Jay Turser JTB-2B Violin Beatle Bass

Hofner copy. Made in 2002 I think from the sticker, in China. It has 22 frets, 4 strings, violin shaped Beatle bass, except this model is black all over including the neck) except for the white trim around the body edges. The white trim has 2 black lines instead of the Hofner 500/1 1. Controls are Volume, Tone, 3 switches (lower pickup, upper pickup, and "on/off" - go figure). 2 humbuckers pickups, flat/smooth. Body is slightly arched front and back. Neck is set, maple. Rosewood fingerboard. The metal parts are imitation gold-plated. Tuners are die cast, nut is plastic I think. Bridge sets loosely on top and is adjustable, like Hofner. The overall scale is 3/4. NOTHING comes with the bass, except for the limited lifetime warranty from Jay Turser, which I hope I never need. I give it a 7 because of course there are much better basses out there (Hofner 500/1).

I have been playing 60's and 70's stuff, as well as some modern rock, as well as blues. The soft warm (yet not overpowering)sound like a Hofner 500/1 is great for that, but you can adjust the sound of this bass quite a bit using the controls and where you pluck the strings.
The bass has plenty of volume, but tone is better adjusted by choosing the pickups.

Set up I would rate a 7.5 The strings were not lined up with the bridge (maybe shipping?). The action is actually lower than I thought it would be, but works. (If you are sloppy on the fingering you get "buz" from the roundwounds). Pickups are okay. There was a little rust on the bridge. The tuning pegs could be locking or tighter. The bass "feels" good playing sitting down and is light for standing up. Be very careful you get a wide strap because it is easy to have it fall off being small.

I have played on Hofner 500/1. The Hofner feels lighter (probably is), better made, and likely to break if mishandled at all. The JTB-2 feels very solid. The basic guitar itself seems very well put together. Feels like our Les Paul. The neck feels like a Gibson neck. The frets are smooth cut, the neck is "fast", and the action is low (kind of too low to slap, but that can be fixed). Oh, you can "slap" this one, which I would never do to a Hofner. The hardware, well, if you have the cash replace: (in order) strings, nut, bridge, tuners/machines, pickups. The pickguard seems thin and cheesy. The strap buttons, well, seem to be solid. The workmanship is good considering the cheap hardware. The body I would give a 10. As far as using it without a backup, the only bass I feel better about in that category is a Warwick.

Not had to deal with support.

I have been playing bass since 1969, guitar since 1971. We have in our house a Yamaha es335 1978 (which I will NEVER sell, btw), Epi Les Paul Special (also black), Hohner acoustic, Harmony p-bass, classical guitar. Amps include 2 crates w/celestion, Fender sidekick bass amp.
I would buy another one if lost or stolen. I am planning to replace the roundwound strings with flatwounds, the bridge which seems shodily made, and of course the nut. The roundwounds sound "buzzy" as the bass picks up any little sound. I like the fact that it's semi-acoustic so you can practice without an amp. My ratings here overall reflect anything and everything I have ever played bass-wise: Gibson, Fender, Hofner, Warwick, etc. I wish I would have been able to compare it to it's biggest competitors, the Eastwood Beatle bass and the Epiphone Viola bass. It sounds closer to a Hofner 500/1 than anything else I have heard, but not quite exactly like a 500/1. It plays very easy, though, like a good bass should. Great bass for the money and for blues/60's rock.

The Jay Turser Beatle Bass 2002 4 strings. This is, hands down THE best Hofner copy of all time. Just about the only differences are the Tail piece (that looks great but I have replaced with a hofner's) the tuners (chrome open-back but can be replaced) and the pickups (flat wouldnt want to replace them they sound better then the original hofners (lol) Full scale neck and.......... it came with a cord. (of which i threw out because everyone knows that you shouldnt use the factory cord!

I play in a beatles cover band and I bought this over any other beatle bass copy because 1: price is better then the epiphone or any other 2: it looks EXACTLY like the real hofner (the epiphone dosent) 3: sounds GREAT. I use it in a Vox T60 bass amp (like mcCartney's) and its wonderful. Rich full sounds. But i have been thinking about changing to flatwounds (like mcCartney) I use it in both the stage and studio. Lets face it, the hofner 5000/1 may sound great in the beatles records. but thats only because of the bass player. I would rae this better then any hofner in the sound area

The Action (out of box) was great for me to play and a GREAT change from a fender. It came with roundwound strings and they felt great. As hofners were, the neck is very testy, so when I came home from a vacation I found that it had reset it self. I just raised the tun-o-matic bridge and it sounded better then before. Also, This is by far the best looking Hofner copy the finish is AMAZING it looks like a hofner. That all i have to say about this.........10

Its reliable and has endured sooooo much. $ hour live performances every night. the finish still looks great after all this time. never has a strap button failed. VERY DEPENDABLE. if you dont play it for a while, the bridge might need to be adujusted, (might) but probably not. We have many times used this bass WITHOUT a backup.

it has a lifetime warranty, but I dont feel that i will have to use it ever. nor have i had to talk to the company. I would definetly buy from jay turser again

Ive been playing for a long time now and I started out on a fender bass. The fender was incredibly heavy and had AWFUL action compared to the jay turser. The NECK is heavier then the body on the this model. Just like the real hofner. I dont know what would happen if it were lost or stolen again, itd break my heart. I love this bass so. I would definitly buy it again.

My Jay Turser bass was made in 2002(I think) and to the untrained eye looks like a real Hofner bass.Tuning keys are chrome and closed back unlike the real open back Hofner with pearl tuning pegs. Other differences are minor to most people I think. The tail piece is different from the real thing too. But it looks cool. I had the factory set up with round wound stings and such.

It sounds good. I ran it through a vox t-25 and it is simular to my real hofner.It has a plucky sound to it.

Finish was great! This thing looks better than it plays. It is a nice looking bass. natural finish with a great shine on it's violin shaped body.

I played a wedding w/ it and it was OK. I would say it is more rugged than most think.

N/A

I sold it to a friend after getting another real Hofner. I have a rick bass too so no room for this right now. Otherwise I would have kept it. I loved the way it looked, it was light and easy to play, but not the real thing.

Features : See previous reviews. This a 'near dead on' copy of the famous hofner bass played by you know who. I was a bit sceptical at first but I am very enthousiastic now.

I play in a '60 sounding band and originally play Guitar, having switched to Bass a few years ago. I mainly play fretless and this is my first fretted bass since a long time. I changed the pots and did some re-wiring to make it a bit more versatile instrument. It now features a (one)volume and a tone control wich gives me a even broader range of sounds than the instrument came with. I play roundwound strings but sometimes I want that flatwound sound and the tone control does this for me. The pickups are very good with lots of low end and a massive output compared to my other basses. And what I like most about this bass is the feedback !(not the place in Utrecht whwre I bought the bass :-) If you find the right spot on stage you can just play a note and it will go on forever... Any note ! I used this effect live a couple of times and this bass didn't emberrass me by skweaking or so...

A good instrument...

As far as my model is concerned, it was pretty well set up. A bit of string rattle but that was soon fixed. The finish looks amazingly good. I wasn't as impressed with some of the electronics but I fixed that myself. With such a cheap bass you can expect that this low price must come from somewhere... If you get the bridge ajusted right you can intonate this instrument near perfect. The only thing that struck me as somewhat odd is that the Pearl plate containing the switches and pots was mounted upside-down.

I used this bass 'out of the box' on a gig and have been using it on ever gig since. I don't have to bring a backup because I feel fully confident about this bass. I take the frettles along for the soft songs. That's all....

The Dutch importer is considering to order the hardshell case. I would buy one on the spot. This bass easily fits in a spanish guitar rockbag and that's how I carry it around now.

I've been a playing musiscian for over twenty five years. I own and have owned a lot of musical instruments. This one is a 'stayer' and will be my no1 axe for years to come. This week will take it into the studio for recording. If you want to know more drop me an e-mail at vinace99@hotmail.com

Bought in 2003, not sure when it was made. It's definitely from China. It has a short scale, which feels comfortable, but strange when you're not used to it. Before I only played on my Yamaha BBN-III, which is quite heavier. It's got 2 volume knobs and 3 switches: treble on/off, bass on/off, rhythm/solo. It's kind of strange that the volume knobs on each side of the switches belong to the opposites (left knob -> right (bass) switch, right knob -> left (treble) switch). It's got two pick-ups that sound well, but I don't know any technical things about them. The body feels kind of light when compared to a solid-body bass. The finish looks well, but isn't quite perfect. In the shop I asked for a bass right out of the box, instead of the one in the shop. It was allright for them and I got one and of course played on it before buying it. It goes with a simple connection cable, which I didn't use so far, because I've got a better one already.

I'm not playing the bass for a very long time. I used to play keyboards in a band for many years. Then I turned to the electric guitar, only playing chords. But I've always liked the bass, so for about 2 years I'm studying it a little bit. My favourite music is rock/ pop, especially from the 70's (Queen, The Eagles and, of course, The Beatles) as well as country. This bass perfectly does the job for the Beatles things, but also country (walking bass lines) works fine. I'm using it with a Trace Elliot Combo. It has quite a high pitch, but I have to get used to the smaller size. I always end up playing near the bridge, while playing near the neck gives a much deaper sound. It has some rattles when playing on the first frets, but maybe I have to turn up the bridge to get the strings a little bit higher. I had a lot of trouble to tune it. That was already so with another bass in the shop. I could tune it very well, but when playing, for instance, the E on the 12th fret on the E-string and at the same time on the 14th fret on the D-string, it sounded a little out of tune. Mine has the same problem, but, after a while, it seems to get better.

I couldn't find any other problems, except as mentioned before. The bass was set-up fairly well. Tuning pegs, saddle, pickup selectors and pick-ups are all good. No misalignment etc. Allthough the one bass in the shop had a white plate that wasn't cut correctly, while mine didn't have this problem.

I own this bass too shortly for giving a good opninion on durability. I don't think I will use it a lot out of the home. Just for practising and, one of the reasons that I bought this bass, it will be mounted on my living room wall as a nice decoration. As a kind of hommage to the best band of all time: The Beatles (luckily, my wife likes the instrument too).

I always buy my instruments at the same shop: Feedback in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). I never had any complaints about them, but I have to admit I never had any real problems with any of my instruments (Fender Strat E-guitar, Ovation semi-acoustic guitar, Yamaha BBN-III bass, Yamaha DX-11 synth, Casio keyboard, Roland RD-500 piano).

I bought this bass after been looking in the shop-folder for a few years. I finally could convince my wife that it would show very nice on the wall. I read about the high prices you would have to pay for the Hofner bass. After that I read the reviews on the internet about the Jay Turner bass and I decided to go to the shop, played on it and finally bought one. What do I love about it? Mostly it's appearance, the light-weightedness and the nice tones that you can get from it. If it was stolen I really would buy another one.

mine is a 2002 model right handed with black finish and gold hardware, made in china,i think its probably a plywood body with maple neck and rosewoodfingerboard, tuners are grover styleknock off's that do the job and with a string change(roto's) will hold tune better than whatever the bass came with and gold plated as are the humbuckers, and i'm a little concerned about that post about the cheesy bridge. it was purchased on e bay from a dealer in aurora colorado who delivered very promptly with a hard shell case. as to the previous post about lefty's well they do make a lefty model now but as far as i know only in the sunburst finish which is very nice also, as 2 friends after playing mine went on e bay and bought the sunburst and the finish is high quality

believe it or not i think it actually sounds better than the original and running through my beatle catalog i can almost repro the sounds paul created and also get some solid body sound with some adjustment of controls, and still can get deep warm hoffy and blues sounds. i play it through a trace elliott gsx12sm with 2x10 combo and an additional 2x10 cab, a little tweek here and there on the eq and valve settings and i get some very interesting sounds for an inexpensive bass, and yes you dont have to be afraid to slap a little its a lot more versital than a hofner. for the money its a dream

from a distance this bass is a head turner. i've even had people ask if its a custom hofner because of the black finish,other than the color, pickups and slightly different tail piece it looks and plays like the macca's. it came perfectly set up and ready to play.(the dealer guarentee'd set up and came through. from other reviews about rattle and hum, i guess i got lucky as mine is perfect no bumps in the neck,no dead spots, its perfect. the finish looks like its almost a jap laquer its so deep and with no flaws. just a beautiful guitar for the money even if some of the hardware like the screws on the pickguard do look a bit cheesy but for the money i give it a 10 the only problem is a dead spot in the rythm solo switch. i have to fiddle a little to get it to work, could be a problem if gigging as if you dont hit the spot the bass goes dead but i might have the pots replaced with a better quality . from what i hear turser puts their heart into the finish and the leftovers in electronics that is to say it looks like a dream but the electronics are definitely chinese and do get that hum like a hofner i give it a 10 for finish, and fit and a question mark on the electronics. the action is incredible with the short scale and all. i have very long narrow fingers and can still really play this bass better than my others

i dont know about durability as i've only owned it for 2 months and dont play pro anymore, but its so easy and fun to play that i find myself hammering on it 3-4 hours a day. i have a feeling that the hardware will probably tarnish or wear off rather quickly and the finish looks like its hear to stay. strap buttons are solid and it seems like it would be dependable but i'd have a back up just in case if i were gigging

have had no contact as i havent had to use the limited lifetime warranty

i've been playing off and on for 38 years and yes bought my first bass after listening to pauls part on all my lovin. i also own a 1997 status graphite eclipse artist, a 79 peavey foundation that is like brand new and has never been played proffessionaly. i have the aformentioned trace elliott and a late 60's ampeg B15 THAT I BOUGHT NEW IN 69 its funny cause now that i think about it i havent touched any bass but the turser in 2 months. if you cant afford a hofner( or even if you can)and want a second bass to get that special 60's sound then i highly recommend the turser like macca said when elvis costello asked him to play on an album and only with the hofner,when he reached under the bed and dragged it out for the first time in years and strapped it on he realized how easy it was to play and how much better a bass player it made him. try the turser and have fun flying across that short scale. this bass comes with a strap button on the back of the neck and bottom of body so you dont need that special hofner style neck strap but get a good wide strap as this axe is light and will bounce of your shoulder if you're are an active player

Manufactured in China, Short scale -Great !-, Hollow Body, 2 "marvellous" bass pickups, PMCCartney looking like finish ;O), + optional (but necessary!) Hard shell case. (85$)

NB: Just one noticeable difference with original Hofner viola bass model, the JTB-2B dont have a FRET 0 !!!

One of the best Bass sound I've ever heard ! just like hofner original 500/1 bass ! Very "Boomy" & punchy warm sound, just like you can hear on every Beatles album.
Different "modes" pre-selections (solo, bass, more trebble...)
I've used it live at concerts, studio -for recording through professional material-, and... at Home ! PERFECT !

I love EVERYTHING on this Bass guitar !
I first planed to buy a German Hofner Beatle bass, but I read lot of good reviews on that JTB2B's Jay Turser bass (and all of their production -electric & accoustic guitars, basses-)

The Price is Less $$$ than a German Hoffie, but I can tell you I had
a BIG BIG pleasure the first time I played with it!
That's a great instrument.


If you want a Hofner 500/1 and don't have $$$, gotta get a Jay Turser JTB-2B !

Well, to be sincere, before i've ordered it, I thought "maybe for the price i've paid, the neck won't be comfortable, the finish will be bad...", and I was hopping to get a not bad one, although I read good reviews about this model on internet.

When I received it, in its optional Deluxe hard shell case...
Woaaaaaaaaaaaow !
I was absolutely surprised ! ;O)

First, the FINISH is SPLENDID !
High quality wood, robust harware, very beautiful finish, can tell no more but this ;O) ! just try to imagine a perfect one ! (I got it !)

The neck, action & pickups were very well set-up at the factory, and I didn't have to do something more!

The strings were OK but I've changed them and installed Flatwound Hofner strings (H11333BBeatleBass , same gauge as Paul McCartney !)

Played it live... PERFECT !
Hardware seems very robust, the finish is good enough to last till the son of the son of my son will die ;O)
The strap buttons are solid, etc... PERFECT !!!

NB: due to the Hollow Violin like body, this is a "fragile" instrument
comparing with a Fender or Ibanez solid body...
Just got to take care of it, this is and instrument, not a hammer ! ;O)

The company says it is under "LifeTime warranty"... (?)

I've ordered it on internet and in spite of the long distance (USA> Europe), the communication with the company was 100% OK !!!
-via e-mails-

http://www.jayturserguitars.com/

VERY SERIOUS and a good communication ;O)


(Didn't have to deal with Customer Support service, the instrument is 100% ok !)

If it were stolen, I would buy >> 2 << other ones again !
I hope this bass will not be discontinued by Jay Turser, this is really a good instrument.

Of course, the only other bass it can be compared with is a Hofner
Beatle Bass, and trust me, if you don't have $$$ for a Hofner, go for a JTB-2B ! you won't regret it !

Anything I wish it Had ???
A HOFNER logo on its head ;O) -true-
and a Fret 0 ! like original model, but this is ok even without it.

A great sensation playing with my bass, the response is incredible, the neck is very comfortable and wonderfully manufactered... etc...etc... ;O) -i'm in love!-

Jay Turser is a Trade Mark I now compare with "GIBSON"(Yes!) or "FENDER"

This is a fantastic value ! maybe not for $$$ instrument collectors, but for simple musicians we are, it is !

The featurs on this bass were just as advertised with a few exceptions. It is a cheap knock off of the Hofner, which is exactly what I was looking for. I needed it to play Beatles covers, but did not want to spend alot of money on the real Hofner.

I was less than impressed with the quality of this bass in some areas. It was next to impossible to intonate correctly. The bridge was not even glued to the body--when I took the strings off for the first time, the bridge fell right off! When I picked up the little wooden bridge piece, I noticed the wood smelled horrible--it smelled really nasty! Not sure if the smell was the stain they used or if it was just very cheap wood. Because of the way it is made, the suspended metal piece holding the strings below the bridge rattles alot when played. Also, the neck had a bump in it, but for what I paid, I didn't expect it to be perfectly straight so that did not bother me. Aside from those problems, it was just what I was looking for. However, those problems irritated me to the point that I did not play it--I recently sold it.

I really liked the short scale on this bass. It made it very easy to play. I did not like the rattling noise that came from the suspended metal piece below the bridge. I did not like that I could not properly intonate it. If I were to raise or lower the action, that would make the intonation even worse. I never gigged with this bass, but when it wasn't rattling (when I pressed on the metal piece to stop the rattling while hitting a note with my other hand), it sounded pretty good through my full stack.

The setup was horrible. It could not be properly intonated, and adjusting the action only made the intonation worse. I never bothered adjusting the pickups--they were just fine. The neck had a bump in it that caused some fret rattling when playing certain notes. The wooden bridge stunk and appeared to be made of low quality wood. The suspended metal part on the body rattled constantly while playing.

I never tried this bass live--I felt it would only embarass me with all of its rattles and poor intonation. There's no way the bridge would last given the way it was made--the part that should have been glued to the body was not, and the suspended metal piece rattled like it was ready to fall off. The finish on the bass itself seemed fine. The strap buttons were fine. I didn't have it long enough to know how often the neck would need adjusting, but I did have to adjust it upon arrival.

I never dealt with the company. Given the quality of the bass I purchased, I felt it would likely be useless to try. If they would let something like that go on the market, they probably wouldn't care. It had a warranty but I chose to just sell it. Since I did not try calling or writing them, I have no rating for this category.

I've been playing for a number of years and own 6 other basses, 3 of which are high-end custom basses. I gig several times a month and do most of my tech work myself. I wish I could have tried this bass out in the store before buying it, because I would not have made the mistake of buying it. I liked the way it looked--thats about the best compliment I can give it. If you plan on buying a cheap bass like this, do yourself a favor and try out the one you are buying--not just one like it--as the quality control on at least the one I bought was horrible!

This is a black beatle bass with gold hardware. you know the rest

With flat wound strings it sounds better than my Hofner . It came with round wounds and has a very unique sound. With the round wounds it can sound very close to a Rickenbacker depending on the tone settings. I am very impressed. Records very well with deep bottoms and strong mids.

The factory setup was very nice. I raised the strings a little to get rid of some of the buzz created by the round wounds. The bass is extremely comfortable to play just like the hofner. One thing you can do with this bass that can't be done on a hofner is slap. This bass is stunning to look at. I can't believe the quality for the price.

I feel less paranoid playing this bass than my hofner which always feels like it can turn into a pile of splinters.

Unless you really have to have the original I would recommend saving the extra $2,000 or more and pick up this gem. It sounds as good or better than the original at a fraction of the cost. I think I'm going to sell my Hofner and get 10 more of these.

10

Looks exactly like the original, I cannot complain. I got it from Maggio's Music, and the service was top notch. I got the customized case for the guitar and it works perfectly. The instrument is solid and definitely a looker.

I am a hip hop/jazz/funk bassist, but my roots are with the Beatles, R.E.M., U2, and the Police. I bought this as my second bass after I had a failed stint with an Ibanez. It sounds great, and I can practice without headphones or an amp because it is semi-acoustic. There is a little bit of a ring on the lower strings.

It is beautiful, I dont need to say anything. The guitar speaks for itself.

I have played live with it and got a great response. I would like to perhaps get a rickenbacker for my main bass for gigs, but this is definitely a capable instrument. I have used it on a gig without backup, but it makes me nervous, not because of the instrument, but because i am very accident prone

Maggio Music was quality, I have yet to have to deal with Turser directly. I believe the warranty is for 3 years.

I love it and would buy it again. This is one instrument that will never leave my collection