Jackson JS-40

Hello. I really dont know what all the other reviewers are complaining about. I couldn't give a flying f... about how many frets it's got. Iv'e been playing bass since 1969 and this is the sexiest (and most in tune) bass i've played. Not only does it look good, for a cheap guitar the intonation is perfect - above the 15th fret it's still in tune. Tonal diversity might be slightly lacking..but what do you want for your money? Ive played Fenders, Gibsons, Hofners, Rossettis,egmonnds, Baldwins and Burns, I feel seductive, sad and old playing my Jackson.

Some B'stard dropped this on the floor causing a crack in the back - it still plays and sounds good.

2000, or 2001 model I'm not entirely sure. 22 frets. Alder body with black finish. Maple neck. 1 volume knob, 2 tone knobs. P/J styple pickup arrangment. Pretty stock beginner bass. Nothing special.

This is where this bass falls short. After having it for a year, I realize what a poor buy it was. I run it out of an Ashdown 15" combo amp at 150 watts. The sound is pretty dull. You can get virtually no variation whatsoever in it's tone. Poor sustain. Virtually no growl whatsoever, and the highs are very muddy, while the lows lack the beef needed for a decent bassline.

It's surprising that a bass can sound so mediocre yet feel pretty decent all at once. This category was the reason why I bought the bass. When I got it the strings buzzed like crazy on nearly every fret, so I had the action raised a bit, and that helped some but didn't eliminate the problem. The tone knobs come loose all the time and have a tendency to fall off, and the tuning knobs have needed tightening. The frets tend to lose their tuning on the way up as well. After all of the tightening and the string change (switched the stock strings out with a set of Ken Smith steel wound heavy gauge strings), the bass isnt half bad in this area. The neck is super thin which makes it easy for chord playing, and quickness. It's an excellent bass to slap on (tone aside). It's good to have around for something to play unplugged on for practice sake.

Everyone knows that Jackson excells in the durability category. I've dropped, bumped, stepped on, and banged this bass around enough that would make any musician cringe and it is still hangin' in there. The finish is still as shiny as the day I bought it. Strap buttons are very solid. I'd never use it for a gig because it sounds so poor, however I wouldn't be afraid of taking it anywhere because I know that cracking or breaking it in any way will be difficult to do, so it definately does well here.

Never needed to deal with them.

This was my first purchase, and I honstely feel that I was ripped off. I went to this store because I heard they had great deals, but I got a 100 dollar bass for 350, but that's when you get when you don't pay close attention to what you're getting. I just wanted an axe, and I bought the one that felt the best in the store in my price range. It feels great, and is a beast in durability, but the sound isnt worth it. After all it's a musical instrument, so you're going to want pleasing tones out of it. I suppose a new set of pickups and electronic could help but who knows. I personally wish that I had bought one of the entry level Ibanez Soundgears instead, since they feel virtually the same, but the Ibanez's sound a bit better. It served it's purpose as a learning tool, but it is no longer my primary bass. I thought about selling it, but it can still serve some use as a practice bass for working on slap and such (my primary axe is a 5).

Considering I wanted an inexpensive bass for goofing around with and I got this for $149 new in the box this guitar as a beginners bass it has fairly nice features. Alder body, rosewood fretboard, p & j pickups etc as noted in the other reviews.

I'm running it through a Marshall stack and it sounds pretty good - pretty dark and warm. For classic rock, blues and some jazz this bass is working out fine. I doubt that it would do well with metal, and that is probably why I'm not having as much of a problem with the pick-ups as some of the other folks, although I agree that Jackson could've done better.

Mine was set up fine. One know was a tad bit loose, but one and a half turns on the retaining screw fixed it right up. Everything else was flawless.

This bass is fine for learning, goofing around with friends, and small gigs. It's built very well and should hold up. It's holding up well, but then I don't tend to be too harsh on it either.

I have no idea - hopefully I don't have to call them.

I play acoustic guitar mostly, and was asked to fill in with a band on the bass since I could sight read the bass part. I had a blast and have been flirting with the bass for almost 20 years now. As a beginners bass this is a great deal. For a serious player you'll want to look elsewhere. I'm rating it an 8 only because I paid so little for it and I didn't expect much out of it. If I had paid what some of the other reviewers paid I would be ticked off too. It's a great beginners bass. Nothing more.

It doesn't sound very good... not much to say.

high frets and 5th fret buzzed, neck nedded to be adjusted, but still buzzs..
One of the knob gets very loose and if I tweak it all the way, it would fall off.

I had this bass for 2 years, no problems except sometimes the jack input got loose, but not any more..
I used this bass playing for small place wih Ibanez amp. And I've played in a big place using a big fender keyboard amp. Well I was flat broke and had to use this bass and crappy bass amp, but DON"T use this bass for giging ...

I'm a guitarist, played for 4 yrs. I've only played bass for 2 yrs but I learned bass VERY quickly and shredd, tap, slap, like CRAZY!
For this price range, you can do better than this one.
Get a Fender Jazz standard, Ibanez soundgear, or Yamaha bass, they sound and play better than this Jackson.
Right now I spent all my money buying good guitar gears. But when I get money, I'm upgrading my bass to either Marcus Miller Jazz bass or Musicman.

features-well, its wood. has pickups. decent all around neck. body is the same shape of every other $200 bass out there.

Sounds great, if you dont plug it in! The pickups are shit. They emit odd noise and are easily interfered with. Sounds decent with a pick, but it could be more fuller sounding, like a Rick or something. Decent sounding for metal, except for the noise thing, not good for really low Raggae or funk styles

All good here. Action is decent. The neck is like playing a cross between a Rickenbacker and an Ibanez. Strange bedfellows but it works allright. All the fretwork is good, and the finish is decent if you like plain colors.

That noise emitted from the pickups has caused me to abuse it more than i should, but it definately stands up to punishment, the throw it in your ford probe and drive through construction at 10 over the speed limit to your friends house punishment. Theres a few chips in the finish, but no broken necks or busted tuners.

never had to call, but i hear they're pretty good at jackson.

A decent all around bass if you replace the electronics. good for a beginner. The durability thing makes it more in line for usage as a weapon that a musical instrument. Somebody needs to show Jackson how to make good pickups, they really ruin the bass. Im willing to sell mine soon.

It's my first bass. I got it on Ebay becuase i was joining a band. I liked that it had both P and J pickup's. But when you plug it the gain knob goes to 5 - 8. The pickup are the biggest hunk of crap. The rosewood bolton fretboard are nice. Has three knobs that keep spinning around.

The Pickups need to be replaced before you plugin. They suck donkey NutZ. Plus my knob were played with. The guy before me rewired them.
But the sound of the p pickups are vary deep for metal and the j is plan every day Jazz pickup.

I bought it used but the action is vary high. The blend knob for pickup changeing suck and the tuning it is a hard to do.
The paint and body are perfect for a frist bass.

I havent had time to play live yet but i think it mite make it. The paint and body will last. But i mite blow a fuse on the amp but turning the gain knob to 10!!. I havent had any thing go wrong yet.

Havent had to call.

For a first bass it good. but for a real bass get a Musicman

Check out the other reviews, it's the same thing! It didn't come with any sort of case or bag.

This bass just doesn't cut it if you intend to play anything other than a type of music where you just beat on it. It's definitely not a bass for many different musical styles. I use a crate BXR-100 and an Ibanez FZ-7 fuzz pedal. It's pretty noisy no matter how I have it set. It doesn't have the full sound that I thought it would. It does a decent job for slapping, but any softer playing is no good. What it comes down to is that I don't like it's cheap sound.

Everything was set up well straight from the factory. All of the hardware has been perfect. I'm guessing it's pretty good stuff.

This is really durable bass guitar. I played gigs with a thin gig-bag for a year or so and really beat it around, but you would never know. Now I have a case for protection, but even my occasional beating it around doesn't seem to affect it much.

n/a

I am looking at purchasing an Ibanez with active pickups. I was satisfied with this bass when I was still learning a lot, but now that I am experimenting with many more types of playing than hard rock/alternative/punk styles and now that I've played different basses, I am finding that this is just a bass designed for beginners. I can't wait to find a new one!

This was a firsr bass for me and for as much as I know the features suck!!!! It has Jackson made J and P style pickups witch arent great and has three knobs that controls volume, tone and pickup selector. It is a bolt on and has and rosewood fretboard with dot inlays. It also comes with 22 frets. These features suck.

I have an awesome amp so the sounds I need to get mostly come from the amp but I do have a lot of problems with the strings making rattling sounds even in tune. I have even raised the bridge and it didnt help that too much.

The action for this bass is pretty fast. I am an awesome fucking bass player so I burn up and down the fretboard. This bass also has great finish and is well made for a Japanese made bass. I have had some trouble with the knobs coming loose and the input jack comes loose as well. These are easily fixed but it is still bullshit that i have to fix it all the time.

FUCKING SUCKS!!!!!!! With the problems I have had i might have well bought a used condom.

Havent had to use it but i might need to

SUCKS BUT SINCE I AM SO GOOD AT BASS I MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A CLIFF BURTON RICKENBACKER. DONT BUY THIS PIECE OF SHIT