Fender Precision Bass or Jazz Bass for Modern Metal?

Hello all,

I hope everyone's been doing well. I've recently downsized my bass rig to an MXR Bass Compressor, Darkglass B7K and Darkglass Alpha Omega Ultra. I am making plans to secure a Darkglass Alpha Omega 900 for the session bassist to use for live performances. However, we're not here to talk about the bass rig.

I wanted to talk about bass guitars themselves. I'm currently using a Jackson JS3 Spectra Bass, but I'm making plans to upgrade to another bass guitar soon as the 9V battery clip isn't holding the 9V in place properly.

The tone I'm chasing for is a Nolly-esque bass tone. Now, ideally, a Dingwall Combustion would've been an ideal candidate; however, the issue is the NG-2 model is no longer carried by any of the music stores in Toronto anymore, and the Ibanez multi-scale bass guitar I'm looking at is beyond my price range. (Current budget is CAD$1200 + whatever money I get back from Jackson JS3, to be determined - we're looking at getting back approximately 120-200 CAD back, so for safety's sake let's assume that my max budget including taxes and new bass strings is roughly CAD$1400.)

So because of this, as a second best option, I've been looking into Fender basses, mainly because I remember having used the Jaguar HH back in my high school years and I trust that the Fender brand is still going strong with their solid lineup of bass guitars. I've been looking into the Player series basses as of this time - the Jazz Bass and Precision Bass to be exact.

The music I am currently writing are progressive power metal and ballad. Please do keep in mind that I'm primarily a guitarist, and the bass I plan to get is mainly for home recording, AND to rent out to session bassists during live performances.

So between the Jazz Bass and Precision Bass, which is better? Or, given the budget of CAD$1400 including taxes, shipping (if being outsourced from outside Canada) and new bass strings, do you have a better bass guitar recommendation to get closer to Nolly's bass tone? Please let me know, thank you.

I wanted to talk about bass guitars themselves. I'm currently using a Jackson JS3 Spectra Bass, but I'm making plans to upgrade to another bass guitar soon as the 9V battery clip isn't holding the 9V in place properly.

So replace the battery clip. What does a small part like that have to do with wanting a new bass?

The tone I'm chasing for is a Nolly-esque bass tone. Now, ideally, a Dingwall Combustion would've been an ideal candidate; however, the issue is the NG-2 model is no longer carried by any of the music stores in Toronto anymore, and the Ibanez multi-scale bass guitar I'm looking at is beyond my price range. (Current budget is CAD$1200 + whatever money I get back from Jackson JS3, to be determined - we're looking at getting back approximately 120-200 CAD back, so for safety's sake let's assume that my max budget including taxes and new bass strings is roughly CAD$1400.)

Re: the Ibanez, are you looking at the EBH1005? I was chatting with a session player here on EB who has one of those, plus multiple Dingwalls, and they actually prefer the Ibanez for most needs at the moment.

I'm seeing EBHs on Reverb for <$1000US. Seems like they do fit into your budget, if you're open to used. I know you have to factor in additional shipping charges/taxes to get anything stateside over to Toronto... I'm sure you could pull this off within your budget, even with those considerations, if you're patient enough to wait for the right used instrument to come along.

So because of this, as a second best option, I've been looking into Fender basses, mainly because I remember having used the Jaguar HH back in my high school years and I trust that the Fender brand is still going strong with their solid lineup of bass guitars. I've been looking into the Player series basses as of this time - the Jazz Bass and Precision Bass to be exact.

The cheapest 5-String Precision Bass Fender offers is out of your price range, but there are a few options for 5-string Jazz Basses under $1000... but why were you even considering a 4-String for progressive metal? I'm no prog metal expert, but I know those tracks get low. Not a single bass on Nolly's Equipboard has fewer than 5 strings.

So replace the battery clip. What does a small part like that have to do with wanting a new bass?

I initially bought the Jackson JS3 bass as a backup measure for collabs because of how bassists were constantly being unreliable during collabs. (Long story short, they kept on making up excuses and didn't even bother to record their tracks to a click, so I've had to secure the bass guitar as a last resort so that I have something to rely on if bass players are just outright unreliable.) However, nowadays, because I'm shifting from a band direction to a solo direction, I've realized that I am gonna need a reliable bass for home recording purposes (and to rent out to those session guitarists who "forget" their bass guitar), I am planning to upgrade.

Re: the Ibanez, are you looking at the EBH1005? I was chatting with a session player here on EB who has one of those, plus multiple Dingwalls, and they actually prefer the Ibanez for most needs at the moment.

I'm seeing EBHs on Reverb for <$1000US. Seems like they do fit into your budget, if you're open to used. I know you have to factor in additional shipping charges/taxes to get anything stateside over to Toronto... I'm sure you could pull this off within your budget, even with those considerations, if you're patient enough to wait for the right used instrument to come along.

I was talking about Canadian funds, not US funds. Here in Canada, the EHB1005 costs $1649 CAD before taxes, so it's out of my budget range even IF I do manage to sell the Jackson bass.

The cheapest 5-String Precision Bass Fender offers is out of your price range, but there are a few options for 5-string Jazz Basses under $1000... but why were you even considering a 4-String for progressive metal? I'm no prog metal expert, but I know those tracks get low. Not a single bass on Nolly's Equipboard has fewer than 5 strings.

You wouldn't expect this from a prog power metal guitarist, but I actually write 6-string material in Eb Standard (half-step down) and Drop C#, so there's no need for me to really go too low. Because of that I'm looking into 4-string basses at this time.

I'm seeing EBHs on Reverb for <$1000US. Seems like they do fit into your budget, if you're open to used. I know you have to factor in additional shipping charges/taxes to get anything stateside over to Toronto... I'm sure you could pull this off within your budget, even with those considerations, if you're patient enough to wait for the right used instrument to come along.

I was talking about Canadian funds, not US funds. Here in Canada, the EHB1005 costs $1649 CAD before taxes, so it's out of my budget range even IF I do manage to sell the Jackson bass.

I know, and I was talking about used prices. I checked what used USD prices would equate to in CAD before my initial reply.

Precision. Or better yet a music man stingray. Go used. Trawl reverb for people who seem hard up and make offers.

The stingray 5 is an east for this type of music although I'm not sure your budget will permit it.

Fender Player Precision Bass it is then. I really hope that the Precision Bass doesn't sound as harsh as the Jackson Spectra Bass when put through my Darkglass preamps.

Fender Player Precision Bass it is then. I really hope that the Precision Bass doesn't sound as harsh as the Jackson Spectra Bass when put through my Darkglass preamps.

There are plenty of guitar shops in Toronto. Could you not go into one with your Darkglass and find out before you buy?

Most of what's in stock at Long and McQuade are Squier basses. Fender basses are difficult to find in stock (especially the Player Jazz Basses - those are completely out of stock in the Toronto location), and Kaos Music Center (the store nearest to me) doesn't post which items are in stock so they're extremely unpredictable.

Well, I was thinking you'd pick up a phone, call a few places, and go to the one that assured you they had one in-hand. Doable here in LA, maybe not in Toronto. Bummer.

Anyway, the standard P-Bass pickup is essentially a humbucker by another name, not known for being harsh in any context. The pickups on everything from the Squier CV series on up are all very solid. I'd be shocked if you found the natural tone of any standard-config P-Bass Fender sells to be too much of anything in any regard.

You probably already know this, but the necks on P-Basses are generally chunkier than the necks on J-Basses, though I'd suspect Fender wouldn't go too extreme in that dimension for their current mainstream Player, Player Plus, American, etc series... but as someone who primarily plays guitar, just know the Jazz is almost always going to have the more guitar-like neck between the two. Tone-wise, nobody ever regretted buying a P-Bass... just know that your neck could have some chonk.

Good to know. I am still hesitant on the CV series from Squier. Usually they're a hit or miss for me considering the guitars I've tried out from Squier in the past.

I wasn't suggesting a Squier; just stating that Fender doesn't currently put trash pickups in any bass over $450 USD, to best of my knowledge. Trash pots/electronics? Maybe, but I highly doubt the Player series has any glaring deficiencies to address. You'll get the good tuners, pickup, wiring/shielding, and hardware you'd expect for that kind of money. Jim is a lot closer to this subject than me, obviously. Take my notes with a grain of salt, but listen hard to anything he has to share on the subject.