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Should Fender.........
- Thread starter Nobody
- Start date
For me I can understand liking a "sound" that you can get from a great bass. The funny thing is half those gotta have that Fender sound players take their Jazz or P's and effect the crap out of them. This means all bets are off. Unless you go right into and amp and play clean, you will no longer have the Fender sound. Example: Geddy Lee has used several basses, Fender included. Yet, his sound remains the same or very close album after album, tour after tour. So for me who is very into effects, I rather not have a clunky humming bass that is plain jane.To turn around and say I love the Fender sound and then stomp on your GK Bassballs pedal, you kinda losing the idea. I have a Soundgear with EMG PJ active and an active MMSR5. I bought at the time it was cheaper($600) a Geddy Jazz. Plugged it into the GK700rb played for ten mins, threw up at the thought of being 600 light, and returned it for store credit same day.
They did that about 15 years back with the "Heavy Metal" series P-bass, and couldn't give 'em away. I gigged with one for several years and it was very nice piece 'o gear- US made, strat-style body, jazz neck, three jazz singles (two siamesed at bridge position), 5-way strat-type switch, and a cool marble finish. I needed money for other stuff and sold it for $350 (broke even) in 2001.
I think I read where Ferrari is coming out with a hybrid model as is Porsche with a 911 hybrid model --never say never.
Basses ain't cars. That old Model T will get you from point A to point B pretty inefficiently, whereas an old Fender from the 50's will get you through a gig just fine.
Besides, as pointed out many times, Fender HASN'T ever rested on their laurels. They come out with new stuff all the time, but nobody buys it.
Why was the Jaguar Bass discontinued? Sure, there are still the Squier versions, but it seemed like the Fender Jaguar Basses were well regarded...
Honestly, of anything new Fender has come out with in recent years, I thought the Jag would actually beat the curse and survive. But I guess it didn't sell enough to stay afloat.
I don't think innovating in body shape is the way to go. All the posted examples are horrid. That performer is possibly the ugliest instrument I have ever seen. Stick with the same basic body styles and experiment with the pickup/electronics options. I would love to see more jazzes looking like the victor bailey with natural woods and some EMG pickups, etc. Those could be cool, but in the end I agree with most and in that if you want a P or J, go with fender, if you want something experimental go somewhere else. I'm headed the opposite direction. I've always played a J but I want to, for lack of better word, downgrade to a P, buy a big amp, throw away my computer, stop reading gear reviews, and focus on playing.
I don't see how anyone could call the Prophecy ( Link Removed ) horrid. That is a good looking bass. I prefer it's smaller body and headstock.
As far as "if you want a P or J, go with fender, if you want something experimental go somewhere else" I agree but it's odd how when someone gets on here looking for advice on buying a Schecter, Ibanez, or some other "modern" bass there are always Fender folks that get on their and tell them to just buy a P or a J when that is obviously not what they want. If Fender had some "modern" basses then people how feel they must suggest the Fender brand could suggest a bass that the person may actually want.
The Jag is a nice player, but it weighs about as much as a Brontosaurus, and has neck dive like one too!
I sold mine.
The versatility of Fenders speaks volumes...players can buy a bass and then customize until their hearts content and then start all over again...its an endless cycle. One of which some brands can't compete with.
I don't deny that Fenders are versatile and customizable but there are certain things that they are not which some people want. Their bodies and headstocks are pretty big and clunky for some people. Those are things that can't easily be modded and it frankly would be stupid to do so. You can stick a preamp in their but it seems that a lot of the attraction to Ps and (a lot of)Js is that they are passive. I guess I just don't get why Fender can't get any of the market share for modern basses. I guess it's in the mindset of the customers.
I dont know if I agree. First off you can pretty much customize all most any bass, except for some older Gibbys and Peavey's. I have a Ibanez with crazy electronics that I removed and added EMG active electronics. Of course this was 10 years later. Second I dont know about all you guys but I cant afford to pay attention, so buying a bass for a grand and having to update it, would piss the hell out of me. I like the Jazz bass and in all fairness I have seen some nice active ones for $1500 to $2000 dollars. Thats a big price tag for a painted plastic pick guard bass. I dont know, maybe its just me.
