Howdy all,
So the minute the news came out that Fender was making an American Jaguar I knew I'd eventually have one. I had a MIJ Jaguar as one of my first basses and had great memories of soup'ing it up. Sure it was a pain dealing with the hum and the neck dive - but I loved the sound and trying to figure out ways to shield it among other things.
I swore off Fender basses for about 10 years, but ended up trying a Fender AM Dlx P-bass about 2 years ago and that has been my primary bass since then. I know a lot of people have had issues with Fender's QC, but I must be lucky as I've had nothing but good luck.
I was going to wait to purchase this bass until I saw one come up used, but I saw a demo model pop on Sweetwater so I pulled the trigger. If anyone hasn't dealt with Sweetwater in the past you are missing out. They are close to any prices you find on Ebay and their customer service is second to none. My rep is Ben Porter and the dude rules.
Anywho on to the bass. It arrived yesterday and we just happened to have a jam scheduled. So I got to jump right in. I play sludge post-metal.
General:
Bass came double boxed with free candy. Only thing better than opening a new bass? Eating a tootsie roll while opening a new bass. Although this was a demo model it still had plastic on just about everything. Case candy had not been opened yet. The new Fender hardshell cases are some of the nicest cases I've ever had. Very well built and sharp with the red handle. It looks like the case isn't molded to the Jaguar specifically - looks more like a P-bass form, but it fits great. If you haven't played a Jaguar it can be a bit intimidating as the bass has about a million different controls on various parts of the body. Just use the manual that comes with the bass to help guide you....wait....it doesn't come with a manual explaining the layout and what the controls do. So, yeah, that was annoying. Fender does have a PDF on their website that you can download and print off. Once you see the diagram it's actually pretty easy - still I don't know why they can't just throw those in the case.
Looks
I've always been a fan of Jaguars so I'm sure I'm biases, but this thing is a head-turner. I went with black as that's really the only color bass I buy. It comes standard with an off-white pickguard which I plan to convert to black. Apparently pickguardian has the AM Jaguar temlate so no biggie. This is just truly a unique bass in that you have this nice shiny black body with three metal control plates. In addition to that you have a rosewood fretboard with REALLY nice inlays and a maple headstock. Needless to say this bass has A LOT going on when you look at it. For those who like subdued bass aesthetics this probably isn't for you. It's probably my favorite looking bass I've owned, but I'm sure it will be a 50/50 split in those that think these basses are gorgeous vs butt ugly.
Playability
If you like simplicity this is NOT the bass for you. As you can tell this bass has a ton of options and if you don't like fiddling or having more than one knob you are not going to be happy. I'm one of those bassists who has a huge pedal board so tweaking knobs and sinking time into tone is one of my favorite things to do. Once you get dialed in this is one smooth bass. The neck seems to resemble a P-bass but a tiny bit thinner. Def not as thin as a Jazz but somewhere in between. This neck is the fastes I've played and just has a nice/unique feel to it. Very easy to fly up and down the fretboard. I play finger style and the spacing is great. There was no neck dive to speak of so I'm glad they addressed that. Only had about 4 hours to jam on this bass but it feels great. Felt about as heavy as my P-bass which is great for me.
Sound
This is where the Jaguar shines. You could spend days playing with the different tones you can get out of this bass. First thing i did was play with everything on ten and alternate between passive and active mode to decide which route I wanted to go. I went with active as it really cuts through (18v). Next I played with the pickup configuration. You have the options of turning each pickup on/off or running the pickups in parallel or series. You then have sliders to cut/boost the bass/treble. I went with the parellel configuration as it just spoke to me - seemed to cut through the mix more. After all of this you have a master volume and a tone knob. Very unique tone knob. On most basses I find the tone knob just kind of cuts the mids. This tone knob really give the bass a unique sound depending upon where you dial it in. Gosh it is really hard to describe all the sounds this bass can pull off. From jazz to p-bass to ibanez I was able to dial in their respective tones rather quickly after remembering how the controls work. I play with a lot of mids and tube distortion and was able to get a great tone that I'm happy with. I also can't wait fiddle more with the tone. Also of note there is no hum to speak of.
Overall
Would I suggest buying this bass? That honestly depends on what you are looking for. If you prefer simplicity and like to plug and play you should avoid this bass. If you like experimenting and diving headfirst into a project this is for you. If you need multiple tones this bass fits the bill in that you can adjust on the fly through the multpiple controls right on the bass. Personally I'm stoked I bought this! A freaking American Jaguar man!
So the minute the news came out that Fender was making an American Jaguar I knew I'd eventually have one. I had a MIJ Jaguar as one of my first basses and had great memories of soup'ing it up. Sure it was a pain dealing with the hum and the neck dive - but I loved the sound and trying to figure out ways to shield it among other things.
I swore off Fender basses for about 10 years, but ended up trying a Fender AM Dlx P-bass about 2 years ago and that has been my primary bass since then. I know a lot of people have had issues with Fender's QC, but I must be lucky as I've had nothing but good luck.
I was going to wait to purchase this bass until I saw one come up used, but I saw a demo model pop on Sweetwater so I pulled the trigger. If anyone hasn't dealt with Sweetwater in the past you are missing out. They are close to any prices you find on Ebay and their customer service is second to none. My rep is Ben Porter and the dude rules.
Anywho on to the bass. It arrived yesterday and we just happened to have a jam scheduled. So I got to jump right in. I play sludge post-metal.
General:
Bass came double boxed with free candy. Only thing better than opening a new bass? Eating a tootsie roll while opening a new bass. Although this was a demo model it still had plastic on just about everything. Case candy had not been opened yet. The new Fender hardshell cases are some of the nicest cases I've ever had. Very well built and sharp with the red handle. It looks like the case isn't molded to the Jaguar specifically - looks more like a P-bass form, but it fits great. If you haven't played a Jaguar it can be a bit intimidating as the bass has about a million different controls on various parts of the body. Just use the manual that comes with the bass to help guide you....wait....it doesn't come with a manual explaining the layout and what the controls do. So, yeah, that was annoying. Fender does have a PDF on their website that you can download and print off. Once you see the diagram it's actually pretty easy - still I don't know why they can't just throw those in the case.
Looks
I've always been a fan of Jaguars so I'm sure I'm biases, but this thing is a head-turner. I went with black as that's really the only color bass I buy. It comes standard with an off-white pickguard which I plan to convert to black. Apparently pickguardian has the AM Jaguar temlate so no biggie. This is just truly a unique bass in that you have this nice shiny black body with three metal control plates. In addition to that you have a rosewood fretboard with REALLY nice inlays and a maple headstock. Needless to say this bass has A LOT going on when you look at it. For those who like subdued bass aesthetics this probably isn't for you. It's probably my favorite looking bass I've owned, but I'm sure it will be a 50/50 split in those that think these basses are gorgeous vs butt ugly.
Playability
If you like simplicity this is NOT the bass for you. As you can tell this bass has a ton of options and if you don't like fiddling or having more than one knob you are not going to be happy. I'm one of those bassists who has a huge pedal board so tweaking knobs and sinking time into tone is one of my favorite things to do. Once you get dialed in this is one smooth bass. The neck seems to resemble a P-bass but a tiny bit thinner. Def not as thin as a Jazz but somewhere in between. This neck is the fastes I've played and just has a nice/unique feel to it. Very easy to fly up and down the fretboard. I play finger style and the spacing is great. There was no neck dive to speak of so I'm glad they addressed that. Only had about 4 hours to jam on this bass but it feels great. Felt about as heavy as my P-bass which is great for me.
Sound
This is where the Jaguar shines. You could spend days playing with the different tones you can get out of this bass. First thing i did was play with everything on ten and alternate between passive and active mode to decide which route I wanted to go. I went with active as it really cuts through (18v). Next I played with the pickup configuration. You have the options of turning each pickup on/off or running the pickups in parallel or series. You then have sliders to cut/boost the bass/treble. I went with the parellel configuration as it just spoke to me - seemed to cut through the mix more. After all of this you have a master volume and a tone knob. Very unique tone knob. On most basses I find the tone knob just kind of cuts the mids. This tone knob really give the bass a unique sound depending upon where you dial it in. Gosh it is really hard to describe all the sounds this bass can pull off. From jazz to p-bass to ibanez I was able to dial in their respective tones rather quickly after remembering how the controls work. I play with a lot of mids and tube distortion and was able to get a great tone that I'm happy with. I also can't wait fiddle more with the tone. Also of note there is no hum to speak of.
Overall
Would I suggest buying this bass? That honestly depends on what you are looking for. If you prefer simplicity and like to plug and play you should avoid this bass. If you like experimenting and diving headfirst into a project this is for you. If you need multiple tones this bass fits the bill in that you can adjust on the fly through the multpiple controls right on the bass. Personally I'm stoked I bought this! A freaking American Jaguar man!
