• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Why Why Why (J-bass question)

eboe

eboe

Jul 14, 2005
462
24
54
Columbus, OH
#1
Why does it seem like the Fender Jazz bass and it's myriad boutique versions around here are considered to be the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the One Bass to lust after. It's always Jazz basses this or that, or if it's not the Jazz that is considered the holy grail, it's a MM. I know we all have to have different tastes, but so many people have some sort of J bass it's not even funny. I've played them, and don't find them versatile for the way I play at all. I find them thin. Maybe I'm just a P man at heart, I don't know. But I'm just curious as to why so much Jazz Bass love. Does anyone else here feel like I do? If so, speak up. Maybe I will make a "Never will own a Jazz Bass" club. that said, it's time to :hiding:
 
#2
eboe said:
Why does it seem like the Fender Jazz bass and it's myriad boutique versions around here are considered to be the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the One Bass to lust after. It's always Jazz basses this or that, or if it's not the Jazz that is considered the holy grail, it's a MM. I know we all have to have different tastes, but so many people have some sort of J bass it's not even funny. I've played them, and don't find them versatile for the way I play at all. I find them thin. Maybe I'm just a P man at heart, I don't know. But I'm just curious as to why so much Jazz Bass love. Does anyone else here feel like I do? If so, speak up. Maybe I will make a "Never will own a Jazz Bass" club. that said, it's time to :hiding:
Click to expand...

Why so much Jazz Bass love?
Simple.

Jaco happened.
 
#3
nope...it's just you.

diff strokes for many diff folks man.


i hate Buicks! why do people drive em? i dunno.... but they do! same with Benzs, always at the bottom of the CR list... but yet they are every 3rd car on Long Island...why's that? i dunno!

i guess we should all just agree to disagree.... but wheres the fun in that? i dunno?
 
#4
I don't think the original assertion is correct.

Granted, lots of people like the Fender jazz line, and just about every independent maker has copied it at one time or another, but it's not the be-all and end-all, and i don't see it discussed as such.

They're nice basses, many people like them. Move on - nothing more to see.
 
#5
Pilgrim said:
I don't think the original assertion is correct.

Granted, lots of people like the Fender jazz line, and just about every independent maker has copied it at one time or another, but it's not the be-all and end-all, and i don't see it discussed as such.

They're nice basses, many people like them. Move on - nothing more to see.
Click to expand...

I guess I have seen more virtual orgasms over Jazz basses on here than anything else. That might have something to do with my opinion.
 
#7
Life has taught me that if something is popular, it is for a reason. Jazz basses and their repective copies are highly regarded for their flexability and playability. That doesn't mean they are the best design, just that they are capable of performing lots of jobs and thus appeal to a lot of people. Personally I don't understand the Alleva-Coppolo hype on TB. There will never be an uglier headstock in the history of mankind.
 
#12
eboe

Maybe you just have not played the right Jazz bass OR MM.

I have one of each and both get can sound FAT and meaty as well as tight and narrow.

On my Jazz (granted, it's a Jazz V - but I am not talking about the B string) - if I dial the neck pickup up all the way and dial the bridge down - anything less that half - my jazz sounds like a giant! Big, round, gritty, fat - if I use a pick, it'll eat your face off!

My the Stingray (again, a 5'er) toggle position 3, Bass boosted just a touch, everything else flat - big - fat - giant...

I am guessing you may have an exaggerated concept of versatile, but both my basses can provide me a full spectrum of tone. From Jaco-esque burpy, to Phil Lesh phat (OK, I used the PH version to be hip - did it work?).

What is it you are trying to achieve, tone-wise?
 
#13
I love how there's still a misconception that all jazz basses sound alike. My jazz bass (Warmoth/Status build) sounds absolutely nothing like a Fender Jazz Bass, which sounds nothing like a modern Sadowsky, which sounds nothing like a Lakland JO... do you see where I'm going with this?

Its tantamount to saying that all cabs with 10" speakers sounds like ________ as compared to all cabs with 15" speakers which sound like _________.
 
#17
I have a couple of guitar buds, one higly skilled, the other plays at an acceptable level. Both love Jazz basses, simply love them.
One because he believes that only Jazz's have note distinction as compared to a P (remember only two types of basses exist). I wonder if P players may have pushed the thump and deep sound too much and 'forced' some to think along similar lines.
The other ia a J bass addict because he thinks Fender is the only real bass company and needs two PUPs and more knobs than a P offers. I think it is some form of security issue.
If I were to build a bass it would be a P body, J neck and a J PUP assembly, one vol., one tone and maybe a Push Pull pot to switch between series and parallel and a more full pick up guard , no metal plate.

I loved my 72 fretless P and my 70 P, and liked my MIM J.
 
#19
eboe said:
Why does it seem like the Fender Jazz bass and it's myriad boutique versions around here are considered to be the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the One Bass to lust after. It's always Jazz basses this or that, or if it's not the Jazz that is considered the holy grail, it's a MM. I know we all have to have different tastes, but so many people have some sort of J bass it's not even funny. I've played them, and don't find them versatile for the way I play at all. I find them thin. Maybe I'm just a P man at heart, I don't know. But I'm just curious as to why so much Jazz Bass love. Does anyone else here feel like I do? If so, speak up. Maybe I will make a "Never will own a Jazz Bass" club. that said, it's time to :hiding:
Click to expand...

I asked this question a couple of years ago on another site, and most of the responses dealt with the way music has changed since the invention of the Jazz.

You also have to figure in the number of "super Jazz" basses (the boutique ones) out there. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that with a P-bass, what you see is the sound you want when you're playing a P. Nothing has happened musically that would cause a lot of players to want flawless, extremely low action, active eq or a high-mass bridge on a Precision, at least not in the same numbers that might want the same on a Jazz. That thump, well as it works on a lot of tunes, is not a very complex tone to imitate. So not as many boutique P models appear, limiting the number of "virtual orgasms" (your term for boutique J appreciation) for a boutique P to a total far below those a boutique J.

I also think you're just a P man at heart. No one else would think to even word your first two posts here the way you've done.
 
#20
Mark Wilson said:
Why so much Jazz Bass love?
Simple.

Jaco happened.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. . . Jaco is only a fraction of the influence. Marcus happened, Larry Graham happened, Geddy Lee, JPJ, Joe Osborne (I credit him in part for making Fender oh-so-famous in the studio scene).

I don't model myself after any of these player, but I have tried over 60 different basses, and I always conclude that the Jazz design (dual single coil pickups) sounds the best. Ergonomically, I also find the Jazz body design the most comfortably; smae with the neck dimensions.

But, hey, like it's said countless times in this forum: to each its own. Play whatever floats you boat.


My short answer to the original poster: because it sounds, feels, and looks better than any other bass design.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back