What's the difference between jazz and precision bass?

[Eric***]

Hi all,

I have a drummer friend who is interested in learning the bass, but I recently took back the bass that's on permanent loan to me for some potential recording. So now the drummer is thinking about getting a bass to play around with.

So...a few questions:

1. Any recommendations? The SX ones seem OK and are really cheap. I'm sure they're not high end, but might be good enough. I know very little about basses, as you will see in this post, so I'm just testing the waters.
2. What's the practical difference between a jazz bass and p-bass? I know the p-bass has one split humbucker in the neck position and the jazz bass has two...non-humbucking (?) pickups, one in the neck and one in the bridge. That's right, right? So many basses seem to be derivatives of these two styles that I thought it might be worthwhile to figure out the actual difference. When would you use one style as opposed to the other style? Are the p-bass and jazz bass better at certain styles or sounds or playing techniques? I figure there must be some definable difference between the two of them, otherwise they'd have melded together by now. Maybe I'm wrong on that -- like I said, I don't know much.
   
3. Any other tips I should be aware of, such as fretboard material, scale length, # of strings, etc.?

Any/all input is appreciated. Thanks!

[Jx2]

Im not going to even address the diffrence between the P & J because I dont. I owned a J long time ago, before I really knew anything at all about anything with strings. And Ive never owned anything even similar to a P.

However, I beleive one starter bass to look at is see if you cant locate a used Peavey Millineium. Ive owned 3, 2 4's(1 passive 1 active) and a 5 active. If you can find a active model go that route, the passive sounds good. And Im not a active pup guy but on these bass's the active stock pups just blow the passive version away imo. I bought my first one when I got serious with the bass, while researching bass's I staggered upon the fact that John Campbell from Lamb of God used one of these on the first few records. And thought if a $230-$330 bass is good enough for a touring pro it cant be that bad. Campbell now plays a Jackson but still. I recently saw a 4 string passive on cl for $150 obo. So if nothing else just look around a little and see if you cant find one to test drive.

[progrmr]

Jazz basses have 2 single coil pickups, one close to the neck one close to the bridge. Controls are typically V/V/T - for a warm sound dial in more neck and less bridge, reverse for a punchier slap tone.

I think the jazz is a bit more flexible, but there's nothing like a P-bass thump.

I've got an SX shortscale and it would be fine for gigs or recording. Really a steal IMO but you can get a lemon.

[NWBasser]

Well, you just know I had to weigh in here.

So far as P or J, the P is kind of a one-trick pony but does a very good trick and it's deep thump will serve well in most rock, motown, and country settings. You won't see many P's in urban gospel or jazz for instance. They are renowned for sitting well in a dense mix. P's are also known for having rather thick necks which work well for some, but not so much for others. A great example of the P tone is the motown work done by the late, great James Jamerson.

The J is prevalent in nearly every genre and style of music mostly due to it's relative versatility with the two pup's. Jazzes are well-known for an aggressive growly tone. Active preamps find their way into a lot of j-basses further adding to the sound pallette. Larry Graham started the slapping and popping technique on a jazz and it's still one of the main weapons for that style of playing. Jazzes have fairly thin necks and work well for those with smaller hands.

34-inches is the standard scale length for a 4-string and either 34 o 35 are common for fives.

A used mexi j (~$250 - 300) or a Squier Vintage Vibe (~$300) jazz will keep a newbie happy for many years. The SX's are decent, but usually need a good degree of setup work.

What bassists or styles interest your drummer?

That information may be useful in making a more direct suggestion.

[marnold***]

Generally speaking, a Jazz bass body will be bigger, but the neck will be narrower (as in string spacing at the nut). The Fender P-bass special is the best of both worlds, as far as I'm concerned. It has the P-bass body, J-bass neck, and the P and J pickups. The only disadvantage is that both pickups together will not be hum-canceling.

Even though I tend to prefer J-bass necks, the neck on my Spector is ginormous and I still like it. Talk about baseball bats.

Rondo doesn't seem to have much of a selection of basses right now. They had an Ash P/J bass that I almost pulled the trigger on, but then my Spector came along. This one looks cool. I like the Geddy Lee neck. http://www.rondomusic.com/URSA2MNNAs.html

[Eric***]

What bassists or styles interest your drummer?

That information may be useful in making a more direct suggestion.

Thanks for the info.

He's tall, probably 6'3"+, and is really into prog rock. He's a Dream Theater devotee, and I've successfully gotten him into King's X. I don't know what he's interested in playing. Probably just something to twiddle away on when he gets bored at home, since there's not much space for him to set up his kit.

I feel like his ipod is just one giant prog-rock album, though I'm sure he has plenty of other stuff too, mostly modern rock/hard rock/metal. I know he loves Phil Keaggy and likes T-Bone Burnett.

[Katastrophe]

I'd just set him up with an SX for now... like this one

http://www.rondomusic.com/ursa3rnbk.html

In a year or so, he could sell it for $75-100 towards a nicer brand, or mod it later for a little more dough for a keeper.

If it turns out that the drummer doesn't want to learn bass, he's not out very much money. With the P/J pickups he'd have a fairly versatile bass.

[NWBasser]

Thanks for the info.

He's tall, probably 6'3"+, and is really into prog rock. He's a Dream Theater devotee, and I've successfully gotten him into King's X. I don't know what he's interested in playing. Probably just something to twiddle away on when he gets bored at home, since there's not much space for him to set up his kit.

I feel like his ipod is just one giant prog-rock album, though I'm sure he has plenty of other stuff too, mostly modern rock/hard rock/metal. I know he loves Phil Keaggy and likes T-Bone Burnett.

Prog usually involves a lot of notes, quick scales and such. I'd toss out a P bass as I don't think it would be all that workable. A jazz will work fairly well for that as evidenced by Geddy Lee.

If he can handle the thin necks, the Ibanez Soundgear series offer very low action and lots of tonal possibilities at very reasonable price points. Plus, the Ibby's have a two-octave neck which fits with the genre.

Another one to consider would be the Sterling by Musicman stingray which has a fatter neck and a powerful preamp. They are very nice basses for a decent price.

For that particular style, I'd probably pass on SX since it would likely take a good deal of work to get the action low enough.

[MAXIFUNK]

Prog usually involves a lot of notes, quick scales and such. I'd toss out a P bass as I don't think it would be all that workable. A jazz will work fairly well for that as evidenced by Geddy Lee.

If he can handle the thin necks, the Ibanez Soundgear series offer very low action and lots of tonal possibilities at very reasonable price points. Plus, the Ibby's have a two-octave neck which fits with the genre.

Another one to consider would be the Sterling by Musicman stingray which has a fatter neck and a powerful preamp. They are very nice basses for a decent price.

For that particular style, I'd probably pass on SX since it would likely take a good deal of work to get the action low enough.

I love the MY SR500 AFTER YEARS of making due because of my small hands on most basses it was a God send to come across the SR series when I was looking for a new bass back in 2007. I will be upgrading in 2011 to a SR Prestige or SRT905DX a neck thru bass and about 1/2 the price of the SR prestige.

http://www.ibanez.com/BassGuitars/model-SRT905DX

http://www.ibanez.com/BassGuitars/model-SR5006E

[Duffy]

I have a Squier J bass that I had Fender Noiseless J bass pickups installed on and it sounds super great. I would get one of these before I'd get the dopey looking headstocked SX any day.

I recently picked up a near mint MIM P bass, black and put an aged white pickguard on it and am happy with the stock noise cancelling P bass pickups.

Overall I prefer the P bass.

I have a Peavey Zodiac P/J bass but prefer the J or P better. Better pickups on the P/J would make it sound better.

Personally I don't think a nice used Fender P bass can be beat for a good simple great sounding bass for an intermediate player. Five strings are unnecessary for beginners but are okay and a little heavy.

Schecter and Ibanez make some nice bases. Some of the Ibanez bases have real fast thin necks, which some might like. I think the big neck on my P bass adds to the deep bass tone.

If your drummer uses hydralic heads or pinstripes or twin plys, he might like the pronounced "thump" that flatwound strings provide. Flatwounds are smooth on the fingers and are fast and produce really smooth bass tones that cannot be achieved with roundwound bass strings that are much brighter and cut thru the mix pronouncedly more, but the bass is part of the rythym section anyway and probably shouldn't be smack dab in the middle of the lead mix, but more laid back in the rythym section, giving a foundation to the lead instruments and vocals.

A noiseless J bass is nice, but a nice P bass has an unmistakeable coefficient of cool that cannot be ignored, and a great tone too.

I paid 200 US for my near mint '07 MIM Fender P bass.

[jasongins]

It's funny Eric brings this up. I have been having almost the exact same thoughts and questions. I am a guitar player of a couple of years who has become "bass curious." Can someone tell me the difference between a short scale and a regular scale, and which direction I should lean? I am 5'6, average sized hands.

[t_ross33]

Short scale basses are just that... shorter in scale (the distance from nut to bridge). In most cases around 30". Full scale basses are around 34". By comparison most LP style guitars are 24.75" scale and Strat and Tele types 25.5".

Short scale can be a good transition from guitar for a beginner, or more comfortable for youths or someone of smaller stature, or just more convenient for travel etc. I started on a short scale bass at 12 yrs old and "graduated" to full scale in my late teens.

As with many things guitar and gear related, you'll have to try a few out to see what you like.

[Brian Krashpad]

I have both a Jazz and a Precision (MIM Fender and MIJ Squier). Between the 2 you really cover most of the bass bases. Agreed w/NWB that for the drummer that Eric's mentioned, a J is probably a better fit. The downside to a J for him is if he was doing hard rock/metal really loud, Jazzes can be noisy, with a lot of hum.

Since Eric's drummer is a big feller anyhow, another option is the good ol' Peavey T-40. The biggest downside to these is their weight (especially the natural-finished ones, which are Northern Ash), but for a big guy used to the athleticism of drums the weight might be less of a factor.

Peaveys have relatively thin necks, but in some ways can cover more ground than either a Jazz or a Precision, in that they come with two splittable humbuckers. So if you're in a loud sitch and want no hum, you keep the tone pots at 7/10 or below. If you need the articulation of a single coil like on a Jazz, you put the tone controls at anywhere over 7 up to 10. (Of course, you can always set one to single coil and one to HB for all kinds of mixtures.) It's a system that's not seen on other basses (though shared with the T-60 guitar), and although a bit odd, once one gets used to it, it's quite ingenious and works well.

A USA-made bass for $300 or under is a purty dang good deal too.

PS: some find them unattractive, but I don't. Here's my "stealth" T-40 hiding in plain sight on the kitchen floor:

[Eric***]

I have both a Jazz and a Precision (MIM Fender and MIJ Squier). Between the 2 you really cover most of the bass bases. Agreed w/NWB that for the drummer that Eric's mentioned, a J is probably a better fit. The downside to a J for him is if he was doing hard rock/metal really loud, Jazzes can be noisy, with a lot of hum.

Since Eric's drummer is a big feller anyhow, another option is the good ol' Peavey T-40. The biggest downside to these is their weight (especially the natural-finished ones, which are Northern Ash), but for a big guy used to the athleticism of drums the weight might be less of a factor.

Peaveys have relatively thin necks, but in some ways can cover more ground than either a Jazz or a Precision, in that they come with two splittable humbuckers. So if you're in a loud sitch and want no hum, you keep the tone pots at 7/10 or below. If you need the articulation of a single coil like on a Jazz, you put the tone controls at anywhere over 7 up to 10. (Of course, you can always set one to single coil and one to HB for all kinds of mixtures.) It's a system that's not seen on other basses (though shared with the T-60 guitar), and although a bit odd, once one gets used to it, it's quite ingenious and works well.

A USA-made bass for $300 or under is a purty dang good deal too.

PS: some find them unattractive, but I don't. Here's my "stealth" T-40 hiding in plain sight on the kitchen floor:

That's good info -- thanks for the ideas.

The bass I have that I unofficially inherited from my other friend (kind of my guitar mentor of sorts, who used to play bass in some relatively popular acts back in the day) is an amalgamation of parts, with P and J pickups. The neck seems almost unbelievably thin down near the nut.





Sorry for the crappy pictures, but it's all I have right now.

I feel like that might actually be a decent option for him too, but it would involve me giving it to the drummer and finding a new bass for me. Hrm.

[Brian Krashpad]

That's one of those "best of both worlds" P/J's. Def'ly a Jazz neck. P body, with one pup from each.

Fender &/or Squier makes that combo stock.

[NWBasser]

Brian, that T-40 is pretty darn cool. Too heavy for my spindly frame though.

Another suggestion for a guy with big hands playing complex music would be the Ibanez ATK series. They have a bigger neck and a chunky humbucker with a tone geared towards the metal side of things. Some models also have a J pup in the neck position for added versatility. I'd certainly audition one of these in deciding on a metal/prog bass. Again, very reasonable Ibby prices and can sometimes be had very cheap on closeouts.

[marnold***]

Eric, that'd be the P-bass Special I referred to. P and J pickups, P body, J neck.

[Tig***]

That's one of those "best of both worlds" P/J's. Def'ly a Jazz neck. P body, with one pup from each.

Fender &/or Squier makes that combo stock.

I think you and marnold are talking about the same Squier, the P Bass Special. I could easily jump into one for $279.
"a traditional split single-coil P Bass pickup and a J Bass pickup in the bridge position"

[Brian Krashpad]

I think you and marnold are talking about the same Squier, the P Bass Special. I could easily jump into one for $279.
"a traditional split single-coil P Bass pickup and a J Bass pickup in the bridge position"

That's exactly right Tig. Thanks!