Have you tried Levinson Blade? They're A Swiss based company that make great Jazz basses and they have good distribution in Europe.
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Looking at new "Jazz" basses - I am not impressed...
- Thread starter AlexanderB
- Start date
you know i got to agree with some of the comments. recently ive been to a shop to try out amps and i used the same jazz bass model (squier vm) that i own and i was suprised by the difference.
i would also say that my bass guitar has a lot of life to it, a certain natural and wooden tone. the guitar in the shop sounded sterile to me.
now some folks say tone improves by age but i dont know. what i can say for sure is that your prefered strings and set up make more of a difference then we would like to admit
i would also say that my bass guitar has a lot of life to it, a certain natural and wooden tone. the guitar in the shop sounded sterile to me.
now some folks say tone improves by age but i dont know. what i can say for sure is that your prefered strings and set up make more of a difference then we would like to admit
Have you considered getting another MIJ Jazz bass? There are a few sellers on ebay out of Japan that regularly have older MIJ Fenders who ship worldwide. The descriptions are very honest and accurate, great photos, etc. Based on what you're describing a nice, lightweight, resonant and seasoned MIJ from the late 80's to mid 90's may be just the ticket.
I would save your money and check out Nordstrand, Sadowsky, Alleva Coppolo, Mike Lull, Valenti. There are a lot of makers out there that make great jazz basses, happy hunting!
Yes,,, all day long... fender strings just plain ole suk,, then the pickup heights are always at the lowest,, I have mine brought to correct height and they come alive....
what baffles me is he tried many different brands and came to the same conclusion they all sound dead,,,, seriously he might want try something with a nice active pre-amp and once sweet spotted I bet he'll find the golden goose..
AlexanderB said:
Nobody has asked the obvious questions yet: for one, what guitar shop is letting you take these basses home? And maybe more alarming: who is letting you adjust truss rods, string height, etc. on their basses??
I am looking for a new Jazz bass but I can not find any good instruments. What I want is a traditional four string, two passive single coils, no preamp, narrow and thin neck.
It does not have to be a Fender but I started by playing as many of their models as possible.
Then I widened my search and looked at Sandberg, Ibanez, Yamaha etc.
There was not ONE bass I wanted. Not one. And the problem is the same for all of them. They all sound "dead" - no resonanse, no "life" to the tone, many with pronounced dead spot issues to boot.
I spent at least a couple of hours and tried the lot; American Standard Jazz, Geddy Lee, Aerodyne, Roadworn, Mexican Standard, -75VRI (ash) + the Yamaha RB..., BB and RBX4 A2 etc etc. I played through the same amp/speaker setup I use at home. (LMII + Ampeg SVT-410HLF.) I adjusted string height to my preferences on the basses I hade some interest in, BTW.
The Fender basses I already own (Squier JV -82 Precision, Fender Jazz bass Plus V -94) are so much better it is not even funny, especially the Squier. It really sings in every position on the fretboard, has lots of sustain and almost no dead spot. Those of you that have played good vintage basses know exactly what it is like!
I had brought my JV to the shop for reference and the sales guy tried it and could only agree - he had nothing to match its quality and tone. And no, he could not buy it...
Where should I go next? Suggestions?
Price wise I do not really want to go higher than the Swedish price of the American Standard, about 1500.
Should I forget about new instruments and look for a vintage one? Or will a current, dead-ish Jazz develop into a more resonant instrument by use and time?
Track down a made in Japan/crafted in Japan Fender Jaguar from 2006 - 2010 (I think that's when they discontinued them). Then, never turn on the pre-amp.
What you want to try is the reissues, MIM, MIJ or MIA. They are IMHO much better than the respective "standards". Obviously details largely depend on the year made and individual instrument. But given what you have it isn't surprising that a standard or AM standard couldn't rock your boat.
I am surprised the 75 reissue you tried sucked....they are really nice and sing! maybe Fender is sending all the duds to Sweden! That is the bass I think I am getting next. check out some youtube videos and listen to the ones people have.
If you're wondering about Mbasses, mine was $2700.00 that was with a pre-amp bartolini pick ups and a badass bridge that was a pain in the ass to get (Leo quan stopped production). A passive bass might be around the $2500 dollar range. Don't hold me to that, call Jon and ask him.
Hard to come by but check out the Dingwall Super J, they come in 4 and 5 string and active or passive. The active models are active\passive with tone control in passive mode, pretty hard to beat as far as jazz bass go and a little pricey but worth every $$!
