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Oh jeez not another P vs J thread!

#61
(Long ago) I started on a 66 P-bass, eventually adding a J-bass pickup, then pulling the frets and leaving her fretless. Then I picked up a 68-Jazz ($250) and playing that exclusively. ... I now play a 74-Jazz and a 2000-StingRay when I want a P-bass on steroids sound but, recently I put together, what I'm calling 'my poor mans 59'. It's got a very nice 73 P-bass neck, a aftermarket, light weight, 3-tone sunburst Alder body, gold anodized pick guard and nice fat sounding P-pickup. I didn't think much of the Pickup because I thought it was cheap aftermarket with magnets glued to the bottom, but once installed man was I surprised. ... The real test is to take it to a gig and see how she behaviours herself.
 
#62
billiam5billion said:
Hear me out!

I saw someone mention in another thread that a Jazz-style configuration has more "tonal options" than a traditional Precision, split-coil does.

I'm not so sure. The jazz has more knobs, and more separate pickups, but I find that the onboard controls of a P create a huge swing in tone shapes, and that my P is much more responsive to amp eq and pedal chain than my J. Where did the idea of the jazz being more versatile than the p come from, do you believe it or not, and why?
Click to expand...

I find that Stingray HH makes all these points moot.:thumbsup:
 
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#63
WIN_20160919_11_29_24_Pro.jpg
WIN_20161021_10_50_43_Pro.jpg
 
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#70
I prefer steel hammers for versatility. There are things you can do with a solid steel hammer that you just can't do with a wooden-handled hammer. On the other hand, for pure tone, you can't beat a hickory handle. Of course if you're an electrician you'll need a fiberglass handled hammer but that's just a niche application.
 
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#77
billiam5billion said:
Hear me out!

I saw someone mention in another thread that a Jazz-style configuration has more "tonal options" than a traditional Precision, split-coil does.

I'm not so sure. The jazz has more knobs, and more separate pickups, but I find that the onboard controls of a P create a huge swing in tone shapes, and that my P is much more responsive to amp eq and pedal chain than my J. Where did the idea of the jazz being more versatile than the p come from, do you believe it or not, and why?
Click to expand...
I can't see you being all that serious here. Assuming you're on about passive, classic configs of each, you have a tone knob on both which just cuts highs. Then you have a volume per pickup. The ability to blend sounds from more than just ONE pickup makes MORE than just ONE sound. The end.
 
#79
For me (IMVHO) I think the 'Aha!' moment came when I realized the J pickup configuration needed to be lopsided to really shine. Both pickups on full is kind of 'meh'. Neck pickup only is 'okay, I guess.'
Bridge pickup only is barky/burpy and delicious.
Neck 100% + Bridge 90% is ballsy and grindy.
Neck 90% + Bridge 100% is clean and punchy. And so on, and so forth.
Adjust to taste.
P basses do what they do beautifully. From low end thump with the tone rolled off, to pure growl with the tone all the way up. Plucking position and attack gives the versatility.
Both great configurations. The PJ seems to shine with both p'ups full on, but not the J.
 

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