The hum in some basses never bothered me much. You wouldnt hear it in a live setting with a band. Only something youll notice at home while practicing. All these modern fenders sound pretty similar so if you dont like how this sounds, i doubt youll like any of them. This bass is passive so you get more flexibility with the player plus and the ultra. Some people just prefer passive basses like this.
Hey Tim, I played the American Deluxe for many years which had the noiseless pups. I find the hum to be annoying especially in the studio. I get to play many jazz basses and find them all to be different even if only slightly.
That's a spot on review Bob. I had one of these in the mercury finish for a couple of weeks but ended up returning it to the store. Mainly because I noticed that the neck was misaligned due to a significant gap between the heel of the neck and the neck pocket on the E string side. Yours also looks odd as the dots on the fretboard seem a bit out. I too wasn't totally convinced on the pickups. On the positive side, the neck felt amazing and the bass only weighed 3.95kg or 8.70 pounds. I do like and appreciate your honest review too. It's crazy that you should spend so much on a bass and then have to swop out the pickups :-(
Yes, I bought one several years ago and liked the sound but the neck was so weak that if you sneezed, the strings would bottom out. Had to send it back
I bought this exact bass with the rosewood finish and I can't get the tone to sound as good as my Fender American Performer PJ bass. My PJ is no-fuss, minimal adjustments and it sounds great. It sounds even better with the DR Black Beauty strings I put in them. I think I should have gotten another PJ bass. Also the narrow neck is a challenge to get accustomed to. It's too late now to return it to Guitar Center for a full refund and if I resell it as used I can recoup hopefully more than half for it. Listening to it over headphones sounds decent but through the bass amp it doesn't sound well. There's also feet buzz on the E string which is quite annoying.
Hey Mr Tickets, sorry to hear that! I wasn't crazy about the pickups on that bass but rest was pretty good. A PJ is going to sound a lot different than a JJ.
Nice review and I agree with you. I was investigating and the bridge pickup is alnico 2 and the neck pickup is alnico 5. Maybe changing the order can solve the problem or changing only the bridge pickup for an alnico 5. I don't know if I'll take the risk, because it could be that the electronics aren't either. very good.
Great review 👍 I'm really thinking of buying one of these in the coming days. Absolutely beautiful looking and sounding bass. I'm wondering though, how do you think this bass would hold up with the tuning been B, F#, B, E instead of standard tuning?
@@BobBlackBass I went ahead and bought one and it's absolutely super 😊 Absolutely no problem with the tuning, in fact it was probably the easiest setup ever 👍
My issue with these Fender basses is the Audio Taper pots. They never no good sweep. I still haven’t figured out why they don’t put linear pots in basses to give you more options on volume levels.
I ordered the white P bass version of this bass and was sent the jazz in the exact color you have there in error so before sending it back tried it out. If it weren't for that annoying hum I'd of probably kept it. Hope my new P fares better.
The other half of a bass is an amp. What kind of amp are you playing on in this video? Can't judge this bass 100% without the type of amp you are playing through. PS: I own the Fender American Professional I and love it!! Thanks for posting!
Hey Bill, I'm in the studio where I teach and it's an acoustic 50 watt amp. I agree with you but if I owned this bass I would swap out the pickups. Other than that, I love it too!
@@BobBlackBass Thanks Bob! First, you have an amazing channel...so thanks so much for that. Secondly, the AP I I have has different pickups for sure. In fact, the AP 1 Jazz that I have has more growl balanced by a nice low-end. This AP II has a different tone...I am liking it much less than the AP I sound wise. On another note, when you put on the drum track in this video the bass CLEARLY cut right through the mix and was easily heard. So, no problems there. Nice bass overall and great video!
I appreciate your candor and honesty in the reviews. I'm thinking about getting an American made Fender or G&L. I have several MIM Fender and G<ribute basses (Jazzes, Precisions, and a P/J). All are fine and some are even much better than fine. All but one cost under $400 as I bought them used or at steeply discounted prices. My question for you: Do you think American made Fenders and G&L basses warrant the $1,000 - $2,000 price tag, as compared to MIM and Tribute versions? My common sense says "no", but perhaps I'm missing something.
Hey Mike, thanks for your comments. I'll give you my opinion but please remember this is just my personal opinion. Yours may differ. I've never owned a tribute so I can't comment on that. I have owned several Mexican fenders and have found the American made basses to be superior. The necks on the American basses seem to be more stable and the quality of workmanship is just better and of course you pay for that. The American made G&l Basses are super high quality (see my review of the L1000). Perfect neck pockets, tuners etc. And great sound !
Ps Many places such as Guitar Center or Fret Nation will let you purchase an instrument and try it for a number of days and if you don't like it, return it no questions asked.
Did the bass hum with both pickups at 100%? That's normally how I play a Jazz bass. I've played a couple of those basses in the store and they both sounded great and there was no hum.
Hey Chad, no, no hum with both pickups full on. Single coil pickups will hum if both are not on full. I like to favor one pickup or the other so I prefer to go with noiseless pickups.
Hey, AZ Crazy Bull, I will review an Ultra the next time I get my hands on one. The last time I played one there were a lot of pluses. The only negative was that the one I played was very heavy.
@@BobBlackBass ohh nice. Same I guess I got used to the 4 string. I do play my 5 string in special gigs when there is a bigger sound system. BTW : now I have both basses. update I did purchase the ibanez 5 string. It's pretty good it has a good punch with the bartolini pickups and it's comfortable too.
Those strings sound ragged. I just got the Pro ii P-Bass which came with awful strings so I assume that these are the same. Just putting some DR Sunbeams on my bass made a world of difference.
I recently bought one of these (mystic surf green), but after 2.5 months, I’m still struggling with this bass to get the sound I wish to have. My issue is not the noise, I’m looking for a growling bright sound similar to 70’s jazz basses. I haven’t swapped the PUs yet, I most likely will. I’m not sure having a set of new pick up would solve my issue though.
