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Your pick for best PJ under $1000

#121
J Mon said:
I”m looking for recommendations on a good all around PJ but don’t want to go over 1000 dollars. I really like the sounds I can get from a PJ pickup configuration. I also would like a thinner, Jazz-like neck profile and 4 strings. which one is the best in this price range?
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Fender Jazz Aerodyne has the thinner jazz neck, and yet a PJ, looks cool and costs under 1K. They're Japanese and of excellent quality.
 
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#123
My 2011 MIM Reggie Hamilton with a modern player j-neck is a very nice instrument IMO. I might be mistaken, but i believe the modern player neck is a bit thinner than the original RH one? If you can find one on the used market it could be worth a try.
 
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#124
joel406 said:
But for $1000 or a little less you could find a used American Standard Jazz. That neck pickup can do a p-bass sound and more. And you'll have a bass that will last you a lifetime. I haven't seen a lot of 60 year old Ibanez or Yamahas out there.
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You haven't seen a lot of 60-year-old Fender Jazz basses around either, considering Fender introduced them 59 years ago.

Yamaha wasn't making basses at all 60 years ago, but people still play 40-year-old BB basses.
 
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#125
Killed_by_Death said:
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SR650EABS-large.jpg
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Wish you hadn't posted this (: Saaaweeet!
 
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#126
The Godin Shifter Classic 4 String is KILLER. Made in Canada / USA. The build quality is amazing, tone is rock solid. 4-wayblade switch allows for Neck, Bridge, Paralell and Series. It can be smooth and buttery, tubby palm muted sounds, excellent slap tones and gut shaking picked tones. A Jazz like neck too! Try one, then you’ll know the secret..:those dang Canucks are finishing off Basses and guitars in the US cheaper and better than US companies will.
 
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#128
The prices seem to be going up a little, but the (now discontinued) Music Man Caprice would be my pick if you can get one for under $1k. I paid $900 for mine used from GC. The neck is fantastic, one of the best I've ever played: a Jazz profile and nut width with 7.25" radius and a really great-feeling oil finish. The pickups are stacked humbuckers but the P in particular has a great "authentic" tone. Worth every penny IMO.
 
#129
joel406 said:
You can go and get any bass you want. There's always a lot of love for the other brands out there. But for $1000 or a little less you could find a used American Standard Jazz. That neck pickup can do a p-bass sound and more. And you'll have a bass that will last you a lifetime. I haven't seen a lot of 60 year old Ibanez or Yamahas out there.
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Except the OP specifically asked for a PJ.
 
#134
'80s (84-89, I'm pretty sure) Japanese Fender 'Jazz Bass Special' (really a P bass with a J neck and P/J pickups). They play and sound WAY better than similar American Fenders (I hate it, but that doesn't make it any less true), have a unique TBX tone control (I think it's just like a sweeping passive high/low-pass filter kinda deal, whatever it is, it sounds fantabulous) and a non-standard Fender pickup set with bigger polepieces than normal. They get a really good burpy 'Jaco' kinda thing from the bridge J and an even better honky, FAT 'Geezer Butler' thing from the P, equally easily and with a lot of things in between.

Duff from Guns N Roses probably most famously played them, and I have one fretted and one fretless (both with Warmoth Dinky J bodies- I've never cared for the look of a P-bass, particularly with no pickguard). They're absolutely awesome, kinda cool and vintage, and damn nice ones can be had for 500-800 semolians.

I've never played or heard a P/J at anywhere near that price that could come close to them. In fact, the new EBMM Caprice (not REALLY a P/J) is the only mass-produced P/J I've really ever heard or played that I liked better, and that's probably because I'm a Music Man FREAK and they sound like a passive Music Man.

I'm fairly sure Fender made a 'Duff McKagen Signature P bass' that in theory should be the same thing, and I'm fairly sure they were Mexican and therefore probably even cheaper, but I can't recommend one as I don't know for sure that it's as good sonically and can virtually guarantee it doesn't play as well. Fender Japan also made an active version called, I believe, a Precision Bass Power or Jazz Bass Special Power alongside the Jass Bass Special.

I've played the Standard and American equivalent basses, the JBS is indeed 'special', they're not even in the same ballpark.
 
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#135
levis76 said:
P/J, slim neck, won’t break the bank? Sounds like Ibanez all the way. Lower end models may need a p’up and electronics swap but they cost a lot less than your $1K limit and more importantly they can be found literally everywhere.
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Yeah, those Ibanez P/J basses do play awesome for what they are and are everywhere and cheap. The passive ones sound like garbage, but the EMG GZR pickup set comes with all the pots and a jack and solderless connections, so even an utter novice should be able to make the swap and they sound KILLER. Obviously, there are virtually limitless electronics options if you want to piece it together and have the tools/knowledge or are okay with hiring it done. The active ones are pretty lackluster, though, even the nice ones. You might like them, I don't.
 
#140
Dean N said:
If you're a fender guy, the Duff PJ, to me, defines the PJ. Neck might not be thin enough though. The Aerodyne might be a better fit.

If not, then Ibanez. The 90s Ibanez basses built in Korea are insanely underrated. Find one in the PJ configuration and color you like, and even after swapping out the guts to pretty much whatever you like, you'll probably be well under budget.
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you can find an original MIJ Fender power jazz for less that the MIM Duff model. It’s what his original one was and what the signature model is based on. Search online, throw in some SD pu’s and it’s the same thing
 
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