Jazz or Precision Bass - What's your preference?

[Space_Expert]

I own an 81 Ibanez P-bass that's got a really fat tone and I've kinda grown accustomed to it. However, I like the variety of tones that a Jazz bass can get due to the fact you've got two pickups to work with instead of one. Also, the neck is skinnier which makes it easier to play since my hands are on the small side. For a live situation I'd probably go with a jazz, but I'll always gravitate towards a P-bass in terms of sound.

Now if I could get a P-bass with a jazz neck, I'd be really happy.

[Vis]

Wish granted. http://www.fender.com/products/search.p ... 0146500323



Ugly as all fuck though.

[Dougler]

It all depends on the style I'm playing, if I want a good funk tone, I go for a Jazz Bass, and a P Bass for more warm fat tones.

[Billy3000]

Wish granted. http://www.fender.com/products/search.p ... 0146500323



Ugly as all fuck though.

There's other options besides that. But I think that's the only fully passive model that they offer that combo on right now. The new american deluxes have an active/passive switch I believe, but I think they have Jazz necks. Also the MIM Deluxe series p bass has a j neck but it is all active. If you can find one of the older "california series" p basses it has the p bass body, j bass neck and p and j pickups and it's all passive. The singer of my band has one that I use as my backup. I love it.

[NickS]

I'm definitely a J-guy for the body/neck feel and tonal control, as I do a lot of pickup switching and will go between finger thumping over each p'up and picking when needed.

Me too.

[creepingfur]

I started playing bass with a P-bass, then I switched to a J-bass for the finer control and, for me, the much better hand feel once I got decent and realized the P-bass was getting in the way sometimes. I used my P-bass as my backup, but everytime I used it, it felt, I guess Clunky compared the j-bass.

Eventually though - I tried a Epiphone / Gibson Thunderbird, which for me give me a lot of easy control over the pickups and has the best neck feel (with my hands) of any bass I've played. I also love the look of it and the unique sound the thunderbird, with amazingly fat mids, from with those giant passive pickups... It adds a lot character to the tone.

That said - as much as I love the Thunderbird and it's tone / character, the J-bass is a more versatile all around bass (is there anything you can't make it work with? ) and still use it on certain things and as my backup. It's a great bass.

[knpknpknp]

I grew up in a house that had a mid sixties precision bass, and it gave me that bias for life. I do love the look of the jazz bass, but I really just prefer the sound and feel of precisions. I do have pretty big hands though, and I am more of a stay on the root kind of guy anyways. I do like walking to the next logical note, but I hate the whole wanky tapping wooten bass stuff. I almost prefer my basses to be beefy in feel as well as sound.

Given, right now my only bass is a 78 Fender Musicmaster short scale (with a new pickup in it), and I love it. I am almost thinking of doing the bronco mod to get another cheap one to add something more drastic to it. Maybe a Hammond Darkstar pickup.

[Billy3000]

Given, right now my only bass is a 78 Fender Musicmaster short scale (with a new pickup in it), and I love it. I am almost thinking of doing the bronco mod to get another cheap one to add something more drastic to it. Maybe a Hammond Darkstar pickup.

It seems as though there were a lot of musicmaster basses built in '78. I have one and I'm pretty sure at least 2 other guys on here have '78s as well.

[hotrodperlmutter]

those are the only ones i ever find. i'm guessing either the serials are whack, or people just don't know.

[Billy3000]

those are the only ones i ever find. i'm guessing either the serials are whack, or people just don't know.

Actually now that I remember the serial numbers in the late 70's are kinda wack. A late 70's serial number could mean it was made even up to '81 or '82.

While I was trying to date my '77 Twin Reverb, I read on a website that had gotten some of their information from a guy who worked on the amplifier assembly line in that era, and he was saying that there was a huge box of chassis that were all made and given serial numbers in 75 or 76 and for the next few years they would just take a chassis from that box when they were building one so it's hard to date an amp from that era. He was also saying that sometimes the big wigs would be standing behind them while they were working with stopwatches and would time them on how fast they could build an entire amp. Which obviously led to pretty bad quality control.

[wwrrss]

Precision Bass with a DiMarzio Split P in it.

[kim]

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



that's how much i love a good precision, i don't care about no jazz basses, i don't like the slim neck, the body contours, the pickups, i don't like anything about it, yet i can see why it might be more popular...but i love a good precision bass, chunky neck, ballsy sound, and i also like the way it looks.

[NickS]

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[Dannymec]

Aerodyne Jazz. Easily my favorite bass right now.

[Berto]

Stingray.

i went from a jazz bass to a stingray, never turning back

[Billy3000]

I really wish I didn't think the aerodyne jazz was so ugly... it's so lightweight which would be awesome for me because I have back problems and I love the pickup configuration but I really just can't get past the way that it looks.

[Mike]

I don't play bass but in my experience of hearing those of friends I like the styling of the J-Bass but the punchy thump of the P-Bass. There are a lot of good j-bass players though.

Park me here.

I own a Squier Classic Vibe P-Bass and while I love it, I wish it was as pretty as a Jazz Bass, and had the same neck, however it does the punchy thump thing the Jazz Bass just can't.

[hugh]

After a bit of trial and error, I've figured out my sound. Yankee Jazz Bass (string through body, series/parallel switch which I don't use), bridge pickup on full vol, neck at about 25%. Sounds nice and nasal/punchy with gain.

To be totally honest though, after trying out a bunch of basses at the shop, they all sound the fucking same to me.

[thickarms]

i'd like an kaet bush