[loz]

Whats the best of these. Ok i'm sure thats a matter of opinion, but whats you're opinion and why?

I fancy an old fender, but i've got time to weigh up the odds (and get saving!)

loz

[brandondrury]

I've recorded quite a few Jazz and P basses. I tend to like the P bass in most instances, but that would depend greatly on the music you were recording. I like basses that have a lot of midrange character at 1K or so. A lot of basses get boxy or dull sounding and I try to avoid that at all costs.

Brandon

jazz neck is narrower than the precision

I prefer the jazz

[Incoming]

ive never played a tele but ive played presicions and jazzes quite a bit. The precision has a more in-your-face tone because its got more midrangey tone. The Jazz has a more detailed bottom end growl.

Thats wat I found about fender basses...

[Cory B.]

Ive never played a tele bass, but i think their a bit like the P-bass, not sure. so, between the Jazz bass and the Precision. id chouse the Jazz, because you can get more tones out of it, its got a better feel to it than the PBass, but.. if i were goin by looks the P-bass has my vote... even though its wayy over used. but what ever you do, go for an american, or american deluxe series, its defenetly worth the extra cash.

[thunder god]

i never liked the p-bass. i was always in favor of the j-bass growl.

[roger marsh]

I prefer the jazz to the p bass. Its got a thinner, faster neck. I've also got a precision lyte with a nice thin neck and a whole wardrobe full of tones to play with. Regards

[santi]

Hello everyone: I play with an Jan 69 Jazz Bass since early 80´s. It is very versatile. But I own a Precision also. Boht good basses. And... well, I own a 1990 Fender JP 90, with neck stile Jazz and Precision and Jazz pickups, sounds and plays great.

[Christov]

I would go with a Jazz. The jazz with its 2 pickups can give you the sound of the p or the telecaster by using only the neck pickup. This being said, you also have the flexibility of the Jaco type of sound with only the bridge pickup or both pickups together for a different sound still. The P and Telecaster are nice, but are only 1 trick ponies.

[bolmsted]

I own both a 75 reissue P-bass and the Marcus Miller Jazz bass (a modified 77 reissue). Both are made in Japan. In my opinion, the basses made in Japan are just as well made as the american made but with cheaper electronics. I replaced the pickups in both with the american custom shop models and noticed a big difference.

As stated in other replies, the neck width is a big difference as well as the pickups. I really dig the sound of the P-bass but if you get a P-Bass made before 1970, or a reissue modeled after a pre-70 bass, the neck width will be 1.875-inch. That is verfy thick. After 1970 they went to 1.625, hence the reason I got the 75 reissue. The Jazz are 1.5, which is faster, but always feels a light tiny for a bass. Both Jazz and P-bass have a lot of character in the low end.

As stated P-basses have a little more aggressiveness (more mid-range). Part of that has to do with the fact that the P-bass pickups are wired in series while the Jazz bass is wired in parallel. I modified my Jazz bass with a series/parrallel switch and I find I play the Jazz bass in series almost exclusively, I guess I just like that aggressive biting sound better. As someone stated, the Jazz is more verastile because of the neck and bridge pickup, but the hell if I would ever want to favor one or the other pickup. The two Jazz pickups are single coil pickups, wired in humbucking mode. Played together, at equal levels, the bass is relatively quiet, played individually, the hum drives me nutz.

If your looking at vintage basses, also keep in mind the type of truss-rod. The truss-rods that are accessed at the nut have a tendency to twist with time, while the necks with the truss-rod accessed at the base have seemed to hold up over time. P-basses were never made with a bullet truss-rod.

One thing I really dislike about older Jazz basses is the pickup pole-pieces, one of the great Fender design flaws. The Jazz pickups have flat pole-pieces, but the old vintage necks, 60's thru 70's have a nice arcing 7.25-inch neck radius. Beacause of this, you can't lower the stings to conform with the arc of the neck. If you do, your E and G strings will be noticably louder than the middle strings which are farther from the pickup. Leo took great care in staggering the pole pieces on strat pickups, but never touched the Jazz pickups. Major flaw. You get around it with a compressor to some extent, but come on. P-basses are odviously adjustable.

All in all, I pick up my P-bass more than my Jazz bass. Both are great sounding, the Jazz is certainly brighter, but the P-bass does have a great growl, or can be mellow with the tone pot set around 5.