The Disappearing Jazz Bass

[SGD Lutherie]

Before changing out the pickups try replacing the cheap pos capacitor with a paper in oil one. I replaced mine with a vitamin q .2. It really opened things up. Sounds more like a vintage j.

The tone changed because you went from a .047µF to a .02µF, NOT because you went to a paper in oil cap.

Any cheap .02 will sound the same.

 

[Yummythump]

I think that Nolezmaj is onto something here.
Stuff that you hear in your upper mids and highs is always going to get "frequency masked" by the guitars.
The one thing that you can do that the guitars can never take away from you is that gut-churning kick in the ribs that only a punchy bass sound can bring. I now consider that my best tool: punch and dynamics. Sure beautiful tone is important when you're solo'ed, but the real satisfaction can come from all the other aspects of bass playing, locking in with the kick and playing with staccato and dynamics when needed. I switched strings after many years of being a dyed-in-the-wool roundwound guy. Stainless steel flatwounds can really kick a**, I don't even miss the clangy tone of rounds, most of it gets masked by the guitars anyway. And get an amp with good transient response... Gallien-Kruegers excel at that: soft to loud and everything in between, with no mush killing your loud notes.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

I put a little switch into mine to change from having the pickups in parallel to series. Series CONSIDERABLY fattened the sound up. There are several threads on TB about how to do this, and it's a completely reversible mod if it ain't what you're looking for.

it WAS what I was looking for, though. I'm more of a "P" player, but I'll be darned if that J in series didn't have about the same sonic "whomp".

 

[Jim Carr]

DR Lo-Rider strings, more mids in the EQ, and more volume.

 

[RattleSnack]

I think that Nolezmaj is onto something here.
Stuff that you hear in your upper mids and highs is always going to get "frequency masked" by the guitars.
The one thing that you can do that the guitars can never take away from you is that gut-churning kick in the ribs that only a punchy bass sound can bring. I now consider that my best tool: punch and dynamics. Sure beautiful tone is important when you're solo'ed, but the real satisfaction can come from all the other aspects of bass playing, locking in with the kick and playing with staccato and dynamics when needed.

I concur!

Jazz was constructed for power-trio club gigs, and sounds best without guitars in a mix (think Jaco and Weather Report).
Modern sound modelling means you can get it to sound good even in two-guitar mix, but is not easy.

On the other hand (not trying to start a new PvsJ discusion), Precision usually fills in the blank space of a guitar band much easier.

A friend plays Jazz bass in a aggressive-sounding blues band, and has a special setup, so before trying anything else, modify your EQ settings (bring out bass a little, lower mids a little bit more, and more of highest treble). Try picking over the pickups, or better, use a compressor at a medium setting - to get that THUMP. Also, ask your guitarist(s) to lower his (their) bass on EQ.

 

[Derek Kiernan]

Try wiring it up with a three-way switch and using a master volume.