Poll about where you like your plug.

[Groove Doctor]

When I’ve got my strap on, I like it on top. On the side bottom is OK too.

I always use a right angle plug, with the cable run thru my strap to take any tension off the jack & stop it getting pulled out.

 

[Liko]

It honestly doesn't really matter to me. Top-mount versus side-mount is literally the last thing on my mind when axe shopping. I do notice all my current basses are side-jacked (even the MIM Jazz; I modded it with a side jack for an extra knob on the plate), so that's how I voted. However that has its problems too, namely with the A-frame folding stands I prefer to have handy. Seemingly without fail, the bottom arm hits right at the jack plate, and unlike a traditional stand the bottom cradle doesn't self-level.

 

[2saddleslab]

Side mount w/ right angle plug, cable run thru the strap.

 

[Stevorebob]

Whatever.

Just not much a fan of the Strat or Ibanez SR/TMB angled top-mount jack. They seem cool but don’t work so well with the right-angled plugs I prefer. (With either top or side jacks, right-angled plugs tuck the cord close to the instrument when looped through the strap.) YMMV.

 

[lermgalieu]

Carrots

 

[sawzalot]

This poll needs a carrots option. Like, I truly don't care if the bass plays and sounds good.

 

[Gustopher]

Top with a 90 plug so I can loop it around my strap easier.

 

[BOOG]

I like the jack on the front of the bass. So much so, that I rerouted the jack from my Spector from the bottom to the front. Much better for me...
View attachment 4034469

View attachment 4034471

Beautiful finish! Are those Geezer pickups?

 

[TomB]

I literally just started doing this last weekend. Don't know why I did not try it before because it makes a heckuva lot of sense.

You can run behind your strap with a straight cable end as well, regardless of the jack location. I've been running them behind my strap for 50 years, straight and right angle.
I like to provide stress relief at the amp end of the cable as well. It's not always as easy to do as using the strap at the bass end, but you can get creative with almost any rig. I don't want a yank on the cable to unplug me from the amp, let alone pull my little Class D head off its perch.

 

[Queue]

Top jack with right-angle plug crew checking in.

Same

 

[MobileHolmes]

No Preference. I guess the side jack is sleeker looking, but with a right angle plug, the top mounted jacks are unobtrusive

 

[Killing Floor]

I'm uncomfortable with this subject. Can we talk about pick guards?

 

[trevcda]

All the Brian Moore players (both of us) say back!

 

[iiipopes]

I voted top, just because, having been raised on Fender and Fender-style instruments. But...all the electric bass manufacturers are missing the obvious place: the strap button, as with acoustic instruments.

 

[nilorius]

Bouth are fine !!!

 

[juancaminos]

Well my old clouded mind had a hard time with the two terms. WTH does top mean. Top to me is the edge of the bass under my chin. But after reading all pages of the thread I will agree to top as it refers to the fourth hole input on a Jazz Bass control plate.

 

[arbiterusa]

Can’t vote because the best option isn’t available: tele style side jack with cup and switchcraft plug. Barrel jacks are from the devil, and unfortunately all four of mine use them. Of course, the bodies are too shallow to use or convert to the Tele option. Trying to reroute to the top, as one brave person here did, will end in disaster if you accidentally stomp/snag the cable.

 

[arbiterusa]

Still waiting for some lunatic to build a wireless transmitter onto the bass and negate the need for plugs.

Brad Gillis (Night Ranger) did this way back in the early 1980s with his famous red Strat. Basically turned it into a semi-hollow, wireless units weren’t small then. He got accused often of playing along to pre-recorded tracks by irate Ozzy fans because there was no plug in the guitar.

ETA: the problem with this, aside of being accused of airbanding it by Ozzy fans peeved that you replaced Randy, is that if something goes wrong, you’re gonna need another guitar. You’re not going to be able to do a one-song jack repair with a built-in wireless like you can with a standard jack setup.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Vote

It's on top with my Jazz Bass 4-string and on the edge with my 5-string. I do NOT like it on the edge. It's just too easy to smack it against things or get caught on my guitar stand going in or coming out. Not something I ever even thought about before I got a bass with it on the "side bottom". Definitely want it on the top.

I must confess, outside of my 5-string, every other bass I've had has located the plug-in on the top of the body. OK, another confession....the only other basses I've had were a cheap Japanese bass that I bought in 1965 which I
replaced with a '65 Jazz in 1966. So it's been 55-years of top-mounted bass plug in for me...don't like it on the side-bottom.

 

[Rib 13]

When I’ve got my strap on, I like it on top.