Gibson SG vs Fender J-bass

@Jazzbass19 Joe! Dude! Congratulations!

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Thanks, @howard . . . :slight_smile:

It’s a solid mahogany body with a mahogany set neck design.

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are you sure it’s not a set neck ?

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Yeah, made a typo there, @terb . . . went back and fixed my post :+1:

The Thunderbird Bass has the through-neck design.

All best, Joe :slight_smile:

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speaking about Gibson basses, do you know the RD ? I love the shape, here is the Kirst Novoselic (Nirvana) signature model :

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Let us know how you like it! You got something you always dreamed of having, that’s awesome. And you got it used at a great deal, so as @terb says, if for some reason you don’t like it you can easily resell it - popular model of a popular brand.

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So far, so good @howard . . . :slight_smile:

It arrived last night in great condition! I’m keeping it right there next to my desk and around the corner from my Squier.

I’ll post up a pic of both my basses on the “Show Us Your Basses” thread.

Cheers, Joe

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what a beauty ! :star_struck:

I hope you like it @Jazzbass19 and I can’t wait reading your review !

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A beauty for sure! I hope your living arrangement lets you crank her up! Let t that mudbucker do its thing :crazy_face:

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OK, @terb . . . after handling, tuning, and playing it for a few days, my initial reactions are mixed:

PROS:

The fit and finish are excellent. There are only a very few minor scratches and it is in superb condition for a used bass.

I am satisfied with the price I paid, the Babicz bridge, and the quality hardshell case it was packed in.

It is noticeably lighter than my Fender bass (7 lbs vs 10 lbs).

CONS:

It has a slight, but noticeable, “neck dive” issue (as expected), but there are several solutions for that. I’ll have more on this later.

The tone is darker and “muddier” than a Fender and it does not have the versatility or the tonal range (again, as expected). On the other hand, I did notice a bit more sustain, and suspect that may be due to the neck design (set vs bolt on)?

OVERALL:

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always wanted a Gibson bass . . . it reminds me of the “good old days” when I was a kid :slight_smile: Our lead guitarist had a Les Paul, and our rhythm guitarist had an SG, so I’m really glad I got it, and it brings back those fond memories.

However, unlike many folks on these Forums, I am not a big fan of the short scale neck (at least not so far). I am 100% convinced that the “bass gods” must have been smiling on me the day I blindly ordered my Squier bass, because after I try anything else, it still feels the best :+1:

I will test different strings, EQ settings, etc. as time goes by. Owning both a Fender and a Gibson quite literally doubles my playing field, and I look forward to further exploration.

All best, Joe

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Ha! . . . I can rattle the pictures on my apartment walls, @santino :slight_smile:

Seriously though, I do try and keep it down, and only practice in mid afternoon while my neighbors are at work. :wink:

All best, Joe

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Darker and muddier might also be in part because it’s a short scale.

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Yes, @howard :slight_smile:

Also because the neck pickup is directly below the neck.

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thanks for the review @Jazzbass19 , that’s interesting and I’m happy you overall like your Gibson !

Maybe, I’ve never been very sure about this. I guess the bridge quality plays a role too !

everything in this design makes it sound dark/muddy, from the wood choice (including for the neck), pickup type and obviously pickup position :slight_smile:

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SWEET!!! What a great find @Jazzbass19 - congrats! Can’t wait to hear it play!

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OK, all you “others out there” (if any) . . . here’s my first report:

  1. The neck dive issue is confirmed. (I have been told that the SG bass is not as bad as the SG guitar in this department, but there is indeed a problem). I bought a suede-backed strap and adjusted it carefully so that the bass is at roughly the same height whether I am sitting or standing. This did seem to help a bit, but now the strap tugs at my shirt . . . :laughing: lol

I experimented with adding 530 grams of lead weight to the strap at the bottom strap button, and again, this seemed to help a bit. I’m looking around at ways to implement this and I have a few ideas.

  1. There is another (apparently common) issue which I did not bump across in my initial research: the E string often sounds less robust than the others. There does not appear to be an easy fix such as raising the neck pickup (because of its design), but it may be possible to lower the string a few more thousandths. Also, there is an occasional rattle in the neck pickup (only heard when played without the amp), and is reportedly fixable with a strip of felt.

Other than those two issues, so far so good . . . It plays well, the intonation seems spot on, and I’m trying different EQ settings on my amp, etc.

I really like this bass and it brings back fond memories for me as I’ve said before, but I can assure everyone that it’s not going to replace my Squier anytime soon! There is still nothing like the range of tones you can get out of a Fender Jazz Bass :+1:

I’ll keep you posted on any further developments.

Cheers, Joe

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Did you already tried a modern active bass with 3-band EQ ? :grin: not my cup of tea but those things have an incredible tone range. One of my best friends uses one of those things (don’t remember the brand right now, it’s a confidential high-end instrument) and it’s so versatile he even never touches the amps settings, all on the onboard preamp ! for the Precision Bass player I am, that’s impressive (and a bit confusing).

Anyway I totally agree about the tone range of the Jazz Bass. I’m not a very big fan of the JB sound because I find it tends to sound very focus (just a personnal taste, I like a fuller/wider tone) but the tone range + playability + robustness makes the JB probably one of the best bass design ever IMHO. and in fact the focus sound is often a great advantage when you have to place the bass line neatly in a mix. The Jazz Bass is to the bass world what the Stratocaster is to the guitar world : it can do a lot of things and is very efficient. I’m not surprised you love your JB :slight_smile: And, again, the current Squier range is amazing in quality. Good catch !

Back to the SG ! About neck dive, are you talking about the fact that the headstock tends to fall down when you use the strap and you don’t have your left hand on the neck to hold it ? To my experience it’s a very common behavior with a bass guitar : the neck is long and the tuning machines are often a bit heavy. Is the SG really worse than any another bass on this point ?

About the E string, I don’t remember on the SG bass, but on the SG guitar (and on every Gibson guitar / even every guitar with humbuckers), there is a row where each magnetic pole is a screw and you can set the height to match the level between each string.

About the rattle on the neck pickup, I think you can just ignore it. On most of my guitars the strings always hit the pickup (pickup set a bit high, strings set a bit low). After years and years some pickups have some markings but that’s all. Not a big deal IMHO. On my Precision the E string sometimes hits the pickup too. I just don’t care and it works OK. :slight_smile:

Anyway I hope you realize you will have at least to record a cover to allow us to listen to your SG ! :grin:

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Yes @terb, that’s what I’m talking about. Apparently, any guitar with a strap button located behind the neck joint is prone to this problem. Classic examples include Gibson SG bass and SG guitar, the Thunderbird bass, and the Firebird guitar.

Thank you, @terb that is what I thought as well. I did some digging around on the Interwebs, and it seems that these screws are just cosmetic (at least on this Gibson SG bass). The entire pickup body would need to to be raised or lowered which can be problematic. Very early Gibsons might have been adjustable this way, though. Further research is needed to confirm all this.

The rattle in the neck pickup is internal and NOT from the strings hitting it from above. ( I measured this with a gauge and it shows a 0.300" gap, so there’s plenty of room). I agree it’s not too important, and I’ll get around to fixing it later.

You are right, mon ami . . . but the honeymoon with my Gibby isn’t over just yet, though! :wink:

Cheers, Joe

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yeah that’s it, it’s a basic lever-effect thing and I believe that’s the reason for the Precision Bass shape. because Fender design is right, right ? :grin: No religion here : I must say that, look-wise, a PB is not so good looking to me (I don’t like Stratocasters much either ; basicaly the guitar version of the PB).
it’s just the thing that sounds right to me. and even with this extended upper extended part (don’t find the words in english, sorry) for the strap button, a Precision has neck diving issues either. so, well, Fender design is right but sometimes it doesn’t work so well :rofl:

My guess is that all those “vintage design” basses must have this issue. The more modern body shapes often show a very extended part for the strap button and lighter tuning machines, so there is no more (or way less) lever effect. so less or no more dive.

I guess you should have the same issue with your beloved JB ? because it’s still a very vintage design. Fender design have not changed over years, just very minor updates but we still play very vintage design in fact (my PB is 99% a '57 designed one, your JB is a bit younger but only about a few years ! impressive to realize that). In my opinion we can live with it, but again that’s just my opinion. I’m OK to sacrifice some practical things to the tone and feel of an instrument.

I never asked an instrument to be perfect. I don’t like perfection very much. I like an instrument that will do ITS thing very well (you will like this thing or not = you will love or hate this instrument) and this goes with far imperfect design. because perfection is perfect but so cold !

Again you know I don’t like Gibson design very much (to be fair :sweat_smile: ) but if it gives you the tone and feel you seek/like, that’s just great.

I highly doubt about it. I’m not an expert about Gibson bass pickups designs but I know a bit about guitar pickups, and those things are pretty much identical (except resonance frequencies, winding, pole number … very minor things … still the same design on a bass and guitar pickup, very very similar).

If you have those screws, I recommand you to rise the E pole with a screwdriver and ear if it makes a difference. I’m almost sure it will. If it doesn’t work you will just have to screw the thing back but I’m pretty confident about what I just said. (still not 100% …)

oh that’s strange, would it mean the pickup is not wax-potted ? possible …

take your time, take your time … you’ll have to record a cover anyway :grin:

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It’s called the “upper horn”, but I know what you mean :slight_smile:

On Fender basses (and many others) the upper strap button location roughly matches where the 12th fret is, and this gives the guitar a good balance point. I’ve never had any neck dive problem with any Fender bass.

I think it may be helpful to relocate the heel strap button on the SG. Moving it upwards a few inches should improve the balance slightly, but there’s a limit to where it could be placed due to the contours of the body. At least it would prevent the bass from rolling forward.

I’m surprised that Gibson hasn’t fixed this issue by this time . . . but, it’s only a minor problem and yes, I can live with it for now. :slight_smile:

Ah yes, the tone . . . I’ve been experimenting with the knobs on the SG and it seems that if I turn the bass all the way up, the tone all the way down, and the treble 50-70%, I get better results. I almost sound like Jack Bruce now! :laughing:

Cheers, Joe

edit: I found that I also had to turn the master volume up on the amp a bit more.

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