New Jazz Bass

andrushkiwt

Well-known member
JazzBass.jpg

$400 even. Wanted something good for a rock mix, well-built, and plenty of tone options. Almost went with an Ibanez (can't remember which one), but this thing just felt nice. Very little hum in my DAW, and there's so much tone available with the 3 controls. I'm liking it.
 
I'm guessing it's not active? Not that it matters, just curious, my active JB cost more 10 years ago if I remember correctly and even if passive that's a good price. Nice looking axe !
 
Nice buy. And... it's my favorite color :D

The bridge PU on my new Yamaha bass starts humming at about half volume - I don't like that much tone so I keep it down anyway.

Looking forward to hearing yours.
 
Awesome. The J bass is my favorite. The way it is sits in a mix, holding down the bottom without cluttering the midrange. Totally different from a P bass and works better, in my music, nine times out of ten. Figure out how those knobs work. It's not what you might think at first.
 
Figure out how those knobs work. It's not what you might think at first.

I had to google it, cause it wasn't making sense to me at first, and I couldn't hear which pickup was which either. There's even less hum/static if I keep all knobs under maximum. I love the feel of this thing, it's really fun to play.
 
Nice buy. And... it's my favorite color :D

The bridge PU on my new Yamaha bass starts humming at about half volume - I don't like that much tone so I keep it down anyway.

Looking forward to hearing yours.

THat's the middle knob, right? Both bridge and neck will give hum at 100% for me, and worse if bottom tone knob is maxed...so I've been maxing bottom knob, neck tone at 90% and bridge knob at about 75%. I feel like I don't even have to adjust my virtual amp head now, there's so many tonal possibilities right from the bass.
 
Single coils can be a bear in recording if the bass is really present (in the mix). Check your lighting and spin around the room to see if there's an angle that minimizes it.

Usually having both PU volumes matched on a JB can be quieter but there's not a lot of tolerance concern in building those things, so they're all different. I ended up putting noiseless PUs in mine.
 
Yeah, the main thing is that the two pickup knobs are interact with each other as you blend them, so that the rolloff is not linear. Try setting the neck knob on full and the bridge off (or vice versa). Then slow roll on the bridge knob. You won't notice any change until it gets to about 70%. Then you begin to hear the two pickups blend as you keep increasing it. If you turn up the volume and roll the second pickup on slowly, you can hear when the two begin to blend because the hum will start to decrease.

You can also get some interesting tones but turning the pickups down. Just basically play with it. About 80% of the time I'm using the neck pickup alone.
 
THat's the middle knob, right? Both bridge and neck will give hum at 100% for me, and worse if bottom tone knob is maxed...so I've been maxing bottom knob, neck tone at 90% and bridge knob at about 75%. I feel like I don't even have to adjust my virtual amp head now, there's so many tonal possibilities right from the bass.

Yes, the middle knob. I've been doing the neck at 90%, bridge at 0, and bottom knob at 0. This has new roundwounds so it cuts through.

... Try setting the neck knob on full and the bridge off (or vice versa). Then slow roll on the bridge knob. You won't notice any change until it gets to about 70%. Then you begin to hear the two pickups blend as you keep increasing it.....

That's exactly how my pickups are operating. When the bridge knob gets to that 70% area it's like flipping a switch. I thought it was broke :p
 
I had a MIM Jazz bass back in the late '90s IIRC, it was my first bass. got me started and also helped me to be a better guitar player (granted, that probably isn't saying much :D) I generally prefer the thump of a P bass more and the body shape but I like the Jazz bass neck better. I did look at the exact same guitar you got and wavered between that and building my own. In the end the DIY option won out. I have a precision body, precision pickup, jazz bass width (1.5" nut) neck with rosewood fingerboard and a tele style headstock. One of these fine days winter will finally end and I can get my workshop in the garage up and running and finish the project.
 
I took the sticky metal foil for sealing up my A/C ductwork and filled the pickup and control cavities and reduced the full open knob noise on my basses a huge amount , I would say about 70-80% less? I usually end up with the neck pickup at 100 the bridge at about 85-90 and the bottom knob of J bass at about 60. It seems very scooped to me and fits well in most of what I record.
 
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