What would a beefier Jazz Bass be?

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

A Super jazz bass ( good preamp )’.
Had those but still didn’t quite get me all the way there.

I found what I was after with my Sandberg. It will cost you more than your budget. So I’m sticking with my Super Jazz suggestion.

 

[sheltjo6]

Have you looked into soap bar pickups or oversized jazz pickups?
There are a lot of two pickup basses out there that use these configurations.

 

[sheltjo6]

What would a beefier Jazz Bass be?
A Sadowsky.

Agreed or a bass with an Aguilar preamp.

 

[57pbass]

I love a passive J bass but on a gig I always use an active J Bass…

 

[aprod]

Try a Marcus Miller Jazz. Active with many tonal options.

 

[Hot Rats]

DiMarzio model J's. The beef is strong with this one. Tuned to D standard with .050 to .110 Roto 66 steel strings. I can only invite you to imagine the badass tones that come forth from this badness of beefness.

 

[Slevage]

Wire pickups in series.

 

[Pings Bass]

L-2000

++

Came here to say this

 

[groovaholic]

L-2000

The mighty G&L L-2000 is the answer to your question.
They are great stock, but IMO even better modded.

I had one where the preamp went belly up, so I modified the electronics with series/single coil/parallel switches for EACH pickup, then a blend pot and an Aguilar OBP-2 preamp.

That bass could sound like just about anything, as long as that "thing" was big & nasty...

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I've always been very ambivalent regarding Jazz Basses. I don't like them, they feel thin, I only kind of like both pickups open all the way, and still I think it's a bit thin, I don't like the bridge pickup soloed or preponderant, the neck pickup lacks the heft of a Precision.

Still, I've found myself needing a full-on Jazz Bass-like sound sometimes, especially played with a pick. The alternatives:

- PJ combination. It sort of works but you tend to have quite a difference between the lower and the upper strings.
- double split. Very nice, very aggressive, looks a bit crap.
- double humbuckers. They don't have the pick attack you get with a Jazz Bass and they tend to sound more throaty. When it's modern sounding humbuckers, they tend to sound a bit too "hifi" in my experience.
- Stingray. It can play that kind of role (bright, tight) but it's overly mid-heavy and a bit too grindy, even boosting the bass or cutting the mids.
- jazz + humbucker (the other way round basically doesn't exist), this seems like the most viable solution, and in fact I had a look at an Ibanez ATK800 (I think) which sort of does the kind of stuff I need.

Any other ideas? And any offerings in the €500-ish range?

‘I have a MIA N series Fender PJ. I also had a JB. If you can’t get what your are after, it’s not the bass, it’s your rig. Mainly your EQ, but your cabs play a large part as well. JMO.

 

[wysiwyg248]

This is above your budget, Bluesman bass with Lollars. Pretty raw with a pick. Here is a clip of how it sounds:

 

[Bassiclees]

Squier Affinity + DiMarzio’s (add TI Flats and Hipshot bridge if you want).
That’s my Jazz and it’s FAT like you seek.

 

[Old Fart]

Conventional wisdom is: Strings first. LaBella DTF, for example. But changing strings alone does have limited effectiveness. After that, different pickups can open up a wider range of impacts. I would agree there is a wide range of Jazz-bass sounds and tones. Some Jazz bass tones are more unremarkable than others. But I would say that the bigness you are looking for can be found in a Jazz. In fact, I would say that while Precisions can certainly be massively "authoritative," Jazz basses can be "fatter." Much fatter, in fact.

Perhaps some of your local TB folks can show you their Jazz basses with different pickups. I'm pretty sure you can be satisfied by a Jazz, but nobody knows what combination of strings and pickups will do that for you.

And just to blather on further: I am a Precision guy, but one who certainly respects the Jazz bass. I have a Jazz, and I also have a PJ. The PJ is a Precision Deluxe with the neck pickup just a little closer to the neck compared to a regular Precision. And when I am going for that "fat" tone with "sparkle," (which is what a Jazz bass does well), I prefer the Precision Deluxe for that.

 

[6-3-2]

Joining in to say a preamp. Just a slight boost of bass usually does the trick. I love the EWS trilogic, but there's a lot of great simple preamps out there. Use a preamp with a G&L tribute or a Sire (if it's passive) and you should be good.

You might also consider nickel strings, if you aren't using them already. Nickel strings add a nice bit of warm mids back. For me it's the ideal string to make a J super versatile.

 

[jd56hawk]

Bacchus with the turbo switch?

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Bacchus with the turbo switch?

Beautiful bass and pick guard. But not on that bass.

 

[NKBassman]

I like dual-P, but you have to be careful with the bridge pickup that it's not too close to the bridge, or else it really starts thinning out.

 

[jd56hawk]

Beautiful bass and pick guard. But not on that bass.

I like it just because it isn't quite...right.
This one, too.

 

[Zak TMD]

I've always been very ambivalent regarding Jazz Basses. I don't like them, they feel thin, I only kind of like both pickups open all the way, and still I think it's a bit thin, I don't like the bridge pickup soloed or preponderant, the neck pickup lacks the heft of a Precision.

My current #1 has two G&L MFDs in it, and my #2 is a JB75. If I have both the MFDs tapped, it can sound JBish, but my normal setting is tapped on the neck and full on the bridge which I think is an all around good sound throaty but rich. Based on the pups alone, I'd say consider getting a G&L Tribute L-2000 which you could probably snag used for about your budget.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Strings (1st) and Pickups will fix a lot of the issues cited.