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Hesher · 06-12-2009, 06:22 PM

Irrespective of the genres they're "suited" for, think about it like this:
Jazz: Bright, growly, loud upper mids, a lot of attack
Precision: Mellower "rounded" tone, lots of bass, more like a rumble than a growl

I just rented a 70s Jazz (a MIM with block inlays) for a month from Long and McQuade... Unfortunately it seems I am definitely a p-bass guy. I just really like the lows, and I find the high mids and treble almost annoying. I'd disagree that P-basses are necessarily easier to play, because jazz basses have a much faster and smaller neck (wouldn't mind a jazz neck on my p).

Once you've made that choice, you aren't done, you still have a lot of options, it just depends on your budget. Squier's Vintage Modified series is turning out instruments that are sometimes better quality than MIM (mexican) Fenders these days. This VM Jazz is one of the best deals on the market today:

I think it's going for maybe $300-400 US. They also make an excellent P-Bass with Seymour Duncan OEM pickups for a little more:

Finally the Tele bass sounds amazing too.

Squier also makes a pretty interesting P-bass Special with a Jazz neck and a Jazz pickup in the bridge position to add some treble/growl.

If you can afford a "real" Fender, you can pick up a P- or J- bass Mexican-made for something like $550 new. To be honest, they don't have that many upgrades over the Squiers and have been going down in quality lately in my experience. That said, I still want a white one with a maple neck :p Aside from that, the Highway One series is a really affordable bass for what you get... A high-mass Badass II bridge, much better quality pickups and electronics and it's also American made... Plus it has a nitro finish which is matte and IMO a lot cooler than the gloss. Those will run you around $750.

What's your budget like? What kind of rig do you have?

I also recommend Talkbass.com for questions like this, it's a great forum for bass players and has just a wealth of information.

06-12-2009, 06:22 PM	#9 (permalink)
Hesher Palm Muted Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 168	Irrespective of the genres they're "suited" for, think about it like this: Jazz: Bright, growly, loud upper mids, a lot of attack Precision: Mellower "rounded" tone, lots of bass, more like a rumble than a growl I just rented a 70s Jazz (a MIM with block inlays) for a month from Long and McQuade... Unfortunately it seems I am definitely a p-bass guy. I just really like the lows, and I find the high mids and treble almost annoying. I'd disagree that P-basses are necessarily easier to play, because jazz basses have a much faster and smaller neck (wouldn't mind a jazz neck on my p). Once you've made that choice, you aren't done, you still have a lot of options, it just depends on your budget. Squier's Vintage Modified series is turning out instruments that are sometimes better quality than MIM (mexican) Fenders these days. This VM Jazz is one of the best deals on the market today: I think it's going for maybe $300-400 US. They also make an excellent P-Bass with Seymour Duncan OEM pickups for a little more: Finally the Tele bass sounds amazing too. Squier also makes a pretty interesting P-bass Special with a Jazz neck and a Jazz pickup in the bridge position to add some treble/growl. If you can afford a "real" Fender, you can pick up a P- or J- bass Mexican-made for something like $550 new. To be honest, they don't have that many upgrades over the Squiers and have been going down in quality lately in my experience. That said, I still want a white one with a maple neck :p Aside from that, the Highway One series is a really affordable bass for what you get... A high-mass Badass II bridge, much better quality pickups and electronics and it's also American made... Plus it has a nitro finish which is matte and IMO a lot cooler than the gloss. Those will run you around $750. What's your budget like? What kind of rig do you have? I also recommend Talkbass.com for questions like this, it's a great forum for bass players and has just a wealth of information.