Sleeper Jazz Basses

[socialleper]

There's a lot of J basses from the Japanese market that are awesome..Momose, Tokai, Crews Maniac Sound, Moon, Van Zandt, Atelier Z, Dragonfly and so on

What was it in the late 70s and early 80s that made the Japanese think they were immune to patents? I've seen so many knock offs that don't even try to look different. I get the Chinese doing it now; they are commies, they don't care about intellectual property.

 

[Adam Wright]

What was it in the late 70s and early 80s that made the Japanese think they were immune to patents? I've seen so many knock offs that don't even try to look different. I get the Chinese doing it now; they are commies, they don't care about intellectual property.

Lot's of Japanese builders still use the Fender headstock shape. My Momose basses do.

 

[socialleper]

Lot's of Japanese builders still use the Fender headstock shape. My Momose basses do.

I've seen some Rick look alikes, a few B.C. Rich wannabes, maybe even a Gretch semi-hollow body knock off. Its just kinda funny that for like a decade Japanese manufactures were like "We're gonna steal your $#!+"

 

[JIO]

One passive - one active - both from '93

(Gen 1) American Special Jazz - Jazz Plus w/Kubicki pre

 

[69Jazz]

I had a Peavey Foundation from the mid 80's with the ferrite pickups. That bass will kill all the current Jazz models offered. If you can find one of those, they will serve you well. American made, nice fit and finish, solid as a rock. You cannot go wrong with that poopie.

 

[69Jazz]

I did not say poopie

 

[socialleper]

I did not say poopie

TB edits for us.

 

[69Jazz]

sadly

 

[FirewalZ]

I scored a great deal on an 85/86 MIJ Fender Jazz, it's super lightweight with tons of growl, pickups are real throaty.....I paid about as much for it as a new squier. It has the epitome Jazz Bass sound IMO.

 

[JIO]

poopie - there, I said it

 

[LowEndOperative]

I'll never forget in the early/mid 90's stumbling across a Schecter jazz bass in the used section at my local store (at the time) in Joplin, MO. Blew away every Fender jazz bass they had. Had tone for days and I snatched it up quick!

I have their updated J offering, the Diamond J 5. For its price point ($799) it has an ash body, SD 1/4 Pounders, custom Wilkinson Bridge, Grover 144 tuners, carbon fiber reinforced neck, 18v preamp, and more. Sounds great after a cursory run-through on my Ampeg rig, though I have yet to gig with it.

 

[Malak the Mad]

... and a roof rack.

<snerk> Now that is funny!

What was it in the late 70s and early 80s that made the Japanese think they were immune to patents? I've seen so many knock offs that don't even try to look different. I get the Chinese doing it now; they are commies, they don't care about intellectual property.

I've seen some Rick look alikes, a few B.C. Rich wannabes, maybe even a Gretch semi-hollow body knock off. Its just kinda funny that for like a decade Japanese manufactures were like "We're gonna steal your $#!+"

<puts on "Student of Japanese Culture & History" hat>

Here's my take on it…from the seventies on through the eighties, there was a level of ruthless efficiency, combined with an "Anything the West can make, we can make better and cheaper" mindset, that was driving some people and aspects within the country's business culture.

As much as I'd like to speculate further, my knowledge only goes so far. Any more conjecture would come across exactly like it is…a foreigner looking in from the outside, acting like he knows more than he really does.

 

[The Eristic]

The Fender Jazz Plus is pretty forgotten, even though they're only about 25 years old. Basically the precursor to the American Deluxe, it has the preamp out of the Kubicki Factor basses and Lace Sensor pickups. No scooped sound here (unless you run it in passive mode), this thing got mids for days. It's also a slightly smaller body, so it's lighter, and the fastest jazz neck I've played. B string is great on the Jazz Plus V too. The fretboard is surprisingly thin, and tuners aren't the best, but it plays and sounds GREAT and you can get them for a real nice price.

Yep. They are absolute monsters. Beautiful, too, in modern kind of way.

 

[bigtone23]

The RB680. It's the Rb630 of the Jazz world.

 

[Nedmundo]

Though more recent than most here, there's also the G&L JB-2, which has been discontinued. The import Tribute versions are excellent, and great values on the used market. For awhile they were made in Korea, but later versions were made in Indonesia, with no change in quality as far as I know.

 

[Dave Bassincus]

The Fender Jazz Plus is pretty forgotten, even though they're only about 25 years old. Basically the precursor to the American Deluxe, it has the preamp out of the Kubicki Factor basses and Lace Sensor pickups. No scooped sound here (unless you run it in passive mode), this thing got mids for days. It's also a slightly smaller body, so it's lighter, and the fastest jazz neck I've played. B string is great on the Jazz Plus V too. The fretboard is surprisingly thin, and tuners aren't the best, but it plays and sounds GREAT and you can get them for a real nice price.

Everyone's opinion is completely subjective including mine, but I owned one when they came out and felt it was a stiff player, with a sterile, dry tone.

 

[fretter]

Dropped a Quarter Pounder in a Peavey Fury and its a great bass.

With or without cheese?

 

[Malak the Mad]

With or without cheese?

 

[Bagelish]

There's a lot of J basses from the Japanese market that are awesome..Momose, Tokai, Crews Maniac Sound, Moon, Van Zandt, Atelier Z, Dragonfly and so on

Add Bacchus in there, all great basses, many are less concerned with traditional looks too which is a nice change of pace.

 

[Bagelish]

There's only a couple Fender jazz models that I actually like, but IMO the best jazz style bass is the Hamer 2Tek Cruise.