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MIM deluxe Fender J love

L

lowendrasta56

Sep 20, 2011
33
0
Palm Beach, FL
#1
Got my first chance to play my new deluxe active Fender jazz bass in a ''band'' setting tonight. Incredibly pleased with its overall performance. Right off the bat, the guitar player and drummer were really diggin the tone. I was running it through a hartke bass attack pedal, using it only for the slightest growl, into a 220watt ampeg combo amp with 2 10''s. They had me explore the tones with them, going from a thick, scooped funky slap tone all the way towards a more vintage, precision style sound.

We all were in agreement about how fat the bass sounded. It was a serious joy to be able to hold the bottom down so consistantly; I attribute this possibly to coming from an 04 EBMM Sterling, which had a maple neck and shorter scale. Also, the guitarist had a beautiful MIA tele.. Maybe some guitar gurus could chime in more about it.. Sorry for the low quality..

Long story short- I definitely was diggin jamming with my usual old school reggae, funk, and jazz tracks,but now im really loving my axe hearing it carry the bottom in a live situation. Even though its MIM, hats off to Fender for making an awesome delue active Jazz bass
:bassist:
 

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#4
I bought the Deluxe Active Jazz V back in 2000. It was a real work horse, worked well in a multitude of genres, and was able to take punishment. They are good sounding and playing basses, that I think are very underrated. It's also one of the few basses I regret letting go of.
 
#5
cassanova said:
I bought the Deluxe Active Jazz V back in 2000. It was a real work horse, worked well in a multitude of genres, and was able to take punishment. They are good sounding and playing basses, that I think are very underrated. It's also one of the few basses I regret letting go of.
Click to expand...

Never too late for a new one! ;) im sure you could go used for cheap.. I paid $750 new for mine. Anyway how was the tension and sustain on that low B? The deluxe V is one of the basses I've been meaning to play.
 
#7
lowendrasta56 said:
Never too late for a new one! ;) im sure you could go used for cheap.. I paid $750 new for mine. Anyway how was the tension and sustain on that low B? The deluxe V is one of the basses I've been meaning to play.
Click to expand...

To me, the B string felt alright, it wasn't the tightest feeling one on the market, but you could do a lot worse. The sustain was pretty good on it as well. It's tone, didn't have piano like clarity, but it wasn't what I'd call muddy either. Keep in mind, at the time, mine had the poplar body and the same pickups/electronics package the the MIA deluxe jazz had. It was a year or 2 prior to when they went with the noiseless pickups.

I've only played one newer model, and it's strings were dead, so I'm not going to comment on the basses tone, but the overall playability of it, was good.
 
#9
"It was a serious joy to be able to hold the bottom down so consistantly; I attribute this possibly to coming from an 04 EBMM Sterling, which had a maple neck and shorter scale."


Doubtful, since both basses you mentioned are 34" scale...

That being said, I've owned several of the MIM Active Jazz Deluxe basses, and they all *sounded* great - unfortunately, the last 2 that I owned weren't all that well made: one had mediocre fretwork, the other a neck that wasn't stable enough... The very 1st one I owned was a great bass in every aspect, and to this day I wish I had kept it - eventually, I'll own another one, if I can find one that meets my standards... I currently have a MIM Deluxe P Bass Special that has a similar preamp, and although it's probably the least expensive bass I own, it gets an awful lot of playing time because it's a great bass: killer neck, sounds great, and holds a setup well - besides the aforementioned preamp that's very versatile, tone-wise... Here it is:

IMAG0447.jpg
 
#12
Wannaflea said:
God help me I go weak when I see that vintage white!
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Yeah, it was a real looker - I wanted to keep it, but the neck joint wasn't all that solid, nor was the trussrod... Here's some vintage white for ya:

IMAG0358.jpg


IMAG0363.jpg



...now, that bass is really well made - and a definite keeper... It isn't quite as yellowed as the Active Jazz Deluxe that I showed here, but also is a couple of years younger - and since it's got a nitro finish, it'll probably age nicely...


- georgestrings
 
#14
georgestrings said:
Yeah, it was a real looker - I wanted to keep it, but the neck joint wasn't all that solid, nor was the trussrod... Here's some vintage white for ya:

...now, that bass is really well made - and a definite keeper... It isn't quite as yellowed as the Active Jazz Deluxe that I showed here, but also is a couple of years younger - and since it's got a nitro finish, it'll probably age nicely...

- georgestrings
Click to expand...

That white is absolutely beautiful! My next bass will be an American active deluxe jazz in that white. Id also like a deluxe pbass special but Id like to just have a MIM.

Thanks for correcting me on the scale of my old EBMM Sterling. What I meant was it had a smaller profile body :)

Anyone have any input on the MIM deluxe pbass special and how it would compare to my deluxe active jazz? Also, the MIA version of my bass is significantly more expensive. Whats so much better about it, is it worth the extra money?

Thanks for all the responses so far everyone! :bassist:
 

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