Anyone know much about Johnson by Axl?

[Mark71GTX]

I figured as much, but I figured if anyone would know it would be you. Thank you for the quick response!

 

[mtdmind]

Literally made a TalkBass account *just* to comment here because I've had a Johnson for years and have always wondered what its deal was. Finally decided to do a bit of googling and stumbled on this thread. Very happy to have found it!

I got mine when I was playing in a MA pop-punk band back in 2008. I'm normally a guitarist, but they needed a bass player, and I didn't have a bass, so one of the guitarists gave me his old Axl by Johnson. By a stroke of luck, it turns out I landed one of those fabled "magic" Johnsons myself. It sounds super tight, punchy, and kind of "grindy" (if that makes sense) and imo it stacks up to some of my friends' Fenders. Several engineers I've worked with over the years have also commented on how surprisingly good it sounds. I still play in mostly punk and punk-adjacent genres, where it works perfectly.

When that guitarist gave it to me back in '08, the pots were missing and I still haven't replaced them. I've just twiddled the nubs for years, cause I rarely ride the volume on my bass. Does anyone have a tip on where I could buy replacement pots for this online?

I think they are standard. Try Guitar Center

 

[RockyGraz73]

Long story short I've got a jazz bass that I got nearly 20 years ago. Freaking love the thing, but I didn't realize how rare it was until I started looking for another one. Then I started doing more digging and haven't come up with much. A youtube video review of one that is pretty spot on, but I can't find much about them as a company. What happened? They make a quality instrument for the price point, the few I have found are quite cheap (which I understand considering the bodywork construction choice). I'm just wondering why they didn't stick around. Or if maybe fender/squier absorbed them.

Does anyone else have these basses? I'd love to see yours and hear what you think of it. Here's mine, I bought it for the color. Kept it because it's a solid instrument. Put new pickups in it. Didn't really need to. Too lazy to put them back. Probably gonna make a Franken bass with them eventually.

I just picked one up used last summer, same color. Completely sanded it down and painted. Other than the bridge and pickguard, the electronics and other hardware are original. And it sounds killer.

 

[Darrell Jesonis]

Yup I picked a P-Bass years ago at a yard sale for 40 bucks. New pickups pots and caps and had a luthier set it up and do some fret work on it. I have two Fender basses, but I keep this one at church and play it every Sunday. One hell of a sleeper bass!

 

[Mark71GTX]

Yup I picked a P-Bass years ago at a yard sale for 40 bucks. New pickups pots and caps and had a luthier set it up and do some fret work on it. I have two Fender basses, but I keep this one at church and play it every Sunday. One hell of a sleeper bass!

I bought a Squire P-bass for $40, I put new pots in and a Bartolini P-bass pickup I picked up here on TB in it. That's the one I leave at church now. I still have 3 Johnson's

 

[digmeout]

Looking at the posted pics these seem to have pretty nice fret work for budget basses.