Fender Standard Jazz Bass

This is a great bass. They give you 3 controls - 2 tones and 1 volume. I have it in cream with 4 strings. It has passive electronics. The offset body looks great and the very thin neck is very easy to play. The body is made of alder , the neck is maple and the fingerboard is rosewood. The strings are strung-thru body. It has 21 frets and was made in mexico.

The sound is great and very versatile. It will play ANY style brilliantly. It sounds great on stage. I use no effects and play it through a 100Watt Ampeg.

Never any problems.

Like the action there are no faults. This bass will last forever. You will never need a backup.

This bass looks great, sounds great and plays very easily. If it was stoolen I would definately replace it. There is no comparison between this bass and my last bass - a squier P-Bass. It sounds, looks and plays better. I've been playing 5 years.

Mine is a plain Mexican made jazz bass. Colored blue, white pickguard and rosewood fretboard. I think it was built somewhere at the end of the nineties.
Who doesn't know the jazz bass by now? Passive bass, 2 jazz pickups, 2 volume controls and one tone. Easy. No modifications (yet) on this one.
Good enough features that justify the price.

Great sound for recording. Easy to record too. Far easier than some highly complex boutique basses. In the studio you need simplicity. This bass has it. You can dial in plenty of tones. Bridge pickup only for some honk. Both pickups for lots of bottom end and pressure.
Strange thing with these Mexican jazzers is that there's hardly any difference between both pickups on and just the neck pickup. That reveals the cheapness of the electronics. Not a bad thing though, but you miss that precision like sound.
Ehm...on stage, this bass is one of my favorites. Always a good sound. Fender jazz basses make awesome backup basses.
Then about slapping...I prefer rosewood fretboards for slapping. I don't like the edgy sound the maple ones provide. Put some new strings on this one and *whack*, slapfest! Okay, a Musicman bass slaps even better, but still.

Tweakable by even the dumbest moron. Simple bridge, simple thrusrod, etc. Tuners are not so great. They feel very loose. Tuning takes some effort, especially with new strings (they tend to slip) and the bass detunes a bit after some songs. American and Japanese jazz basses are much better. Still, for the price it's great.
Too bad there's a thick finish on jazz basses. Takes away a lot of the natural sound.

Awesome bass for in creepy cafes. Who cares if it smells smokey after a gig? This is a players bass. If it gets stolen, buy a new one. beer spilled on it? Who cares? Great for using it on the road. It never failed me. Most stages don't have top end PA anyway, so who needs a top end bass? Okay, I got top end basses too...for those exceptions :o)
If I need a backup bass, I take my Fender jazz with me. One of the volume pots broke off, but it still functions. Hard to get a new one with the right impendancy though.
Bottom end: reliable, even if it breaks down a bit. And not in the least because it is passive!

Hard to get a replacement pot meter...you have to go to a luthier or demolish another jazz bass. Just don't call Fender.

Have at least one of these in your collection. Take it to recording sessions. Bring it as a backup. Get one cheap. Hang around with it.
It get a nine because it is CHEAP and Mexcican! This review is NOT SUIT for American made jazz basses. I think those are a lot less value! Better buy a good clone (Hotwire, Celinder, Esh, Sadowsky, ...).

It was made after 2000 in Mexico. It has 21 frets.It has a laminated top.The controls are 1 volume and 2 tones. The pickups are bi-pole singlecoils. It has passive electronics and is made of alder with a rosewood fingerboard. As most jazz's it has 2 pickups and a very thin neck.

I play rock music and it soung great.It's not noisy and there is no buzz. It has a very rich sound. I play through a 200 Watt Ampeg and this bass makes it sound the way it should. It is great live and in studio.

This is the best looking bass ever and it was put together excellently. The finnish is great and it has to be because it is white and there are no problems.

This bass will last forever without changing anything. No backup is needed.

I tried to get it repaired and it was under warranty.

Great looking and sounding. This is a definite 10.

I Bought It New Last Year. It Is The New Upgraded Standard Jazz Made In About 2002 Or 2003. It Was Made In Mexico. It Has 21 Frets And Is A 4 Stringer. It Has A Volume And 2 Tone Controls. The Pickups Are Standard Bi-Pole Fenders. It Has Passive Electronics. It Has An Alder Body And A Rosewood Neck. It Neck Is Very Thin And Extremely Comfortable. I Got It In Candy Apple Red. It Looks Amazing. It Also Comes In Black, 3 Tone Sunburst, White And More.

I Play Punk Rock And It Is Perfect For It. But This Bass Is So Versatile That It Could Play Any Style. I'm Using A Fender 100 Watt And It Sounds No Different To The American. I Use No Effects, But I Have A Zoom 506 But I Don't Use It Much. There Is No Buzz Even At Full Level. It Can Be Bright, Rich Or Full Depending On The Settings. I Have Not Used It In Studio But Live It Is Amazing. It Is The Best Sounding Thing I've Ever Heard.

The Bass Is Set Up Perfect, The Pickups Don't Need To Be Changed They Already Sound Incredible, What's The Point In Taking A Risk By Changimg Them. I Honestly Can't Find A Fault In Anything To Do With The Set Up. It Is The Same Now As It Was When I Got It A Year Ago. The Finnish Is Great.

I've Played Over 30 Gigs With It And Have Never Used A Backup. The Finnish Is Still Perfect, The Hardware Lasts And I've Never Adjusted The Truss Rod. The Only Thing I've Ever Adjusted Is The Strap Buttons And I'm Going To Take A Mark Off For Just That.

I've Never Had To Get It Repaired So I Can't Comment On Customer Care.

I HavePlaying For Four Years. I Own Fender 100 Watt Amp And A Zoom 506 - I've Never Needed Anything Else. If It Were Stolen I Would Save Up And Buy It Again. To Get The Money I Would Probably Have To Sell My Amp And Get A Smaller, Cheaper One, But I Don't Need To Worry About That.
The Thing I Love About This Bass Are
1) It's Looks- It Is The Best Looking Bass I Have Ever Seen
2) The Sound And Versatility
3) The Name

The Only Con That I See Is The Price But It Is Well Worth It.This Is The Perfect Bass.

2002 Fender Standard Jazz Bass (Made in Mexico), I purchased it new with non-Fender hard case. To clarify any confusion on the Standard Jazz Bass features for some of the readers, Fender upgraded the Mexican Standard Bass in 2001. The "new" Standard Bass now has an Alder body (better tone and sustain than the previous Poplar body), better bi-pole pick-ups (less noisey, stronger output, standard size), a redesigned neck which has an accessable truss-rod adjuster at the headstock (great improvement!), and now comes with the same vintage knobs as the Amercian Jazz (bye-bye silly numbered knobs). The Mexican Jazz also uses the same size pickguard as the American Jazz now. My Jazz is black, and I put a new tortoise-shell pickguard on it. It's a killer look, especially with the chrome hardware. Best advice if you're looking for a used MIM Jazz Bass - it would be wise to seek 2001 and newer - check that the serial number starts with MZ1 for 2001, MZ2 for 2002, etc... At least you're "starting" with a much improved bass over the older mexican Jazzes. Prior to 2001, I rated the MIM Jazz a '5'.. This one is an '8'..

Very versatile sound for a passive bass. There is a little buzz if the volume controls aren't close to the same setting, but the treble has to be really cranked up to notice it. This was a much bigger problem on the older mexican Jazzes. I love classic Jazz bass tone, but mine seems to vary a lot depending on the strings I use. I've tried a half-dozen different bass strings and seem to keep ending up with Fender 7250's medium gauge. Classic Jazz growl, the tone is deep yet has a bright bite at the same time. Only an American Jazz Bass can beat it. Good stuff.

Factory set-up was barely acceptable. I downloaded the Fender Bass set-up guide from http://www.mrgearhead.com/faq/basssetup.html and used it for my own set-up. Definately MUCH better now, I set my action just 1/64" higher than Mr. Gearhead suggested to elimninate some buzzing when plucking hard in the higher registers. Aside from the poor factory set-up, the finish was excellent.

Well, the bridge is the main weakness on this bass. The saddle screws are forever backing out with regular playing.. you need to keep re-adjusting string heigth if you're playing a lot (or playing hard). I've heard that a little super-glue on the screws will solve this, so maybe it's not much of a problem. Everything else (tuners, etc.) is pretty good, not great, but very good for the price.

I've had this bass for 2 years, never had to deal with Fender for anything, no repairs ever needed. No opinion.

I've been playing for almost 20 years now. Have owned several "budget" basses made by Grecco (P-Bass copy), Yamaha (RBX-360), Ibanez (SG garbage bass), this Fender Standard Jazz, and most recently a Dean Q5 5-string. The Fender Jazz blows them all away for it's tone and playability, tho' the Dean Q5 is a great bass for the money if you're looking at active 5-strings. If my Jazz were lost or stolen, I'd probably cry a little, then I'd use the insurance money for a "down-payment" on a new Fender Amercian Jazz. The new American Jazz (2004) has some cool new features such as the "S1" switch, and the one I demo'd last week sounded just amazing - easily the best bass I've ever played. But I still think the newer Fender Standard Jazzes (Mexican) are the best "budget" basses out there. Quality varies on these, so try before you buy! :)

I purchased a Mexican Fender Jazz bass in 1996 after my Kramer was stolen. I was low on cash and bought this cheap Jazz. It is white with a solid white pickguard that covered the whole bass. It was an ash body with a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. All of the hardware was generic. Total cost was $250.00. The bass died one year after purchase. By that time I had purchased a USA Standard Jazz. For the last eight years this bass stood in the my living room and my plants grew over it. Despite the fact that the bass was dead, The construction of the instrument was solid, and the neck to this day has never really needed and adjustment, the pickups and wiring were bad. I decided to take this bass to a local music store and told the owner to give this thing a face lift. The owner cleaned it up, placed a new black pick guard on it, and a chrome control plate which it did not have on it, and new vintage pickups.

Before it died it had a soft sound, when plugged through my Nemises Amp I couldn't really get a lot of volume out of this thing. After installing a set of '60s Vintage Custom Shop J-Bass pickups, you can't tell it from an American Standard. The pickups totally revived this bland instrument.

I don't remember how well the bass was set up when I bought it. The neck was good, it's pretty narrow and sturdy. After sitting up for eight years as a plant stand the neck hasn't reaaly needed an adjustment. The hardware is the standard generic hardware Fender uses on it's foriegn made instruments. I play alot of funk and the neck pretty fast. The body is light and comfortable with no major flaws that I can detect.

I used to get caught up in all of this talk about American, Japanese, Mexican, and Korean made Fenders. I played all of these basses, some are good and some are crap. This Mexican Jazz is a well constructed bass with bad wiring, bad pickups, and generic hardware; but played great. Now that the bass has been overhauled, you wouldn't know that it was made in Mexico unless look at the head where it says made in Mexico. I have three Jazzes. '76, 2001 USA, and my refurbished Mexican Jazz. Right now the Mexican made one is my #2 bass next to my '76. I would definately use this bass on gigs, without a backup.

I have been playing for twenty years and have owned a variety of basses over the years. This bass is great now that I have remodeled it. As I stated before a few simple adjustments changed this bass completely. You have to examine each instrument, all brands don't play the same. Sometimes low end instruments become your favorites and sometimes very expensive instruments are crap. A good bassist can make any bass sound great.

tuners horrible, bridge sucks, the neck warps, when you put the volume above 7 on the it sounds saturated and crappy. this bass is like the nanny, it looks nice but sounds crappy

sucks balls

dont get me started about the action, finish is nice and so is the fit

it falls apart so much. the action pegs collaps and the screws pop out on the bridge.

this bass was with me through the best of times and the worst of times, it was the reason for the worst of times. if you want a good bass just save up another 300 dollars and buy an american, mexico is crap, and they cant make basses.

I believe it's an 03 or 04, MIM Jazz Standard Special Edition. What all is special about it, I'm not certain. It's a GC exclusive, and the obvious upgrade and only confirmable one, is the Natural finished Ash body. I've heard there are other upgrades, including the pickups, but I can't confirm whether there are or aren't.

It's still pretty much the standard Jazz, either way. Two passive Jazz style single coil pickups, passive electronics, V/V/T, maple neck w/ rosewood board, etc. It's a Jazz, nothing fancy, so I'll give it a six in features, and that high because the body and finish upgrade.

This is a Jazz, everyone should have one. They're an essential bass tone. However, there are different levels of tone quality in any bass style. I played at least ten other MIM Jazzes, one MIA, and one MIM Deluxe. The only one that sounded better, by a minute bit, was the MIA. This thing killed the other MIM's I tried, even the Deluxe.

IMHO, your standard MIM is just one step up from your Squier. They sound "like" a Fender, but it's a more modern/imitation sound. Tonally speaking, this bass is much more authentic/organic in sound. I found it to truely be just underneath the MIA in sound.

Anyway, I'm giving a number rating based on comparison to other MIM's and MIA's. Seven, because it's so close to the MIA (which I would give an 8) and kills the other MIM's (which I would give 4's and 5's), but still has that damn annoying traditional Jazz humm and would probably be killed by anything with upgraded third-party pickups.

*Note: This number reflects a Fender to Fender comparison ONLY! A KSD Jazz or other similar clone could sound a lot better. I haven't had the privilege of trying one.

I don't give number ratings for action. I get all my basses off the floor, so there is no telling what horrible things have happened during their life on the shelf. Besides, getting a setup is cheap, or you can do it yourself fairly easily.

Fit and finish do get a number, and sadly, that's where my Jazz falls apart. :( The good? The Ash body is really nice and finish was impeccable when I bought it.

However, everything else is flipping screwed. :( Where to start? Well, for one, there is a clear gap between the control plate and pickguard, from a misalignment of one or the other. That sucks, because it leaves the control cavity visible. It's not exactly a little noticeable, either. I'd say it was visible from within a good five to ten feet.

Next up, there are misalinged screws in the pickups, in the bridge, and in the control plate. This isn't a terribly big deal, but they are there. Also, there is a dent in the neck plate above one of the screws. Not to mention, the pads under the strap buttons couldn't be more out of line if their placement was done by a monkey.

Then, there's my biggest complaint, the neck. There are random dents, scratches, and deep grooves in different spots all over the fretboard. It could have happened on the show floor, but I doubt it.

Next up would be the frets. EVERY damn Fender I picked up had the fingerboard covered in excess bonding material from the fret job. The MIA literally had yellow frets! This is ridiculous and sad. My frets aren't completely covered like the MIA, but there are some spots of it. Also, the frets stick out a slight bit, not enough to chew up your fingers, but it's noticeable.

Last complaint in the neck department, but a big one to me, there is enough room in the neck pocket, between the upper horn and the neck itself, for me to stick a credit card in.

As for the hardware, the tuners are great, but the bridge is trash. I just picked it up, and I noticed the saddles have moved considerably, just from normal play.

The number for fit and finish then, is two, and that's because the tuners, the body, and the finish on the body were excellent. Other than that, I will have to buy a new neck and bridge sometime soon, if I'm going to keep her. These are common upgrades to an MIM Jazz, but they should be optional, NOT neccessary.

Well, Jazzes and Precisions are a large staple in the bass world, so of course plenty of people use Jazzes both on stage and in the studio. However, I wonder if they aren't older basses or custom shop jobs, because the mass produced pieces that pass for shelf worthy instruments these days, are an atrocity to the Fender name.

Anyway, as for toughness, this thing is about one step above a paper bag. My gf knocked it partially out of the stand, and it bumped my Peavey and the floor, which resulted in a small but deep ding type of crack in the finish, and one nice groove type scratch. The Peavey didn't have a mark on it.

That leads me to believe a fall from just average standing playing height, would result in a chunk of the bass coming off. That combined with the crappy looking construction job ensure I will only play it sitting down, unless I upgrade the strap buttons.

As for the rest of the hardware, the tuners are great, as I said. They do their job exceptionally well. I've only had to retune once, and it was just my G string, and that was after a heavy slap and pop session. Being I've only been playing five months, I'm sure you can envision how well I slap and pop.

The neck plate looks cheap, just a piece of chrome, but it does it's function well to. Only reason to replace it would be to see if I could line the neck up better in the pocket, might as well get a better neck (maybe Warmoth) before I do that, though.

I knew the bridge looked like it was cheap, but I thought it would do ok, until I picked it up and noticed how out of place the saddles had become. Therefore, I got to give it a four. New strap buttons, new bridge, new neck, damn, why the hell did I buy this? I got to lay off the beer.

Well, I bet the incredibly poor construction of their instruments reflects exactly what they think of their customers. However, since I've never actually dealt with their CS department, I won't comment.

I've only been playing about five months now, but I'm cutting my tone teeth. This is really the reason I bought this bass. It sounds exceptionally good. Much more authentic and natural sounding than most of the other Jazzes I tried, minus the MIA. It was extremely close to it, though. A pickup upgrade to just those found in the MIA, and I bet it would sound even better than the MIA.

However, I stupidly didn't inspect the construction on it for more than a minute, and that was mainly to look for body dings and scrathces. It's playable for now, but I have a feeling it won't stay that way without the neck and bridge upgrades.

Would I buy another if it were stolen? I'm not even sure I'm going to keep this one! It's hard to justify socking as much money into fixing it up, as I did into buying it. I love how it sounds, the body is absolutely beautiful, and it plays as well as any other Fender Jazz. However, it would be almost as cheap to give it away as to keep it and fix it. Still, I'll give it a 5 for the "oh so sweet" stock tone alone.

I got this one second hand,it's a Mexican.
4 stringer and 22 frets I think, can't remember.
Two Volume (one per pickup) One tone.
Passive bass, great sound.
I have read more and more about the pickups not being great and the
bridge moving, I can't saw I have had that yet and the pickups are fine for me, maybe I'v just been lucky.
Lovely rose wood neck.

I play rock, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and older Lead Zep.
This bass suits all the above and can also sound smooth and soulfull,
she rocks. I have a crap little pratice amp and this bass makes the amp sound OK. As I said it was bought second hand, 5 years old and
she has not got a mark on her, class.

Finish is perfect after 5 years, I had to change the action a little.

I have giged a little with her and she always looks great and sounds
great. I think she'll last years more, she will with me anyway.

N/A

I played a cheap jazz copy at first, can't remember the make, next was a OLP music man that rocked BUT this girl has sooo much more to offer then the OLP, I got her for the same money as I got for the OLP.
The great rock N roll swindle lives, Malcom would be proud.
I played sound gear/squire/olp nothing compares.

Me and jazz will be together for a long time.

Standard Fender Mexican heaven. Two jazz bass pickups, standard bridge, 2 volume/1 tone controls, ect.

The pickups aren't the best pickups, but certainly not the worst. Fender, even if it Mexican, makes good passive pickups. The sound is the traditional Fender Jazz growl with a decent slap-sound for a passive pickup. Variety of sounds from adjusting the pickup tones (more neck for a thumpier sound, more bridge for that nasally Jaco sound.)If you turn down on pickup, you'll get a lot of buzz, which is usually with Jazz basses, but the Mexicans do it alot. I keep mine both up for that reason, and that I just like the full-volume sound. And the tone, which I just left all the up all the time. I play jazz/jamband/funk and this bass is great for that, at least. The sound is ruined when a pick is taken to it, but in my opinion, picks always sound horrible on basses.

I have an agave-blue metallic finish, which is very pretty and well applied, It even goes under all the hardware, which Squier does not do. I was disappointed that the routing for the wire-trenched is revealed, so you gotta keep the pickguard on unless you don't want dusty cavities. The action was pretty medium, but I like it low. Wah wah Wah

This is a tough bass for the money. It's heavy, but all Fender Jazz Basses are. I'm in love with the neck, though it differs very slightly from the Americans. It's just the slightest bit wider, not enough to be noticed beside from an anal Fender Jass enthusist. The bridge is pretty crappy. The action of my strings kept changing. I even replaced it with my old Squire bridge and it's been fending better. I need an update!

Never dealt with them, but I have a safe vibe.

I've been playing 10 years and before I bought my Jazz, I've drempt of them. I love jazz basses, and this is definately a jazz bass. There isn't tons of difference in the Americans and the Mexicans, beside the little things and the hardware, which isn't quite up to par. I'm in an up-and-coming jamband and this is my main bass. There isn't enough difference in bass to make me want to spend twice as much for an American and I'm just going to update mine. Buy one used for about 250, put a good hundred into the hardware I say you have yourself one hell of a bass.