Someone recommend me a new Fender
 

Hey all,

I own and have been playing on a Yamaha BB5000 for the last five years. I'm looking at new basses and have always been interested in Fender products because I have a couple Fender guitars. I play lots of rock, funk, indie and blues and was wondering if you all had any suggestions on which Fender model to consider. thank in advance.

I think you'll want to give more info if you want any real suggestions. New or used? Price range? How many strings do you want on your new bass? If you know all of these things then you'll probably only have a narrow range to audition anyways.

The "guitar center exclusive" American special pbass in the hand stained honey burst finish. Can be had for $699.

Hmm, I dunno. The BB5000 is a real nice bass, might have to get a decently expensive Fender to compete with it. Maybe an MIA jazz or something?

Try a MIA Fender P bass and a MIA Fender Jazz bass. Buy whichever one sounds best to you. Both will nail the genres you mention. If you want to spend a lot of money, go for a Fender custom shop model.

This is indeed the best deal going on a US made Fender bass at the moment, and especially a relatively unique special run one at that. If I didn't already own a Highway One P-bass, I would be all over it.

I wish they had a similar deal on a Jazz...

check out a roadworn perhaps? or rather a few. you might find a real gem. I did. a P.

To cover the different genres you mention, my vote goes to american deluxe P bass, if you want to have all the bells and whistles handy,

OR

Plain jane P bass (your pick, try a lot of them)

Give the Blacktop Precision try. It's pretty nice I think. It can get a very wide range of sounds and has a great neck. It has a rather limited choice of colors but it's also fairly inexpensive.

If you can swing it look into the American Deluxe P or Jazz. I got a J a bit ago and am very impressed at the versatility. Yet it does the classic tones quite well.
These are actually production Custom Classics with comparable features.
The $3K discount is a bonus ;)

I can recomend the American Deluxe Fender P, and J. I have both, and they are very well made, and have a broad range of tones available. If i could have only one, I would go with the P Bass.

Fender basses offer the classic P or J sound. If I was you, I would make up my mind which one you want in a new bass, and then shop accordingly.

Thank you for the suggestions everyone. To answer some of your questions, price range would be anywhere from $600 to $900, looking for a 4-string, leaning more towards the P side.

I'd look for a used Road Worn P-bass. Should be under $750.

Get a used MIA, you should find one easily for $900, check TB classified as well.

The Fender P is not a rare bird.

The American Deluxe P gives me wood. With the natural (blonde) body finish and the maple fretboard. If a guy could only have one bass...........

In that price range my favorites are the two I own plus one of their cousins. Top of the list for me is the Reggie Hamilton Standard Jazz, an active/passive P/J with several other nice touches too. My first bass when I came back to playing is the Deluxe Active Jazz, a great active take on the Jazz bass. It's cousin is the Deluxe P Bass Special which is an active P/J bass on a P body with a Jazz neck. The last two are active only so if you wanted a passive mode on them they would have to be modified.

There are several Modern Player and Blacktop models that are a bit cheaper and they generally offer some less common features. If you want Fender you may not want Squier by Fender but if I were going to buy a passive P bass it would be the Squier Matt Freeman. There are several other upper end Squiers in that price range that look and play great. But I understand if you want an actual Fender. Nothing wrong with a Squier, it just might not be what you always dreamed of owning.

I currently own two passive Fender MIMs too, which I bought used. If you want a new passive bass it is kinda hard to pass up the many excellent passive Squiers in favor of their more expensive Standard cousins but on the used market you can get a lot of nice basses in your price range. So you certainly should check the TB classifieds for a few weeks to see what pops up. You should be able to get some MIA models in that price range.

Ken

American Standard Precision or a Precision Deluxe P/J configuration can both be found in your price range. If you're keeping the Yamaha, then maybe you want a P or a J instead of another PJ, if you're getting rid of it then I'd probably want to get the PJ Fender.

Lakland.

Weren't you paying attention? He's interested in Fender, not your personal favorite Fender copy.
(I'm telling you, there's one in every crowd) :rollno: