Fender Aerodyne P-Bass

I just got my 2007 Japan made Natural color Aerodyne Precision Bass: It has to volume controls, one for the split p-bass PU, and one for the "extra" Jazz bass PU at the bridge. It has a very nice looking flame maple to, and a solid basswood body. The matching headstock is a very nive feature. The neck is smaller than a traditional p-bass, which makes it very nice to play. The GOTOH tuners are precise and shiny :-). The body is shaped in a slim way that makes it very cofortable to wear and play. The rosewood fingerboard is nice to!

I play all kind of music in my studio, and for that is GREAT!

If you play only the p-bass PU, is sounds very p-bass-like, with full, rich, fat precision sound.

With both PU's you get very very close to Jazz bass sound,

And if you play the bridge PU alone, you get this 70'style hard funky/rock sound.

A very all-round bass who does all the jobs very GREAT! Very nice sounding bass, with an amazing sustain!

The bass, came very well set up, thanks to my guitar/bass dealer. The bass is flawless made. A true deluxe bass.

All well made reliable bass. Haven't tried it live...

The standard Fender support, but my dealer has won the Fender Topseller Price 4 years in a row, og provides a fantastic service.

I have owned a lot of gear over the years and this is one of the best basses I've had. I'm not going to sell it ti think!

Transparent Blue w/ Polyurethane Finish
Body: Basswood with Flame Maple Top (very thin!!)
Neck: Maple, "C" Shape w/ Rosewood Fingerboard
20 Frets
Pickups: 1 Split Single-Coil Precision Bass Pickup Mid Position and 1 Single-Coil Jazz Bass Pickup Bridge Position
Controls: Volume, Volume, Tone
Bridge: Standard 4-Saddle (upgraded to a Badass II Bridge, recomended!!)
Hardware: Chrome
Pickguard: 3-Ply Mint Green (vintage looking)

What it lacks: A hard case, or any case at all, bridge or pick plates (to add even more vintage look to it), thumb rest

I play alt. rock and a bit of hard rock. I was looking for that Fender growl that one can hear in Weezer recordings or maybe that Fall Out Boy clunk. This bass has a lot of Metal sound, it really bleeds out the strings so nice and the advantage of having the single coil Jazz pick up gives you a lot o options to your sound. One can easily go from the deep sound of the Precision pickup sound to the thin but clean sound of the Jazz pick up and then add all the midrange you can imagine by mixing the two.

I do have to say that the Jazz pickup is a tad noisy, specially when going through stomp boxes or effects. Maybe a samarium cobalt noiseless pickup upgrade will be interesting.

I use a Boss limiter/enhancer and a MXR m-80 DI w/ distortion. I hook it up to an Ampeg SVT-4 Pro w/ an 8x10 Ampeg enclosure. I get exactly what I expect. Metallic string sound, nice growl, nice sparkle and clear bottom.

I get a lot of compliments not only from the looks of the bass but from my live Engineer and my recording Engineer. Both became clearly surprised of the huge sound of this bass, specially when they knew the price. They have swore to record/mix basses twice or even thrice the price tag with the same results.

The bass came out of the box asking for some set-up action. I think this is the case with 80% of instruments bought online. If one knows how to set up the truss rod and intonation you are playing in 15 minutes. If not it is highly recomended that you get it set up by a professional. I personaly love the low action that this bass has. Really smooth to play.

I've personaly upgraded the bridge to a BadAss II bridge. This required inmediate truss rod adjustement that could be easly done with the provided allen wrench. Depending on your music and sound taste the bass could require pickup adjustment. I did adjust the Precision pickup because I play on drop-D to have less bottom end.

Appart from theese adjustements the bass came flawless out of the box. The binding was perfect, finish was flawless. All you could expecto from a Japaneese instrument.

The overal feel for this bass is of one costing twice as much.

THis bass will surely stand the road battles as it is very well constructed. THe hardware looks solid and the finish looks durable.

I replaced the strap buttons for some Dunlop strap locks that will surely hold my bass and protect it from slip ups. I really recomend any type of strap lock system as strap buttons provided by default are never enough.

If you are a road warrior you may need some minor truss rod adjustments every now and then specially if you submit this bass to a lot of weather changes.

I've surely used this bass without a backup.

My pnly complaint is that the cream binding feels to hars on the upper wrist part of the arm. It's too sharp for some playing styles. I need to use a wrist band to prevent my skin from pealing. I MEAN it!

I have not required to use this feature.

I was a little dissapointed with the noise the single coil Jazz pickup can give in some setup conditions. I really like the clarity this pickup gives but I can't use it all the time.

Other than that this bass has given me satisfaction of sound that my previous Standar Jazz bass couldn't give me. If it got stolen, wrecked or else I will surely replace it.

My best indicator for the supreme quality of this bass is definitely in studio when the recording engineers can't believe their ears. They seriously think this is a 1500+ US bass.

I wish this one came with the noiseless Jazz pickup, that's it.

Made in Japan 2006


It??s a precision, exept for:
Unique Radius/Carved Body with Flame Maple Top,
Cream Binding on Top of Body,
Chrome Bridge and Tuning Machines,
Side Mounted Output Jack,
Single Coil in Bridge position,
Knurled Chrome Control Knobs,
Aged Pearloid Dot Position Inlays,
Matching Painted Headstock,
Silver Applique Logo

I like it. I come from the Stingray, so I??m used to hearing lots of highs. The Sound is quite clear and defined, a bit on the metallic side (still has the strings it came with).
I expected more bass, but that??s probly missing due to the tapered back. Or maybe I??m spoiled by the active controls of my Stingray.
The Sound of the Bridge SC didn??t blow me away, a bit thin and nasal. Added to the split SC though it gives it a nice flavor.
The split SC does what it??s expected to, it growls nicely and is easy to hear through the band sound. The Fender sounds less agressive than the Stingray but the sound has a rounder, fuller note.
I split the bass signal through a Yamaha BBT 500H Amp into a Peavey 4x10 and a Behringer 8x10 (fullrange) and through a Hartke 3500 into a Peavey 2x18 (for extreme lows), so the missing bass is more than easy to find on my setup. Otherwise the sound doesn??t need a lot of tweaking, it??s play as is. With our band I play metal, but at home it??s Abba to Zappa (well not really Zappa, but you get the picture), and up to now (had it for a week, and played it to lots of different music) I??ve always found a good sound, without having to touch anything else but the controls on the bass. The huge rig is for Band Practice only, at home I run it directly into a mixing console, and live it??s a V-Bass and a Peavey 4x10 via the Hartke.

The bass is extremely well made. In my 25 years of making music, I??ve seen some really bad bindigs, but this is immaculate. The same goes for the paint job, the frets, the neck pocket and so on. Everthing looks and feels as if it came from a much more expensive bass. Awesome. Another thing I loved when I first tested it: the neck stays where it is, no downward pull. You feel right at home with the position it assumes. The neck, which Fender describe as C-shape also needed no adjusting to.
I did have to tweak it a bit, but that??s probably due to the journey to Europe. Now it has nice, low action, no fretring, and no deadspots. Sustain is great.

Due to the "no crap" approach of this model, I have no doubts, that I??ll
have no problems with this bass, it??s sturdily built, the knobs run smoothly, and since I always put security locks on my basses, no problems there either. The standard strap buttons aren??t too big though.
I??d definetly and confidently go to a Gig without a backup bass.

Didn??t have to contact them yet, and don??t think I??ll have to.

As I mentioned above, I??ve been playing for 25 years now and own about 10 other basses with a custom built Siggi Braun coming up this Christmas. Still I couldn??t pass this one up.
I??d definetly buy the same model again if it were lost, wrecked, stolen.
The only thing I??m going to add is a Hipshot D-Tuner.