Fender American Hot Rodded P-Bass

fender.com

ok, not really a bass player. WAIT! my story gets better. i'm a guitar player/engineer/songwrite/producer/flake. i dont always have the budget to get a good player in so i bought this bass to fumble through some parts on my own. i do know what a good bass sounds like. and this one is just stunning. i almost always use it w/ all knobs at 10. when i record at home i use either an avalon u5 or the di on my chandler limited tg2 through either a distressor or a dbx 160a and the tone is unbelievable. i've also used it though an ampeg amp. the "b" something . . . w/ the tubes on top and a metal grill over them. that was just about the coolest rock bass sound i ever heard!!

it's a fender

just effortless good tones. i wish they made this in a 5 string version

Pretty standard fare: passive P+J pickups, V/V/T controls, ash body, rosewood fingerboard.

A note about the V/V/T setup: That's gay, Fender! It makes more sense to have Volume + Blend controls only. What does the tone control do, anyway? It rolls off the high frequencies. A blend control gives you the proper tool to dial in your bass and treble levels. Doesn't that make more sense?

Okay, high marks here, Fender! This bass sounds exactly the way I expected (and wanted) it to. A beautiful, warm, round tone from the front pickup. It had that smooth, wooly character to it, reminiscent of the old-school Motown funk sound. Dial in a bit of the back pickup to get that growly, open-vowel tone with the midrange emphasis. Just a classic tone, good for any kind of rock, funk, or soul music. A 100% stellar tone. Every bass player should have one of these in his (or her) arsenal of instruments. You just can't get a bad sound out of this beauty.

Uh, Fender, how about a little consistency out of your Quality Control division? I don't know what Ass-monkey set up my bass, but Jesus, how hard is it to adjust a fucking truss rod? Or a bridge saddle? There were more buzzes going on with that fretboard than the Portland Trailblazers. After a few hours of tweaking, I got it fairly well adjusted. Even a high school dropout like me figured out how to use an Allen wrench. Dickheads!

I know it may seem I'm bipolar, but I have to give max points to Fender for this section. I'll just state it plainly for everyone: THE P-BASS IS A TANK! If you're breaking these things at gigs, you're a fucking retard! Go get some coordination and start over.

Can't comment here.

You can buy something different, but you'll never get anything better than the original.

American Hot Rodded Precision Bass, USA made, purchased in 2000, Ash w/rosewood, natural finish w/tortiseshell pickguard, 4-string/thru body. One Precision split coil in neck position and one J-Bass pickup in the bridige position, passive electronics. Came with the deluxe case which is trimmed out nicer than the molded shell cases but not as durable in my opinion.

I play mostly in church these days rather than bars and clubs and it suits my needs quit well. I have 4 other basses and only use this one on occassion prefering 5 strings most of the time. I've owned Jazz Basses and played P-Basses and this bass sounds pretty much like what you would expect. It is basically a P-Bass with a Jazz Bass pickup added in the bridge position. It has a volume knob for each pickup and a one tone control (I prefer one volume with a blend/pan knob which I think makes way more sense and it is much easier to regulate the tone and blend of the pickups). With the P-Bass pickup on by itself it sounds just like a P-Bass naturally, warm and deep with a mid-range growl. Start adding the J-Bass pickup into the mix and you get get more of the bright snappy edged growl of a Jazz Bass. It is definitely more P-Bass than J-Bass though but not quit either with both pickups blended together. I tend to play mine with the tone and P-Bass pickup all the way up with the J-Bass pickup backed off about 1/3 of the way. For some reason the output is noticeably increased this way which seems odd but I noticed one of the other reviewers said the same thing so I guess it is just a characteristic of this instrument. When playing with the P-Bass pickup alone it is totally quiet as far as hum. The J-Bass pickup is noticeably noiser when turned up and even more so when the J-Bass pickup is on by itself. I've noticed that J-Basses tend to be like this...some more than others. This bass is great for a variety of styles. You can play nice smooth warm bass lines or get it to sound bright, snappy and funky as well for slapping popping styles. The sustain is great on this bass as well. I recently had a 75 J-Bass reissue (Japan) that was really nice but was way too noisy for me. I replaced those pickups with EMG actives and even though it took away the noise and gave it more bottom, I thought they gave it a sort of sterile sound so I just ended up trading it. This bass however definitely beats the Jazz as far as gettng a nice fuller bottom while yet maintaining that edgy sound of a J-Bass. I play through a Hartke combo with one 15" aluminum driver and this bass sounds plenty full. I bet it would sound even snappier though playing it through a couple of 10" speakers as well.

I bought this bass mail order from WoodWind & Brasswind and they did a great job of picking out a nice finish for me and packed it really well. With the packing job they did you could have dropped it off an airplane and never noticed. The bass was flawless and the natural ash looked great. The action was a bit high for my taste and the strings were junk. I lowered the action a bit and put a set of DR High Beams on it and it was ready to go. I'm not sure what model of strings Fender put on the bass at the factory but they were awful! It had been years since I bought a new Fender and I was impressed by the quality of the instrument. I compared it to my G&L ASAT(noted for high build quality)and it seemed comparable in fit and finish to me. It came with the nicer case (at least in looks) and with the usual Fender goodies: truss rod adjustment wrench, allen wrench for the bridge, polishing cloth and Fender strap.

Seems very solid to me. All the hardware is top notch. The tone knob seems to have a little bit of play in it or something strange. I'm not sure how to describe it but it works fine however and I'm not concerned with it at this point. I really baby my instruments but I would say this bass could take some major abuse if it had to. I wouldn't be afraid to gig with it without a back-up instrument on hand.

Have never had to deal with Fender but a dealer told me they were good to work with compared to some of the other manufacturers. So far the bass has required no repairs.

I've been playing guitar and bass for about 26 years now. And have owned Rics, Fenders, G&Ls, Guilds, Gibsons and who knows what all in the line of basses. I currently own a G&L ASAT Bass, Peavey Cirrus 5 String, a Rickenbacker 4003, G&L L-5500 5-string as well as this Fender. Believe it or not the Peavey is my favored choice among all these basses. If you havn't played one...go try it! You won't be dissappointed. The Peavey and the G&L's have active pickups which I prefer anymore and they have way more output with less noise. The G&L ASAT is very versatile and so is the Peavey. Sometimes though I want that more traditional sound and the Hot Rodded P-Bass gives me that when I need it. I like the Rickenbacker too but would say the Fender has a better balance of sound from string to string than the Ric on which I've noticed higher volume levels on the A string as opposed to the E string. I've found that characteristic on other Rics as well. As I said earlier, I would prefer a blend/pan knob for volume which is way easier to regulate than a separate volume knob for each pickup but Fender must have a hard time changing old habits or something. Not long ago a friend of mine bought an Ibanez for about $550 (can't remember the model number)which had a Precision/Jazz pickup configuration (active) on it. We brought it home and compared it to all my basses and it sounded remarkably close to the Hot Rodded Precision for half the money. I was really surprised.

Made in '99 i believe, American hot-rod P-bass, P single coil and a jazz pickup in bridge. Alder body with a black finnish and brown tortise shell pickguard and a maple fretboard.
Came with a case, strap, cable, tools, strap locks.

I play Metal and classic hard rock mostly...its a great bass for just about anything i tried really. Im running through a Peavey TNT and it seems to work well with the hot-rod. For a passive bass i find i can get quite a number of tones outta this thing, i love this bass...its my main one.
I give the sound 9, although it sounds killer..if it were active PU's then it would be even more bad-ass.(not a complaint really though, i perfer passive) Just trying to give an honest review.

The setup was great from the store from in which i bought it from, really low...it doesnt buzz at all...neck is as straight as an arrow. Cosmeticly there wasnt any flaws either. It was mint when i bought it.
And the store i bought it from even polished it for me before i got to bring it home, which made the black finnish extra shiny. :)

Fenders are tanks, i can through it through a wall and doubt it would go outta tune. The Strap locks were solid...Pbassess are just plain tough...no worries in the durability department.
I probally could use it without backup...but i probally wouldnt, shit happens...its always wise to be prepared.

Never, delt with Fender...i heard they can be dicks...hopefully ill never have to find out.

I own nothing but P-bassess(i tried just about everything out there, they are just my thing)
Since i bought it i have had no regrets or second thoughts. When i played this thing i knew right away i was taking it home with me.
If it were stolen, id be pissed...i love this bass, and i think Fender discontinued the MIA hot-rod series...so i wouldnt be able to find a replacement to easliy. The theif better make sure id never find him.
Simply this is one of the coolest bassess i ever played...it feels very comfortable and it looks bad-ass i an honestly say there is nothing i dont like about it. I tried to be fair with this review...even though i gave it high ratings but i found it hard, cause i just like the bass that damn much...awsome value in my honest opinion. I would even consider buying a second one.

Ash body, natural finish, tortoise pickguard, PJ pickups, Vol-Vol-Tone controls, side jack.

It came with a hard case.

Not a ton of features, but that's not what you buy this bass for.

One note: I has an easy access truss rod adjustment slot in the pickguard. That's handy!

Replaced the crap stock pickups with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders.

Added a Hipshot Bass X-tender.

The sound is now big, loud, fat, and funky. Perfectly balanced tone.

No complaints. The truss rod was easy to adjust without removing the strings. Everything was tight and well aligned.

Come on...it's a P-Bass! These things are freaking tanks!

I can't rate them. I never had to ask them for help.

I traded in a Dean European Select neck-thru 5-string with Basslines pickups and an Aguilar preamp. I believe I came out ahead with that trade. I love this bass. Beautiful tone, great looks, an all around outstanding instrument.

One caveat: Replace those crappy stock pickups!

'99, made in Mexico, split P in the middle, J at the bridge. Gold Anodized pickguard (HATE this). Red finish. Rosewood fingerboard, etc.

It's a classic Fender bass sound. The bridge PU is almost useless. noisy, no level. Adds a little 'bite' when mixed with the middle PU, but also adds hum too. I play 95% of the time with just the split P on. I alternate between pick and fingers. I don't slap, crackle or pop. Osborne, Kaye, McCartney, Rainey, Sting, Radle, if you know what I mean.....

Well made as most Fenders are. The pickguard drives me nuts. Gets cold as ice in winter, and I'm always afraid of getting shocks in bad grounding situations. Gonna change this one day......

People buy Fenders to play and play and play. You can beat the shit out of them and they still play.

Never bothered with customer support.

Bass is my second instrument (though I probably play better bass than I do guitar) and I've been playing it about 35 years on & off. I spent 2 hours in the store trying to decide between this and the Deluxe Lyte which is active, much lighter in weight, and has more tone variations. The Lyte was also $150 more. Not being one who likes to spend too much time twiddling knobs, I went with the Precision which I am used to. I wish now I had bought the Precision bass with the monster humbucker at the bridge, but that's $1100. If this one gets ripped off, I'll get that one. I play into an old Acoustic 370 head driving a Hartke 4-10XL. No effects.

It is a 2001 model. I won't need to get into detail with this bass. Most of the owners here have pretty much covered it and thing only thing I will put is that it's a clear natural finish over ash.

The sound of this bass is great! Smooth, rich, and warm with some punch thanks to the J pickup. This would make an awesome recording and gigging bass, it covers just about any type of music out there except for maybe slap and pop. I don't think the Fender P pickup sounds as good for that if it had j pickup by the neck..of course that wouldn't make this a Hot Rodded bass anymore. Nonetheless, it's a great bass for just about any application. I'm just wondering if the bass would sound even better with the after market Original P and Custom J pickups that they sell? If so, this bass would sound even better than before, but i'll test drive the Vintage and Custom series basses to see how much better would they sound and if so ....i'll definitely consider upgrading them that.

The action was setup perfect as well as the pickups. The paint job was outstanding, this is were fender excels is on the finishes on their guitars and basses. I couldn't find any flaws the nut was setup great and the neck was straight as an arrow.

Everybody knows that fender basses are known to just about withstand any type of abuse and still sound great! They are workhorses! They just keep going and going and going!

I have been playing for 12 years and when I stumbled upon this kinda a deal at Guitar Center one day by just checking around some new stuff and when I looked at the price tag on this bass I knew I couldn't turn it down...no way! What's funny was that I wasn't in market for a new bass for awhile.... I was thinking about getting the Warwick Rockbass and I will, but for a deal like this I couldn't pass it down. List price $1400 now for $550.00..it's a no brainer..I know these basses are being discontinued and if you have a chance grab one they are well worth it and I believe every bass player should own at least own a Fender during their lifetime. I love my two Ibanez SR400 with EMGs...they have been perfect for the stuff I do but there's something special about owning a quality American Fender bass.

This is a correction to my review submitted earlier: according to the Fender Catalog, the American Hot Rodded P Bass neck DOES have graphite reinforcement, as it is an American Standard neck. It therefore is also NOT tapered as I wrote previously.

4-string, made at the Fender factory in beautiful, Corona, California, in 2001. Passive Precision split-coil and a Jazz pickup at the bridge. Each pickup has a separate volume control for blend, but no master volume, (so doing a pot-fade is tricky), and there's one overall tone control. Mine has a natural-finish, a rosewood fingerboard on a slightly tapered neck as compared to the Standard Precision, string-through body onto the bridge, good-quality high-ratio tuners with open string slots (as usual), and output jack on the side (unlike a classic P-Bass with the jack on the front). The trussrod is adjustable, but there's no graphite reinforcement in the neck. It came with an Fender/SKB case.

This bass sounds terrific. I record original rock songs direct to ProTools using an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro DI output to a mic pre to an 1176 compressor. It has a very fat, classic P-bass rock sound, though never muddy, thanks to the J pickup. It has a strong, but not nasal, midrange that helps maintain the clarity in a mix; and there's pletty of higher frequencies, even for slapping, I think. The split coils seem a little hotter than the J pickup, but that may be due to their placement relative to the bridge. I like to use mostly the split pickup, and back off the J a little, anyway. Oddly, the output drops about 1-2dB when both volume controls are set to full, and it comes back up when I back off the J pickup a bit. I don't know if this is a phase issue, or some anomally with my particular bass, but it doesn't pose a big problem when recording. It's a moderately hefty bass (less than a typical Warwick, more than a Music Man), and I think that contributes to its remarkable sustain. And while it has a very solid feel, it plays really well (better than my MM Sterling in some ways) and it lends itself equally to expressive playing as it does to head-banging rock. Mine must be setup well or something because it's easy to play without getting string buzzes, even playing pretty hard. Yet I've set the action to factory specs. The neck is set completely straight--no relief at all. I'm replacing my Music Man Sterling bass (which has a Bartolini MMC replacement pickup) with this bass because it records direct with a much beefier tone. I've never recorded a bass that sounded this good direct to HD.

The bass is flawless except for the mounting of one tuner, which shifts very slightly when there's no string wound on. And there's the weird drop in volume with both pickups on full, but I don't know if that's a flaw or an inevitability (I'm going to check into it). The natural finish is nice, and not overly "pretty".

I just got this bass a week ago, but it seems well-built. Seems like you could throw it through your stage speaker grill clothes every night without even affecting the intonation.

No experience. I own four Fender guitars as well as this bass and I've never had a problem that needed to be dealt with by the company.

The reason I'm writing this review so soon after purchase is that the bass has just gone out of production and some readers really may want to go out after one of these. It's an exceptionally good bass for an exceptional price. For recording rock music direct to DAW, or whatever, it's simply fantastic. Stores (like Guitar Center and Musician's Friend) were blowing them out for under $600, and I'm sure the one I have was bought for resale shortly before I got it because there wasn't a mark on it. Even at $700 it was a steal. If you're striving after the classic P-bass rock sound with the ability to get a touch more clarity, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

I got 2.
mine are both 1999's
features same as all listed
1st ones a clear Ash body and maple neck
2nd one is Sunburst Alder body and rosewood neck.
They both came with the wrong case.
Fender screwed up and they used Jazz bass cases instead of "P" bass cases when first in production. They started shipping them in form fitted cases and would have exchanged them for me but I like the square old style cases.
They all come with strap,strap locks, cord, case and all the tools.

It has that classic fender tone that Classic Growl.
I run them into a Ampeg SVT with no effects .
Its sustains like no other bass in the world .
It will Hold a note like Ted Nugents Gibsons.
Actions like a 6 string guitar low and smooth.
I set the "P" pickup on full and the Jazz to about 80%.
The Jazz pickup seem to lower the volume and changes the tone if set at 100%.
Stage or studio its a Fender, Kicks ass all around.

Ash/maple bass right out of the box was perfect, it was love at first feel.
Remember these are custom shop basses, they 're all hand finished.
The Alder/rosewood took some time to get it right.
I finaly got it dialed in and its smooth as silk.
The tuners needed to be tightend and the screws on the knobs were loose.
Other than that they'er fine

Again these are Pro Basses.
I always glue my stap pegs into the body and move the rear pin up about 2inches to change the angle of the bass.
I would and have used this bass with no backup.

I did dealwith Fender because of the cases and they would have done anything for me.

Ive been Playing bass for over 20+ years I've played on TV,radio and the movies and even modeled for Gig Magazine.
My band is 1880 and you'll be able to here the rosewwod base on our new record out July 2002 go to mp3.com/1880 to hear it soon.
I own
Alembic Epic 5 string.
2x's G&L 1000 1981and82.
Gibson Les Paul Bass
Carvin 80's style Bass don't remember Model #
A 70's hollowbody Lyle Bass same as Ephiphone Ravoli
Peavey T-20 Bass
I use all Ampeg Amps
Pro II bass head all tube.
350 Solid state head
2-4x8" cabs
4x10" with a 15" same size as the 8x10's
and my combo B3 2X8's sounds killer.
I don't add any effects and run all my basses dry.
Ive always wanted a Fender but they never made a American Made Classic "P" Bass with a Jazz pickup.
They were all Mexican or from Japan or had some unFender thing added to them.
Double Jazz pickups side by side with a P pickup up front. weard headstocks bodies ect...
The Hotrod's are real Fenders molder after the great P/Jazz basses.
Fender quit making this Bass and I I'm luck to own 2