Elite Vs Ultra Jazz bass

[JOME77]

I was interested in this thread and read through it. It makes me sad that people had unfortunate experiences with the Elite series.

The 3 I own have been absolutely incredible in every way and while I do play them in passive often (a testament to their great natural tone imo), I do use the preamps for certain gigs and absolutely love where the frequencies are centered. IMO, they sound organic even with some big knob twists. The playability and feel of the Elite series basses is the best I have ever found, but of course this is very subjective for each player. They all set up with effortlessly low action, are so stable, and weeks later will still be perfectly in tune. I just bought my 4th one and am waiting for it to be delivered. My only complaint is that there isn’t a 5 string version of the Elite P bass. I am thinking about building one, using and Elite P preamp, and trying to find a 5 string P pup as close to the 4 string version as possible. The bridge pup can just be the same Jazz pup found on a 5 string Elite Jazz.

My least favorite change to the Ultra is that the bridge only has 1 slot for each string so you can’t fine tune string spacing like you can on Elite’s. I also do not like that it can’t be strung body through mainly because a lot of my favorite strings are tapered at the tuning peg at a length that fits body through bodies, and with the Ultra, the big fat part of the B string goes all the way to the tuning machine and makes tight witness points more challenging.

Please feel free to hit me up if you want to sell pickups or pre-amps from your Elites!

Here’s mine in live action recently:

Cheers Ya’ll!

If that Elite preamp does it for you that’s awesome!
I came to the conclusion that I just prefer passive Fenders and changed to a Pro Precision V, Pro Jazz V and a Player Precision 4 (added bridge Jazz PU’s to the precisions).

 

[faulknersj]

If that Elite preamp does it for you that’s awesome!
I came to the conclusion that I just prefer passive Fenders and changed to a Pro Precision V, Pro Jazz V and a Player Precision 4 (added bridge Jazz PU’s to the precisions).

Isn’t it funny how for some reason it can be challenging to be ok with just leaving a preamp in passive mode, and instead we feel the need to get a whole new passive bass without a preamp!

I know guys who just take the batteries out of their elites completely lol!

how does the neck on a Pro Jazz 5 feel compared to an Elite Neck?

For your PJ’s, what P and bridge J combo have you found to work best? The only PJ I have found that feels like it can really do a P and a J with balanced volume is my Elite P. Curious to learn more from you as I am going to build a 5 string version of an Elite P!

 

[JOME77]

My Elite was a 4 and I needed another 5 (otherwise I would have kept it and played it passive). I went with the Nordstrand hum-canceling Jazz (in the 70’s position). I changed out the bridge on the Player Precision to a Hip Shot Type B.
The Pro necks feel great!

 

[faulknersj]

My Elite was a 4 and I needed another 5 (otherwise I would have kept it and played it passive). I went with the Nordstrand hum-canceling Jazz (in the 70’s position). I changed out the bridge on the Player Precision to a Hip Shot Type B.
The Pro necks feel great!



View attachment 5294784

Nice collection there man!! Does the J pickup volume solo’s match the P pickup volume? Are the controls V/V stack - Tone?

 

[JOME77]

Nice collection there man!! Does the J pickup volume solo’s match the P pickup volume? Are the controls V/V stack - Tone?

It does. I get great balance between the P and J. I tried it first on the Player Pbass and it worked so well that I added one to the Pro Precision V too. Fortunately I have a friend with a nice CNC pin router.

 

[JOME77]

Now back to the elite verses the ultra topic.
Sorry!!!

 

[craigmack1979]

No mr right with the elite. I hope your ultra is better, but imo probably not. Fender got rid of the truss rod wheel, and claims to up grade the preamp, but all indications say it did not happen. Best of luck with your ultra. Let us know how it works out for you in the future.

I have an elite jazz 4 and ultra jazz 5 and the pre amp on ultra is much better than my elite . As matter of fact I’m gonna sell my elite and get another ultra 4 string . The truss wheel don’t mean Jack to me and I wasn’t using string thru .

 

[FRoss6788]

I have an elite jazz 4 and ultra jazz 5 and the pre amp on ultra is much better than my elite . As matter of fact I’m gonna sell my elite and get another ultra 4 string . The truss wheel don’t mean Jack to me and I wasn’t using string thru .

Agreed.

Truss wheel and string-thru, to me, are over rated solutions looking for problems.

Fender's hex truss rod with the supplied wrench works perfectly and is easier than the wheel adjustment with the strings in the way.

String thru is just a great way to get twisted strings when re-stringing, zero benefit or upside.

 

[Gecko 5]

Going to resurrect this thread.
I'm a P guy. I am getting into a band where I need something more versatile.
I like a little more bite when I slap(not that I'm good at it), So a Jazz will work better.
I am considering both an Elite and an Ultra. There are one of each used within driving distance to me.
I read.....on Google... the Elite has a "chunkier" neck.
Any truth to that?