After going to several stores the past 2 weeks, trying out the new Ultra II's, Ultra I's, Professional II, and Player II, finally decided on one that I gelled with, a used Fender Elite. I didn't have a 4 string jazz in my arsenal, so this was filling a gap.
The Ultra II's were ok, but had a bright modern sound, even in passive mode. Somewhat the same but not as much with the Ultra I. Professional II was great, had an awesome tone, same with the Player, but I could tell the Professional was a step above buildwise compared to the Player.
Then I noticed a GC near me had a Fender Elite, and figured I'd go in and check it out. The tone was great, passive and active. It was in excellent pristine condition, including the case, which had a 55 point card checklist card from Sweetwater. This was a closet queen.
The only cons on it were the mid/tone pot that crackled a little bit if I jiggled it while in active mode. Pointed it out to the rep, he said they could take a look at it, but I told them not to worry about it, I'll come back if it's a huge issue. Had them weigh it, it was 9 pounds 12 ounces. Oof, a bit heavy, but only 3 ounces more than my 5 strings, and those don't bother me that much. I'll be able to run it through some 2-3 hour rehearsals to see if it bothers me.
Brought it home and started to play it, sounds AWESOME in passive mode. Turn on active mode, and started to play, weird, it sounds like the preamp is clipping. I must not have been playing it as hard in the store as I do when actually playing a song. I do tend to dig in hard, but none of my other basses have any issue with clipping. Swapped the batteries, same issue. So now I might take it back and point it out to them, hopefully get them to refund a little bit so I can buy a replacement preamp. I don't see that Fender sells replacement preamps (would be sweet to replace it with the new Ultra II preamp), so then I guess I'm on the hunt for a new preamp, if I decide to keep it.
I think the Elite line was the pinnacle of Fender's releases. Binding, blocks, truss rod wheel on the body, string through, 5 bolt neck with neck carve. I've read that a lot of people have replaced the preamp with an Audere or John East, so may look into one of those if I end up needing to swap it. At least its a replaceable part, all of the importing bits, body, bridge, neck, tuners, frets, are all in excellent condition.
As long as the weight doesn't bother me this is a keeper! And now for a couple pics...
The Ultra II's were ok, but had a bright modern sound, even in passive mode. Somewhat the same but not as much with the Ultra I. Professional II was great, had an awesome tone, same with the Player, but I could tell the Professional was a step above buildwise compared to the Player.
Then I noticed a GC near me had a Fender Elite, and figured I'd go in and check it out. The tone was great, passive and active. It was in excellent pristine condition, including the case, which had a 55 point card checklist card from Sweetwater. This was a closet queen.
The only cons on it were the mid/tone pot that crackled a little bit if I jiggled it while in active mode. Pointed it out to the rep, he said they could take a look at it, but I told them not to worry about it, I'll come back if it's a huge issue. Had them weigh it, it was 9 pounds 12 ounces. Oof, a bit heavy, but only 3 ounces more than my 5 strings, and those don't bother me that much. I'll be able to run it through some 2-3 hour rehearsals to see if it bothers me.
Brought it home and started to play it, sounds AWESOME in passive mode. Turn on active mode, and started to play, weird, it sounds like the preamp is clipping. I must not have been playing it as hard in the store as I do when actually playing a song. I do tend to dig in hard, but none of my other basses have any issue with clipping. Swapped the batteries, same issue. So now I might take it back and point it out to them, hopefully get them to refund a little bit so I can buy a replacement preamp. I don't see that Fender sells replacement preamps (would be sweet to replace it with the new Ultra II preamp), so then I guess I'm on the hunt for a new preamp, if I decide to keep it.
I think the Elite line was the pinnacle of Fender's releases. Binding, blocks, truss rod wheel on the body, string through, 5 bolt neck with neck carve. I've read that a lot of people have replaced the preamp with an Audere or John East, so may look into one of those if I end up needing to swap it. At least its a replaceable part, all of the importing bits, body, bridge, neck, tuners, frets, are all in excellent condition.
As long as the weight doesn't bother me this is a keeper! And now for a couple pics...
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