Which J Bass should I consider???

[FearNoEvil65]

For G&L JBs…. I have a Tribute L2000…. How would you compare the pickups???

I have a USA L2K, and the pickups in the JB are quite different. The JB is way lower output, bright and crispy compared to the L-2000 in series or parallel (of course my L2K has Single Coil Mode which is similar). The JB sometimes gets a bit of single coil noise, my L-2000 is silent. Another difference is neck width, the JB is thinner both nut width and front to back, smallest and thinnest neck of any bass I ever owned !!
I like the L-2000 and the JB, keeping them both !! Plus they're different colors, like that matters LOL

 

[J Wilson]

$1000-$1500 is the sweet spot where you can buy better-than-budget but less than the seriously expensive pieces. In that neighborhood, new and used, there are literally hundreds of choices, and really hard to buy a 'bad' bass as long as you skip the rode-hard-put-up-rusty used dogs.

There is simply no way for us to know what your ears and hands will tell you 'THIS is it'.

If it were me, I've been at this long enough to read a spec sheet and get a rough idea of what this or that one would be like in a general sense. Do I want a vintage look and feel? Do I want modern tone and looks? Am I looking for some special wiring tricks past the traditional Jazz Bass wiring? Do I prefer this or that fingerboard wood, this or that body wood, does it need to be very light, etc. Are there certain brands or features I simply hate and I can skip over? An active Sadowsky is a different flavor than a traditional passive Jazz. Where do you want to be?

At least I could start to narrow it down that way.

 

[PBandJazzBass]

Which models do you think are best?

I’ve only played a handful personally and don’t recall which specific models. But everything I played sounded good! Again, if you can, try a few and see what you like!

 

[PapaBearBass]

I have a USA L2K, and the pickups in the JB are quite different. The JB is way lower output, bright and crispy compared to the L-2000 in series or parallel (of course my L2K has Single Coil Mode which is similar). The JB sometimes gets a bit of single coil noise, my L-2000 is silent. Another difference is neck width, the JB is thinner both nut width and front to back, smallest and thinnest neck of any bass I ever owned !!
I like the L-2000 and the JB, keeping them both !! Plus they're different colors, like that matters LOL

Thanks! Absolutely love my L2K… definitely will check out the JB

 

[PapaBearBass]

I always prefer to keep it traditional. For that price, I’d be looking at an American performer jazz bass. Or a used American original 60s jazz bass. Or a Japanese Fender traditional 60s or 70s jazz.

Do you find there’s a difference in quality or tone or feeling between the MIJ and the MIM Fenders?

 

[Mike Vee]

Do you find there’s a difference in quality or tone or feeling between the MIJ and the MIM Fenders?

Absolutely. Plus fender does weird stuff too keep them less desirable that MIA so that you are either forced to pay more for exactly what you want or to compromise a little bit.

 

[musicman556]

Do you find there’s a difference in quality or tone or feeling between the MIJ and the MIM Fenders?

TL;DR I think so. Bigtime. I think the MIJ stuff is crazy good for just a little more money (and right in your price window) than the MIM stuff, and right on par with the American stuff, but actually with way cooler and more unique options than the American Fender lines. After buying Fender Japan basses, I sold my American.

Not speaking for PapaBear's experience here, just my own.

... but YES! The fine detail on the 3 new MIJs I've bought this year is far and away beyond the two MIM Player series basses and 1 American Performer PJ I bought in the last 2 years.

The first thing I notice is the fretwork. The MIM J needed a fret end dress due to sharp fret ends. The MIM P had nice fret ends, but needed a little fret level primarily between frets 11 to 16. In reality, this was probably a small neck issue but minor enough that just addressing the frets took care of it. The American Performer had very good fretwork and needed no correction. The Performer DID need a fair amount of truss rod adjustment to bring the action down from "pretty dang high" to "that's OK" level, and the truss rod was very tight/high resistance to adjust. I was worried that I was nearing the end of travel or in danger of breaking something, but the pressure was consistent and without "stacking" as I moved through the adjustment process. I will say that the Performer is not advertised as having a rolled fretboard, but man mine felt really good. So much so that I THOUGHT it was a rolled board! All three Japanese basses have impeccable fretwork right out of the box, and only the Aerodyne wanted just a touch of relief added for my taste. It was the smoothest, easiest to adjust truss rod I have ever encountered.

None of the 6 have had any electronics function issues of any sort. Both the MIMs are standard passive basses, the Japanese basses are 1 passive, 2 active. The hardware on all 6 function just fine. I do like the nicer bridges and tuners on the Japanese basses, but it's debatable on whether that makes an actual functional difference. The American Performer uses a kind of upgraded bent plate kinda' bridge. It's thicker than the MIMs, but not a high mass type or anything. The Japanese basses use 1) Elemental Jazz: American Fender Ultra bridge 2) Jino Jazz: Fender Hi-Mass (Badass style) bridge 3) Aerodyne Special Jazz: new design Babicz bridge that I LOVE! Fender Japan seems to take a lot more freedom in terms of unique pickup options these days. The Elemental has dual soapbars and a 2-band preamp, while the Jino has a J set AND a Musicman humbucker in there, along with the same preamp as the Elemental.

Now, in terms of PREFERENCE regarding pickup tone, the only one that disappointed me was the American Performer. I don't feel that the P and J pickups are matched well, and I don't like the tone control circuit. The P pickup is fine, but adding in any amount of J just sucked the bottom right out of the sound. Also, I don't know the technical reason why, but rolling off the tone just makes things ... "mushy"? The standout to me is the Aerodyne Special Jazz. I have no idea why this is the most impressive sounding bass I have. It's passive, and the pickups are just listed as "Aerodyne Special Jazz bass pickups." When played solo, it's just a nice, standard, traditional Jazz sound. Not overly bright, not crazy beefy, not really a standout in the "bedroom practice" situation. But dude. Play it in a band setting and WOW! The thing just sounds SO GOOD. It's got enough growl to stand out, but not too much to be snarly or over-aggressive. It's incredibly even in response from string to string as well as up and down the neck. There aren't any "hot spots" or "dead spots" on this bass. I attribute that to both the fantastic neck construction/quality and the well-designed, fairly even response of the pickups. I'd love to see a frequency response graph of these things. I'm sure it's not flat across the board, but I imagine the curves are softer slopes and not terribly peaky in any one place. It's the closest to "perfect" I can think of. It's the only bass my drummer at church comments on and specifically requests, haha!

The recording from this past Sunday is up. If you dare subject yourself to mistakes and solidly average bass-playing, here it is. This is my first time playing with a pick. The song just needed it. If you skip through and listen to any of the other songs, I'm playing fingerstyle. I'm using just a little compression and a very tiny amount of low and low mid boost from a Trace Elliott Transit B pedal. Tone control is at about 70%, neck vol 100%, bridge vol 85-90%.

For some reason, I can't successfully post the link with a specific timestamp. Skip to about 14:25 to bypass the "dead air" in the beginning and get into some toanz.
https://www.youtube.com/live/NDgpc0p81vw?feature=share

 

[PapaBearBass]

Absolutely. Plus fender does weird stuff too keep them less desirable that MIA so that you are either forced to pay more for exactly what you want or to compromise a little bit.

Cool man thanks for the insight. I have a ‘72 MIA Fender p-bass (my pride & joy) and love it but I don’t have any experience with the MIJ side of their line. I’ll definitely look into it.

 

[PapaBearBass]

TL;DR I think so. Bigtime. I think the MIJ stuff is crazy good for just a little more money (and right in your price window) than the MIM stuff, and right on par with the American stuff, but actually with way cooler and more unique options than the American Fender lines. After buying Fender Japan basses, I sold my American.

Not speaking for PapaBear's experience here, just my own.

... but YES! The fine detail on the 3 new MIJs I've bought this year is far and away beyond the two MIM Player series basses and 1 American Performer PJ I bought in the last 2 years.

The first thing I notice is the fretwork. The MIM J needed a fret end dress due to sharp fret ends. The MIM P had nice fret ends, but needed a little fret level primarily between frets 11 to 16. In reality, this was probably a small neck issue but minor enough that just addressing the frets took care of it. The American Performer had very good fretwork and needed no correction. The Performer DID need a fair amount of truss rod adjustment to bring the action down from "pretty dang high" to "that's OK" level, and the truss rod was very tight/high resistance to adjust. I was worried that I was nearing the end of travel or in danger of breaking something, but the pressure was consistent and without "stacking" as I moved through the adjustment process. I will say that the Performer is not advertised as having a rolled fretboard, but man mine felt really good. So much so that I THOUGHT it was a rolled board! All three Japanese basses have impeccable fretwork right out of the box, and only the Aerodyne wanted just a touch of relief added for my taste. It was the smoothest, easiest to adjust truss rod I have ever encountered.

None of the 6 have had any electronics function issues of any sort. Both the MIMs are standard passive basses, the Japanese basses are 1 passive, 2 active. The hardware on all 6 function just fine. I do like the nicer bridges and tuners on the Japanese basses, but it's debatable on whether that makes an actual functional difference. The American Performer uses a kind of upgraded bent plate kinda' bridge. It's thicker than the MIMs, but not a high mass type or anything. The Japanese basses use 1) Elemental Jazz: American Fender Ultra bridge 2) Jino Jazz: Fender Hi-Mass (Badass style) bridge 3) Aerodyne Special Jazz: new design Babicz bridge that I LOVE! Fender Japan seems to take a lot more freedom in terms of unique pickup options these days. The Elemental has dual soapbars and a 2-band preamp, while the Jino has a J set AND a Musicman humbucker in there, along with the same preamp as the Elemental.

Now, in terms of PREFERENCE regarding pickup tone, the only one that disappointed me was the American Performer. I don't feel that the P and J pickups are matched well, and I don't like the tone control circuit. The P pickup is fine, but adding in any amount of J just sucked the bottom right out of the sound. Also, I don't know the technical reason why, but rolling off the tone just makes things ... "mushy"? The standout to me is the Aerodyne Special Jazz. I have no idea why this is the most impressive sounding bass I have. It's passive, and the pickups are just listed as "Aerodyne Special Jazz bass pickups." When played solo, it's just a nice, standard, traditional Jazz sound. Not overly bright, not crazy beefy, not really a standout in the "bedroom practice" situation. But dude. Play it in a band setting and WOW! The thing just sounds SO GOOD. It's got enough growl to stand out, but not too much to be snarly or over-aggressive. It's incredibly even in response from string to string as well as up and down the neck. There aren't any "hot spots" or "dead spots" on this bass. I attribute that to both the fantastic neck construction/quality and the well-designed, fairly even response of the pickups. I'd love to see a frequency response graph of these things. I'm sure it's not flat across the board, but I imagine the curves are softer slopes and not terribly peaky in any one place. It's the closest to "perfect" I can think of. It's the only bass my drummer at church comments on and specifically requests, haha!

The recording from this past Sunday is up. If you dare subject yourself to mistakes and solidly average bass-playing, here it is. This is my first time playing with a pick. The song just needed it. If you skip through and listen to any of the other songs, I'm playing fingerstyle. I'm using just a little compression and a very tiny amount of low and low mid boost from a Trace Elliott Transit B pedal. Tone control is at about 70%, neck vol 100%, bridge vol 85-90%.

For some reason, I can't successfully post the link with a specific timestamp. Skip to about 14:25 to bypass the "dead air" in the beginning and get into some toanz.
https://www.youtube.com/live/NDgpc0p81vw?feature=share

Wow man thank you so much for bringing me up to speed on that stuff. I’m going to check out your video right now! Do you have any preference between the passive J and the Active J. I have a MIM Fender Fretless which I completed love - and when I was deciding on which stuff to keep and which to sell, well the fretless is still here! It’s passive and I really dig it. That’s why I’m thinking about checking out an Active J bass … just to kind of broaden out my arsenal if you know what I mean. I’d like to get a big rich R&B tone… What’s your thoughts?

 

[PapaBearBass]

Absolutely. Plus fender does weird stuff to keep them less desirable that MIA so that you are either forced to pay more for exactly what you want or to compromise a little bit.

That makes sense… in a weird kind of business marketing way I guess. The funny thing is I have a MIM Fretless Jazz and it’s killer… deep and reach, smooth and strong. When I was deciding which axes to sell off the fretless won me over. The one I sold just didn’t do it for me

 

[PapaBearBass]

TL;DR I think so. Bigtime. I think the MIJ stuff is crazy good for just a little more money (and right in your price window) than the MIM stuff, and right on par with the American stuff, but actually with way cooler and more unique options than the American Fender lines. After buying Fender Japan basses, I sold my American.

Not speaking for PapaBear's experience here, just my own.

... but YES! The fine detail on the 3 new MIJs I've bought this year is far and away beyond the two MIM Player series basses and 1 American Performer PJ I bought in the last 2 years.

The first thing I notice is the fretwork. The MIM J needed a fret end dress due to sharp fret ends. The MIM P had nice fret ends, but needed a little fret level primarily between frets 11 to 16. In reality, this was probably a small neck issue but minor enough that just addressing the frets took care of it. The American Performer had very good fretwork and needed no correction. The Performer DID need a fair amount of truss rod adjustment to bring the action down from "pretty dang high" to "that's OK" level, and the truss rod was very tight/high resistance to adjust. I was worried that I was nearing the end of travel or in danger of breaking something, but the pressure was consistent and without "stacking" as I moved through the adjustment process. I will say that the Performer is not advertised as having a rolled fretboard, but man mine felt really good. So much so that I THOUGHT it was a rolled board! All three Japanese basses have impeccable fretwork right out of the box, and only the Aerodyne wanted just a touch of relief added for my taste. It was the smoothest, easiest to adjust truss rod I have ever encountered.

None of the 6 have had any electronics function issues of any sort. Both the MIMs are standard passive basses, the Japanese basses are 1 passive, 2 active. The hardware on all 6 function just fine. I do like the nicer bridges and tuners on the Japanese basses, but it's debatable on whether that makes an actual functional difference. The American Performer uses a kind of upgraded bent plate kinda' bridge. It's thicker than the MIMs, but not a high mass type or anything. The Japanese basses use 1) Elemental Jazz: American Fender Ultra bridge 2) Jino Jazz: Fender Hi-Mass (Badass style) bridge 3) Aerodyne Special Jazz: new design Babicz bridge that I LOVE! Fender Japan seems to take a lot more freedom in terms of unique pickup options these days. The Elemental has dual soapbars and a 2-band preamp, while the Jino has a J set AND a Musicman humbucker in there, along with the same preamp as the Elemental.

Now, in terms of PREFERENCE regarding pickup tone, the only one that disappointed me was the American Performer. I don't feel that the P and J pickups are matched well, and I don't like the tone control circuit. The P pickup is fine, but adding in any amount of J just sucked the bottom right out of the sound. Also, I don't know the technical reason why, but rolling off the tone just makes things ... "mushy"? The standout to me is the Aerodyne Special Jazz. I have no idea why this is the most impressive sounding bass I have. It's passive, and the pickups are just listed as "Aerodyne Special Jazz bass pickups." When played solo, it's just a nice, standard, traditional Jazz sound. Not overly bright, not crazy beefy, not really a standout in the "bedroom practice" situation. But dude. Play it in a band setting and WOW! The thing just sounds SO GOOD. It's got enough growl to stand out, but not too much to be snarly or over-aggressive. It's incredibly even in response from string to string as well as up and down the neck. There aren't any "hot spots" or "dead spots" on this bass. I attribute that to both the fantastic neck construction/quality and the well-designed, fairly even response of the pickups. I'd love to see a frequency response graph of these things. I'm sure it's not flat across the board, but I imagine the curves are softer slopes and not terribly peaky in any one place. It's the closest to "perfect" I can think of. It's the only bass my drummer at church comments on and specifically requests, haha!

The recording from this past Sunday is up. If you dare subject yourself to mistakes and solidly average bass-playing, here it is. This is my first time playing with a pick. The song just needed it. If you skip through and listen to any of the other songs, I'm playing fingerstyle. I'm using just a little compression and a very tiny amount of low and low mid boost from a Trace Elliott Transit B pedal. Tone control is at about 70%, neck vol 100%, bridge vol 85-90%.

For some reason, I can't successfully post the link with a specific timestamp. Skip to about 14:25 to bypass the "dead air" in the beginning and get into some toanz.
https://www.youtube.com/live/NDgpc0p81vw?feature=share

Great worship song by the way! Sounds really nice!!!!

 

[musicman556]

Wow man thank you so much for bringing me up to speed on that stuff. I’m going to check out your video right now! Do you have any preference between the passive J and the Active J. I have a MIM Fender Fretless which I completed love - and when I was deciding on which stuff to keep and which to sell, well the fretless is still here! It’s passive and I really dig it. That’s why I’m thinking about checking out an Active J bass … just to kind of broaden out my arsenal if you know what I mean. I’d like to get a big rich R&B tone… What’s your thoughts?

Man I'm back and forth on which I "prefer" all the time. To me, it really boils down to this: where do you want to do your on-the-fly EQ adjustments? on the bass? on a pedal/outboard preamp? on the amp?

The limitation of a passive bass is that all you can really do is roll of high end with the tone knob. You can't add more "booty" at the bass beyond just adjusting the way are playing via technique, attack, etc. You can't add more mids to help "cut" through a muddy mix.

A bass with a preamp and 2 or 3 band EQ on board allow you more options as you play. For folks that want really fat and deep sounds that also want a lot of top-end bite, an onboard preamp allows them to absolute crank in sum fat bottom and sparkly string pop. The guys that love the "scooped" slap tone will often be found rocking a 5 string of some sort with a 3 band pre. Crank the bass, cut some mids, mildly boost the highs: golden. Doing that at the bass then allows more room for the amp's EQ to adjust for room deficiencies, cab strengths/weaknesses, etc.

All that being said... I pretty much never miss having a preamp on board when I'm playing my passive basses. I just play them differently, and adjust my outboard pre to account for it. At church I'm using that Trace Elliott Transit B, and it has a 5 band EQ. I also never miss my passive basses when I am playing one of my actives, lol! I am NOT a slap player at all, and am terrible at R&B. I think if I were playing those styles more, I'd be reaching for my MTD Kingston Super 5 for those gigs. That has dual humbuckers and a ridiculously powerful 3 band EQ preamp. Like... adding just a LITTLE bass EQ on that things shakes the house QUICK! It's one where I have to be VERY careful in adjusting when I'm hot in a mix. It will quickly push into clipping if the engineer doesn't already have a lot of compression on the channel or I don't have a lot of compression in the chain myself.

So I guess the answer as clear as mud. You should get an active Jazz. Or another passive Jazz.

Regarding MIJs, I think the only MIJs readily available as new in the USA are all passive. Both of my active Js were purchased from Ikebe Music in Japan and imported via FedEx. Another option is to add something like an Audere preamp to an existing passive bass. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] I haven't done this myself yet, but have played a few with this mod and I think they're great, high-quality units. Tons of options. Tossing one of those on a $300 Squier will teach you a lot and give you a lot to play with for not a lot of coin. I have another P bass build in mind, and I am leaning towards loading it with a Musicman humbucker and a 3 band Audere, just for giggles.

Regarding the active vs passive philosophy overall, I think we're all on a unique place in that journey. Some folks have gone all in on crazy intricate active things and love it. Some have done that, only to find that the options were overwhelming and unnecessary, then coming back to a simple P bass and total enlightenment. It's something no one else can answer for you, and no amount of reading will accurately determine what works best in your situation. There is so much at play. What is your pedal, amp, sound board, speaker cab, PA, etc, situation? What is the type of music being played? Are you in a narrow range of styles, or hitting a little bit of everything? The bass itself is just the starting point in a labyrinth of signal chain and audio processing devices between your fingers and the listener's ears.

Personally, I find myself playing my passives more often at church because we kind of play within a certain range of styles. Basically adjusting my attack and pickup blend on a Jazz is about all I need to cover enough territory. I recently joined a dadrock band and we're covering a wide variety of styles. I find myself leaning towards my actives there a little more for two reasons: 1) being able to quickly get some vastly different sounds 2) using the low boost as a little "cheater" here and there when the drummer gets rowdy and I need to keep up and I don't wanna go over and adjust the amp. Now, that second one goes out the window when we've actually got someone running FOH. At that point I just do what I do and leave levels up to them. No longer my responsibility.

Thanks very much for the kind words on the video.

 

[selowitch]

Most of my basses are active but I worry about the battery dying mid-gig. The latter reason is why I prefer passive basses, LOL.

 

[musicman556]

Most of my basses are active but I worry about the battery dying mid-gig. The latter reason is why I prefer passive basses, LOL.

Genuine question: Has that ever happened to you?

That thought pops into my head from time to time, but I change the batteries in all of them at least annually and have never run into any issues in over 15 years of using active basses.

The ONLY time I ever had a battery die was when I used to leave my old Epi TBird Pro V at church and someone used it without permission and left the thing plugged in for two weeks. Some teens came and played in the evening one Sunday and left everything plugged, and I was out of town the next week. I also am the kind of guy that brings spares of everything (these days I bring two basses to every gig.) I figured out the issue as soon as I plugged in for rehearsal, so 30 seconds and a battery swap later we were good to go. But yea, to die in the middle of a song would be super annoying!

I did have a guitar (Les Paul) die in the middle of a show once. The ground came loose off of a volume pot. I have no idea how that happened, but it did. That taught me that passive doesn't necessarily mean problem-free, haha! Also, yay for backup Strat!

 

[selowitch]

Genuine question: Has that ever happened to you?

No, but I change my batteries fairly frequently.

 

[PapaBearBass]

Man I'm back and forth on which I "prefer" all the time. To me, it really boils down to this: where do you want to do your on-the-fly EQ adjustments? on the bass? on a pedal/outboard preamp? on the amp?

The limitation of a passive bass is that all you can really do is roll of high end with the tone knob. You can't add more "booty" at the bass beyond just adjusting the way are playing via technique, attack, etc. You can't add more mids to help "cut" through a muddy mix.

A bass with a preamp and 2 or 3 band EQ on board allow you more options as you play. For folks that want really fat and deep sounds that also want a lot of top-end bite, an onboard preamp allows them to absolute crank in sum fat bottom and sparkly string pop. The guys that love the "scooped" slap tone will often be found rocking a 5 string of some sort with a 3 band pre. Crank the bass, cut some mids, mildly boost the highs: golden. Doing that at the bass then allows more room for the amp's EQ to adjust for room deficiencies, cab strengths/weaknesses, etc.

All that being said... I pretty much never miss having a preamp on board when I'm playing my passive basses. I just play them differently, and adjust my outboard pre to account for it. At church I'm using that Trace Elliott Transit B, and it has a 5 band EQ. I also never miss my passive basses when I am playing one of my actives, lol! I am NOT a slap player at all, and am terrible at R&B. I think if I were playing those styles more, I'd be reaching for my MTD Kingston Super 5 for those gigs. That has dual humbuckers and a ridiculously powerful 3 band EQ preamp. Like... adding just a LITTLE bass EQ on that things shakes the house QUICK! It's one where I have to be VERY careful in adjusting when I'm hot in a mix. It will quickly push into clipping if the engineer doesn't already have a lot of compression on the channel or I don't have a lot of compression in the chain myself.

So I guess the answer as clear as mud. You should get an active Jazz. Or another passive Jazz.

Regarding MIJs, I think the only MIJs readily available as new in the USA are all passive. Both of my active Js were purchased from Ikebe Music in Japan and imported via FedEx. Another option is to add something like an Audere preamp to an existing passive bass. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] I haven't done this myself yet, but have played a few with this mod and I think they're great, high-quality units. Tons of options. Tossing one of those on a $300 Squier will teach you a lot and give you a lot to play with for not a lot of coin. I have another P bass build in mind, and I am leaning towards loading it with a Musicman humbucker and a 3 band Audere, just for giggles.

Regarding the active vs passive philosophy overall, I think we're all on a unique place in that journey. Some folks have gone all in on crazy intricate active things and love it. Some have done that, only to find that the options were overwhelming and unnecessary, then coming back to a simple P bass and total enlightenment. It's something no one else can answer for you, and no amount of reading will accurately determine what works best in your situation. There is so much at play. What is your pedal, amp, sound board, speaker cab, PA, etc, situation? What is the type of music being played? Are you in a narrow range of styles, or hitting a little bit of everything? The bass itself is just the starting point in a labyrinth of signal chain and audio processing devices between your fingers and the listener's ears.

Personally, I find myself playing my passives more often at church because we kind of play within a certain range of styles. Basically adjusting my attack and pickup blend on a Jazz is about all I need to cover enough territory. I recently joined a dadrock band and we're covering a wide variety of styles. I find myself leaning towards my actives there a little more for two reasons: 1) being able to quickly get some vastly different sounds 2) using the low boost as a little "cheater" here and there when the drummer gets rowdy and I need to keep up and I don't wanna go over and adjust the amp. Now, that second one goes out the window when we've actually got someone running FOH. At that point I just do what I do and leave levels up to them. No longer my responsibility.

Thanks very much for the kind words on the video.

It’s funny you mention the option of the Audere preamp… about a year ago I watched a bunch of YouTube videos (I think it was Low End Lobster… I think…) and he was reviewing a bunch of J Bass preamp mods, one of which was the Audere. I remember really liking it a lot. So yeah man that might definitely work. Thank you for all the insight. I feel like I’ve gotten some great first hand knowledge from the people who would know! Nowhere near making a decision or pulling the trigger on anything but I feel like I have way more of a direction to keep thinking. Thank you very much for taking the time to point me in the right direction! Peace n the pocket

 

[Roger W]

The finish can wear off a maple board, letting the wood get grubby

Is that a problem?

 

[dave64o]

It’s funny you mention the option of the Audere preamp… about a year ago I watched a bunch of YouTube videos (I think it was Low End Lobster… I think…) and he was reviewing a bunch of J Bass preamp mods, one of which was the Audere. I remember really liking it a lot. So yeah man that might definitely work. Thank you for all the insight. I feel like I’ve gotten some great first hand knowledge from the people who would know! Nowhere near making a decision or pulling the trigger on anything but I feel like I have way more of a direction to keep thinking. Thank you very much for taking the time to point me in the right direction! Peace n the pocket

I have an Audere 4-band Z-mode preamp in a parts Jazz and it pairs beautifully with the vintage sounding Nordstrand pickups I have in it. Auderes are pretty transparent so, if you like the tone of your bass, an Audere will enable it to come through nicely.

 

[themickster]

Is that a problem?

Not if you don't mind the finish wearing off and looking grubby.

 

[spector_boogie]

Lakland Skyline series are hard to beat for that price point. Would be my pick!