In my humble experience, the way you would use a passive jazz bass differs from the way you would use an active one.
Knobs
To get the most out of your Jazz Bass, you need to consider your volume knobs as tone knobs.
| Bass / Low mids | Mid / High mids | Treble | |
| ⬇️ Neck cut | ⬇️ Cut | ⬆️ Boost | ≈ |
| ⬇️ Bridge cut | ⬆️ Boost | ⬇️ Cut | ≈ |
| ⬇️ Tone cut | ≈ | ≈ | ⬇️ Cut |
Due to physics; the significant cut range of volume pots are extremely narrow. This means that; you’ll get the most significant tonal change by cutting a volume knob by 5-10%. After that, the effect of turning the knob decreases exponentially.
That requires you to use your ears to find the sweet spots.
Settings
Having said that, here are some guideline settings that I use.
| Nick | Neck | Bridge | Tone | Description | Scope |
| Justin | 100% | 0 | 75% | Woody warm tone | ~Short scale ~Upright |
| Michael | 100% | 75% | 75% | Low middy warm tone | ~Retro P bass |
| Mike | 100% | 75% | 100% | Low middy grind tone | ~Rock P bass |
| Duff | 100% | 95% | 100% | Low mids + bite | ~PJ bass |
| Marcus | 100% | 100% | 100% | Scooped jazz tone | Slap, funk |
| Tony | 95% | 100% | 100% | Jazz tone + high mids | ~StingRay |
| Jaco | 75% | 100% | 75% | Burpy | Fast fingers |
| Gürol | 0% | 100% | 75% | Thin, articulate | Solo, chords |
Demo
Check the following video for a demonstration of some of those tones.
Links
For more bass EQ insight, check my article How I EQ my Basses .
Dr. Kerem Koseoglu 
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