An $80 Jazz Bass, Would you get it?

[Bass Man Dan]

It's as easy as this: What do you intend to do with the bass? Are you willing/able to do some fret work on it? Count on some fret levelling and filing to make it nice and playable no matter what.
After that, it will be playable. Now it likely isn't going to sound like a $500 bass. So do you want to add pick-ups? I bought a pre-wired pickguard for my p bass off Amazon for $17 and it hangs right in with any other p bass I've owned sound-wise. I know nobody wants to believe that but its true.
Everything else is just cosmetic. It's not going to feel like a Fender (it will likely be much lighter), and it will be a bit rough around the edges. But to the vast majority here saying it's going to be unplayable trash or firewood or whatever, in my experience they're wrong.

 

[ScrewDevil]

Because only multi-thousand dollar instruments are worth playing.

 

[patrickj]

In for 1. Let's see what it turns out to be.

 

[Bass Man Dan]

Here's my $68 p bass. Just got it today. The finish is beautiful. Really nice for the price. Weighs about 7 pounds. Sounds....like a p bass. Fretwork seems good, no sharp ends. Action is pretty low with no buzz. This one will stay at our rehearsal space. One less bass to lug around.

 

[kodiakblair]

I'd buy it and play it no problem. The $80 price tag hides a few things, Ammoon gear comes straight from the factories so there's no distributor adding their fees,Ammoon is an own brand so those fees are waviered too.

Say you buy a $300 Squier. The store takes their fee, maybe 30%,distributor has their cut maybe 20%,Squier definitely need their cut,again 30%. Using those rough figures means your $300 Squier was built for less than $60 !! The factory it was built in would need to make a profit too. Likely the $300 Squier is $40 parts/materials and labour.

Already the $80 Ammoon is looking better value

 

[GretschWretch]

Here's my $68 p bass. Just got it today. The finish is beautiful. Really nice for the price. Weighs about 7 pounds. Sounds....like a p bass. Fretwork seems good, no sharp ends. Action is pretty low with no buzz. This one will stay at our rehearsal space. One less bass to lug around.

Looks like mine. How is it for dead spots? How loud and resonant is it unplugged?

 

[Bass Man Dan]

Its pretty good unplugged. I just got it today, so not too sure about any dead spots just yet.

 

[patrickj]

Here's my $68 p bass. Just got it today. The finish is beautiful. Really nice for the price. Weighs about 7 pounds. Sounds....like a p bass. Fretwork seems good, no sharp ends. Action is pretty low with no buzz. This one will stay at our rehearsal space. One less bass to lug around.

Looks sharp !!

 

[patrickj]

In for 1. Let's see what it turns out to be.

Still waiting for mine to show up. Ordered on the 13th, it's now the 25th, and bagel.

Clearly some of that cost reduction went into the slowest possible shipping method available.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

I recently got one of these babies from a pawn shop for $75.!!! It was filthy with greasy stuff smeared around and for some strange reason it had some cheesy bridge on it. I replaced it with a nice but cheap ($15) Wilkensen fender type replacement with brass saddles. When cleaned up it turned out to be virtually scratch and dent free. I bought it with the idea of using the neck on a PJ build but haven't wanted to part it out yet. If the maple body wasn't so heavy I'd probably keep it together.

 

[patrickj]

Finally! 4-13 to 4-27.. crazy slow free shipping

Let's see if it's crap..

 

[patrickj]

It's not crap!

Very playable. Interesting tho, mine definitely has a P neck rather than a J neck (42mm nut). Not sure if there's just one neck style from the factory or if there is a mix up. I'm not complaining, I prefer a P. In spite of the bass ball bat neck, no neck dive.

The Good:
1 Excluding the string tee, everything is aligned properly. Nothing peeves me more than a poorly lined up bridge or a tilty neck pocket.
2 Pickups sound good. No micro phonics.
3 Good soldering.
4 Bridge is grounded properly.
5 Good fret job.
6 Pretty good setup out of the box. I'm going to tweak it a bit but you could easily just tune and go if needed.
7 No finish cracks or other blemishes or imperfections.
8 SUPeR lightweight!!
9 Truss rod is stable.
10 34" scale (not a fan of short scale).

Meh:
1 Strings aren't horrible, but they aren't great.
2 Not a fan of the stock pickguard. I've already got a flat black to replace it.
3 Unfinished neck - personally I like it (I usually sand down the back of my necks to get rid of the tack anyway), but some may not like the bare wood feel.
4 The headstock is definitely fender ripoff in shape. However the Ammoon logo is laser etched on (not a decal) so you'll need to sand away a fair amount of wood if you want to make a counterfeit Fender.

Bad:
1 String tee isn't lined up 100%. Looks bad but is fixable.
2 Needs shielding - tone knob causes noise on anything other than full off. Fixable.
3 Some chip out in the fretboard at the neck pocket. I don't really care esp for the price, but ymmv.



Not bad for $80 and two weeks wait!

 

[UNICORN BASS]

Nice, but......those nut slots are a bit of a horror show!

 

[patrickj]

They are even and level, but def not the best looking. No buzz from it so I'm not too worried right now. I'll replace the nut at some point.



Pickguard off

 

[patrickj]

And done! Very happy. I'll use it at my gig tomorrow and see how it works out.

String tee fixed.
New pickguard installed (standard fender 10 holes, fit nearly perfectly)
New pickups.
Shielded the control cavity and fixed the tone cap issue.
Proper setup.

 

[Bass Man Dan]

And done! Very happy. I'll use it at my gig tomorrow and see how it works out.

String tee fixed.
New pickguard installed (standard fender 10 holes, fit nearly perfectly)
New pickups.
Shielded the control cavity and fixed the tone cap issue.
Proper setup.

View attachment 2998740 View attachment 2998741 View attachment 2998742

Well done!

 

[Son of Wobble]

"Ammoon Jazz Bass".... Wow, knock-offs of Fender knock-offs!

Moollon Musical Instrument

 

[Bass Man Dan]

And done! Very happy. I'll use it at my gig tomorrow and see how it works out.

String tee fixed.
New pickguard installed (standard fender 10 holes, fit nearly perfectly)
New pickups.
Shielded the control cavity and fixed the tone cap issue.
Proper setup.

View attachment 2998740 View attachment 2998741 View attachment 2998742

Is the body basswood? Is it super light? The p bass I got is the lightest bass I've owned.

 

[Son of Wobble]

Not bad for $80 and two weeks wait!

In that case: Congrats on NBD!

 

[Badwater]

If it's a genuine Squire or Fender Jazz, yes. If not, NO.