Hey All,
First off, obviously there are many who have had good luck with this brand, and like them a lot or love them and won't play anything else. That's awesome, since the perfect bass is what we search for, and yet it's different to us all. I'd be the same way as those Fender fans, if I didn't think they suck complete ass.
I thought my faith was somewhat restored in this brand. I was pretty close to buying an American Jazz V Deluxe until I closely looked at the construction of one at one store, two more at another store, and then another at another store. Every single one had nice neck joint gaps, some on both sides, with uneven neck relief on the bass and treble sides. Also, a number of them had HORRIBLE hum. For a $1799 made-in-USA price tag (new), this is totally unacceptable. Look on Musician's Friend...last time I looked, there were 8 returned and being sold used. What is worse, was a Roscoe Beck V (used) that I tried over the weekend. I was really excited to finally find one, too, as rare as they are...for a minute, I thought, JACKPOT. Man, was I wrong. The gap on the bass side (there was one on the treble side, too) was so pronounced that you could've slipped almost two credit cards in there. Better to use those to hold the joint tighter than use them to buy the damn thing, imo. Btw, it's at the Sam Ash in Columbus, OH, if you care. If you're REALLY love-crazy for this overblown brand, then go for it...good luck getting a decent one.
I then tried two Ibanez BTB 5's at the same Sam Ash, that completely blew the above basses away, and they're made in Indonesia, too. I like that "grand piano, articulate new-string" sound, also, and even the output on the 18-volt Jazz was less than the Ibby's, and the Ibby's are the standard 9 volts...almost on-par with my old Prestige. They're also only $900-$1000, whereas both of the above Fenders were well over that.
I swear, even with Music Man, yes Music Man, these big companies seem to get lazy like nothing else, simply from people gawking unwisely at them because of their overly exaggerated, name-dropping reputation. I don't get it, and haven't gotten it for the last 10-15 years. I've played and owned the gamut (sp?) of basses, also having been to Winter NAMM '09, and know that MANY basses blow Fender out of the water, including Ibanez. Get your freakin' act together, big boys...you're the McDonald's of the bass world.
First off, obviously there are many who have had good luck with this brand, and like them a lot or love them and won't play anything else. That's awesome, since the perfect bass is what we search for, and yet it's different to us all. I'd be the same way as those Fender fans, if I didn't think they suck complete ass.
I thought my faith was somewhat restored in this brand. I was pretty close to buying an American Jazz V Deluxe until I closely looked at the construction of one at one store, two more at another store, and then another at another store. Every single one had nice neck joint gaps, some on both sides, with uneven neck relief on the bass and treble sides. Also, a number of them had HORRIBLE hum. For a $1799 made-in-USA price tag (new), this is totally unacceptable. Look on Musician's Friend...last time I looked, there were 8 returned and being sold used. What is worse, was a Roscoe Beck V (used) that I tried over the weekend. I was really excited to finally find one, too, as rare as they are...for a minute, I thought, JACKPOT. Man, was I wrong. The gap on the bass side (there was one on the treble side, too) was so pronounced that you could've slipped almost two credit cards in there. Better to use those to hold the joint tighter than use them to buy the damn thing, imo. Btw, it's at the Sam Ash in Columbus, OH, if you care. If you're REALLY love-crazy for this overblown brand, then go for it...good luck getting a decent one.
I then tried two Ibanez BTB 5's at the same Sam Ash, that completely blew the above basses away, and they're made in Indonesia, too. I like that "grand piano, articulate new-string" sound, also, and even the output on the 18-volt Jazz was less than the Ibby's, and the Ibby's are the standard 9 volts...almost on-par with my old Prestige. They're also only $900-$1000, whereas both of the above Fenders were well over that.
I swear, even with Music Man, yes Music Man, these big companies seem to get lazy like nothing else, simply from people gawking unwisely at them because of their overly exaggerated, name-dropping reputation. I don't get it, and haven't gotten it for the last 10-15 years. I've played and owned the gamut (sp?) of basses, also having been to Winter NAMM '09, and know that MANY basses blow Fender out of the water, including Ibanez. Get your freakin' act together, big boys...you're the McDonald's of the bass world.
