The Flea Active Jazz Bass is an instrument of unusual power – just like its namesake. Co-designed with Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, this thunderous bass is modern and muscular, featuring a custom pickup and active preamp designed to capture Flea’s hyperkinetic energy both on and off stage.
CUSTOM BODY WITH SATIN URETHANE FINISH
The custom-crafted body wears a satin urethane finish, giving it a unique look and smooth playing feel.
CUSTOM FENDER HUMBUCKING BASS PICKUP
The Tim Shaw-designed humbucking pickup delivers chest-thumping tone and massive output.
AGUILAR® OBP-1 18V PREAMP
This powerful bass preamp utilizes discrete all-FET circuits to provide up to +18dB of boost for huge headroom and flexible, commanding tone.
THE POWER TO MATCH FLEA'S PASSION
If there is one thing that Flea brings to all his musical endeavors, it’s energy.
From his hyperkinetic stage presence when playing bass for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, to his dogged pursuit of jazz theory and composition education, to his founding of the Silverlake Conservatory of Music school, Flea’s desire to spread the gospel of music is clearly powerful.
“Your body resonating with sound, the instrument resonating with your nervous system and the love that you have for the world … I kind of feel like the great language that humans have is music,” Flea said.
As such, it takes a bass of unusual power to keep up with the larger-than-life Flea, a bass that could match his boundless enthusiasm when performing in front of stadium-sized crowds. That instrument is the Flea Active Jazz Bass.
Flea has been a Jazz Bass aficionado for many years – his prized model is an authentic 1961 Shell Pink Jazz Bass that he received from a fan in the early 2000s. Flea worked with Fender to take it to the next level, adding a thunderous Tim Shaw-designed humbucking pickup paired with an Aguilar OBP-1 18-volt preamp that delivers chest-thumping tone and massive output.
Add in a unique Jazz Bass body shape with a smooth satin urethane finish, a quartersawn neck and a rock-solid HiMass bridge, and you have something that is undeniably Flea.
“It's really got the best of both worlds,” Flea said. “It's a workhorse. You can beat the poopie out of it, and it still rocks. But you can also articulate in a light and bouncy way, in a fast and vicious way or in a slow and warm way. “You hear every note crystal clear, but it still has the warmth and the love of old Fender basses.” For Flea, watching his jazz musician stepfather and friends jam in his living room as a child was the first time music “blew his mind.” Now, he hopes his new namesake bass can spark others to pursue their own musical passions.
“Just being a musician is the luckiest thing in the world,” he said. “Never in your life will you ever be bored. You'll always have something to do, and it’s always time well spent. It's just such a gift, and there is this infinite quantity of things to discover and learn and play. Never worry about anything except surrendering to the beauty of the feeling of playing an instrument.”
)
