50s industrial, rather.... you know, bright red curvy cars, with white little bindings along the doors, with those chrome bumpers.
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which one would you choose...
- Thread starter bon viesta
- Start date
i’ve heard people say it, and i actually agree, but the thing about jazz basses is the lows are DEEPER but you get bigger highs. and of course scooped mids. basically, think of the jazz bass as the bass drum and cymbals of a drum kit, and the p bass as the big meaty power toms going down in a fill.
The Precision. The simplicity. The ease of dialing tone. The look and heritage. It always sounds good. The neck is my preference even with my small hands.
If looks was all that mattered to me I would go with the Jazz, if Tone and thump was more important to me I would go with the Pbass, try to get both even if you have to go for more affordable ones, there are a lot of great Pbass and Jazz clones out there!
Both. Take out a 2nd mortgage if you have to, raid your children’s college fund, hit up your rich brother in law, whatever. Buy both!
I prefer the string spacing of Jazz, which is more important to me and why it got my vote.
FWIW I prefer the look of the precision though...
FWIW I prefer the look of the precision though...
The J is prettier. I don' like tort and burst on a P, but a J can pull off a fancy dress like that ...
just got done finishing jamming (to myself) on the p bass i’ve got. the neck is comfy but at the same time sometimes strains my thumb/palm on certain song keys. the tone, paying attention to is, is very very tasty. but it could be just a little fatter (a jazz won’t do that), but in the debilitated state that bass is in, the tone it has it fits sooooo well with the with the songs i’m playing. i think i may be entering the p bass camp... 
i cannot slap, and if i knew how i probably wouldn’t use it. as much as i love chris squire, his bass tone (raspy crunch) is pretty impractical for most average songs. same goes for the ged jazz, or basically just a jazz bass with a 70s bridge pickup position, which was infamously similar in sound to the ricky. basically what i’m trying to say is as cool as a unique sounding crunchy bass may be, it’s impractical for regular use. i ideally want a bass that can stand out in all of its fat round slightly crunchy glory, but at the same time just slide right into the mix. a la peter cetera in the first couple chicago albums.
i don’t think weight will be an issue with either of these if they’re the average alder and maple basses. my current bass is feather light (a hair under 8 lb) and it feels pathetic, no heft. it feels like a piece of plastic slung onto me.
I'm surprised no one else has commented on this already, you've made three different posts about how terrible your current bass is set up: eroding nut, 30 year old strings etc. I'd fix these issues and have a decent set up done and you may have a real player on your hands. Then your choice would be easy- get the jazz and now you have both 
