oh no.... not this ultimatum...

[CenTexThumper]

P-J with a J neck. Just sayin'...

 

[tgriley62]

My two cents worth: Get a Peavey Fury. Jazz neck Pbass pups, best of both worlds

 

[bon viesta]

If you have a sound your chasing in your end that will end up winning in the end. I’ve tried to convince myself so many times I wanted a J, I’ve gone through so many trying to find “the one”, turns out “the one” was a p bass the entire time

i think i miss the sound of that p. when i picked up the j for the first time i was underwhelmed because it sounded so much thinner and i was like “where did my baby go???!?!” but then i figured out how to mess with the front pickup and it was more normal to how it used to be. let’s just see how it goes.

 

[Turnaround]

you’ve heard it a million times. P OR J!!!! my dad is gonna enlist his guitar making abilities to finish and wire up a bass of my own choice, gonna put some dupont type 60s fender finish over it and pretend i was a teenager in the 60s as i thump away on whatever comes out of it. but he only operates on ebay when there’s a promotion going on, and right now i’m in the midsts of an internal p vs j struggle. i like the p sound. i want the p sound. i want that legendary thump in the mix. but... i think j’s look so much cooler. since they were rarer in the 60s there’s almost something special about their 60s variants. they just seem like deluxe basses. what would you guys say? should i take a leap of faith regardless of the regret and go for a p, or stick with a jazz bass that may look awesome but not exactly match up perfectly with ‘that sound’?

What's the ultimatum?

 

[bon viesta]

What's the ultimatum?

wasn’t very well explained... at all, but basically i needed to make a choice because otherwise if i didn’t i would have to wait a few more several weeks to get a body to start the project anyways. and it’s likely that all that time and thinking would result in some more confusion and what have you.

 

[Mastermold]

J--> K-- L-- M-- N-- O <--P

Pick something in between a J or P ... lots of other basses to chose from!

 

[Paul Weekes]

you’ve heard it a million times. P OR J!!!! my dad is gonna enlist his guitar making abilities to finish and wire up a bass of my own choice, gonna put some dupont type 60s fender finish over it and pretend i was a teenager in the 60s as i thump away on whatever comes out of it. but he only operates on ebay when there’s a promotion going on, and right now i’m in the midsts of an internal p vs j struggle. i like the p sound. i want the p sound. i want that legendary thump in the mix. but... i think j’s look so much cooler. since they were rarer in the 60s there’s almost something special about their 60s variants. they just seem like deluxe basses. what would you guys say? should i take a leap of faith regardless of the regret and go for a p, or stick with a jazz bass that may look awesome but not exactly match up perfectly with ‘that sound’?

Never compromise the sound you're after. You're lucky to have a dad like that

 

[dkelley]

Hey, maybe someone should start building jazz basses with PJ pickups... that would solve ALL this crap.

;-)

 

[Nickweissmusic]

Sounds like you want to eat your cake and have it, too.

No-Mod approach is to get a Jazz that already has a P pickup in it - like the Aerodyne Jazz (which sounds awesome, BTW) or the Sig bass of the guy from Blink-182 (can’t think of his name right now)....or do a custom build.

Your choice.

If you want to stay with a Jazz without a P pickup, get linear hum-cancelling pickups, like DiMarzio offerings or Duncan Apollo’s, etc.
The Linear HC neck pickup can get very close to a P-tone, but of course the pickup coils are not staggered, and the shape of the coils are totally different....so close, but no cigar.

seconding the suggestion for dimarzios, I have ultra jazzes and the neck pickup delivers a nice p-like tone without single coil hum you’d get from stock J pickups. Then you’d have a traditional J look, with many useful tone blending options that won’t hum like crazy.

 

[Nickweissmusic]

Personally I wouldn't have such a dilema. I'm lucky to prefer the soloed neck pickup tone of a Jazz to a Precision. Also, a Jazz with a parallel/series switch can definitely thump it. Jazzes usually have thinner necks too (not only a narrower nut, but thinner front to back) and I also prefer that to a P neck (which I still can perfectly enjoy and love, of course, I've owned an American Deluxe P 5 and a Matt Freeman/CV '70s P is definitely on my wish list nowadays). I'd ask for a "both" option in your poll. But being that you indeed need to DECIDE I'd say get the Jazz first, wire it with a push-pull for one of the volume pots so you can change between parallel and series wiring. Then after you save some more money get also a P bass. A P can't do most of what a J does, but a J neck pickup can sorta' fake something real close to a P using appropriate EQ.

been playing almost 30 years, granted I don’t currently own any stock ps or js, but I have owned, played and serviced countless fenders- and I got test B wrong lol. The j neck sounds more p than the p! He did play each sample quite differently so if he’s thumping the j and feathering the p, well, there you go, I certainly got fooled. There might be a lesson in there somewhere...

 

[andruca]

been playing almost 30 years, granted I don’t currently own any stock ps or js, but I have owned, played and serviced countless fenders- and I got test B wrong lol. The j neck sounds more p than the p! He did play each sample quite differently so if he’s thumping the j and feathering the p, well, there you go, I certainly got fooled. There might be a lesson in there somewhere...

I tend to think pickup position has more to do with timbre and pickup type is more about response (and that's where to look for differentes in the P vs. neckside J -the J being simply a little "twangier"-). So a properly EQed neck pickup on a Jazz can fake a P close enough IME. I even think faking that is the reason some Jazzes come with the neck pickup tilted (G string side closer to the bridge, as in a traditional split P configuration), i.e., Larry Graham's Moon model.

 

[TrustRod]

If you want to stay with a Jazz without a P pickup, get linear hum-cancelling pickups, like DiMarzio offerings or Duncan Apollo’s, etc.
The Linear HC neck pickup can get very close to a P-tone, but of course the pickup coils are not staggered, and the shape of the coils are totally different....so close, but no cigar.

I'm of the same thought here. The linear hum canceller has the same schematic as a P with 2 coils wired in series and I think it gives it the edge over other J pickup styles.

I have a Bartolini version (they make many inlines) and to my ears it gets closer than the rest of my Js.

 

[mellowgerman]

Keep in mind that amps, strings, and technique all play a huge role in the tone that ends up coming out of your speaker. Those Jazz bass Led Zeppelin recordings you mention don't capture black magic being preformed by JPJ... it's just a Jazz bass, used a certain way. Below is a good example of just how fat a chunky a jazz bass can sound (and if you bump the mids a bit from there and crank the amp, you'll definitely get a bunch of punch and growl)

Something else to consider, there are droves of pickup options that still look like normal jazz pickups -- assuming aesthetics are of high importance and you want to take the "purist" route. In this category, a hot split-coil Jazz pickup will get you quite close to a Precision sound and they still live inside a normal Jazz bass pickup cover.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Get a Jazz with P/J pickup combo. The Jazz.is far superior ergonomically, and was specificallY designed that way. P's have one common design flaw: the output jack is mounted in the pickguard, not the body or metal plate like the Jazz. If dropped while plugged in, P's routinely crack at the output jack. Meh. Get a Jazz.

 

[Turnaround]

wasn’t very well explained... at all, but basically i needed to make a choice because otherwise if i didn’t i would have to wait a few more several weeks to get a body to start the project anyways. and it’s likely that all that time and thinking would result in some more confusion and what have you.

Ahhh... I think you mean "dilemma". An "ultimatum" is a demand with a threat. A dilemma is a difficult choice between two options, like a quandry or predicament.
Ultimatum: "East your broccoli or there will be no dessert for you"
Dilemma: "If I don't buy that bass now it will be gone. If I do my wife will divorce me"

OK the last one may not be a dilemma depending on which bass it is.

 

[96tbird]

call me a stickler but i want to go a no mod approach with this. may seem a bit silly though i’m trying to be a bit of purist whatever way i go.

But you said it’s a custom made bass. How is that purist?

it’s a clone. Replica. Ersatz. Imitation...

 

[G On Bass]

you’ve heard it a million times. P OR J!!!! my dad is gonna enlist his guitar making abilities to finish and wire up a bass of my own choice, gonna put some dupont type 60s fender finish over it and pretend i was a teenager in the 60s as i thump away on whatever comes out of it. but he only operates on ebay when there’s a promotion going on, and right now i’m in the midsts of an internal p vs j struggle. i like the p sound. i want the p sound. i want that legendary thump in the mix. but... i think j’s look so much cooler. since they were rarer in the 60s there’s almost something special about their 60s variants. they just seem like deluxe basses. what would you guys say? should i take a leap of faith regardless of the regret and go for a p, or stick with a jazz bass that may look awesome but not exactly match up perfectly with ‘that sound’?

You answered your own question with "(sound i want"
I'll add to those who suggest a PJ. Find a neck profile you like as using 'Jazz' and 'P' to describe a neck profile is pretty much only a Fender construct. IMHO, pickups, not cosmetics, define a P or J. A pickup in a Jazz or offset body is still a P. I ended up with PJ's because it's a P when I need, yet has the ability to dial in some bite. Strings make the difference when deciding genres. I never, ever solo the bridge pickup.

At the end of the day, none of us, not you, not me, not anyone in this thread, will sound like our heroes even if we picked up their exact rig and played. Find a bass you like and get out of it what you need. You can have the greatest looking bass on Earth, but f it doesn't do the sound you want, you'll fight it forever.

But if your Dad is making the bass, you'll likely want to keep it forever. Have him make something you will love and play. That's likely all he really wants.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Owned the both, the jazz just does not have the nice 'big' bass sound. BUT, like my current Fender P bass, they can be muddy, and single sounding. You give up the big sound to decrease the mud. That is why I like a active EQ.

 

[buzzbass]

How about a p thats a jazz... kinda?? To heck with purism,
Mod and manipulate all the way!!
View attachment 4221668

Sweet, Sandberg ?

 

[bobyoung53]

P/J, you got a P bass that you can add mids and highs (presence) to depending on the sound you want and the room you're playing.