LewsTherin
08-14-2005, 06:56 PM
Okay...so I went to guitar center today, looking for a new bass, and I picked up this bass. Its a mexican-made ash jazz bass, finished in natural, with a w/b/w pickguard. (pic soon to come)
I was first attracted to this bass because a) the natural ash looks sexy and b) i had wanted a jazz.
This bass is basically just like any other jazz ive ever played.
FEATURES:
7/10
2 bipole single coil pickups
2 Volume, 1 Tone control.
Standard Jazz Bass fare. I wish fender would add a second tone knob. It would make for some awesome sounds. Aside from this, this bass has pretty much everything you need/would expect in a passive bass.
CONSTRUCTION
7/10
Most of this bass seems pretty well put together, except for a few things. The pickguard and the control plate dont quite come together, so there is a small gap between them (3-5mm), which is quite noticable up close. Also, the edges of the skunk stripe are rough past the 8th fret or so, and the neck bolt-plate looks crooked, although the neck seems to be on fine.
The body is 4 peices of ash. From afar, the grain lines mesh together a bit, and even close, some of the seams take some looking to see.
HARDWARE:
6/10
The tuners work fine. I only have to tune once every week or week and a half. As I said in my edit below, I do have problems with the bridge. The action keeps falling. Its pretty annoying, and it only takes about a week after being fixed for one of the saddle screws to be all the way down.
SOUND:
9/10
What can I say, its a Jazz. Probably one of the most versatile passive basses available. I think the only sound Ive been unable to get so far is the P-Bass boom. The Jazz just cant touch that. Barring that, this bass can still get quite the variety of tones.
VALUE:
9/10
At $489USD new, this bass is only a little more expensive than the standard mim jazz. Apparently ash is more expensive than alder. Im completely happy with what I payed for it, however. I probably even would have spent a bit more.
OVERALL:
7.5/10
Its the classic Jazz Bass, in an ever-sexy Ash, with a few apparent albeit minor quality control issues.
PICS NEVER COMING.
EDIT: Almost two weeks better, I still stand by everything I said before. Nothings fallen apart on me. I still love this bass.
I was wrong about the neckplate, its square, its the lower cutout thats at an angle (as its supposed to be) that made me think it was off.
EDIT2: Ive now had this bass for a while, its still in once peice.
I do, however, have problems with the bridge saddles working their way down to as low as they will go, frequently putting dead frets on the fingerboard until i fix it.
I was first attracted to this bass because a) the natural ash looks sexy and b) i had wanted a jazz.
This bass is basically just like any other jazz ive ever played.
FEATURES:
7/10
2 bipole single coil pickups
2 Volume, 1 Tone control.
Standard Jazz Bass fare. I wish fender would add a second tone knob. It would make for some awesome sounds. Aside from this, this bass has pretty much everything you need/would expect in a passive bass.
CONSTRUCTION
7/10
Most of this bass seems pretty well put together, except for a few things. The pickguard and the control plate dont quite come together, so there is a small gap between them (3-5mm), which is quite noticable up close. Also, the edges of the skunk stripe are rough past the 8th fret or so, and the neck bolt-plate looks crooked, although the neck seems to be on fine.
The body is 4 peices of ash. From afar, the grain lines mesh together a bit, and even close, some of the seams take some looking to see.
HARDWARE:
6/10
The tuners work fine. I only have to tune once every week or week and a half. As I said in my edit below, I do have problems with the bridge. The action keeps falling. Its pretty annoying, and it only takes about a week after being fixed for one of the saddle screws to be all the way down.
SOUND:
9/10
What can I say, its a Jazz. Probably one of the most versatile passive basses available. I think the only sound Ive been unable to get so far is the P-Bass boom. The Jazz just cant touch that. Barring that, this bass can still get quite the variety of tones.
VALUE:
9/10
At $489USD new, this bass is only a little more expensive than the standard mim jazz. Apparently ash is more expensive than alder. Im completely happy with what I payed for it, however. I probably even would have spent a bit more.
OVERALL:
7.5/10
Its the classic Jazz Bass, in an ever-sexy Ash, with a few apparent albeit minor quality control issues.
PICS NEVER COMING.
EDIT: Almost two weeks better, I still stand by everything I said before. Nothings fallen apart on me. I still love this bass.
I was wrong about the neckplate, its square, its the lower cutout thats at an angle (as its supposed to be) that made me think it was off.
EDIT2: Ive now had this bass for a while, its still in once peice.
I do, however, have problems with the bridge saddles working their way down to as low as they will go, frequently putting dead frets on the fingerboard until i fix it.