To Owners of Both J and P Basses

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='The59Sound' timestamp='1508258640' post='3390956']
My Jazz could knock any P for six. It plays better, it sounds better and is more versatile for different genres.
[/quote]
LOL.

[Danuman]

My Jazz sounds so nice it hurts sometimes. But then my P is like an old pair of slippers. Oh well.

[dmccombe7]

I prefer my slim neck Jazz bass as its more enjoyable to play.
I use my P/J for more blues based rock as it sounds a little deeper and moodier for that style.
I like the Jazz for rock as i feel it cuts thru the mix a bit better. Not sure if more defined is a good description.
I guess its just down to what you prefer.

There's also the point that in a 3 piece band i find a P bass is more full than a Jazz and carries the song a bit better.

This is all subjective and down to each individuals personal preferance.

Dave

[gjones]

There's no hard and fast rule. Use your ears.

[Graham S]

No contest for me - a Jazz every time. For one thing I have quite small hands [i](no comments please!) [/i]and the slimmer neck suits me better. It's also more comfortably shaped and better balanced, at least for me, and most importantly has a more versatile tonal range than a Precision. I've had two Ps and six Js over the years; any time I've been down to one bass, as I am at the present time, it's been a Jazz.

Graham

[colleya]

I've got a P/J which is set to full P and J at about 15-20% for almost all of the set as the band feedback is that they are the settings that seem to fit best in the mix.

The only exception is for Rio, when I completely reverse the balance.

[afterimage]

I have a nice jazz hot rod 75 p and j pickups and
P j bass like them both alot

[The59Sound]

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1508261171' post='3390977']

LOL.
[/quote]
Are you the guy that sniffs all the time every time you speak?

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='The59Sound' timestamp='1508346727' post='3391575']

Are you the guy that sniffs all the time every time you speak?
[/quote]

Nah, i just laugh at blanket statements like yours.

[The59Sound]

Blanket for your sniffle?

[DSBass]

I’ve had a couple of each. Love both J and P. I would love to have a Jazz, a P with rounds and a P with flats.
But for the moment I have 2 Yamaha basses. One older BB5GS and a BB1024X. The BB1024X is a P/J pickup configuration and sounds absolutely great. It’s like a P on steroids with the ability to add some Jazz bass growl.

[nightsun]

Started with a standard P, moved onto a P/J and now pretty much play exclusive J. I can't tell you what it is about the J I love (so I'm pretty useless to this tread). I played my P/J for years, my go to, number 1 bass. Then the good lady her indoors bought me a Flea Jazz (after I'd played one and told her how nice it was). I was thinking it would be a nice spare, maybe use it for a couple of numbers, but used it the night I received it and have never looked back. I feel a bit sorry for the old Number 1 (as sorry as you can feel for a lump of wood and wire), but I'd never get rid of her.

[mcnach]

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1508171282' post='3390236']
That's exactly it for me as well, in fact I moved my J on.
Prefer the feel of P sized necks.
[/quote]

Same here.
I recently had a bass made that was essentially a Jazz in a Precision body/neck. I've just sold it. I liked it but I realised I prefer a P or a PJ when it comes to that. There's something about the Precision pickup alone that I really really like, and anything else is nice to have, but I want that P sounds and the Jazz doesn't have it.

However, I have to say, if my only bass were a Jazz I'd still be happy to play it. It's not like I hate the Jazz...

[mcnach]

[quote name='The59Sound' timestamp='1508258640' post='3390956']
My Jazz could knock any P for six. It plays better, it sounds better and is more versatile for different genres.
[/quote]

I like balanced statements like this

But then I'd probably say something similar about my Stingray vs any-other-bass... It's funny how in the end people prefer very different instruments and we all make them work in whatever it is we do with them. We like to over think things here at BC sometimes

[mcnach]

I hated Precisions for many years. My first 'real' bass was a Jazz and I chose it because especially coming from years of guitar, the neck felt a lot more comfortable, and I liked the range of sounds... the Precision on its own was pretty ugly (I thought at the time).

I still love the Jazz sound... but I grew to like Precisions and I actually prefer the wider necks, and at some point I even started liking the sound of a Precision alone. No idea how or why. In the end, I started liking Precisions more than Jazz. The Jazz sounds great at home, but in the bands I play in the Precision works better. I ended up preferring a PJ to either Precision or Jazz, but with a humbucker (two bridge J pickups together) at the bridge: The sound with both pickups together is not quite as sweet as that of a Jazz but it's pretty good, and the double J at the bridge is meaty and balances very well with the P. And the P is... well, a P.

Still... give me a Stingray any day

[thodrik]

I have both and both work well for any type of music. I just have them set up in different tunings which determines what type of music I use them for.

I'm not a 'play on the back pick up with a very light touch' type of player though. If I was the Jazz would win every time.

[Woodinblack]

I had both (still have the P for sentimental reasons). The P sounded better for the late 70s, early 80s covers I was doing at the time I got it, the jazz just played better and cut through nicely. Wouldn't gig with either of them any more, but I suppose they have their place.

[uk_lefty]

I have an MIJ P and an MIM Jazz. For me the P can have a better sound in the band mix. I don't have an issue with the chunkier neck having played only a fiver for a long period. My jazz is beaten half to death and has been used as an experiment platform to the point the only original bits left are the body and neck and maybe some screws.
Playing at home I favour the jazz on the bridge pickup, just sounds best for noodling about. On the band I need my jazz for its drop d tuner and for if I fancy playing a slap fill in a song. My P has flatwounds and I could play it on absolutely everything if I so desired, just a slight change of flavour to compensate for the few things it can't do.
I have four basses, I try to gig them all but my last two gigs have been played exclusively on my five string fretless. No reason other than what I feel like playing at the time. Different basses change what and how I play, but it's rare that I let the set list or any other factor dictate my choice of bass. I like to keep things moving and changing so I'll go from p bass and Di box for my sound to fretless and amp eq... No dramatic changes and few people probably even notice except me and the drummer.
If I was recording then the choice of bass would take a much more prominent role I guess, but knocking out covers for people to sing and dance along to as long as I'm giving a good foundation to the sound and driving the bottom end I could do it with either p or j to the same effect.

[Swijn]

I have both a MIA P Deluxe and a MIM Jazz. For my current band i only use the P - as it has [i][b]the[/b][/i] sound i need.. which i just cant get with the J. If I'm being honest though, the J feels more 'comfortable' to hold a play.

[tom1946]

Even with small hands I prefer a P bass. I've tried just about every bass that's ever been sold and I keep coming back to my MIA P. I only play in church situations so it's very limiting, fortunately for me.

I have just bought my second Harley Benton stingray-alike and I'm very taken with them. (They are different) I can't believe how good they are for the money, this one arrived yesterday: (It shows the 5 string, mine is the 4 string.)

[url="https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mm_85a_sb_deluxe_series.htm?ref=search_rslt_harley+benton+bass_361465_130"]https://www.thomann....bass_361465_130[/url]

I really need to stop looking.......

Edited October 20, 2017 by tom1946

[thegummy]

I just got my P back from it getting a setup there and it's obvious that to me, and many other people, the P has the magic sound.

But I was enjoying the J very much when I was playing it in the P's absence and definitely want to use it some of the time. I'm going to put that into the tech also as the nut is cut too shallow then I'll see how I can utilise its sound.

Was listening to some Paul Simon earlier and, I don't know if it was specifically a Jazz used on his records, but the bass had that nice defined high pitched tone and I was enjoying it.

[bazzbass]

for recording I use my 2013 MIA P.

Live, I'll use my Jazz bass with the two acoustic guitars. It just sounds more natural sounding with the acoustics.

Just playing for fun, if I want CLANK a la Geddy,Ox or Chris, the Jazz with rounds is the way to go

If I'm playing Led Zep, a Jazz with flats or rounds gets the gig

But yeah, oh what joy to have both availble to me

[Squittolo]

P bass for rock situations with heavy distorted guitars; J bass for acoustic songs and more "pop" situations.

[timhiggins]

For me it's not so much the bass as the strings
I use my p with flats or old rounds for reggae,blues and anything which requires an old school finger style tone
I use my jazz with newer strings for fusion,funk etc where I need a more modern tone ...
But I could easily swap the bass's around with the right strings for the job.

[artisan]

I much prefer a jazz neck as they fit my hands better than a Precision neck.
I use my G&L jazz bass in my Sabbath tribute band & it sounds mega,very early Geezer kind of tone,I actually manage to get a pretty convincing P bass sound from it too.
I have to say that the US G&L jazz bass packs way more punch than any Fender jazz's I've ever owned,and I've had rather a lot of them over the years.
I am currently gasing for a G&L LB100 (P bass) with the same neck as my jazz (#8 neck)

Edited October 21, 2017 by artisan