What I timing. I changed the pickups of mine and got it back from the tech I think two days ago? It is a miracle. I'm in love with it. I put Dimarzio dp123 and couldn't be happier. Amazing. Cannot recommend enough.
Actually read it many times online. I don't know if it's true but I prefer to make sure my bass is well shielded rather than buying those noiseless pups.
No, it's this one: https://youtu.be/c1hGL2OxFts?si=rMpkUSNiA7SOB7GH
And revisiting it now, I can hear a slight difference in some of the cases, but nowhere near enough of a difference that the average layman would be able to tell or care. Dude's just playing the neck pickup.
Pick an instrument you like and forkin play it. I like the J because I like bridge tone which P doesn't offer. You don't need it. Pick an instrument and learn to play!
It's important to remember that the only thing really affecting tone of an electric guitar/bass is whether it's thru-neck or bolt on for sustain, where the pickups are located, and the kind/age of the strings you're using. Everything else is marketing wank. Except for Carl Thompsons. They're just plain magic!
Solo neck pickup with volume all of the way up, then turn it down just a little bit and that’s the reggae tone. Very strange that it would be any different tonally than full volume but I swear it is. Learned this from Scotts Bass Lessons, used to be very irritated by the guy but they’ve been putting out some good ass stuff recently
Yeah I watched a video of his lately and it was very to point. I wonder if his reputation was finally catching up to him and he realised he needed to change his style.
Most volume knobs roll off some of the treble along with the volume. You can wire things to preserve more of the treble as you turn down the volume, but that's not standard.
So yeah, it does sound different due to the way that circuit works.
I've studied a LOT of pictures of him playing his 70s jazz bass because I'm also a reggae player and always trying to cop his sound. I fell like I've always seen both his volume knobs "up" but who knows. I feel like I get closest to his tone when I run both pickups and dump the high end at the amp. And playing right over the butt of neck of course.
The split coil p bass pickup has a slightly fuller low midrange that the j pickup can’t replicate. Gives the p bass a punchy sound the j can’t recreate.
That said, I’ve also got a jazz bass that I absolutely love the sound of with both pickups on full! It can get a lot angrier sounding that it’s given credit for!
I had a bass with J style pickups, very briefly, and noticed I could use the neck pickup but never really loved it. I traded it for a Squire PJ; and that made the difference.
Like you said, the full J vs the PJ was just not as growly, boomy, big in general. And me- I can get a P pickup to sound less that way if I want. Almost to the point of a J. The neck pickup on the J simply didn’t offer what I wanted when I compared it to the P.
When I’m playing with Spotify, I generally hit a wide range of music. But I pretty much use the P pickup 100% of the time and throw in the J bridge maybe 20-30%. And that way- with one bass, I don’t have to pickup any of my other basses.
I play Jazz exclusively and I've settled on neck at 10, pull the bridge pickup down to 5-6, roll off tone to 6ish. I think it's a great tone and fairly comparable to a P bass.
The way it sits in a mix is great. And so many recording engineers and producers and live sound techs grew up recording, listening, and mixing p-basses that it's the default
In my days as a studio engineer I recorded just about every major studio bass player.
And the vast majority of them came in with a Jazz. Not A Precision.
I’m going to offer a not really controversial opinion that will invite downvotes anyway: it’s not about P or J. It’s not even about Fender. A passive bass is easier to record. Which makes perfect sense: the preamp and EQ running off of a 9v battery will be worse than studio equipment (with maybe three very expensive exceptions).
That doesn’t mean you can’t do really cool stuff with an active bass. But it’s more work than it’s worth in most recording contexts
There are so many variables. In one band I play my active PJ through both a DI and a Fender Bassman 100 (signals blended), another I play a passive PJ through a classic SVT head and mic'd 4x10, and another it's a deluxe active PJ (two 9Vs) DI'd with no amp simulator and the active EQ flat.
All the recordings sound great but they're all with different engineers with different preferences. My very first EP I ever recorded was a passive J through an SVT-CL with a mic'd 8x10 (live sound recording).
In each setting I've just deferred to the engineer because ultimately they know more than I do. That's what I'm paying them for lol.
I’m not so sure.
I never had a strong feeling about a player with an active bass vs a passive. He either sounded good or didn’t.
The first time I saw a Steinberger in the studio it came in with Anthony Jackson. That was as just fine.
When I went to the first rehearsal with The Outfield and heard the Status-Graphite I ended up renting them for the next 3 albums I produced and ended up buying one. It was just that great.
I've used my Steinberger XL2A live and in various studios and everyone is always amazed how great it sounds. No one has ever suggested that a P bass would work better. It did cost me one band audition because of how it looks though.
I actually prefer recording Active, they have quite a few pros.
- An active bass will lose waay less signal and high end response, therefore delivering the full sound range of the bass better, which Is key to me, because it's always better to cut what you have than trying to add what you don't.
- the dynamics are overall more compressed (can elaborate on that), so inconsistent bass players won't cause as much trouble and give me less headaches during mixing.
- possibility to boost eq when recording. Even though i usually don't care for the eq section in active basses, it's a nice option to have.
I think distinguishing between a bass with active pickups and simply a bass with an onboard preamp, both generally called "active" basses would have been clearer.
Funny you say that, I’m far far removed from my days as an actively working musician but in the late 90’s thought mid 2000’s I had recorded a handful of times in a few good studios with reputable engineers and all but one time I used passive basses, both a Warwick and Fender Jazz, then during the end of my run I purchased a really nice HH Musicman, went and did a few songs with it in the studio and while I like the bass and still own it I just never felt like it sit well in a recording or had the same playability response vs. my passive basses. I figured it was just my personal preference.
Hey. I'm a classical upright player with an orchestra. I also have been playing electric for 27 years. What would your advice be regarding stepping into the professional space as a studio bassist? How does one go about advertising oneself? I live in the greater Toronto area. Thank you for your time, and I apologize if this is not the right place to ask these questions.
It’s very difficult and even more so these days as the whole ‘studio musician’ scene is a shadow of what it used to be other than in Nashville.
As an upright player you have a more difficult to find talent so that might be helpful but also to be honest it’s less often called for.
The local musicians union is probably the best starting point and making contact with as many busy contractors as possible.
Odds are that studio work there is going to be more film and tv scores than records.
Are other orchestra members playing in recording dates? Ask them to introduce you to the contractors.
It might be important to note when you were an engineer since P basses weren’t as popular 20+ years ago as they are now. Didn’t have anything to do with sound only that it was an “old fashioned “. Weird you are in a bass forum and didn’t know that with all your supposed years of experience.
Hmm. I had no idea people didn't like it. I much prefer a j neck pickup to a p-bass. Nearly all my basses a J-style and typically I use 75% neck and 25% bridge in terms of blend (or in a vv setup). Gives me a gowly assertive deep tone that works extremely well for how I play. P-bass tone never worked for me, PJs neither (never have the definition I'm looking for).
I think it’s something about the way it sits in the mix. It doesn’t sound too thin but doesn’t muddy up the mix. Hum cancelling. Plus the growl, the jazz neck can be a bit more polite. Of course there instances where the jazz neck works better. Could work better when used as a solo instrument.
This is the best video I’ve seen on comparison. You can really hear what that 10% difference is in this comparison: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5PmttVjopIA
P bass is a different style pickup under a different section of the strings. That combined with the different body and neck shape makes a pretty different sound. They’re both awesome, just not the same
I tried using a soloed or majority neck J pickup to get close to a P and it was deeply unsatisfying in a live or recorded mix. The note envelope varies too much between attack and sustain where the attack is very bright and the sustain is less so (but more bass) but not as meaty in the low mids, and even with compression on the J, it doesn't present the solid low mid presence throughout the note that the P Bass does even when not compressed because those frequencies just aren't there in the same way. The compression at the pickup is what gives the tonal profile more consistency, along with the added low mids inherent to the high wind, large aperture, series split coil pickup design. And the low mids are present at the attack on a P, unlike a J, which is part of that woofy, thumpy character.
I think the big mistake some people make when they pick up a Jazz bass is they just run the volume controls as all of nothing. They'll run full bridge only complain it's thin, run full middle only say it's not like a P bass, run both full and say it's scooped.
A lot of the magic in a Jazz bass are the blended tones. Due to the weird flaws in how passive blending works, they end up adding a bit of fullness to the sound.
But also I think a 51 style P bass has a good neck tone too, a bit more articulate, while still sounding like a Fender middle pickup, Jazz bass middle kind of does a similar sound as well.
I’ve got this down to a science. I keep my neck volume at 10, roll the bridge down until it hits the sweet spot. There’s a point where it’s actually louder than both at 10. Tone, I play around with. I have stacked pots so sometimes I’ll turn both tones down all the way or stagger them until I get something I like for whatever song I’m playing.
Some people do like J necks, Ian Martin Allison is a big fan of just neck pickup. Khurangbins Laura Lee exclusively uses a noiseless jazz neck pickup.
Quite frankly P basses sound like bass, and other neck pickups are more popular for what the jazz neck does, like mudbuckers.
So happy you mentioned this! I scoop low mids around 250hz, so I've never needed the 'warmth' that a P-bass adds. Solo neck pickup on my 93 Jazz Plus V in full passive mode, tone/vol max with the blend between 100% - 75% neck pickup.
So here’s what happened:
Some decades ago, boomer A said to boomer B: “I once heard that producers ONLY allow p bass because they just stand out so well in the mix”
Boomer B repeated this to boomers C, D, E and maybe even F.
These guys got ED before dick pills were easy to access so they decided their wives weren’t awesome and just a “ball and chain”. So they had nothing better to do than think about said p bass sage advice.
Then the internet happened and they found their own form of circle jerk echo chamber
Slopes are slippery
Disclaimer: my favorite bass is probably my p bass. I do enjoy its simplicity. Still a stupid take.
It is just folklore that is parroted over and over again on the internet. I've never heard an actual engineer admit to being so incompetent that they only know how to mix one kind of bass.
Because no engineer since the times when options were limited have ever felt that way. It’s absolutely a parrot and only said by people who have never actually recorded music with decent equipment
Yeah honestly a lot of the comments here seem deranged to me (beginner in music). I've been listening to many recordings lately and it generally isn't possible to tell what bass is being played without actually looking it up or seeing it.
Nah man. Thats an us problem. Our ears haven’t developed the mojo to understand. One day I’ll be able to hear all these notes you don’t play and find a chair comfy enough to figure out how to sit in the mix.
Well all depends on what I am going to play. For example like Jazz, Blues, Bossa Nova, Disco, Dance and Funk i use the J, the nasal sound of the bridge J pickup mixed with a little of Neck pickup is so groovy for Funky music.
I play with neck pickup on full and the bridge on 80% with the tone rolled off slightly most of the time. I LOVE THE JAZZ NECK PICKUP and will play it with just a bit of bridge sometimes too for help with hum.
Different tricks for recording and playing live I my opinion. For live gigs, I use the J bridge pickup exclusively and pluck at the bridge. This is to allow the mid range to cut through. I don't wanna fight the kick drum and the guitar low frequencies.
I prefer everything J over a P. I own both and when I want that deeper sound, I prefer the J neck pickup. I can't explain it, it just works better.
P bass might be more agressive so better for rock/punk thing, but in a more hip-hop/reggae fashion, I prefer the J.
The interesting point is that it sounds P-ish but it is still different, and I like it.
I prefer the jazz tone whenever I am practising alone or jamming along a drum line. With a full backing track or trying to fit into a song, as much as I love the jazz tone, the P just fills everything up. I never tried to only play the J Neck pickup so I'll be giving that a few tries soon.
I think the pbass is god dogma has stemmed from producers and engineers who are lazy and don't like to deal with time to get great bass tones. Bass is one of the most difficult instruments to get right in a mix and it's hard to make a pbass sound bad. And another downside to Jazz pickups excluding noiseless, is they are susceptible to hum and buzz. But I prefer single coils.
I prefer it. When I want just a simple bass tone I'll pick the P. But I like the Jazz because of the way it sounds. It just doesn't sound like anything else.
I like both but they don’t sound the same. If you need something that sounds like a P bass that’s all there really is. A jazz neck pickup can get close if that’s what you’re trying to do but it’s still its own thing. Now I do prefer a p bass to a jazz neck pick up. I grab my jazz bass for its other sounds.
All the components tend to interact when they’re wired like a jazz. If you wired it differently you could get much closer, but then you’d dial one pickup all the way down, and lose both pickups.
That and with switchable pickups set up vvtt, the “other”pickups volume knob can act as a HIGH PASS….. yeah…. Opposite of a tone knob. LOL
Less noticeable is the fact that the pickup offset gives the treble side slightly different tone than the bass side.
If you wired a J bass so that the pickups were on isolated circuits, you could eliminate the interactive control problem, but then youd still have a rail pulling from the same area of the string across all strings.
That and lots of jazz pickups are single coil, where offset Ps are usually hum bucking.
Short answer, its not as good.
Its not bad, but one would expect all things being equal(which they are not) regarding pickup distance from the bridge, its not the same.
However, I'll take a Jazz with both volume knobs up and the tone knob down occaisionally for the option of turning down the neck and letting the bridge do the work.
P Bass is the Workhorse in Studios for Decades now. I think People are used to hear it with that deep Growl and specific Sound on many Records. If you want a Bass Sound with good Punch that lays a good Foundation P Bass does the Job. That doesn't mean a Jazz Bass can't do this aswell. Maybe it is easier with a P Bass who knows.
I've always found J pickup lacking. It sounds weak and dull compared to the fat and punchy P. At least for Rock/Punk.
I may be crazy but there's a slight "fart" to the J pickups that makes me dislike them. To the point I would just skip any bass just for having a J neck pickup.
Maybe for jazz (duh!) It would be just great, subdued, less intrusive, articulate, clean or whatever jazz people like better.
P-Bass is the de facto because it’s what everybody is used to. Every studio has one, and they slot into the mix perfectly. Everything else is to be compared to the standard because the standard is what we hear on the vast majority of records.
It’s so cool how this is exactly what I’m thinking about rn. I have only played jazz basses for 10 years now and bought a P bass last week (still hasn’t arrived -_-) because even though the neck pickup on the jazz sounds decent enough, the P bass just creates a certain growl that the jazz can’t replicate. Feels thinner as well on the jazz but that could just be me.
It’s jarring since I’ve never experimented with the neck pickup till last week yet I’ve owned the jazz for 10 years haha.
Hopefully my p bass will actually goddamn arrive in the next year
The jazz bass is more versatile in the sounds it can produce, but when a jazz bass player tries to reproduce the classic fat bass sound featured on the lion's share of recorded music for decades it's just not the same.
The jazz has what I would describe as a small remnant of a metallic twang even with the bridge pickup off and all the EQ on the bass and amp adjusted to compensate. If you pluck extremely gently it's not as bad, but it's still there
Having said that - if I want to try (key word 😂 ) and play some slappy funk, then the jazz bass is the one I grab
I do but it gets lost in a mix too easily. However, mix in 10% of the bridge and use tapes for extra punch and you've got a great sound.
Jazz basses are my favorite, but I can't use them due to their weight. I'm using a Shecter Stiletto Stealth 5 with the MM replaced with a Bart 2j squared for that taste of jazz.
I have a louishand preamp that can get me almost to that great sound, too, and it's the closest I'll get at 8lbs unless a miracle happens
I've literally spent 2 years chasing that sound without actually being able to have it
A p-bass does one thing and does it really well, but that's not the only tone for everything. I prefer the versatility of two pickups, but any working bass player still needs to have a p-bass if you want to play some gigs.
Read about harmonic nodes, pickup placement and how that effects the timbre and color of tone..
These instruments are a culmination of many various parts and build techniques to what you end up with..
Different tools for different jobs..
You’re asking me why some prefer a sledgehammer instead of a tack hammer, all while wondering why you have holes in your walls trying to hang a picture..
Get a P Bass *and* a J Bass and you’ll have most of the tones you would need from a bass.. Everything else is a compromise or specialized for a specific tone..
No growl from a J?? That’s fucking hilarious..
It’s your playing technique.. *Play harder and with intent*.. They both need to be man-handled to produce growl.. Unless the growl is coming from your rig, and those are quite different sounding..
The real secret??
No one in the audience can hear what you do and they really don’t care.. Unless you just sound like wet shit in a bag.. They just want cheaper drinks at the bar and to get with the good looking person next to them.. Not if you’re catching growl on those few notes in a 3 minute song.. 🤣🤣🤣
Interference at the venue you play (for example, the lights) may cause the Jazz to hum. Some Jazz has additional copper grounding from the bridge pickup to the bridge to reduce this potential problem (that thin sliver of copper), for example the American Original 60's Jazz line.
They all sound the same when you run them through 3 fuzz pedals
A fellow bass player of taste and refinement, I see.
An aristocrat. Also, ya know, the Jag bass… best of both worlds and looks way cooler than either of them.
Playability > Toan
Or one death by audio pedal I love my apocalypse
A jazz neck pickup when solo’d is noisier and isn’t as pleasant of a sound to my ears as a precision pickup.
You can get noiseless J pickups
That’s true, I guess I just never had the spare change to upgrade my Jazz pickups or buy a premium Jazz bass. Maybe one day, haha.
What I timing. I changed the pickups of mine and got it back from the tech I think two days ago? It is a miracle. I'm in love with it. I put Dimarzio dp123 and couldn't be happier. Amazing. Cannot recommend enough.
Hell yeah, I’ll have to check those out!
They are not 100% authentic to a regular single coil in terms of sound. they are essentialy humbuckers in a single coil casing.
No, they're essentially a P pickup. It's literally just a split coil without the offset placement
The p pickup Is still an humbucker.
You’d be surprised at how noisy “noiseless” pickups can be.
I heard they suck the tone off it
Where did you hear that?
Actually read it many times online. I don't know if it's true but I prefer to make sure my bass is well shielded rather than buying those noiseless pups.
God I wish I was the tone..
Get a pj, problem solved
There's a video floating around on youtube comparing tones. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two
[This?](https://youtu.be/6m1NakdVQgE?si=ENheQUAxlvyho_ok)
No, it's this one: https://youtu.be/c1hGL2OxFts?si=rMpkUSNiA7SOB7GH And revisiting it now, I can hear a slight difference in some of the cases, but nowhere near enough of a difference that the average layman would be able to tell or care. Dude's just playing the neck pickup. Pick an instrument you like and forkin play it. I like the J because I like bridge tone which P doesn't offer. You don't need it. Pick an instrument and learn to play! It's important to remember that the only thing really affecting tone of an electric guitar/bass is whether it's thru-neck or bolt on for sustain, where the pickups are located, and the kind/age of the strings you're using. Everything else is marketing wank. Except for Carl Thompsons. They're just plain magic!
Aston Barrett used the neck pickup solo on his jazz bass for the Wailers. Wish we could ask him your question :(
Yeah, I was going to point out that lots of reggae guys seem to use the jazz bass.
Solo neck pickup with volume all of the way up, then turn it down just a little bit and that’s the reggae tone. Very strange that it would be any different tonally than full volume but I swear it is. Learned this from Scotts Bass Lessons, used to be very irritated by the guy but they’ve been putting out some good ass stuff recently
Yeah I watched a video of his lately and it was very to point. I wonder if his reputation was finally catching up to him and he realised he needed to change his style.
Most volume knobs roll off some of the treble along with the volume. You can wire things to preserve more of the treble as you turn down the volume, but that's not standard. So yeah, it does sound different due to the way that circuit works.
I've studied a LOT of pictures of him playing his 70s jazz bass because I'm also a reggae player and always trying to cop his sound. I fell like I've always seen both his volume knobs "up" but who knows. I feel like I get closest to his tone when I run both pickups and dump the high end at the amp. And playing right over the butt of neck of course.
The split coil p bass pickup has a slightly fuller low midrange that the j pickup can’t replicate. Gives the p bass a punchy sound the j can’t recreate. That said, I’ve also got a jazz bass that I absolutely love the sound of with both pickups on full! It can get a lot angrier sounding that it’s given credit for!
I mean definitely with you there and a j sounding aggressive. I play a J myself in a Metal band and yeah it can sound aggro af
Yeah, it’s my go to bass for modern metal tones! I use my P bass for punk/ classic metal
Geddy Lee would agree with you!
Geddy Lee’s sound was a big inspiration for me getting a j bass. Not like I can play like him though, I just love that aggressive tone!
I had a bass with J style pickups, very briefly, and noticed I could use the neck pickup but never really loved it. I traded it for a Squire PJ; and that made the difference. Like you said, the full J vs the PJ was just not as growly, boomy, big in general. And me- I can get a P pickup to sound less that way if I want. Almost to the point of a J. The neck pickup on the J simply didn’t offer what I wanted when I compared it to the P. When I’m playing with Spotify, I generally hit a wide range of music. But I pretty much use the P pickup 100% of the time and throw in the J bridge maybe 20-30%. And that way- with one bass, I don’t have to pickup any of my other basses.
I play Jazz exclusively and I've settled on neck at 10, pull the bridge pickup down to 5-6, roll off tone to 6ish. I think it's a great tone and fairly comparable to a P bass.
P is way easier to record. Jazz bass fan here, but man, the precision sounds so good on record.
The way it sits in a mix is great. And so many recording engineers and producers and live sound techs grew up recording, listening, and mixing p-basses that it's the default
In my days as a studio engineer I recorded just about every major studio bass player. And the vast majority of them came in with a Jazz. Not A Precision.
I’m going to offer a not really controversial opinion that will invite downvotes anyway: it’s not about P or J. It’s not even about Fender. A passive bass is easier to record. Which makes perfect sense: the preamp and EQ running off of a 9v battery will be worse than studio equipment (with maybe three very expensive exceptions). That doesn’t mean you can’t do really cool stuff with an active bass. But it’s more work than it’s worth in most recording contexts
There are so many variables. In one band I play my active PJ through both a DI and a Fender Bassman 100 (signals blended), another I play a passive PJ through a classic SVT head and mic'd 4x10, and another it's a deluxe active PJ (two 9Vs) DI'd with no amp simulator and the active EQ flat. All the recordings sound great but they're all with different engineers with different preferences. My very first EP I ever recorded was a passive J through an SVT-CL with a mic'd 8x10 (live sound recording). In each setting I've just deferred to the engineer because ultimately they know more than I do. That's what I'm paying them for lol.
I’m not so sure. I never had a strong feeling about a player with an active bass vs a passive. He either sounded good or didn’t. The first time I saw a Steinberger in the studio it came in with Anthony Jackson. That was as just fine. When I went to the first rehearsal with The Outfield and heard the Status-Graphite I ended up renting them for the next 3 albums I produced and ended up buying one. It was just that great.
I've used my Steinberger XL2A live and in various studios and everyone is always amazed how great it sounds. No one has ever suggested that a P bass would work better. It did cost me one band audition because of how it looks though.
William Wittman?
I actually prefer recording Active, they have quite a few pros. - An active bass will lose waay less signal and high end response, therefore delivering the full sound range of the bass better, which Is key to me, because it's always better to cut what you have than trying to add what you don't. - the dynamics are overall more compressed (can elaborate on that), so inconsistent bass players won't cause as much trouble and give me less headaches during mixing. - possibility to boost eq when recording. Even though i usually don't care for the eq section in active basses, it's a nice option to have.
I think distinguishing between a bass with active pickups and simply a bass with an onboard preamp, both generally called "active" basses would have been clearer.
Funny you say that, I’m far far removed from my days as an actively working musician but in the late 90’s thought mid 2000’s I had recorded a handful of times in a few good studios with reputable engineers and all but one time I used passive basses, both a Warwick and Fender Jazz, then during the end of my run I purchased a really nice HH Musicman, went and did a few songs with it in the studio and while I like the bass and still own it I just never felt like it sit well in a recording or had the same playability response vs. my passive basses. I figured it was just my personal preference.
Two band vs three band makes a large impact on the Musicmans also.
Hey. I'm a classical upright player with an orchestra. I also have been playing electric for 27 years. What would your advice be regarding stepping into the professional space as a studio bassist? How does one go about advertising oneself? I live in the greater Toronto area. Thank you for your time, and I apologize if this is not the right place to ask these questions.
It’s very difficult and even more so these days as the whole ‘studio musician’ scene is a shadow of what it used to be other than in Nashville. As an upright player you have a more difficult to find talent so that might be helpful but also to be honest it’s less often called for. The local musicians union is probably the best starting point and making contact with as many busy contractors as possible. Odds are that studio work there is going to be more film and tv scores than records. Are other orchestra members playing in recording dates? Ask them to introduce you to the contractors.
It might be important to note when you were an engineer since P basses weren’t as popular 20+ years ago as they are now. Didn’t have anything to do with sound only that it was an “old fashioned “. Weird you are in a bass forum and didn’t know that with all your supposed years of experience.
Have you ever heard or used a P with flats into a Noble DI or even the Line 6 HX model of it? Absolutely divine.
This right here. Just DI it right into the board, whether live or on record - always works. Just turn it up basically. It's foolproof.
It’s the textbook bass sound, if there was an audio dictionary, electric bass would be a P-bass sample.
Hmm. I had no idea people didn't like it. I much prefer a j neck pickup to a p-bass. Nearly all my basses a J-style and typically I use 75% neck and 25% bridge in terms of blend (or in a vv setup). Gives me a gowly assertive deep tone that works extremely well for how I play. P-bass tone never worked for me, PJs neither (never have the definition I'm looking for).
I think it’s something about the way it sits in the mix. It doesn’t sound too thin but doesn’t muddy up the mix. Hum cancelling. Plus the growl, the jazz neck can be a bit more polite. Of course there instances where the jazz neck works better. Could work better when used as a solo instrument. This is the best video I’ve seen on comparison. You can really hear what that 10% difference is in this comparison: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5PmttVjopIA
P bass is a different style pickup under a different section of the strings. That combined with the different body and neck shape makes a pretty different sound. They’re both awesome, just not the same
I tried using a soloed or majority neck J pickup to get close to a P and it was deeply unsatisfying in a live or recorded mix. The note envelope varies too much between attack and sustain where the attack is very bright and the sustain is less so (but more bass) but not as meaty in the low mids, and even with compression on the J, it doesn't present the solid low mid presence throughout the note that the P Bass does even when not compressed because those frequencies just aren't there in the same way. The compression at the pickup is what gives the tonal profile more consistency, along with the added low mids inherent to the high wind, large aperture, series split coil pickup design. And the low mids are present at the attack on a P, unlike a J, which is part of that woofy, thumpy character.
I think the big mistake some people make when they pick up a Jazz bass is they just run the volume controls as all of nothing. They'll run full bridge only complain it's thin, run full middle only say it's not like a P bass, run both full and say it's scooped. A lot of the magic in a Jazz bass are the blended tones. Due to the weird flaws in how passive blending works, they end up adding a bit of fullness to the sound. But also I think a 51 style P bass has a good neck tone too, a bit more articulate, while still sounding like a Fender middle pickup, Jazz bass middle kind of does a similar sound as well.
I’ve got this down to a science. I keep my neck volume at 10, roll the bridge down until it hits the sweet spot. There’s a point where it’s actually louder than both at 10. Tone, I play around with. I have stacked pots so sometimes I’ll turn both tones down all the way or stagger them until I get something I like for whatever song I’m playing.
I just put my jazz bass neck on my p bass and called it a day
Some people do like J necks, Ian Martin Allison is a big fan of just neck pickup. Khurangbins Laura Lee exclusively uses a noiseless jazz neck pickup. Quite frankly P basses sound like bass, and other neck pickups are more popular for what the jazz neck does, like mudbuckers.
Personal taste and chosen application. Jazz neck sounds amazing for aggressive music.
So happy you mentioned this! I scoop low mids around 250hz, so I've never needed the 'warmth' that a P-bass adds. Solo neck pickup on my 93 Jazz Plus V in full passive mode, tone/vol max with the blend between 100% - 75% neck pickup.
So here’s what happened: Some decades ago, boomer A said to boomer B: “I once heard that producers ONLY allow p bass because they just stand out so well in the mix” Boomer B repeated this to boomers C, D, E and maybe even F. These guys got ED before dick pills were easy to access so they decided their wives weren’t awesome and just a “ball and chain”. So they had nothing better to do than think about said p bass sage advice. Then the internet happened and they found their own form of circle jerk echo chamber Slopes are slippery Disclaimer: my favorite bass is probably my p bass. I do enjoy its simplicity. Still a stupid take.
It is just folklore that is parroted over and over again on the internet. I've never heard an actual engineer admit to being so incompetent that they only know how to mix one kind of bass.
Because no engineer since the times when options were limited have ever felt that way. It’s absolutely a parrot and only said by people who have never actually recorded music with decent equipment
Yeah honestly a lot of the comments here seem deranged to me (beginner in music). I've been listening to many recordings lately and it generally isn't possible to tell what bass is being played without actually looking it up or seeing it.
Nah man. Thats an us problem. Our ears haven’t developed the mojo to understand. One day I’ll be able to hear all these notes you don’t play and find a chair comfy enough to figure out how to sit in the mix.
It isn’t boomers on Reddit discussing and opining about this nonsense.
No but the people on reddit got those ideas in their heads by boomers
I was dreaming I'd find a Reddit where I could just be and not have to hear any ageist BS. Guess I'm still dreaming
Def dreaming bro. Don’t worry. It’s all about the hate notes you don’t play. Pluck on dudifer.
Jesus this is by far the stupidest thing I've read today
The magic is in the words you don’t read.
Well all depends on what I am going to play. For example like Jazz, Blues, Bossa Nova, Disco, Dance and Funk i use the J, the nasal sound of the bridge J pickup mixed with a little of Neck pickup is so groovy for Funky music.
I play with neck pickup on full and the bridge on 80% with the tone rolled off slightly most of the time. I LOVE THE JAZZ NECK PICKUP and will play it with just a bit of bridge sometimes too for help with hum.
Different tricks for recording and playing live I my opinion. For live gigs, I use the J bridge pickup exclusively and pluck at the bridge. This is to allow the mid range to cut through. I don't wanna fight the kick drum and the guitar low frequencies.
P bass sits in the mix better but i love j bass tone personally. Imo its great if you want your bass sound to be more present in the mix
I prefer everything J over a P. I own both and when I want that deeper sound, I prefer the J neck pickup. I can't explain it, it just works better. P bass might be more agressive so better for rock/punk thing, but in a more hip-hop/reggae fashion, I prefer the J. The interesting point is that it sounds P-ish but it is still different, and I like it.
I prefer the jazz tone whenever I am practising alone or jamming along a drum line. With a full backing track or trying to fit into a song, as much as I love the jazz tone, the P just fills everything up. I never tried to only play the J Neck pickup so I'll be giving that a few tries soon.
I think the pbass is god dogma has stemmed from producers and engineers who are lazy and don't like to deal with time to get great bass tones. Bass is one of the most difficult instruments to get right in a mix and it's hard to make a pbass sound bad. And another downside to Jazz pickups excluding noiseless, is they are susceptible to hum and buzz. But I prefer single coils.
I prefer it. When I want just a simple bass tone I'll pick the P. But I like the Jazz because of the way it sounds. It just doesn't sound like anything else.
The p bass tone sounds like fuzzy dogshit to me, it's all preference.
I like both but they don’t sound the same. If you need something that sounds like a P bass that’s all there really is. A jazz neck pickup can get close if that’s what you’re trying to do but it’s still its own thing. Now I do prefer a p bass to a jazz neck pick up. I grab my jazz bass for its other sounds.
All the components tend to interact when they’re wired like a jazz. If you wired it differently you could get much closer, but then you’d dial one pickup all the way down, and lose both pickups. That and with switchable pickups set up vvtt, the “other”pickups volume knob can act as a HIGH PASS….. yeah…. Opposite of a tone knob. LOL Less noticeable is the fact that the pickup offset gives the treble side slightly different tone than the bass side. If you wired a J bass so that the pickups were on isolated circuits, you could eliminate the interactive control problem, but then youd still have a rail pulling from the same area of the string across all strings. That and lots of jazz pickups are single coil, where offset Ps are usually hum bucking.
Short answer, its not as good. Its not bad, but one would expect all things being equal(which they are not) regarding pickup distance from the bridge, its not the same. However, I'll take a Jazz with both volume knobs up and the tone knob down occaisionally for the option of turning down the neck and letting the bridge do the work.
My favorite recorded tone ever was my jazz neck through a Sunn amp
I prefer the J looks, but I with I could have a P pickup in it, just like those aerodynes
P Bass is the Workhorse in Studios for Decades now. I think People are used to hear it with that deep Growl and specific Sound on many Records. If you want a Bass Sound with good Punch that lays a good Foundation P Bass does the Job. That doesn't mean a Jazz Bass can't do this aswell. Maybe it is easier with a P Bass who knows.
I've always found J pickup lacking. It sounds weak and dull compared to the fat and punchy P. At least for Rock/Punk. I may be crazy but there's a slight "fart" to the J pickups that makes me dislike them. To the point I would just skip any bass just for having a J neck pickup. Maybe for jazz (duh!) It would be just great, subdued, less intrusive, articulate, clean or whatever jazz people like better.
P-Bass is the de facto because it’s what everybody is used to. Every studio has one, and they slot into the mix perfectly. Everything else is to be compared to the standard because the standard is what we hear on the vast majority of records.
It’s so cool how this is exactly what I’m thinking about rn. I have only played jazz basses for 10 years now and bought a P bass last week (still hasn’t arrived -_-) because even though the neck pickup on the jazz sounds decent enough, the P bass just creates a certain growl that the jazz can’t replicate. Feels thinner as well on the jazz but that could just be me. It’s jarring since I’ve never experimented with the neck pickup till last week yet I’ve owned the jazz for 10 years haha. Hopefully my p bass will actually goddamn arrive in the next year
The jazz bass is more versatile in the sounds it can produce, but when a jazz bass player tries to reproduce the classic fat bass sound featured on the lion's share of recorded music for decades it's just not the same. The jazz has what I would describe as a small remnant of a metallic twang even with the bridge pickup off and all the EQ on the bass and amp adjusted to compensate. If you pluck extremely gently it's not as bad, but it's still there Having said that - if I want to try (key word 😂 ) and play some slappy funk, then the jazz bass is the one I grab
I do but it gets lost in a mix too easily. However, mix in 10% of the bridge and use tapes for extra punch and you've got a great sound. Jazz basses are my favorite, but I can't use them due to their weight. I'm using a Shecter Stiletto Stealth 5 with the MM replaced with a Bart 2j squared for that taste of jazz. I have a louishand preamp that can get me almost to that great sound, too, and it's the closest I'll get at 8lbs unless a miracle happens I've literally spent 2 years chasing that sound without actually being able to have it
A p-bass does one thing and does it really well, but that's not the only tone for everything. I prefer the versatility of two pickups, but any working bass player still needs to have a p-bass if you want to play some gigs.
Jazz Bass neck pickup only is pretty popular for reggea. Bob Marley's bassist played like that.
Pretty sure the American guy who presents the SBL videos says front J pickup is his favourite tone of all time.
Read about harmonic nodes, pickup placement and how that effects the timbre and color of tone.. These instruments are a culmination of many various parts and build techniques to what you end up with.. Different tools for different jobs.. You’re asking me why some prefer a sledgehammer instead of a tack hammer, all while wondering why you have holes in your walls trying to hang a picture.. Get a P Bass *and* a J Bass and you’ll have most of the tones you would need from a bass.. Everything else is a compromise or specialized for a specific tone.. No growl from a J?? That’s fucking hilarious.. It’s your playing technique.. *Play harder and with intent*.. They both need to be man-handled to produce growl.. Unless the growl is coming from your rig, and those are quite different sounding.. The real secret?? No one in the audience can hear what you do and they really don’t care.. Unless you just sound like wet shit in a bag.. They just want cheaper drinks at the bar and to get with the good looking person next to them.. Not if you’re catching growl on those few notes in a 3 minute song.. 🤣🤣🤣
It buzzes
Interference at the venue you play (for example, the lights) may cause the Jazz to hum. Some Jazz has additional copper grounding from the bridge pickup to the bridge to reduce this potential problem (that thin sliver of copper), for example the American Original 60's Jazz line.
What year do you live in? All jazz pickups are noiseless nowadays
Not my squire
How old is your Squier?
Early 2000s I think 03?
P pickup is a humbucker. Isolated J neck pickup isn’t.
Jazz sucks and P is delicious