hi guys, ok 1st things 1st the controls.
after much twiddling of the rotary dials (bass horn) the closest to bridge is bass and the other is treble. then active/ passive switch.
moving down to the treble end obviously the switches as a jaguar run as neck on/off, bridge on off/ and series/parrallel
the control plate houses the master vol and passive tone
now onto sounds obviously due to switching you cant nail that classic "jazz" tone of one vol sligtly rolled off but hey this ISNT a jazz, but the series switch could be of help for this (this is my 1st jazz pickup bass so i cant say with credibility).
while the active controls do as expected its a bit awkward to call up tones on the fly as the lack of center notching on the rollers means its down to the ear alone to get it right. despite the gripe with the active controls the sound cant be knocked its got all the crisp highs and punchy bottom without bottoming out at exreme bass boost, the highs are pretty quiet on the hiss and noise front too but extremes do bring expected finger noise.
passive sounds are as to be expected from a fender, crisp and clean (why didnt i buy a jazz years ago???) with the neck solo you get the rounded thump and a touch of growl, add in the bridge and it smoothes out and highs seem to sing and the neck solo has a articulate bite with throaty mids when fingered near bridge. overall the active side doesnt diminish or overly color the passive tone at all just gives the hi-fi edge you expect from an active bass. with the basic passive tonal quality and the active 'boost' the jaguar is rather well equipped.
for those that must know mine is black with slightly aged looking 3-ply plate (i thought it looked mint green when i 1st played it but i am color blind. hehe), the neat battery comartment at the back does its job nicley and confused me as to how to actually get the battery out of its levered box for a good 5 mins. the neck is really slim and fast even my epi thunderbird feels MASSIVE compared to it. the rosewood neck is inlayed with MOP blocks at 1,3,5,7,9,12,15,17&19 giving the look of a 70 jazz.
i have ordered an ashtray bridge cover from the bay (the jazz "F" logo one) to add a bit of vintage vybe to it and cos' i love them.
(sry)
