Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass

2000 Marcus J- read others for features.
MIJ. I cant believe the oblivious guy who thinks CIJ is the only way to go. Marcus and my 85 J special (Duff MCKagan model) are sonorous,
beefy, resonating tone machines with exceptional build quality. I own CIJ teles and a Geddy Lee (which I also love) so this is utterly
unbiased. I also know that any given production run will have lemons and peaches. I got me some peaches.

The sounds are fantastic. Ballsy & thick passive mode or the Hi tech
Miller stuff that is otherworldly. Holy crap. Lots of realized bottom for a J. And much, way much high end. Sick high end. Equalizer anyone?
Even with the active treble fully cut it still pierces. Crazy. Never will this bass lack in the brightness department. All the while the mids still bonk with a "period correctness" Way to go Japan.

Got it used. Can't vouch for the factory. Once my tech set it up, it was on. Gorgeous, grinding and gleaming.

oh yeah, the MIJ slammer was also wrong on the finish. It is polyurethane and thicker than a boatdeck.
Everything is up to the typical Fender "Sherman Tank" level of durability.
Kids: dont play shows without a backup. It's just not worth it. Murphy
says so.

Not a real concern.

28 years exp. If stolen I'd get another(MIJ or CIJ, no matter)This is an excellent product. Heavy as an anvil. True to it's purpose.
We musicians are blessed to have cool products like this to mess with.
Go buy one...you fools......

This is the MM 4 string bass, maple neck, ash body, nice and heavy (12.5 lbs), natural finish, etc. I have owned it for about two years. I have done a lot of changes and have finally made it the bass I was really looking for. I added a drop-D tuner, a two-piece brown 4-ply tort shell pickguard (Never liked the look of the black pickguard with the natural ash body) and changed the electronics, see below. I'm giving this a 9 for features, eventhough I changed a lot of things I feel this bass has a lot of great features for the money (bounded fingerboard with block inlays - very cool looking, passive/active switching, Bad ass II bridge for great sustain).

The factory sound is great for the active switch setting but not great in passive mode, but I've changed all that....(these changes will void all warranties and if you don't know what your doing, may screw your electronics up).

First of all, the passive/active switching is not a truely passive/active switch, the passive switch is still wired through the active box. If you rewire it correctly you will be amazed at the true passive sound. It really does sound like a true '75 Fender Jazz bass, great bite and edgy sound. The rewiring is very simple. In a review by Tommy below, it is all spelled out. This is a MUST DO rewiring. I used to never play the passive setting before I changed the wiring of the switch because it sucked, now it is like I have two basses, a Fender late-seventies Jazz bass and a MM bass.

Second, I have never liked the two volume controls on a Fender Jazz bass. I just don't understand the point of this. The pickups on this bass are coiled in a humbucking mode, if used! To show this, pug in your bass and crank your bass amp up to 5 or 6 and stand in front of your bass amp. Now, with the bridge pickup on 0, turn the the neck pick up on slowly from 0 to 10 and notice the amount of hum. Now, with the neck volume on ten, slowly turn the bridge volume from 0 to 10 and notice the volume of the hum. The hum goes from loud (0) to almost cancelled when on ten. Hence the reason why I would never play the bass without the two volumes identical (hum drives me crazy, but I love the sound of the defined single-coil pickup). This being said, why have two separate volume pots when I'm only going to play the bass with both pickups on the same level as eachother? Solution, wire the two pickups to one volume pot and never worry about true single-coil hum and having to turn two dials when wanting to lower your volume (Two volume dials makes it impossible to do trippy volume swells and a pain to turn your volume off). Now that I had one volume pot, I used the other pot for the following modification...

Third, I have have always struggled slightly with the trebles on the bass. Because of the ash body and maple neck, there is quite a bite in sound from this bass. This is good and bad. Sometimes I want this sound, sometimes I want it to be more mellow. Solution, use that extra pot for a tone control for the passive setting. I added a 0.1 capictor to the former bridge pot and wired this to the passive/active switch. Some may prefer the sound of the 0.047 capcitor for the tone pot but I experimented and liked having more trebles sent to ground with the larger capcitor, it can give more a pronounced mellow sound. Anyway, now that I added a tone control for the passive mode, I really get a true late-seventies Fender Jazz bass sound, and I absolutely love this sound. Since the active setting has a treble pot, at this point in my modification I could control the trebles on the bass in both settings. But wait, there is more, I still didn't have as many tonal settings as I truely wanted. There was one more change that I performed that made my tonal journey complete....

Fourth, since I now had my volume going through one pot, I experimented by wiring the pickups in series (Jazz basses are traditionally wired in parrallel, and P-basses are wired in series). Wow!!!, the difference is subtly if you're just a passive observer, but enormous if you really listen. After my experiment, I went online and bought a 250k push/pull pot so I could have both sounds (there only a couple of bucks). The push/pull pot is basically a 250k pot with a DPDT (Double Pull, Double Throw) switch, which is exactly what the passive/active switch is on the MM bass, it is just a push/pull switch as opposed to a toggle switch. I chose this switch because I didn't want to add a hole to my pickguard, and frankly, I probably didn't have room in my control cavity for this anyway. So I wired the push/pull pot so the pot acted as my tone control in passive mode and the push was my series pickup configuration and my pull was the parrallel pickup configuration (Pickup the Guitar Electronics, circa ~1982 book to understand more about all of this, it is a must have book, it explains it all). In my opinion, the series gives a funkier dirtier sound with slightly less trebles while the parrallel gives more definition between your notes with slightly more trebles. Of course, series configuration gives a greater output than parrallel, which I like better. Regardless, I now have the capability of getting a slightly dirtier P-bass sound or a warmer, more defined true Jazz bass sound. I love having this option! Because of the increased output in series mode, I can be playing in parrallel for the supporting role in a song and then push into series mode for a solo allowing me to cut through a little more with an edgy, slightly dirtier sound for my solo.

In my opinion, I now have the closest thing to a one-bass-does-it-all, and for a great price!

Minor notes: I also shielded my cavity with copper foil including the back of my control cavity pickguard and ran all ground wires to a single ground point. When you add copper foil to the back of the pickguard, you now can remove the grounding wires connecting the pots and jack. If not removed this creates a grounding loop which can add a slight hum, but you probably won't notice anyway. Just be sure the conductive material (Al or Cu) on the back of the pickguard goes complete to the edge of the pickguard so that the screws used to screw the pickguard down make contact and allow a ground to occur (What you have now made is a grounding plate, that's right, just what the original Jazz basses have; this allows the cavety to be shielded and all pieces screwed into the grounding plate [i.e. jacks and pots] are now grounded to eachother). The control cavity on my MM was painted with conductive paint, but not very well. I used my multimeter to check the paint and there just wasn't enough paint (i.e. conductive material) to create a good shield. I also carefully added copper foil to the inside of the black pickup covers (don't run this to ground!) which allows better shielding of the pickups and takes a slight amount of trebles out of the sound (I like the sound better, some may not; it is subtle though).

Frankly speaking, all the shielding doesn't really do a preceivable difference to killing the hum because the wiring of the pickups to a single pot (i.e. both pickups always on) allows the humbucking effect to be taken advantage of which is going to be a much bigger effect on the hum cancelling than shielding.

This is now an amazingly versitle bass. I can get a more classic P-bass sound (series pickup configuration in passive mode with the tone rolled down slightly), a classic Jazz bass sound (parrallel pickup configuration in passive mode) or a close approximate Marcus Miller bass sound (parrallel pickup configuration in active mode) or even an active P-bass sound (series pickup configuration in active mode). I love this bass!!!

For the factory setting sound I would give it a 5. For my modified sound I would give it a 9.

Factory set up was alright, but the neck was set a little high. A quick turn of the screw, a tweak here a tweak there, everywhere a little tweak tweak, Old Mc Donald had a bass, E I E I O. The flaw in the bass was the neck pocket, not that tight. Finish is great, frets are good. I'm giving it a 5 (average), due to the neck pocket.

This is a very solid bass, did I mention it's fighting weight is 12.5 lbs and it has a Bad Ass II bridge? Translation, it has amazing sustain. The finish is a polyurethane coating, true to seventies specifications. Polyurethane finishes are very hard and resist abrasion well. Personnally, I think polyurethane adds a slight amount of treble to the sound. I prefer nitrocellulose, it is softer and results in a softer sound. But, nitrocellulose is not an option and is usually more expensive anyway. My dream bass would be my MM bass with a nitrocellulose finish.

It would be very hard to break this bass.

Never tried to talk to Fender.

I couldn't live without this bass. It looks cool, sounds great with a lot of tonal control and feels great.

The specs are best viewed on Fender.com. For all it's goodness, one feature I'd like to have on this bass is tone control in passive mode. But don't let that be a deal spoiler, the bass is still the most versitle I've owned.

The pre-amp can be a little noisy, as are single coils in general, but that's just the nature of a Jazz bass.

Ten. Period. This is a harmony-central review, but the act/fit/finish is perfect.

Yea, it is very solid. One advantage that the MM has over other active basses is the active/passive switch, so if the battery died in a gig situation, you could just flip over to passive mode and limp through the rest of the night that way.

n/a

The first thing that caught my eye about this base was the look. I?m not a Marcus Miller fan, had never heard of him before seeing his sig base on Fender.com.

I?ve been swinging between Ps and Js for ten years now, with the grass always seeming greener on the other side. My hope with the MM was that, with the bass and treb boost, I?d be able to better hit some of those reggae and dub sounds that so require a P-bass. After playing one at a music store, I was convinced that I could pull it off. The pre-amp with an on/off switch was a big selling point. The active bass boost gets me close to P-bass heaven, but I find myself playing in passive mode most of the time. In passive mode, it?s all good 70s Jazz. It?s surprising, but I don?t really miss the tone knobs. I just make the adjustments on my 15? combo amp.

I bought mine used for $600 shipped with a hard case. It came in nearly perfect condition, set up to my liking, with no issue. Action, fit, and finish is typically Japanese, which is very good. I would rate the quality as similar to that of my former USA ?62 Reissue Jazz.

Is there a downside? The thing is a boat anchor at about 11 lbs. I like to play standing up, but I?m not a gigging pro, so the weight is really an issue with me. When my back starts to hurt, I just go grab a beer and a snack, after which I?m usually ready to go back at it.

I?ve owned my MM for about a month now. Usually when I buy new gear, I go through an early honeymoon phase where all seems perfect, before finally discovering its many flaws which previously went unnoticed, then I think how I?m going to get rid of it. (Yea, I?m still talking about guitars.) But the MM just keeps growing on me. I used to hear a bass in a song and think ?I need that sound?. Now I think about how the MM would sound in its place.

Hello, I'm Tommy. I was one of the first reviewers(03/28/2000) to submit a review of the Fender Marcus Miller(MM) Signature Jazz Bass. I hope the insight I have gain since that time will continue to guide future players about the MM jazz bass. If you like basses( particulary the Fender Marcus Miller Signature Jazz Bass), then please read the info that follows:

"How To Optimize your Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass"


DISCLAIMER: I have ONLY heard Marcus' 1977 Fender jazz bass on albums, and in concert. I have NEVER touched or heard Marcus' 1977 Fender jazz bass through a normal bass amp. Therefore, this info is provided to optimize the "STOCK - Fender Marcus Miller Signature Jazz Bass."

I have examined all of the electronics on the "STOCK" Fender MM jazz bass. The electronics of the MM jazz bass are: 1) Pickups, 2) Pots, and 3) Preamp - active/passive switch, battery connection, and output jack.


1. Pickups - stock Fender jazz pickups are FINE. In my humble opinion, NEW pickups are not necessary, just OPTIONAL(personal preference).

COMMENT: DON't BUY new pickups. Wait(at least 6 to 12 months) to see how your MM bass sounds, supports the band, or records, then decide if you want to invest your money in new pickups.

2. Pots - volume pots(250 kohms-ideally)and control pots(500 kohms-ideally).

Volume pots - are ideally 250 kohms(rare case), please measure. There are 3 modes for the volume pots - A) INDIVIDUAL MODE - MOST IMPORTANT, B) full-up, and C) OFF.

A) The individual mode.
The INDIVIDUAL MODE is the MOST IMPORTANT mode for a jazz style bass(bass with 2 pickups). In my case, my bridge pickup over powered my neck pickup. It was not because the brige pickup was MORE Powerful, but because the Bridge pot(275 kohms) was much greater than the Neck pot(206 kohms).

CORRECTION: Swapped the pots. Neck Pot(275 kohms) and Bridge Pot(206 kohms). The neck pickup provides support, and the bridge pickup provides flavor. :-)

B) Full-UP
The Fender jazz bass is wired in a quasi- parallel mode. To me, this is not true parallel. The output of the two(2) pickups is more of a compromised sound. In real parallel wiring, it truly "does not" make a difference about the resistance of the pots. In a Fender jazz bass, the ARRANGEMENT of the POTS make a BIG DIFFERENCE.

C) OFF
The values of the pots DO NOT matter(logical).

CONTROL POTS(500 kohms)
Treble and bass pots(values specified by manufacturer).

3. PREAMP - active/passive switch, battery connection, and the output jack

A). Active/passive switch - stock configuration is FINE. However, I prefer true-bypass. True-bypass means passive(no EQ), and active(with EQ).

B). Battery connection
1) solid bare lead(HOT) from preamp(FMEQ) should be covered (insulated by tape, or heat shrink tubing).
2) battery ground(black wire) should be connected to the STEREO output jack. If the battery ground is connected to the common ground, the preamp is in a 24/7 "on - mode." Therefore, the battery is engaged all the time.

C) Output Jack - STEREO output jack(3 pronges)
Should be a STEREO output jack. Three(3) connections are: battery ground, common ground(center), and HOT wire.

That's it :-)

I performed these changes on my 1998 Fender Marcus Miller Signature Jazz Bass. At first, my battery only lasted about two(2) months, now they last 3-4 years because of the frequency I play. All of the electronics on my MM#1 are stock, and the bass sounds great. :-)

Thanks,

Tommy

I'm Tommy. I have two(2) Fender Marcus Miller Signature Jazz Basses (MM#1 & MM#2). I bought MM#1 brand new, and MM#2 in mint condition. After a month or two I realized that both of these basses had problems. MM#1 battery died within 2 months, and MM#2 had no shielding. Like I said before, PROBLEMS. Also, neither one of these basses had the real Marcus Miller Sound.

Hence, this is where my journey began. I must say that I finally fixed all of my problems and my MM#1 & MM#2 sound great. After all the work I performed on my MM basses I believe the info that follows is very important:

1. The battery: PROBLEM - dies in a very short period of time( 2 or 3 months). (A) The battery wire is/was connected to the common ground on a pot in the circuit and made the battery think that it was on 24/7. (B) The bare wire(hot wire) on the FMEQ preamp - Must be covered to prevent 24/7 "on Mode." If it touches the shielding paint in the control cavity it will turn the battery all 24/7. SOLUTION - the output jack(STEREO JACK) should have 3 connection points( battery ground(black wire), common ground(black wire), and hot).

2. The volume pots: PROBLEM - if you use your neck or bridge pickups in an individual mode, then you will notice a big difference. SOLUTION - draw a diagram of the volume pot connections and wiring, then disconnect the wires going to them. MEASURE the RESISTANCE of the neck and bridge volume pots. Put the higher resistance on the neck pot, and the lesser resistance on the bridge pot. Neck pot > Higher resistance, and Bridge pot > lesser resistance.

If the volume pots are in the correct order(neck pot = higher resistance, bridge pot = lesser resistance) this is VERY IMPORTANT. The battery connected the correct way should fix everything. My battery lasts about two(2) or three(3) years, given the amount of time I play.

MM#1 - has been modified. MM#2 - STOCK, and sounds very good. MM#2 has a more usable sound and supports the band better.

Bought new in December '04, so I've been owning it for almost a year.
Two single jazz picks, Badass II bridge... you can check all the specs in Fender web-page or in other issues. I think the "real" features are the Badass and the in-board pre-amp.
I know nothing at all about wood...

Looks very well, natural, I love it. Vintage.

I really love the sound of this bass, even if I don't like Marcus Miller and I don't play slap! I like classic rock, blues and jazz, and it suits really well for playing this stuff. I mean for playing it on a certain way, active mode with a little bass-boost and a little drive (Ashdown ABM EVO-500 with the drive pot at 12) and you can feel like Berry Oakley at Fillmore East! With the neck-pickup full-open and the bridge one near full open you can get that ass-kicking Mel Schacher sound (Grand Funk!).
Really groovin', amazing for soloing, and you can always play with pickups and pre-amp volumes to get a wide sound-palette, fingerstyle, with pick...
And I believe it would sound even better with some Lindy Fralin or Fender Noiseless!

Maybe most users of this bass are slappers, but I can say that this bass also ROCKS!!!

Uhhhhhhhh...

Factory setup was a real CRAP! I had to increase the height of the strings and the pickups, adjust the neck... With factory strings and setting it sounded dead, after some changes it started to sound better and now I'm really happy with it, but I think it's not the way a 1000 ? bass should come from factory! Fender!!

I think the pickups are a little too "cheap", seem very fragile. Have to check some noiseless or Lindy Fralin, I think this will make this bass a really big gun. The rest of the bass is solid-built and could stand live playing and whatever.

I love this bass, but with a proper set-up (this is not a problem now, but it was in the beggining!) and with some top-division pickups (these japanese pickups do not seem compltetely well...) I think it could easilly reach the 10 in this section. I'll tell if finally change the pickups!

75 Fender Jazz w/ Marcus's mods, you know the rest.

Sold my all original '75 Jazz to get this bass - the MM thing beat the tar out of my old one - I could give a hoot about whether it's vintage or not, I just wanted a smokin bass. This has the old school passive sound ... kick in the active and you've got plenty of whatever you need. I rarely use either knob turned past 3 ... you could level the building (or ruin speakers)with the bass knob on 10.

I will eventually have the tone controls wired for passive mode, but nothing urgent about that really.

Great bass all around - I do my own setups so I tweaked it to my needs, but everything seems solid, and well built. I like it better than the new American built Fenders. I love the neck and the Badass II bridge or something comparable should be standard on all Fenders - I hate those crappy plates and flimsy saddles they use ... c'mon, its 2005 fer chrissake!

It's my touring bass and has held up fine to luggage handlers, roadies, and TSA inspectors. The tuners aren't that smooth, I'll throw some hipshot's in there and probably some high end pots, but only because I'm a snob about that stuff - it all functons fine, and wouldn't bother me if I never got around to the mods.

N/A

I bought this bass as an 'expendable' bass for touring, meaning if it got stolen, or destroyed it wouldn't be the end of the world. It turns out I play this bass more than any of my others at home and for studio work and would be devastated should it be taken from me. However they are still made, and every one I've ever played in a store (even crappy ass Guitar Center) has been one I would buy .. they all seem very consistent. I highly recomend this bass

Japanese made, ash body, 20 frets, maple fingerboard with white pearl block inlays. It has a (removeable) 70's style pickup cover on the neck pickup. 2 J-bass pickups... same kind as on the standard US models, i think. Active preamp with bass and treble boost. Active/passive switch. It has no tone control in passive mode.

I've removed the pickup cover, since it got in the way of my playing style. it was comfy for slapping though, but i like to work with lots of different hand positions for different tones, and some of the best tones for fingerstyle playing are right there over the neck pickup. Too bad, 'cause it looked really nice.

The feel of the neck is one of the best things about this bass. The finish has a great, smooth feel, the fretwork is excellent and the bindings and block inlays makes it look and feel great. I compared this bass to a lot of other basses in the same price range (US fenders, warwicks, low end MTDs etc.) and this was by FAR the best built instrument. Especially the US made fenders made me disappointed... i couldn't believe how sloppily built they were - fretwork, fingerboards, neck finish etc. (for the price range, that is, of course.. they were decent instrument, but i wouldn't pay half of what i paid for the Marcus bass for a US j-bass. At least not the ones i've tried.)

I play mostly jazz and slap style funk on this bass. It's got a wide range of sound possibilities, the passive mode is a good vintage fender type of sound, with lots of "fartiness" and mids. the highs are really nice and shiny, it sings and to me this bass really has a great voice for leads. With a little boost on the active preamps bass knob you can get a really big fat boomy bass sound, a lot more than you'll probably ever use. (even if you're some sort of "vacuum cleaner-bass"-reggae/dub pervert... ;) Slap sounds are great, they're really what the preamp was built for, just turn up the active knobs a bit and roll back the bridge pickup a little and you'll get a great slap sound (as long as your strings are fresh, of course.) Watch out for going over the top with the eq though... the highs can really hurt your ears if you're poppin' through an amp with a tweeter.

I would have liked a tone control for the passive mode, even though i'd usually play most any passive bass with the tone control wide open. This one has a lot of brightness and high end though, so i'd like to be able to roll of the top when comping in passive mode. i'll probably have a passive tone control installed some day.

I have some minor noise problems with the bass... the kind of hissing that comes when you take your hands off of the instrument. (that's some sort of earth problem i suppose, and it's probably easy to fix. even though i bought this new and at the price i paid this should have been fixed at the factory.) I'll get this fixed as soon as i get around to it...

I love the tone of this bass... the only thing that i would object to is that it doesn't seem to respond too well to over- aggressive pick style playing. If i want a rockish sound thoungh i pick it a little more gently, an crank the amp.. that gets a fatter tone anyway.. but i dont think this would be a good axe for punk type of sounds.. but then why would you buy a bass like this for that?

It was set up alright, i had to tweak it a little, as always, after changing strings. One thing that's not exactly a flaw, but kind of annoying, is that the tuning pegs are made to tighten the strings when turning them in the opposite direction from what's standard. This always confuses me, since i also play a fretless j-bass, and it's tuning pegs turn the other way.. and btw this has nothing to do with how i have stringed the bass... the strings only go one way around the pegs.

Finish seems great, it doesn't scratch easily. I haven't had any problems so far. I've used it for five months now.

i'm a music student, and have been playing bass for about 5 years. I also play a mexican Fender fretless j-bass and a DeArmond Ashbory bass.

I love the feel of this bass, both sound-wise and physically. it seems to sing when i play it in a special way that not many basses do. I love it, but it was real expensive imho. I'm lucky i was able to afford getting it though, it was worth it to me.

This is Bobbo77", the proud owner of a 2004 brand new in the store Marcus Funk Machine! Been wanted to get one of these for the longest, and found this one at one of my favorite pro shops here in the Northwood's area. It's a Maple/Ash beauty, classic funk recipe, and yes, it live's up to the billing! Of course it's heavy, but it's Ash! Neck is nice and slim, 70's specs I beleive.Won't bore you with the rest of the specs, check them out on the Fender.com site.

Well, the tone is all good, but I'd advise IF you decide to keep the stock Pre amp, check out Tommy Thompson's quick fixes for the battery pre amp on/off, passive/active to be able to use the tone control's when in TRUE passive mode, and the checking of the resistance of the pot's too pick ups. I don't know why Fender never addressed these simple but important factors on this bass.
This Bass won't Make you instant Marcus, but the bass will get you kinda close, with very solid and Groovy tones at your disposal! The treble is kinda bright, but you can tame it down, and it has the 60 cycle buzz (It's a Jazz!) but I use a noise gate. I tried it today with my Eden Metro and 2-10 Avatar cab, and it very impressive! It has that cool "Throaty" Jazz bass sound Fingerstyle and Thumb style! Could'nt put it down, just wanted to see what this thang could do. With passive mode of course theres no tone controls, but I set up the solid state side of my Metro, and it sounds like a very good passive Jazz. But kick in the Pre and look out! Yes, a Bartolini, Sadowsky, J-Retro pre probably would get you closer to THAT tone, but the Fender Pre is all good! I'm happy with it.

Set up at the shop, it was very confortable, but I like my action a little lower, which I can do myself, Again, the neck is very cool, with a Poly(I beleive) finish, as well as the rest of the body. I was worried about the neck pocket, since I've read was not tight, but my Marcus is very tight with no gap's! Fret's are nice and manicured,no sharp ends. Pick ups adjusted great.

Hardware, finish and top notch. I put strap locks on it also. I'd depend on it on a gig, but I alway's bring my trusty #1, 77" Music Man Stingray.

Haven't used it, but I think Fender is hit or miss.

I've been playing for over 27 years, and have had many basses along the way, My main bass has been my 77' Stingray I've had 22 yrs., but my first Real bass was a 77" Jazz bass, Ash/Maple, so this is like playing and old friend. If it were stolen, I'd get another. Again, wish Fender could of addressed the Passive/active switch for a TRUE passive setting, and at least included a gig bag! But all in all a great bass!!!

Mine is a natural finish with a black pickguard. I never really bothered to check & see of the MM basses have it though, but my used one came with an adjustable shim installed in the neck. It makes a world of difference!

I love the sound! You can get good round sounds out of the neck pickup soloed, or a good nasal tone out of the soloed bridge p/u. It's good for most kinds of music, and if you're slapper, you won't be able to put this thing down. Especially once you've made Tommy Thompson's modifications!

When I bought it used, it was setup perfectly. I adjust it from time to time to make sure the neck doesn't move around too much. It's pretty stable.

This thing is a tank.

NA

I've been playing for about 13 years. I also own an Alembic Orion 4 string bass which I also love to use as my more "modern" sounding bass. I've played a lot of Fender jazz basses, and this one (with Tommy Thompsons' modifications) is my favorite and IMHO sounds the best.

All I can say is if you're reading these reviews, and are thinking about buying an MM bass... get one. You won't regret it. If you want to save a couple hundred bucks, pick up one used.

And those of you who already have one, follow Tommy's instructins regarding the placement of the neck/bridge pots. It makes an absolute world of difference.