Fender Jaguar Vs. Jazz

[spongebob]

I've always loved the look of the Jaguar bass, especially in red!

What is the tonal difference between the Jag and the Jazz? The pick-up arrangements look quite similar.

I'm not in the market to buy at the mo (too busy staring at the new Geddy bass!), but down the line, who knows? It's a bass I've always thought looks fab.

And...........

Am I being a bit dopey here - but what does GAS actually mean/stand for???????

[Jono Bolton]

GAS = Gear Aquisition Syndrome

In terms of Jag vs Jazz, I'm not sure what the sonic differences are. My experiences of the Jag are limited to 20 minutes or so with one in a shop and I couldn't work out what all the switches were for, except for obviously the on/off switches.

[Paul S]

Disclaimer - I've lived with my Jag, but not with a Jazz, so I am not anywhere near as familiar with the Jazz as I am with the Jag.

I spent a couple of hours doing a play off in the music shop between the two (it was a MIA Jazz) and, at those kind of limited volumes, there was little-to-no difference in the sound when you played the Jag passively compared with the Jazz. Neck, bridge and both sounded, to me, almost identical.

But then you can switch the pickups between series and parallel, and that makes a difference to the tone. Exactly what the technical side of that is, I have no idea. The difference is not something I can easily describe, but it is supposed to make it sound more like a p-bass. I don't know if that is right, all I know is that it is different and a sound that wasn't available on the Jazz.

Then, with the Jag, you can switch on the active circuit - a simple but effective 2 band eq. And that sounded nothing like the Jazz - much more ballsy. It is quite possible that fiddling with the amp settings would/could do this - I am not experienced enough to know.

But, all things considered, I love the Jag. I guess that's why I chose it.

Though I'd probably love a Jazz, too.

[jezzaboy]

Keep your money for the Geddy unless you really like the Jaguar looks. Owned a black Jag and the active circut buzzed like hell if you went near a large light set up. The bass and treble were basically like on/off switches and having removed the pickgaurd for a look, if something went wrong in there, off to the guitar repair dude.

Result? Got shot of it and a few basses later bought a Mexican 60`s classic Jazz and love it to bit`s.

Of course other people may love em but I think you are better off with a decent Jazz.

Jez

[Grissle]

The Jags have '70s pickup spacing, the bridge pickup being about 15mm closer to the bridge giving it a little more zingy highs. The '09 Jags are shielded nicely, though like most production line Fender's it can be improved on, problems with buzzing have been taken care of or are easily remedied. IMO the Jag has GREAT potential, but to keep the price down (for Fender that is) they have kitted it out with lower quality hardware, (tuners, pickups, and pots, the bridge is fine but thats personal opinion) but still perfectly fine. Fender has a few real nice choices at the moment, the MIM '60s, Geddy Lee sig, and the Road Worn's are some (same quality hardware as on the Jag). They're all good as they are but again IMO can be really good. If possible buy used and you can't lose.