Upgrade or Sell my Jazz?

[TmcB]

Righteo, I have a Jazz bass that I quite like the feel of but I can't get it to sound the way I want with a band; either too many mids and not enough bass or vice versa.

I tried a friends bass with the same pickups as mine but with an Audere preamp and it sounded great!
Not sure if it's just throwing good money after bad to upgrade it with the Audere.

I'm just about at the end with Jazz basses so I've got two options.
1) Sell it
2) Upgrade it with the Audere preamp

What say you?

[willow13]

Well I'm a big fan of if you like the way it feels then do what ever it takes to make it sound how you want. It may just be little things like brighter strings or pick ups that turn it into a keeper. If you have bonded with it then shower it with love

[Pastasauce]

It all just sounds like bass to me.

[mr_sooty]

I can totally relate to this scenario - my Strat feels great but has never really turned me on with it's tone.

[rickenbackerkid]

I'm not a fan of upgrading guitars - I've seen heaps of people buy a $400 squire and spend $800 upgrading it. They get to the point where they could have brought a decent guitar in the first place. Or they have dropped $1200, and realise that they are still rocking a squire.

So for me, I just buy stuff that works and add very minor mods if needed.

[Vince]

Well I'm a big fan of if you like the way it feels then do what ever it takes to make it sound how you want.

Same here.

[willow13]

I'm not a fan of upgrading guitars - I've seen heaps of people buy a $400 squire and spend $800 upgrading it. They get to the point where they could have brought a decent guitar in the first place. Or they have dropped $1200

I would ask how the hell do you spend $800???....I think people change things that don't need to be done until the break (like pots and switches)

[Slowy]

It all just sounds like bass to me.

That was very Bass of you.

T, you said you like the feel and you know a probably successful upgrade path. Although I agree with Ben's comments about upgrading turds, that doesn't seem to be the case here. Keep it.

[mr_sooty]

It all just sounds like bass to me.

That was very Bass of you.

T, you said you like the feel and you know a probably successful upgrade path. Although I agree with Ben's comments about upgrading turds, that doesn't seem to be the case here. Keep it.

Yeah and the comments about upgrading a crappy squire relate to a slightly different scenario, we're talking about a quality instrument in this case. But even so, I had great success upgrading a cheap lp100 in my late teens, that guitar served me well for a little over a decade.

I'm thinking more and more that the best way to improve your tone is to get lessons.

[sopachrga]

What say you?

Sell it and buy another 2nd hand bass that suits you more. If you decide one day that the JB was really what you wanted, then on sell again for the same price and buy a 2nd hand JB.
The good thing about buying quality is that it holds it's price. You can sell it and recover your money again. Spend money on upgrading it, is money gone forever.

And with all repsect..... You don't seem to be the sort of guy that hangs on to a bass or guitar for a long time. Your history tends to show that even guitars you have put time in to upgrading you get bored of and on sell at a loss. It would seem to make sense for you to do things that won't lose money at sale time.

[TmcB]

And with all repsect..... You don't seem to be the sort of guy that hangs on to a bass or guitar for a long time. Your history tends to show that even guitars you have put time in to upgrading you get bored of and on sell at a loss. It would seem to make sense for you to do things that won't lose money at sale time.

This is true. I tend to hang on to basses a lot longer though; played my Warwick for 10 years before I realised I couldn't get the tone I wanted out of it. My P-Bass is the keeper now, and the 'Ray is pretty much in that category. The thing is I tend to actually shop for things and pay bigger bucks for bass gear so I'm not so flip-tastic on those (really bad for flipping pedals and guitars though I'll admit). The Jazz is a great feeling bass but the P-Bass and Ray feel better and also have similar necks so switching between the two doesn't take much. Jazz is a much smaller neck and it takes time to adjust to after spending all the time on the P and Ray. I'm with you on the last sentence, I'd rather not spend more upgrading if I'll just end up selling it all on anyway.

[snitchez]

And with all repsect..... You don't seem to be the sort of guy that hangs on to a bass or guitar for a long time. Your history tends to show that even guitars you have put time in to upgrading you get bored of and on sell at a loss. It would seem to make sense for you to do things that won't lose money at sale time.

This is true. I tend to hang on to basses a lot longer though; played my Warwick for 10 years before I realised I couldn't get the tone I wanted out of it. My P-Bass is the keeper now, and the 'Ray is pretty much in that category. The thing is I tend to actually shop for things and pay bigger bucks for bass gear so I'm not so flip-tastic on those (really bad for flipping pedals and guitars though I'll admit). The Jazz is a great feeling bass but the P-Bass and Ray feel better and also have similar necks so switching between the two doesn't take much. Jazz is a much smaller neck and it takes time to adjust to after spending all the time on the P and Ray. I'm with you on the last sentence, I'd rather not spend more upgrading if I'll just end up selling it all on anyway.

putting an audre pre or something similar is a reversible upgrade, and pretty fast too. i reckon try it out. i find it hard to find the 'right' feel on a jazz bass. but once i did, the search for tone continued subsequently.

i just recently swapped out an audre pre with a sadowsky preamp in a very nice looking bachuus jazz bass. A world of a difference. Ash also does the Nordstrand preamps which are always good stuff. give him a buzz and try it out a reckon. see if he has any units that he could let you potentially try out?

[Rog]

My 2c.

Its just a musical instrument. If it doesn't do what you want, sell it! Its only money after all.
You'll change your mind a hundred times over the next 100 months anyway. Most of us do.

However, if you store the Jazz under your bed instead of selling it, it'll be there when you do reach that change of mind that wants that bass tone you don't like right now.

[mr_sooty]

My 2c.

Its just a musical instrument. If it doesn't do what you want, sell it! Its only money after all.
You'll change your mind a hundred times over the next 100 months anyway. Most of us do.

However, if you store the Jazz under your bed instead of selling it, it'll be there when you do reach that change of mind that wants that bass tone you don't like right now.

We do get rather attached to them though don't we? I mean my Strat is a boring old dime a dozen USA Standard, yet there's this reluctance to let it go. Why is that?

[hamo]

My 2c.

Its just a musical instrument. If it doesn't do what you want, sell it! Its only money after all.
You'll change your mind a hundred times over the next 100 months anyway. Most of us do.

However, if you store the Jazz under your bed instead of selling it, it'll be there when you do reach that change of mind that wants that bass tone you don't like right now.

We do get rather attached to them though don't we? I mean my Strat is a boring old dime a dozen USA Standard, yet there's this reluctance to let it go. Why is that?

Cos you're the soot?