Product: Fender American Standard Jazzbass Fretless
Price Paid: 1250.00 (cdn)
Submitted
11/17/2005
at
09:12am
by
P.Parent
Features
:
6
2004 American Series Fretless Jazz Bass - Black Alder Body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard - standard jazz pickups - S-1 switching pot.
Sound
:
6
I use this bass mainly to play folk style music - It is used thru an Ampeg rig (B2Re and SVT410HE) with flatwood strings and no FX. Soundwise: rather dull, lifeless, no matter what tone setting is being used. Still, it is decent for the music style I described above. Not a versatile piece of wood, no matter what technique is being used. A little noisy except at full pickups volume...?!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
3
Factory set-up was great (that means to my liking) and that's why I bought it. Low action, no buzz. Finish/paint seems really thin and fragile, but I don't care about that since I take for granted this is only a basic US Fender product. Overall assembly is good (that you should at least expect even if it is a basic US Fender Bass) -
So far that bass does not really shine what is coming next will not improve things. The weakest point of this instrument is that 2/3 of its neck's positions are dead spots! And the more I play it the worse it gets...the only way I found going around the problem (after varying bridge height and bla,bla,bla) is to adjust my playing accordingly by hitting the strings with different velocity to compensate for the DEAD ZONES. It almost works and all this for 1250.00 canadian dollars
Reliability/Durability
:
8
The basic components will last, no doubt about that but I can't say much about the finish. A strong point going for this bass I must admit is that I live in the province of Quebec where the average temperature in summer varies between 75 to 90 degres with high humidity. In winter it is still humid with temperature varying between -20 to 0 degres. So far the neck reacted extremely well by remaing stable in these extremes climate changes. And don't forget that when its humid and minus 20 outside and then you walk in in your comfortable appartment heated by DRY heat, this could be quite a shock for a piece of holding tuned strings. So in that department this Jazz really shines.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never bothered - I tried the bass in the store competing with a bunch young folks accompanied by their rich dads who had their favorite "axe" hooked on their ultimate dream rig (Marsahll stacks) fighting each other their way thru. Not an ideal environment to try a fretless or anything else. Nonetheless, I bought it so I live with my decision.
Overall Rating
:
6
This review concerns my specific instrument. I never had a chance to try a similar American Series Fretless Jazz Bass. Chances are that all the others floating around may not suffer the dead zones problem I have with mine. But I would not buy another one and anyone can run away at any time. At the time of purchse there were no fretless in the store...so, I did not compare. Overall rating: let see 6+6+3+8 = 23 then divided by 4 = 5.75 so...6. Thank you!
Product: Fender American Standard Jazzbass Fretless
Price Paid: US $400
Submitted
12/04/2002
at
10:44pm
by
Sean Judge
Features
:
10
This is a review of a 97 American Standard fretless Jazz bass I found on ebay in 2000. It had a standard pickup/knob configuration that I recently changed to EMGs since the neck pickup cranked with the bridge backed off generated a buzz that is so common. The body is alter white with a black marbled pick guard and the fretboard is rosewood.
Sound
:
10
the sound with the old pickups was classic Fender. but the buzz was really annoying. putting in the EMGs with separate neck and brige knobs and stacking the treble and bass in the rear pot made a world of difference. It is punchy and through my SWR rig I have played Neil Young and Deep Purple covers with all the power and articulation of a fretted Jazz. Of course, the upper register and solo playing is sweet and lyrical, and nothing else sounds quite like a Fender Jazz
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
I bought this second hand but construction set up and adjustments were all top notch.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
I plan on keeping this bass until I can't play it anymore!
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
10
Because the staccato articulation is so punchy and dead on and because the high register stuff is so smooth and resonant, this may be the ultimate fretless bass. I just can't imagine liking any other fretless more or having it sound as good in so many ways.
Product: Fender American Standard Jazzbass Fretless
Price Paid: US $849.99
Submitted
10/01/2000
at
12:35pm
by
Anonymous
Features
:
8
Sound
:
6
lots of dead notes!
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
6
Open A-string buzzes! It required the addition of an extra string tree to correct this problem.
Reliability/Durability
:
6
3 of the fretline markers popped out!
Customer Support
:
6
It took a Fender authourized worker 3 weeks to fix one fretline when it popped out!
Overall Rating
:
6
I bought the Am. Std. thinking it woild be really nice, and I was greatly let down!
