Johnson JP-150

A newly made Fender style fretless Jazz Bass, left handed, overall astounding value for ??50 i paid for new, and includes flatwound strings, 45's i guess. Black body with white pickguard, maple/rosewood(?) neck.
The usual trio of tone/vol/vol controls, though the neck is a Precision bass neck and not the slimline associated with a traditional JB. EMG Johnson pickups - more about those later. No fret markings pressent, essential for a beginners fretless bass i would have thought, though faint saw cuts along the neck can be used as a guide for custom markings.

Excellent value, solid bass, the sound leaves much to be desired but can be improved upon quite cheaply.
Those EMG/johnson pickups sound weak and muddy, an exchange for Fenders reveal an astonishing improvement - much like the familiar Fender sound. The supplied flatwounds seem ok, but an expensive upgrade to improve them. The intonation is fine, the notes from the fret markings exactly right.

Overall not bad for a cheap beginner's entry into fretless bass.
The nut is a joke - a cheap bit of plastic, the strings had already started to burrow their way into the slots, an exchange for a Tusq nut improved things greatly, but raised the action up much higher.
The neck should have been marked up much more clearly, though a white marker dotted along the edge will fix this problem. Headstock is nice and firm, though the tuners are accurate they feel slightly gluey and need adjusting occasionally. Tail adjustments respond well, the action was set too high by the factory but easy to reset. Once the replacement pickups had been fitted the pickguard wouldn't fit back on, so rather than file it about i decided to leave it off completely. Neck nice and straight, no truss rod adjustment needed there unless i decide to go for bigger strings.

Still new but confident it will stand the rigours of life ok, may upgrade to a Fender in the future but this guitar is an excellent entry level instrument for the price. Strap buttons seem firm enough but i always fit Schaller straplocks to be sure.

I own a Fender Jazz Bass with frets, i wanted an inexpensive fretless to try out, though when trying fretless i was strongly advised to get as near a model as i could to the bass i was already used to. An inexpensive way of trying out fretless bass - a different animal entirely from fretted, much room for free expression - though practicing the basics first essential!

Bought new in 2006...21frets, 4strings, 2volumes - one to control each pickup(2 single coils, separated), and one tone.....decent tuners, basic Fender Jazz shaped body in a nice sunburst finish. Pickups are 'Johnson EMGs', dunno what that means, but they sound pretty good...body is made of maple I believe...neck made of cherry, but I can't quite remember. Has quite a fat neck, but quite comfortable at the same time. came with air humidifier....Giving it a ten because a bass doesn't need anything else and these all work.

Very bright crispy sound most of the time, tone gets too muddy and toneless(duh) when you turn the tone control down too much. Having two volume controls but no pickup selector still confuses me...but guitar sounds fantastic with both pickups on full. this guitar would definently be best on stage, as this guitar NEEDs to be played loud. Played through Orange practice amp and friends WEM valve amp. w00t

Action was far too high when bought, but that was easily repaired, and the intonation had to be adjusted. apart from that, everything else was fine.

Hardware seems very hard-wearing and sturdy, would definently trust to gig with this guitar without a backup. strap buttons are fine, finish is good and once something on it is adjusted, it stays that way unless you hit it off something. Stays in tune forever...

w00t

Very nice bass, surprised how good it was for the money. It's just great in general. Yeah. w00t

This bass was made in China by Johnson about 3 or 4 years ago. It is a 4 string fretted bass. It has a PJ pick-up set up controlled by 2 vols and a tone knob. The pickups are passive. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. The body is a P shape with a beautiful dark, transparent red finish. I don't remember the body material, but it is nice and light. The tuners are open back with a smooth action. It is a 34 inch scale. Very fine finish work for this price. This bass is not for the exotic,hand-built bass crowd. I also believe that most basses have thier own "traits". I have compared this bass to other Johnsons. I bought this one because it is far above the quality of the avarage Johnsons I have seen.

I bought this bass because of the PJ set-up. It recreated a P-bass tone pretty faithfully and the J-bass pick-up had a nice midrange to it. I have to cut the tone to about 5-15 percent or the treble is too harsh(even through a 15" spkr).The jazz pick-up is a little on the noisy side, but still useable. The bass actually does a decent frettles imatation if you kill the P-pick up and bring the tone way down. The PJ set up really helps out with the tone variety. I have never tried it in the studio but it records to my 4-track well enough.

I set this bass up myself because the action was a little high from the factory. The bass does have a couple of buzzes down on the lower 3 frets.I have thick,fat fingers and like to slap so the spacing on this bass is comfortable for me. However, I have a couple of fellows say it is a bit wide. The pick-ups were fine, but I did notice the corner on the front P was a little on the sharp side(yes,it poked me). The bass seemed to balance alright. The bass had no glaring flaws.

I bought this bass as a back-up, teaching, and bang-around bass. I normally play a 6 string but most of my students play a 4 string. If the weather is too hot,cold,raining,snowing,etc... my 6-string and Pbass stay home. I have gigged several times with only this bass(I am lucky I didn't break Murphy's Law). I baby my other basses but this one lives in a gig bag,rides in the trunk or on top of drums occasionally. It seems to be a durable instrument. I did a job in the sun and the pickgaurd got a little too hot and buckled in one place. It does not seem to need too much adjustment. I will admit, I let things slide with this bass(buzzes,noise,etc..) that if they happened on my other basses I would be pretty mad. This bass had stood up to a fair amount of travel and gigging admirably.

Have not needed them yet.

I have been playing for 13 years. I play a 6-string Ibanez mainly. If something happend to this bass,I would replace this bass if I found another just like it. I don't expect this bass to perform like my 6-string or Pbass. My favorite thing about this bass is knowing that if it is scratched,"injured" or Heaven forbid stolen,I don't have a ton of money tied up in it.