Precision-bass vs Jazz bass, same old story :)

#83
I prefer the P, but I love the way a J looks, so I have one, and two in the works (home designs and assemblies). The volume imbalance string to string on a J drives me kind of nuts, though. As such, I tend to run them more gainy (i.e. compressed), so the strings equal out a bit. All future J builds of mine will have staggered poles or adjustable poles, and I might have the stock pickups in my AV '64 staggered, eventually.

I'm also not a fan of the narrow nut on most Js. I tolerate it without much trouble on the AV '64, but all future builds will have at least 1 5/8" nuts, and maybe 1 11/16".

As for pickups, when using the neck pickups, Js don't really give me anything a P does not, but a P gives me a certain something to the tone that a J does not. That said, the differences are nearly imperceptible in the real world. I rarely use the bridge pickup or blended pickups on my J. In fact, one of the builds I mentioned does not have a bridge pickup.

In the end, I gig Ps and Js pretty indiscriminately from each other. I choose which one to play based on looks, or on a whim, usually.
 
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#84
They both have their place. I personally don't like the neck on a 4 string Jazz, the 4 string p-bass just feels better in my left hand. Tonewise, it depends on what I'm playing. For blues and rock, I prefer a p-bass but, for funk and jazz, I prefer a j-bass. I can get pretty close to both with my 5502 so that is what I play.
 
#91
I'll take Ernie Watts to block, Peter.



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#92
BeefPie84 said:
Ok man. You're very chatty here so just seems to me that you may not be the gigging musician you talk about.

If I'm wrong my apologies.
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I played for a living for over two decades. I gig a lot less these days because I have two young daughters and a day job. But I still have a band, and I still do fill-in gigs, AMD my phone still rings for more gigs...... not that I owe you any explanation. ;)

That really doesn't change AT ALL your weird "logic" from before. Diming the tone knob on a P bass has literally ZERO to do with whether or not you "understand the band". That simply makes no sense at all. None. If I had never played a gig in my life, that wouldn't change the fact that the only value to that statement is entertainment. :thumbsup:
 
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#93
martinc said:
So if you "dime" the tone control...does that mean full bass or full treble? I usually set my P bass tone control at around 75 percent of the way towards full bass and make any further adjustments for the room or the band using the amp controls.
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Dimed is all the way up.... full bright. There is not bass or treble boost on a passive tone knob. When the tone knob is all the way up, you are sending the whole signal from your bass down the line. You are neither adding nor taking away anything. As you turn the tone knob down, you take away higher frequencies. Think of it as a filter. Your tone knob all the way up is no filter at all. The more you turn it down, the more you filter out higher frequencies.
 
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#94
I have both. I play my Jazz bass more often than the Precision. I like the neck and the tone options of the Jazz bass but find that there times when I prefer the Precision sound. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with either. There's a reason why they are still the most widely used basses in the industry.
 
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#97
Lull TP5
Picture if you took a music man pickup, split it in 2, moved the pickups about an inch from each other and overwind them. It’s like Stingray and Jazz Bass had an offspring that started training with steriods.:thumbsup:
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#98
I was playing guitar for 32 years at the time, but my shortish fingers had me muting strings. This made me sound like an amateur. I figured the bass is just the top 4 strings, and with larger strings having more space between them. . .. .

So I decided on the bass I wanted. It was an American Precision in Olympic white with a rosewood neck. I called Guitar Center and they had one. Amazing. Went to pick it up, and they also had a Jazz. The salesperson was accommodating, and I shared that I wasn't a bassist. Before purchase, not knowing a damn thing--I wanted to hear both. He offered, "how about I play a few things, the same things, on both basses, and you decide?"

Great idea said I. Same amp, same licks, and I went home with a black American Jazz with maple fretboard. Could care less about the color, the sound just spoke to me.

Love it.
 
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#100
loud bassist said:
Do you prefer the p or the j-bass? and why? I'm just curious, I love the sound of both but I only have a J-bass
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I don’t think it much matters. It’s how well you can play it that counts. I will say this, I prefer a P for general type recording when you are looking for that definitive electric bass voice.

Other than, that just about any bass P, J, PJ, JP, or whatever of any brand that plays in tune, for recording or live performances, as long as it’s the voice YOU like, should be YOUR favorite. Keep in mind, a good EQ can work wonders on tone if you know, or your sound tech should know how, to adjust it properly.
 
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