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Your Jazz Bass settings: static or fluid?
- Thread starter dougjwray
- Start date
Both pickups up 100% almost always, and tone somewhere between 85%-100% depending on room/gig/newness of strings.
I also agree that it's hard to hear the nuance of rolling a bit off the VVT controls. I have a USA G&L jazz, and I've experienced the same 'once you roll X pickup off a certain %, there is no real sonic difference that I can hear from there to 0%' phenomena. Maybe it's there, but if it is, it's subtle and the people in the bar aren't gonna hear/notice/care. So I'll just leave it dimed and not worry about it, 'cause it sounds really good with both dimed.
I also think a solo bridge pickup J-bass tone is too thin for my liking, even with 60s spacing. Yes I love Jaco's playing, but no I can't get a great bridge-pickup-only sound that I love, with my rig and in my environment. An EBMM, a Reverend Thick Brick or a G&L MFD on the bridge, yeah, but I don't love the tone of a J-bass bridge pup solo'd. But I do have a Tort guard on my jazz, so don't kick me out of TB.....
I also agree that it's hard to hear the nuance of rolling a bit off the VVT controls. I have a USA G&L jazz, and I've experienced the same 'once you roll X pickup off a certain %, there is no real sonic difference that I can hear from there to 0%' phenomena. Maybe it's there, but if it is, it's subtle and the people in the bar aren't gonna hear/notice/care. So I'll just leave it dimed and not worry about it, 'cause it sounds really good with both dimed.
I also think a solo bridge pickup J-bass tone is too thin for my liking, even with 60s spacing. Yes I love Jaco's playing, but no I can't get a great bridge-pickup-only sound that I love, with my rig and in my environment. An EBMM, a Reverend Thick Brick or a G&L MFD on the bridge, yeah, but I don't love the tone of a J-bass bridge pup solo'd. But I do have a Tort guard on my jazz, so don't kick me out of TB.....
Bridge full
Neck 80%
Tone 80%
There’s definitely a difference between that and both full or bridge only.
edit
I do accept that the volume only really blends for the initial roll off and is then effectively off. Maybe my estimate of 20% is more like 10% but it does make a difference.
Neck 80%
Tone 80%
There’s definitely a difference between that and both full or bridge only.
edit
I do accept that the volume only really blends for the initial roll off and is then effectively off. Maybe my estimate of 20% is more like 10% but it does make a difference.
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I tend to always favour one pickup and leave the other one at 75-50ish. Which pickup depends on the gig. I rarely use both full on. I also choose the selection for the gig and leave it as is for the whole duration.
Both pickups all the way up, start with the tone wide open and roll back if things are sounding too brittle in the room.
Super dead nickel rounds. Neck full up, Bridge about 90% (just enough so that there is minimal hum), tone about 80-90%. No fiddling with it on a gig .... ever. And only minor tweaking at the amp. I'm definitely a Set and Forget player. All other adjustments are with my hands on the bass.
On a passive J I typically use one of three settings:
Both p’ups full: Scooped and dark - good for thumb stuff (which I’m not very good at) and modern pop.
Bridge p’up full, neck rolled off just enough to hear a difference (90%?): mid-heavy tone, very articulate - I like this for harder rock and punk and also for fretless.
Neck p’up full, bridge rolled off just enough to hear a difference (90%?):
Big, warm sound but still has good detail - a great, general-purpose bass sound for rock, blues and R&B.
In all cases I run the tone at full unless I need to correct for something. With active J basses I use pretty similar settings but I might blend a bit more in one or the other direction.
Most of the time I adjust the settings at the beginning of the set and just leave them but it kind of depends on the situation. I might need to change between songs once in a while.
Both p’ups full: Scooped and dark - good for thumb stuff (which I’m not very good at) and modern pop.
Bridge p’up full, neck rolled off just enough to hear a difference (90%?): mid-heavy tone, very articulate - I like this for harder rock and punk and also for fretless.
Neck p’up full, bridge rolled off just enough to hear a difference (90%?):
Big, warm sound but still has good detail - a great, general-purpose bass sound for rock, blues and R&B.
In all cases I run the tone at full unless I need to correct for something. With active J basses I use pretty similar settings but I might blend a bit more in one or the other direction.
Most of the time I adjust the settings at the beginning of the set and just leave them but it kind of depends on the situation. I might need to change between songs once in a while.
Having played variations on Jazz Basses since owning a real 1975 light ash body when I was in college in the early '80's, I tend to play with the neck full on and the bridge anywhere from 0 to 8 to get some scoop, but without the impedance volume drop of diming both pickups. In recent years, I have added a .01 microfarad capacitor in-line from the bridge pickup to its volume control wiper lug, and that solves the impedance volume drop. It also cuts a tad of volume, but I don't play burpy solos on the bridge pickup anyway.
Depends on the music. I usually solo the neck pickup when playing Blues or Soul music. For Rock and Funk I like both pickups on. I usually don't touch them after I set my sound, although I do like to play with the tone knob a lot.
I have two passive J's, both VVT, both 70's spacing. The one with DiMarzio Area J's and roundwounds tends to get neck pu dimed, bridge about 70%. It gets a little anemic/too polite with both PUs dimed. On my other Jazz with Fender Vintage '74 single coils and Labella flats is beefy as heck with both dimed, not at all scooped sounding--a very focused, tight, punchy midrange sound(P-like I dare say, it's actually surprising). I play with the tone knob on both all the time depending on the music. Ultimately I think the single coil vs 'bucker factor is huge, as is string choice.
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Bridge pup about 75%, neck 25%, on passive basses tone control is almost always around 25%.
Active basses, i typically cut the treble and boost the lows; I'll boost the mids on fretless.
I don't mess around with the pups much. but I'll change the EQ/tone to fit the song.
Active basses, i typically cut the treble and boost the lows; I'll boost the mids on fretless.
I don't mess around with the pups much. but I'll change the EQ/tone to fit the song.
I use the same settings for all rooms with a jazz bass as it was "learned" over decades.
Disregard every expert you ever heard.
Play with the controls and listen intently and make much smaller changes than most recommend. This full tone, half tone and off stuff is nonsence.
With that, I have both formats, VVT plus Concentric pots.
VVT - treble volume full. Bass volume backed of somewhere around a quarter. Do it slowly and you will get a WAH effect where the tone thickens dramatically and a strong note definition. Then back the tone off 3/4 and the tone and note again, will thicken.
Concentric pots is the same except you back both tones off 3/4.
The key factor is that bass volume, because they all demonstrate a WAH/note thickening when you approach a quarter backed off but it is only a small increment before changing back to a gradual volume loss. Am talking maybe around a .040-.050" window.
Try it. It will chainsaw through the mix and place bass where it belongs, driving the rhythm.
Disregard every expert you ever heard.
Play with the controls and listen intently and make much smaller changes than most recommend. This full tone, half tone and off stuff is nonsence.
With that, I have both formats, VVT plus Concentric pots.
VVT - treble volume full. Bass volume backed of somewhere around a quarter. Do it slowly and you will get a WAH effect where the tone thickens dramatically and a strong note definition. Then back the tone off 3/4 and the tone and note again, will thicken.
Concentric pots is the same except you back both tones off 3/4.
The key factor is that bass volume, because they all demonstrate a WAH/note thickening when you approach a quarter backed off but it is only a small increment before changing back to a gradual volume loss. Am talking maybe around a .040-.050" window.
Try it. It will chainsaw through the mix and place bass where it belongs, driving the rhythm.
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Neck pickup full on, bridge pickup rolled off just a bit, tone around 25% or so. I used to run both pickups full on and the tone in pretty much the same place as now, was pretty ignorant of the resulting scoop, but I did and still do most of my toneshaping on the amp anyway.
StaticI'm just curious. How many of you Jazz Bass users...
a) Always use one particular pickup selection-- your "signature sound"
b) Set the pickups for the room and leave them there
c) Tweak the pickup choice/blend throughout the gig, maybe even multiple times in each tune
No "I don't like Jazz Basses" responses, please!
Both pickups wide open, tone rolled off about 40%. It’s a passive J, 60s spacing. Pressurewounds that are a little dead right now.
GK head, Audiokinesis cabinets.
Sounds fantastic.
GK head, Audiokinesis cabinets.
Sounds fantastic.
Basically static.
I have a specific sound I’m always looking for with a JB. Once it’s dialed in I leave it alone. I also usually loosen the set screws and put all the knobs so the pointer is at noon. That way it’s easy for me to restore my settings if they ever get moved. It’s a trick I learned from a professional guitar roadie.
Actual settings can differ slightly from one JB to another to account for the sonic variations you get between individual instruments. But they’re all pretty close to the same settings: V1 @ 80%, V2 @ 70%, T @ 30-40%
I have a specific sound I’m always looking for with a JB. Once it’s dialed in I leave it alone. I also usually loosen the set screws and put all the knobs so the pointer is at noon. That way it’s easy for me to restore my settings if they ever get moved. It’s a trick I learned from a professional guitar roadie.
Actual settings can differ slightly from one JB to another to account for the sonic variations you get between individual instruments. But they’re all pretty close to the same settings: V1 @ 80%, V2 @ 70%, T @ 30-40%
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I have a knockoff jazz bass, an Ammoon. It's the only bass I have with half round strings on it, and I just run it with all knobs all the way up. Never tried it with a different string set up or different situation, it has always done what I needed it to.
played wide open for years.
these days, I'm adjusting quite a bit during the set.
I have a few main sounds:
wide open
bridge / tone rolled back about 1/4
sometimes neck only
rolling the tone up and down quite a bit on all of these
these days, I'm adjusting quite a bit during the set.
I have a few main sounds:
wide open
bridge / tone rolled back about 1/4
sometimes neck only
rolling the tone up and down quite a bit on all of these
