Fender American Special P - thoughts?

Popbumper · #1 06-21-2012, 10:21 AM

Hey all, GAS has me all over a candy apple red w/maple neck unit. Played the last three days at GC and find it rich, smooth, comfortable, solid.....; i have been wanting a maple neck, and love the Fender sound.

I currently have an Indonesian Fender P rosewood cheapie, and a 2008 G&L L2K rosewood w/spalted maple top. Could care less about the Indonesian P (starter instrument), but love my L2K (a real beaut), and would really like a maple neck P - to me the P "IS" the sound of bass.

Anyone own one of these? Wanna pull the trigger this weekend, but would like some tangible user feedback, in addition to what a search has already revealed. Thanks!

Chris

Dbassmon · #2 06-21-2012, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Popbumper

Hey all, GAS has me all over a candy apple red w/maple neck unit. Played the last three days at GC and find it rich, smooth, comfortable, solid.....; i have been wanting a maple neck, and love the Fender sound.

I currently have an Indonesian Fender P rosewood cheapie, and a 2008 G&L L2K rosewood w/spalted maple top. Could care less about the Indonesian P (starter instrument), but love my L2K (a real beaut), and would really like a maple neck P - to me the P "IS" the sound of bass.

Anyone own one of these? Wanna pull the trigger this weekend, but would like some tangible user feedback, in addition to what a search has already revealed. Thanks!

Chris

Is this a new American P Bass Deluxe or older one with the Roscoe Beck Humbucker in the bridge position? Or Mexican P Bass Deluxe?

I have an 2005 American P Bass Deluxe, versatile, great to play, well built, sounds just great! One of the best basses Fender every built.

The new ones have regular Jazz Pup in the Treble position, I am sure they are also great. Even the Mexican ones are really nice instruments.

DiabolusInMusic · #3 06-21-2012, 04:12 PM

I think he means it is an American Fender P with the Jazz pickup, and it is passive because deluxe is active. I think. I am sure somebody will correct me.

My thoughts? Since the Fender P hasn't come up before on talkbass, is that it is a great bass, I love the specials, I prefer mine passive to active though.

punkjazzben · #4 06-21-2012, 04:16 PM

Is it one of these? American Special Precision Bass.

Sounds like you enjoy playing it and like the tone. Be sure to compare it to a MIM Fender, a Squier CV, and a MIA Fender. THe American Specials have a different tone circuit called the 'greasebucket' IIRC, and some people find it too thin. But if you're digging it, go for it!

EDIT: Fender says the greasebucket "rolls off the highs without adding any bass." So there ya go!

Righteous Thunderer · #5 06-21-2012, 04:17 PM

I played a whole bunch of P basses at GC last weekend, and I found the P Special to be a great bass! I really enjoyed it and would buy one in a heartbeat if I had the cash!

Righteous Thunderer · #6 06-21-2012, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Wilkie

Sounds like you enjoy playing it and like the tone. Be sure to compare it to a MIM Fender, a Squier CV, and a MIA Fender. THe American Specials have a different tone circuit called the 'greasebucket' IIRC, and some people find it too thin. But if you're digging it, go for it!

It does have the greasebucket, and to me the sound was certainly there, not too thin, but I'm sure some people probably do find it to be.

nitromullet · #7 06-21-2012, 04:31 PM

Make sure you try an American Standard before pulling the trigger.

I was shopping recently, compared the Standard to the Special at GC, and found the Standard to be worth the extra money over the Special. I was going to pick up a Standard at GC during the Father's Day sale ($200 off $999+), but I ended up finding an almost new 2011 Fender American Standard (black/maple) on CL for much less.

Neither is a bad bass by any means. I just felt the Standards in general had a slightly fuller tone and better feeling neck than the Specials I tried.

Another great playing P-bass is the MIM road worn. Definitely try to find one of these before buying a MIA. I almost bought one of these, but I really felt I had to get that 'Made in the USA' Fender itch out of my system.

Righteous Thunderer · #8 06-21-2012, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitromullet

Make sure you try an American Standard before pulling the trigger.

I was shopping recently, compared the Standard to the Special at GC, and found the Standard to be worth the extra money over the Special. I was going to pick up a Standard at GC during the Father's Day sale ($200 off $999+), but I ended up finding an almost new 2011 Fender American Standard (black/maple) on CL for much less.

Neither is a bad bass by any means. I just felt the Standards in general had a slightly fuller tone and better feeling neck than the Specials I tried.

Another great playing P-bass is the MIM road worn. Definitely try to find one of these before buying a MIA. I almost bought one of these, but I really felt I had to get that 'Made in the USA' Fender itch out of my system.

See, and the MIA P that I played at GC was horrible, although I'm pretty sure that if someone gave it a good setup it'd be MUCH better. The MIM P was more of a pleasure to play, tbh. And that goes for the one that I played on my previous trip almost half a year ago as well, absolutely horrid.

Jim C · #9 06-21-2012, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitromullet

Make sure you try an American Standard before pulling the trigger.

I was shopping recently, compared the Standard to the Special at GC, and found the Standard to be worth the extra money over the Special. .

I played that exact color Special at my GC and thought it was amazing. have to admit that some of the extras for a few dollars more make sense; really like the tinted neck of the Standards
Is the neck the same?

treekiller · #10 06-21-2012, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nitromullet

Make sure you try an American Standard before pulling the trigger.

I was shopping recently, compared the Standard to the Special at GC, and found the Standard to be worth the extra money over the Special. I was going to pick up a Standard at GC during the Father's Day sale ($200 off $999+), but I ended up finding an almost new 2011 Fender American Standard (black/maple) on CL for much less.

Neither is a bad bass by any means. I just felt the Standards in general had a slightly fuller tone and better feeling neck than the Specials I tried.

When you figure the price of the TSA hard case, there isn't a whole lot of difference.

randyg · #11 06-21-2012, 06:57 PM

I bought a used 2011 P just like this one except it has a Badass bridge on it. Walked in Guitar Center to buy some strings and saw it sitting there and had to have it. They made me a good deal on it and I love it. I also have a 2008 American Standard Pbass with a maple fretboard and to me , the 2011 American Special has a deeper , fuller sound when you roll off the tone a little bit. Seems to have more "meat" in the sound. The neck may be a little thicker front to back , but it's close to the same as the Standard and it plays great. If it's as good as the one I got , you will not regret getting it. The red also looks fantastic with the stage lights.

nitromullet · #12 06-21-2012, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Righteous Thunderer

See, and the MIA P that I played at GC was horrible, although I'm pretty sure that if someone gave it a good setup it'd be MUCH better. The MIM P was more of a pleasure to play, tbh. And that goes for the one that I played on my previous trip almost half a year ago as well, absolutely horrid.

Yeah, I'm sure it's luck of the draw sometimes. The key is to shop around and try a bunch of different basses. Like I said, I ended up with 2011 MIA Standard for $700 from CL. It plays awesome, and no matter what sales GC runs they will never touch the price.

9mmMike · #13 12-03-2012, 04:25 PM

Old thread revival but I jut bought an American Special body in CAR and it is very nice. I put a Fender '57 AV RI maple neck on it and I must say it turned out to be a nice addition to the flock. Gigged with it Friday and Saturday and the pictures from the gig show that Candy Apple & maple to be a real camera-friendly combo.
The neck pocket on this body was nice and the neck fit with no gaps.
The stock greasebucket circuit is in there and sounded OK to me rolled off just a tic and wearing TI's.

chef wong · #14 12-03-2012, 10:33 PM

Are the American Specials aimed at bassists who like the older style American Standard? Or, are they just meant for the middle class?

9mmMike · #15 12-04-2012, 06:23 AM

As I recall they were priced above the HWY's and below the Am Std.
They seem like glossy Highway 1/One's to me. The routing (my favorite by the way) is the same underneath the guard and they come with a single saddle slot (late '70's-sytle?) bridge and shiny paint instead of the satin nitro.
I put a '57 RI P neck on mine so I cannot speak to the necks but I understand they have a very different feel to both the Am Std and the HWY basses....a unique neck to the P-range.