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Deluxe or Standard J Bass?

J

Jimmy3711

Oct 27, 2008
85
27
MN
#1
Hey All,

Just signed up today, so forgive me if this hhas been posted already or I am in the wrong place.

I have been a guitar player for many years and now I am starting down the bass road. I have started with an Ampeg B115 amp and a MIM Deluxe Jazz bass.

I am wanting to buy an MIA Fender Jazz bass now and I am not sure between the Standard or Deluxe. Can anyone shed some light on the pros or cons?

Thanks!
 
#2
The standard does not have a preamp - the controls are just vol., vol., and tone.

The deluxe has a preamp with bass and treble cut, might have a sweepable midrange too (it would be listed on the fender site).

I prefer the passive ones. I'm just generally into the more "vintage" sound that you get out of a passive J (or Precision for that matter). And IMO, the fenders just don't hack it with the active circuit. I've played some of the high end Jazz basses with actives that are great (Sadowsky, Lull, Suhr, etc.) but the Fender actives just don't do it for me.

Another option is just to trick out your MIM jazz bass. I have a MIM with upgraded pickups, electronics, and bridge and it sounds and plays better than any American jazz bass off the rack.

Good luck, and rest assured your making the right decision by playing more bass than guitar :D
 
#3
the deluxe has a smaller body shape, different hardware, samarian cobalt noiseless pickups, the 18v preamp, as mentioned before... carbon support in the neck, pau ferro or maple for the fingerboard, highly detailed fret and nutwork, different hardware/tuners, the contoured neck pocket, and sometimes better wood selections for the body, and 22 frets as opposed to 20 on the standard

its quite different from the standard, which is your typical passive jazz bass

both rock hard, its just a matter of what you prefer, so I would really not recommend purchasing one until you have actually tried both.

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Articles/Avoiding_GAS/American-Standard-J-Bass.gif
this is the standard, notice its normal body shape

http://www.smokingguitar.com/img/deluxebassfender.jpg
this is the deluxe, notice how the pickguard is much smaller. the body is not shaped the same way . it also has abalone inlays and a fancy logo on the headstock

Here is my American Deluxe Jazz V
bass2.jpg

:D she plays like a dream
 
#4
Do you plan on keeping your MIM Jazz Deluxe? If so, and you really like the feel of a Jazz, you might want to go with a MIA standard Jazz just so you have some additional tonal options. I had a MIM Jazz Deluxe for a long time and was really impressed with it. If yours is a nicely built one like mine was, it might be worth hanging on to it.

Another possibility is to get an MIA Precision, but I'm not going to muddy your waters any further with that idea. ;)
 
#5
on the subject of the really fancy jazz basses being better than fender...

I played a Mike Lull jazz last week, tagged at around 3 thousand dollars, and i was REALLY underwhelmed by it. Not be cause it was a bad bass, but because I really felt my fender was of equal quality... for just over 1/3 the price.....
Boutique basses are very nice but dont let the GAS confuse you into thinking cheaper basses are all inferior lower quality instruments. I would not trade my fender for the mike lull I played.
 
#6
dave64o said:
Do you plan on keeping your MIM Jazz Deluxe? If so, and you really like the feel of a Jazz, you might want to go with a MIA standard Jazz just so you have some additional tonal options. I had a MIM Jazz Deluxe for a long time and was really impressed with it. If yours is a nicely built one like mine was, it might be worth hanging on to it.

Another possibility is to get an MIA Precision, but I'm not going to muddy your waters any further with that idea. ;)
Click to expand...

+1... I have been very impressed with SOME of the MIM jazz basses. If you like the bass, don't just assume something more expensive MUST be better for you. Maybe shop around for other basses. maybe a stingray or a P bass.. you might find you would rather add a different bass to your arsenal.

then again, I totally understand if not.. just an option you have open to you.
 
#12
I used to own a MIA Deluxe Jazz and when I bought it, I A/B'd against a new American Std. right after they had been released. I really liked the Am Std, but the Deluxe I played was just better to me. It was lighter than the Std., had more lows even with the pre set flat, and felt a lot more comfortable to play on.

I particularly preferred the SCN pickups paired with the 18v pre. I know a lot of folks will knock the Fender pre, or any active Fender in a lot of cases, but I found the preamp to be very transparent and natural sounding unless you made major boosts or cuts. It sounded a lot like a passive Jazz, but it was a lot more flexible than a passive Jazz.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the Standard or Deluxe, but FWIW chose the Deluxe when faced with the same decision you are looking at and I would do it again.
 
#13
I prefer the deluxe for the smaller body, better hardware, and better craftsmanship altogether, and you get an extra fret. you can always take the preamp out and get passive pups in there.

I have an am dlx strat, and i think its much better than the am stds. I say lay it all on the line and shoot for the deluxe. they just feel more solid to me...
 

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