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Fender Dimension is Discontinued

#61
Bassist Jay said:
It’s a bummer seeing the Dimension bass go away. I wonder if the EBMM Cutlass and Caprice basses will also suffer the same fate as well? EBMM has already discontinued the Reflex, Game Changer, Big Al, and Sabre as well as taking away many order options on the Bongo. Then for 2018 EBMM raised all of their prices across the board. Every instrument is now a minimum of $2,000.00, including the Cutlass and Caprice. Both of those basses are passive basses and are not worth $2k or more especially when a MIA Fender P or even PJ sells for so much less and that was probably the market group EBMM was trying to target when they released the Cutlass and Caprice. At least when Fender released the Dimension bass they didn’t try and sell it for hundreds of dollars more than EBMM sells a Stingray for.
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Yeah considering the American Deluxe Dimension's feature set, it seemed like a whole lotta bass for about the same cost as their competitors' offerings.

Before I got mine I thought I might miss an active/passive option. But once I plugged in, I understood why it was absent....the bass sounded so good, and was so versatile, what would be the point?

As a happy Fender Roscoe Beck owner, I saw the Dimension as the logical evolution to the RB, fully enhanced and modernized. Could it be that, like the discontinued RB, the Dimension will one day be "discovered" as the great bass it really was? **

** Referring to the American Deluxe Dimension, not the watered-down import facsimiles.
 
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#63
Michael Jewels said:
I never played one, but did want to check one out.

Fender is almost behaving like Gibson, in that they're discontinuing a good instrument before it really caught on.

At least Fender gave this one a few years. Does anyone know when the Dimension came out?

I guess you can't argue with slow sales.

I find it strange that the vast majority of the buying public prefer the two standards, Precision and Jazz, when a new instrument had so much to offer.

Mike
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Actually, in it's timespan, it didn't catch on with a lot of owners. I bought the AM DLX HH IV, kept it for about a year before trading it. I really wanted to love it but the tones were, meh. There are owners that use it as a modding platform. There seems to be more love for the passive Dimension as well, which is the one I initially wanted.
 
#65
40Hz said:
Small surprise. It’s not a PB or JB. And that’s about all the vast majority of Fender’s customers are interested in or look for from Fender. Like Gibson, they found that the last thing most of their customers were interested in is innovation - no matter how much they say otherwise. But considering how well the whole AVRI and “roadworn” cosmetic things they pushed went over, they might have guessed how not very well the Dimension was going to go over before they even announced it.
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So true. But I gotta give Fender some credit for trying, even if the Dimension was not well promoted. I was a bit surprised (and skeptical) when the Dimension showed up....so un-Fender-like. And I've never cared for Fender active elecs. But after reading the Dimension specs list I had to give them another chance. Verdict?.....Dayum, they did it! Color me impressed.

Gibson. I've owned a few of their iconic basses back in the day, but never really connected with any of Gibson's concepts. That said, their new-ish EB bass looks pretty darn good to me. I would chase after a nice used one if I was still buying bass gear.
 
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#66
Fender does struggle when it strays from the tried and true stuff. I never much cared for the Dimension based on looks alone. I assumed it was trying to play in the same space as a Musicman based on the pickups. I own an American-made Jaguar, and honestly, I still scratch my head that didn't have a longer run than it did. It's like the best of all worlds, but it didn't seem to catch on at all at USA-made prices.
 
#70
Dec1975 said:
I'll be sore I didn't manage to snag a US or MIM model. I will say that the the Squier Dimension V, that I did manage to pick up, has the absolute best neck on any bass I've ever owned.
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Well if you ever snag a USA Dlx, you may be in for a treat.

Fender sup'd up the USA Dimension neck with a compound radius, asymmetric profile, oiled finish, and their newest ultra light tuners. Mine was a HH IV which came with Fender's cool little string retainer gizmo. Dunno if the V's have it.
 
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#76
It is interesting that these failed. Where to start...

I really enjoy mine. I have a couple 5H models and two 4H models. For me, the 5s were a great Stingray alternative that offered a few things you cannot get from Music Man:

-No quiet G problem.
-Wide String Spacing
-Flatter radius
-Different sound- between a MM and a Jazz bass. Has all the SR punch but more growl too.

We could Monday morning quarterback why they didn't sell all day long I guess.

I played the American ones and found them to be meh, and especially meh for the price tag. In the end I just didn't like the necks. But fell in love with the MIM ones. However the MIM has a different preamp which was harder to tame than the MIA. Maybe there just wasn't a sweet spot between the $700 for an MIM and the $1800 for the MIA that made enough people happy?

I also wonder about the MM alternative thing. I mean EBMM had their chance to make 19MM string spacing on their 5s but they never did, claiming they sell some of the most
MIA 5s of any company. They even offered it to the internet crowd complaining about it. The deal was if they got 125 pre-orders (down payment with commitment to buy) they would make a 5er in black. They couldn't get the orders.

So maybe in the end the SR5 needs no alternative. I mean the ATK never really became as ubiquitous as it should have either right? Nor has the G&L L1505, the old Robin basses, and the other basses that have taken a crack at the MM design over time.

Who knows?! In any event I will keep enjoying mine. They were great basses and I am sure they will be rediscovered soon enough.
 
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#77
Iridescentone said:
So true. But I gotta give Fender some credit for trying, even if the Dimension was not well promoted. I was a bit surprised (and skeptical) when the Dimension showed up....so un-Fender-like. And I've never cared for Fender active elecs. But after reading the Dimension specs list I had to give them another chance. Verdict?.....Dayum, they did it! Color me impressed.
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I thought it was actually a really nice bass with a good feel and some interesting tonal possibilities. But it didn't sound like either a PB or a JB and I had the feeling it wasn't going to fly because of that. IMO there wasn't enough there to attract a non-Fender user for the first time at the initial pricing. And there was plenty there that would probably not go down well with a loyal Fender fan.

Gibson. I've owned a few of their iconic basses back in the day, but never really connected with any of Gibson's concepts. That said, their new-ish EB bass looks pretty darn good to me. I would chase after a nice used one if I was still buying bass gear.
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It's a different sound and a totally different feel than a Fender. If you try to play one like you do a Fender you aren't going to be too happy. Gibsons are a little fussy about how they're played and don't respond well to a heavy hand. A certain lighter touch is required because the pickpups are more sensitive and put out a fatter signal than Fender's. Not to say they're categorically better. It's just they're different and need to be approached for what they are. You like them or you don't. I happen to really like Gibson basses enough that I own four of them including the new EB. So I guess you could call me primarily a Gibson player if my avatar didn't give me away already.

Tricky thing about Gibsons is that each model has it's own (sometimes radically different) tone and response. A TBird doesn't sound like an EB-3 or and SG. And none of those sound like a Ripper, a Victory, or an RD. There's a certain "Gibson" sonic quality underneath it all that they share in common. I don't know exactly what to call it, but I use terms like "girth," "authority," and "larger footprint" when I to try to describe it. It's more a timbral thing than an actual tone Or so I think. But bottom line is Gibson's design concept is totally different than a Fender's. Both are equally valid IMO. But it's something you need to be aware of when considering getting one or the other.

(Minor note on the 2017 EB series: You can see and feel a lot of the Tobias influence in that instrument which makes it one of the more unusual Gibsons in that it has the least in common with the Gibson models that came before. It's a very modern sounding bass that has a really fast neck, it's own tone (which I think of as a more refined and sedate TBird quality at it's core if I had to put a label on it) and is probably the lightest weight 34" bass you'll find anywhere. And it seems to like effects pedals, so if you're into that, this is one of the better basses for it. Just my tuppence.)
 
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#78
Dec1975 said:
I'll be sore I didn't manage to snag a US or MIM model. I will say that the the Squier Dimension V, that I did manage to pick up, has the absolute best neck on any bass I've ever owned.
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Squire can surprise you. I have their Matt Freeman PB and it has the absolute best neck I've ever played on a PB. The Freeman has even developed a bit of a reputation based on that neck and it's one of the big reasons they're hard to come by used. The owners are keeping them apparently.
 
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