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P or J - Have we all chosen correctly?

#81
I agree with most that it's what you prefer personally to a degree. But what I don't see a lot of is what the music calls for. I have both and although I'll always love the ol P the J is better at some things (including a warmer tone with clarity). The P only does 1 and 1/2 tones but just listen to how amazing that tone nad 1/2 is.
All this to say....BOTH
 
#82
troyus said:
I find in bigger bands, I get in sonic collisions when I gig a J sometimes, where both my bass and a guitar are hanging out in the same frequency range. It has never happened with the P.
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This is interesting, because my experience in rock bands has been the opposite. A few years back, I played in two heavy power trios, and the J was great, but I preferred the P. I later played in a modern rock band with two effects-drenched guitars, prominent keys, and lots of vocals. It was a very dense mix. There, I slightly preferred the Jazz, because the deeper lows could "slide under" everything else. Then, when I played high on the fretboard, I could cut through.

This is splitting hairs to some extent, because both worked great in both settings. I don't want to exaggerate the differences. I never had any problems, except when I tried a super-phat Duncan SPB-2 Hot for P pickup in the band with keys. It was just too boomy, and took up too much space in the mix. The Jazz was much better, as was the P after I began using a Lindy Fralin pickup.
 
#84
tnscot60 said:
This is NOT a discussion over which is better. That is COMPLETELY subjective, and no one is right or wrong. This is my theory, and request for your thoughts on the subject. With that said....

It seems to me that a P bass and a J bass were each designed to fill two different needs. The P bass is designed to carry a lot of low end, and the J bass was designed to cut throught the music.

It further seems to me that a lot of J bass players are on an eternal quest for the elusive sound, and are oftern complaining about effects, etc that cut out their low end.


My theory, which I would like to open up for discussion is this:
There are a lot of people who are using a J bass, who would be better served with a P bass.

With a compressor and EQ, it is much easier for me to dial in a good high end on my P Bass than it is to dial in and KEEP a boomy low end on a J bass. (This I can say with a small amount of J bass experience, but not a lot) I am actually toying with the idea of adding a J pup to my bass, for further control. But this thread is to address people who play one or the other exclusively.

It also seems to me that people who play J basses, but arent trying to make them big and boomy, are thrilled with the results they get, which furthers my theory.

Again, I'm not saying that a P bass is better. I am theorizing that if a boomy low end is very important to you, a J bass may not be the right choice.

Thoughts? Cmmments?

Please no flaming. I'm not insulting anyone in here, and if people cant restrain themselves, I'll just ignore the thread entirely, and they'll only be injuring the thread.
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I think we ALL need a P and a J... I wish my wife hadn't decided that I can no longer spend any money... I have a half finished P and a half finished J :crying:
 
#86
G-Unit 01 said:
For me it is about the neck.

I like the feel of a Jazz compared to a p neck but I like the sound of both basses.

I would love to find a p with a j neck on it, but don't want to D.I.Y it.

Is anyone aware if Fender ever offered that as an option?
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+1 to that...

I prefer the sound of a P bass, but really dont get on with the neck.
Jazz necks suit me better, but jazz's seem to be missing something int he bottom end...

a P with a J neck would be a good seller i would have thought.
 
#89
I played in HS and had a junk bass and a junk amp. Picked up the instrument 15 years later and bought a MIA Jazz I think it was a 2001 or 2002. It had a maple neck. That was a great comfy bass to get back into it with. Over time I kept thinking it was to bright and thin sounding. Numerous non Jazz bass related things may have contributed to that. I sold it about a 18 months later.

Since then I have had a Ric, Conkin Groove Tools Rocco Prestia Signature, Stingray 4H (rosewood), Stingray 5H (maple), and then another Jazz bass which was a parts bass but sounded like a Jazz usually does and today my main player is a Warwick Corvette 5 $$ which has been more satisfying to play than anything listed above. I got itchy last week and offed the Jazz bass because I just was not playing it anymore and in its place I bought on a whim a MIJ Fender P-bass from one of these eBay guys in Tokyo. It will be here in a few days and I am curious to see if it can scratch any itch for me. I have always wanted a P-bass but like others have said before me in this post I while the Jazz looked like the more logical choice I will be curious to see if the P-bass will prove to be the better choice for me. We will see. I have never owned one. If it does not I am probably going to give up on Fender for a while and buy a passive Warwick.
 
#91
Anymore I use a P bass live and a Jazz in the studio. The P fills out better live. To me the jazz is more flexible when getting a sound and mixing. Fender hs made a ton of P basses with a jazz radius neck. The Lakland Duck Dunn also uses a jazz neck. I have one and love it.
 
#92
...it's why I play one of these pretty often.
P1134133.jpg
 
#96
Except for just a few songs, I often notice that Joe Osborn's bass(Jazz) is kind of difficult to hear in many popular songs he's played on. It may be the mix but it seems so understated and seems to sound very similar to the songs plucky guitars,causing it to get lost. Yes he used only the neck pickup and a pick.
Then one day I heard an older song he's on and his bass sat perfect and had a very audiable space of it's own. I later found out it was one of the only songs he recorded using a P. In stock form I believe a Jazz just can't get the low-mid presences a P can.

At times that Precision low-mid is perfect to my ears and other times it annoys me. No matter what note I play there's the same raspy mid-honk and it's all I can focus on tonally. Seems to be related more to the 70's bass tone of round wounds and more treble. It sounds like the bark of a dog who's horse from being out in the yard barking all day. It doesn't strike me this way all the time but like someone mentioned, it goes in cycles.

One day at GC I played a Pino sign. P with TI flats and it was a sound from heaven. Focus,warmth,tons of acoustical nuance. What a pleasure to play.More of a 60's tone. Absolutely nothing obnoxious about it's tone.....so I too flip back and forth and enjoy both!

There are so many custom voiced pickups and strings today that tailoring your sound is endless. Having said that I guess you probably could find a humcancelling or over wound jazz neck pick up to give you huge low-mids like a P but at the expense of classic single coil jazz tone IMO.
 
#97
Of course lots of people play a P-bass with flats, and it sounds great, however I've noticed that a lot of people who are flatwound converts are not using P-basses. Sometime I wonder if any of these people would be happy if they had a P-bass in the first place. But if someone can change strings for $20 and be happy, it's better than buying a new bass. The P-bass does it's job well.
 
#100
J with a P neck for me. I love the J body, pups, and tone, but I like the wider spacing and greater stability of the larger P neck. I think the slightly smaller J neck contributing to greater speed and ease of playing is a little mythological: I've had both and I really don't gain any speed on the J neck.

Might add P pups between the J, if possible. (a la Urge)
 

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