What is the difference between a jazz and precision bass?

[Kleng77]

Hi.
Just wondering if anyone could explain what the difference between jazz and precision basses are.

Edited April 18, 2008 by Kleng77

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='Kleng77' post='179726' date='Apr 18 2008, 01:36 PM']Hi.
Just wondering if anyone could explain what the difference between jazz and precision basses are.[/quote]

Hello!

Loads of differences - some fact, some opinion.

[url="http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2008-08,GGLG:en&q=jazz+vs+precision"]Google is your friend[/url]...

[sgt-pluck]

In essence....

Jazz = 2 pups, 'slanty' bodyshape, narrower neck, more tonal variety.

Precision = Single pup, 'squarer' bodyshape, wider neck, less tonal variety, but has the thump that built rock!

The majority of all basses are based on one or t'other configuration, and are usually described as being either 'j-type', 'p-type', or sometimes 'pj-type' which means it'll have one pick-up in the Precision position and a bridge pick-up a'la Jazz.

Pluck

*Edited for clarity!

Edited April 18, 2008 by sgt-pluck

[The Burpster]

Fatter = wider not deeper

Thinner= the opposite.

However is not quite that simplistic as there have thin neck Ps and twin PUP Ps and even active Ps.

As a genearlism though Pluckies post aint far wrong.


the P was teh 1st bass Leo desinged and mass produced (called Precision beacause it had frets, and prior to that [arguably] basses were fretless) 34" scale bass.

Once used to the idea of playing bass horizontally, quite a few artists wanted tonal variation and a faster neck so Leo designed teh J with 2 pups a different shape body and a more slender and narrower neck.

[chris_b]

[quote name='Kleng77' post='179726' date='Apr 18 2008, 01:36 PM']Just wondering if anyone could explain what the difference between jazz and precision basses are.[/quote]
....easy. Real men play Precision basses.

[The Burpster]

[quote name='chris_b' post='179749' date='Apr 18 2008, 01:56 PM']....easy. Real men play Precision basses.[/quote]



Oooooooh thats gonna get a bite......

[sgt-pluck]

[quote]called Precision beacause it had frets[/quote]

Didn't know that - thanks.

[johnnylager]

[quote name='chris_b' post='179749' date='Apr 18 2008, 01:56 PM']....easy. Real men play Precision basses.[/quote]
<offensive post blah blah>

Who moderates the moderators?

[bigjohn]

[quote name='chris_b' post='179749' date='Apr 18 2008, 01:56 PM']....easy. Real men play Precision basses.[/quote]


I agree - although mine has a jazz neck

[The Burpster]

[quote name='johnnylager' post='179759' date='Apr 18 2008, 02:07 PM']Who moderates the moderators? [/quote]


La la la..... that'll be bite no.1 then.....

Actually a lot of real Women play Ps too!

:brow:

[The Burpster]

[quote name='bigjohn' post='179761' date='Apr 18 2008, 02:12 PM']I agree - although mine has a jazz neck [/quote]


That insinuates you are a real man intouch with your feminine side?

I'm not sure..... need clarification.....

[bremen]

[quote name='bigjohn' post='179761' date='Apr 18 2008, 02:12 PM']I agree - although mine has a jazz neck [/quote]

Isn't a P with a J neck the hermaphrodite of the world of bass?

Not that there's anything unmanly about loving a hermaphrodite :-)

[johnnylager]

And what about a J with a series switch to sound like a P? Is this "sitting on the fence" or true hermaphroditism?

EDIT: Or am I just fooling myself and should I just buy a P and swap the necks over?

Or grow an extra finger and stop moaning about fat necks?

Edited April 18, 2008 by johnnylager

[bigjohn]

[quote name='The Burpster' post='179767' date='Apr 18 2008, 02:16 PM']That insinuates you are a real man intouch with your feminine side?

I'm not sure..... need clarification..... [/quote]


I'm a real man with no hang ups about girth.

Apart from this. Ahem [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=16601&hl=precision+nut"]precision nuts[/url]

[bigjohn]

[quote name='bremen' post='179773' date='Apr 18 2008, 02:24 PM']Isn't a P with a J neck the hermaphrodite of the world of bass?

Not that there's anything unmanly about loving a hermaphrodite :-)[/quote]

It's "Special"

[Shockwave]

[quote name='chris_b' post='179749' date='Apr 18 2008, 01:56 PM']....easy. Real men play Precision basses.[/quote]

Correction, Real men play P styled necks. Any body is fine, as long as it is a P styled neck

[Hot Tub]

[quote name='Kleng77' post='179726' date='Apr 18 2008, 01:36 PM']Hi.
Just wondering if anyone could explain what the difference between jazz and precision basses are.[/quote]

Pretty straightforward really. If you play random notes, with no musical sense whatsoever, and just make a dreadful tuneless din, then that's jazz, so you'd use a Jazz bass. If on the other hand you play the right notes, in the right place, at the right time, that's playing with precision, so you'd use a Precision bass.

Sorted.

[size=1](As it's Friday, Astronomer is now leaving the premises to get anethsetise... aenaethesised.... aneasthsetized.... scuttered. Be back to receive my flaiming later. )[/size]

Edited April 18, 2008 by Astronomer

[bremen]

[quote name='Astronomer' post='179796' date='Apr 18 2008, 02:45 PM']Pretty straightforward really. If you play random notes, with no musical sense whatsoever, and just make a dreadful tuneless din, then that's jazz, so you'd use a Jazz bass. If on the other hand you play the right notes, in the right place, at the right time, that's playing with precision, so you'd use a Precision bass.

Sorted.

[size=1](As it's Friday, Astronomer is now leaving the premises to get anethsetise... aenaethesised.... aneasthsetized.... scuttered. Be back to receive my flaiming later. )[/size][/quote]

WAHEY! It's Friday!

[danlea]

It doesn't seem like anyone's mentioned anything about the sound difference yet (either that or my skim-reading has gone downhill). A precision pickup excels at providing a deep, open bass sound with a rounded treble. It focuses on the fundamentals of a note (the actual note you're playing) and people who generally play with a plectrum will generally play a precision rather than a jazz. The jazz bass provides more emphasis overtones giving more body to the sound and making the bassline stand out more in the mix.

If I were to use letters to describe the sounds I would type the following:

Precision => 'pohmmm' or 'bohmmm' (treble on/rolled off).
Jazz => 'trrrrr' or 'drrrrr' (treble on/rolled off).

The jazz effect is similar to what you're generally trying to achieve with overdrive with valves.

Dan.

Edited April 19, 2008 by danlea

[danlea]

Also skim-reading = convolution of scan-reading and skimming (the Squier P-Bass Special of fast reading).

[bigjohn]

[quote name='Astronomer' post='179796' date='Apr 18 2008, 02:45 PM']Pretty straightforward really. If you play random notes, with no musical sense whatsoever, and just make a dreadful tuneless din, then that's jazz, so you'd use a Jazz bass. If on the other hand you play the right notes, in the right place, at the right time, that's playing with precision, so you'd use a Precision bass.

Sorted. [/quote]

That's about right then - I play random notes on my jazz neck, but tend do it in the right place at the right time (although my neighbours would surely disagree - especially at weekends).

[simon1964]

[quote name='danlea' post='179807' date='Apr 18 2008, 03:04 PM']If I were to use letters to describe the sounds I would type the following:

Precision => 'pohmmm' or 'bohmmm' (treble on/rolled off).
Jazz => 'tvvvvv' or 'dvvvvv' (treble on/rolled off).

Dan.[/quote]

LOL! I've just read that out loud, and its surprisingly accurate!

[danlea]

There was a blind test of two different recording rigs (mixing desks actually I believe) at Olympic Studios while we were mixing, which was apparently attended by loads of really big names in audiophilia, and the person who was most successful at distinguishing the two was a handy-man at the studio! Anyway, the relevance lies here: He said after winning that he likened the sound of one them to a precision bass, and the other to a jazz bass. He prefers the sound of a jazz bass and so just chose the one he preferred every time! Fantastic!

[The Burpster]

[quote name='Astronomer' post='179796' date='Apr 18 2008, 02:45 PM']Pretty straightforward really. If you play random notes, with no musical sense whatsoever, and just make a dreadful tuneless din, then that's jazz, so you'd use a Jazz bass. If on the other hand you play the right notes, in the right place, at the right time, that's playing with precision, so you'd use a Precision bass.[/quote]


Thats one of the funniest thngs I've read in ages!

[Huge Hands]

A guy in a shop once told me that the difference was [i]"...a jazz was a precision that had melted"[/i] referring to the less rounded shape by the control pots!