua]

I have a Jazz bass with a series push/pull. I don't doubt what you say but I don't get it. If it adds a bulge, then it adds bass, no?

Sort of. In theory, what happens is that you have an increase in output and midrange, while losing a bit of high and low end. In practice, you eliminate a lot of the typical JBass mid scoop when using both pickups at the same volume, and the output increase which drives your amp more, thus the perceived effect is a more present and driving tone.

 

[gbazinet]

I always roll the bridge pickup on my Jazz back a hair.

 

[foal30]

I always bring a P Bass and an active J Bass to my gigs.nA passive J Bass never gets me the desired sounds I'm looking for. This usually happens in larger rooms. Get a Sans Amp or a Sadowsky prep amp pedal. They should solve your problem.

Yeah Fender Jazz plus Sadowsky preamp pedal.

 

[mcnach]

The J-Tone is a different preamp than the J-Retro. The J-Retro has semi-parametric mids, an active blend, and fixed frequencies for the bass/treble controls. The J-Tone is a newer preamp but is a little more organic-sounding to me, with a passive blend and tone controls just like a regular Jazz wiring followed by an active preamp with bass/treble controls. You can select the frequencies of the bass/treble via little pots on the preamp board, so you can really tune those frequencies to your bass. They're both great preamps--I like the J-Tone because all the passive electronics are in-line before the preamp, so you get the interaction of the tone capacitor with the pickups, etc, and the eq is applied after all that.

Sounds interesting, although to me the semiparametric mids was THE feature that I really liked. However I do prefer passive tone controls to the standard active bass/treble. It sounds like the J-Tone is a cool compromise. My ideal would be a passive tone (treble roll off) plus the semiparametric mids module. No need for active bass/treble for me.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

I bought a bass with those Benson PUs. Good stuff. Where did you hear about Benson Pickups? Last I checked, it's a small outfit in upstate NY.

I bought them here on TB. Great purchase this was, I sent an email to John Benson to tell him how much I liked them.

 

[Yahboy]

I think the word " Ummp "from OP means more growl energy need rather than big low mid/low.

The Dmarzio ultra J + DR Fat Beam do help.

 

[Bassmike62]

Wire it in series

This ^^.

I do that with all my Jazz basses, gets me sound closer to a P, wouldn't have a Jazz without it.
Although I love the pure Jazz sound, this mod gives a bit more flexibility and I can cover lots of ground.

 

[dougjwray]

Here's another vote for series wiring!