• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

New Fender "Black Top" basses

#292
Hey everyone.. haven't been on this site forever.. hope everyone is well!

Anywho, earlier on today I was at my local music store a.k.a. the place all my money goes... and I sat down with both of these basses and gave them a whirl. I played the J-bass first (which has P-pickups... I'm still a little confused on how that works but whatever.) It plays great, the action needed lowered a bit (minor issue) and the sound was just what I expected, full and punchy... still has that dirty Jazz sound if you want it... I really enjoyed this bass. Then I found the P-bass model... in the "White pearl" color. At a glance this bass just looks cheaply made... maybe it's just the sparkly paint used, i don't know so I didn't expect much. I sat down and played it, and was a little disappointed at how thin the humbuckers sounded. But, not a bad bass nonetheless, the setup was suprisingly comfortable (I'm a j-bass guy...) and it felt a lot sturdyer than it looked. Both basses have the ability to squeeze out a wide variety of tones which is a plus for me. But other than that I don't know if I'd stray that far away from a standard jazz bass or not... I"m gonna have to go back and forth a few times before I make a decision...
 
#294
west*coast*bass said:
I went into Sam Ash today and played the Blacktop Precision...GREAT BASS! I was very surprised, the tone was awesome...the playability was good, but I prefer a much lower action and a little tighter string spacing. All in all, I'd get one.
Click to expand...

Beat me to it!
Yeah, my local Sam Ash has the Black Top P. Sounds cool. I like the pseudo-Musicman look of the P/U's, too.
 
#295
So I bought the Blacktop P. Returned it two days later.

It was a cool bass though, just not for me. I didn't keep it long enough to look at everything but, here are some thoughts:

Pickups were loud! Like twice as loud as my Geddy (duh...makes sense I guess). The bridge pickup was workable solo, and the neck pickup could do a pretty good P impression. I could get fairly decent tones pretty easily. Was begging for switches though, someone's gotta do it.

I thought the neck was fat, even for a P bass, and I couldn't get the action down far enough (and I don't go crazy low especially on a P). I hated that neck actually, but I am picky about fretwork and it was fine, but just not great. Felt uncomfortable to slide up and down on.

I thought it was pretty versatile, lots of usable tones in there, but "jack of all trades master of none". This is why I returned it. I want a pristine example of classic sounds (p, j, etc), not a passable version of several. This is all my stupidity I realize.

Finish was interesting, I had the white chrome pearl one. At a distance it looked really like white, up close became sparkle silver. A bit much actually for me, but I had crazy gas. The finish to me needed a few more clear-coat sprays, and had some imperfections around the neck pocket. Not major, but annoying.

All in all, I thought it felt like it cost $100 bucks less than a Standard MIM bass and that's just not really where I wanna live bass-wise. Also I have a CV 60's P bass that I frickin' love, so I'm no snob.

I'm gonna try the new 70's P bass when L and M get some more. I got new gas, and I'm pretty sure blocks and binding will cure any tonal or build issues,
 
#296
Hi All!
I usually play MusicMan basses, but when i saw the Blacktop Precision, i was very curious :o)
So i bought the Blacktop Precision, since i prefer Stingray / Precision necks over the narrower Sterling / Jazz necks and was hoping to get a jayy-like tone, at least after some modification

Unmodded, the pickups are each wired in series. The bass sounds fine to me, i can't compare to an actual precision or jazz bass, but i guess it's quite close to each of them.

So far i included a Series / Single / Parallel switch for each of the pickups. This opens a huge range of sound possibilities. In particular, the single-coil sound seems to be even closer to an actual jazz bass (i only compared this to some Ed Friedlands youtube videos). And the parallel sound has far less mids, but crispier highs. The only drawback is the noticably higher output in the series-configuration. I'll see what i can do about that...

So i can highly recommend this small modification to anybody who likes to experiment a little.

I plan to replace the two volume pots by a single volume and a balance pot. Moreover, i might add active/passive switching and add a 2EQ with a stacked pot to replace the passive tone control (I only use the tone control fully up, anyway).

So i guess it's a great bass with a lot of opportunities. Of course you get the switching option in a G&L L-2000 tribute for even less money, but i guess the G&L pickups will also sound pretty different since they use bigger single pole pieces instead of the pairs of smaller pole pieces used in the Blacktop Precision. Plus: You do not have the fun of soldering and modding :o)

Cheers,
Markus


P.S: I used the wiring shown on this webpage: GuitarNuts.com - Humbucker Switching
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back