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5-string fender J-basses, do they suck? If so why?

Does a 5-string Fender J-bass rock or suck?

  • Yeah, it rocks!

    Votes: 141 68.8%

  • Booooo it sucks!

    Votes: 64 31.2%
  • Total voters
    205
#83
After all my previous negative rants on 5-string Fender Jazz basses I played a MIA Precision Deluxe V with maple fretboard that was actually pretty good yesterday. Really nice tone from the neck pickup and an acceptable B-string. Still has a pretty big neck for a fiver but it definitely had a "vibe" going. You know?
 
#86
Brad Johnson said:
Something to keep in mind... if an instrument truly sucks it shouldn't sound good in anyone else's hands. If it does but it doesn't sound good in yours...




well?
:hiding:
Click to expand...

ALL my basses sound awesome when i play them.
:ninja:

seriously though, i've seen some badly setup Fenders (mostly in Guitar Center) but overall they seem like good instruments to me.
my RBV is PERFECT, i've got no complaints.
 
#93
My American Deluxe QMT V is one of my most gigged basses. See my profile for the basses it competes with. The Roscoe Beck V is a superb passive bass. Fender bashers are just .... well, Fender bashers, usually full of themselves and full of other undesireable substances of your choice.
 

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#94
Brad Johnson said:
What sucked about them?
Click to expand...

As I mentioned in my post, I haven't played them all and other than the two that I noted that I own, I've only played two other models. They were the MIM and MIA jazz basses. I've never tried any of the Dlx mods. or Markus Miller, FMT ect. Of the std. MIM and MIA I tried i found the B strings to be very sloppy. That was several years back and there could have been contributing factors such as strings and setup. I also didn't care for the neck profile on either of those. I generally prefer the std 5 str. spacing over the 3/4" spacing that Fender uses on their MIM and MIA 5's. The CIJ has the narrower (std.)5str. spacing and while the Beck has the wider spacing the profile is thinner so I can live with it.
 
#95
Munjibunga said:
My American Deluxe QMT V is one of my most gigged basses. See my profile for the basses it competes with. The Roscoe Beck V is a superb passive bass. Fender bashers are just .... well, Fender bashers, usually full of themselves and full of other undesireable substances of your choice.
Click to expand...

hey Munji,
beautiful basses.
is the string spacing (at the 22nd fret) the same on the QMT as the Beck?
when i played a regular MIA jazz V, the spacing seemed way narrower than my Beck...

shorelineg.gif
 
#100
Fretless Bill said:
As I mentioned in my post, I haven't played them all and other than the two that I noted that I own, I've only played two other models. They were the MIM and MIA jazz basses. I've never tried any of the Dlx mods. or Markus Miller, FMT ect. Of the std. MIM and MIA I tried i found the B strings to be very sloppy. That was several years back and there could have been contributing factors such as strings and setup. I also didn't care for the neck profile on either of those. I generally prefer the std 5 str. spacing over the 3/4" spacing that Fender uses on their MIM and MIA 5's. The CIJ has the narrower (std.)5str. spacing and while the Beck has the wider spacing the profile is thinner so I can live with it.
Click to expand...

If there were setup or string issues you're right back to what many are saying... address those before deeming the bass' suckosity level.

3/4" is considered standard spacing on a five. Less than that is usually referred to as "narrow". Funny thing is, 3/4" is also considered wide, I guess as a counterpoint to not wide or narrow.

The Roscoe Beck 5 is thinner than a MIA Jazz Deluxe 5? I didn't know that. I thought they were both on the beefy side (and the spacing was adjustable). Since I don't actually "grab" the neck, that kind of stuff has been a non-issue for me. I move my fretting hand thumb to accomodate whatever thickness I'm dealing with. Makes things surprisingly easy.
 

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