What's wrong with the Fender Dimension Basses?

[selowitch]

FWIW, my Fender Stu Hamm Urge (MIA) is neither a P nor a J but kind of both. Not sure how well that model sold but I certainly like it!

 

[rickbass1]

Mine is a maple neck USA standard and whilst I own a 60’s Custom shop J and a Standard USA P ( both rosewood necks) for me it’s a great add to the fender collection, definitely same family but different, and with maple neck a great alternative for slap, Funk, but like most fenders suits many genres. Only problem I’m having is it plays so nicely I can’t seem to put it down and am totally neglecting my other basses inc a Stinray 5, Rickenbacker 4003, 2017 Gibson EB, Greco violin bass and my above mentioned P and J. Dimension imho are definitely a great bass and hold their own at least amongst any of the basses mentioned above.

 

[BuffaloMcD]

With the caveat that I am not a great bassist by any stretch of the imagination and will concede that more expert bassists notice small differences that I might miss, I can say unreservedly that I love my MIM Dimension. Part of this is personal taste. I love the look of the PG. I love the feel of the neck. I love the range of sounds I can get out of it. It has become my go to bass, even over my Spector Euro 5LX, which is a much more expensive bass.

The Dimension has a much greater range of sounds than my P bass, my Thunderbird, or my Epiphone viola. I play in a cover band with a set list that spans a pretty wide spectrum of styles and I seem to be able to easily dial in the tone I want with my Dimension. I can get the Stingray feel out of it and a P bass sound equally easily.

I don't know why they aren't more widely adopted, but for me it may be the last bass I buy.

 

[gjohnson441496]

I don't know why they aren't more widely adopted,

My theory is that the Dimension bass didn't meet up to expectations by the majority of people that bought them, or the expectation of Fender. A lot of people expected a lot out of this bass and was disappointed.

 

[ggvicviper]

I see there are some big fans of the 2nd gen Dimension Bass here.

I tried two - the Squier and the Fender American Deluxe. The Squier was noisy, and the American Deluxe was a decent player, but the sound didn’t appeal. Also, I didn’t like the way either bass looked.

I’m a fan of the normal P & J stuff, but I also embraced the oddball Fenders as well. I like the Contemporary P and Jazz Specials from Japan, the HM line, the MB line, and even the first gen Dimension basses (the modern Ibanez-looking ones). The 2nd gen Dimension just didn’t do it for me. At all.

 

[dxb]

I see there are some big fans of the 2nd gen Dimension Bass here.

I tried two - the Squier and the Fender American Deluxe. The Squier was noisy, and the American Deluxe was a decent player, but the sound didn’t appeal. Also, I didn’t like the way either bass looked.

I’m a fan of the normal P & J stuff, but I also embraced the oddball Fenders as well. I like the Contemporary P and Jazz Specials from Japan, the HM line, the MB line, and even the first gen Dimension basses (the modern Ibanez-looking ones). The 2nd gen Dimension just didn’t do it for me. At all.

What do you mean by noisy? I have 4 and 5 string Squier Deluxes and the humbuckers are dead silent, no hum or buzz on either of them. I really like the tone too, though I can see how it might not be for everyone. But I think that was the point. Why bother designing an entirely new bass just to make it sound like a P or J.

 

[ggvicviper]

What do you mean by noisy? I have 4 and 5 string Squier Deluxes and the humbuckers are dead silent, no hum or buzz on either of them. I really like the tone too, though I can see how it might not be for everyone. But I think that was the point. Why bother designing an entirely new bass just to make it sound like a P or J.

It had significant hum when I played it. Definitely wasn’t dead quiet. It could have been the preamp. Maybe it was a just a lemon, but it didn’t leave me thinking any better of the Dimension.

 

[rickbass1]

I’ve never noticed any hum out of my Am Standard Dimension, great bass, beautiful maple neck, on par with either p or j basses, just different again.

 

[dxb]

It had significant hum when I played it. Definitely wasn’t dead quiet. It could have been the preamp. Maybe it was a just a lemon, but it didn’t leave me thinking any better of the Dimension.

Too bad you didn't try another one, sounds like that one had something wrong with it.

 

[HeavyDuty]

Both of my AmDlxes are dead quiet.

 

[ggvicviper]

Too bad you didn't try another one, sounds like that one had something wrong with it.

I had tried the American Deluxe version as well (the noisy one I was talking about was, again, the Squier version). It was certainly better built by far, but I still didn't like the bass all that much.

 

[darkinners]

I tried couple in music store and I thought they sounded and played amazing.
The bridge pickups has very sweet burpy tone to it, very nice for soloing.

I don't know why they aren't more popular, probably because most people associate Fender with either P or J.

 

[Bass V]

they seem rather pricey even used, for the Am. Dlx. HH especially which I'd want, I can see the trepidation

 

[B-Mac]

I just went on Google and typed 'Fender Dimension Bass' and selected 'images'. Nothing that came up appealed to me at all. Just something I don't like about the body shape and the pickguard.

 

[dxb]

I had tried the American Deluxe version as well (the noisy one I was talking about was, again, the Squier version). It was certainly better built by far, but I still didn't like the bass all that much.

Yeah, I meant you should've tried another Squier, as that particular one may have had a issue. Like I mentioned before, neither of my Squier Dimensions have any hum or buzz. The preamp doesn't hum either, though it does cause string noise to be more noticeable than on a passive bass. But I just roll back the treble a little to get rid of that, and sometimes I play with a piece of foam under the bridge which also does the trick.

 

[Ryan L.]

My American Elite 5 HH is dead silent. I love the bass, it plays and sounds damn good. It gets plenty of play time at every gig.

 

[ggvicviper]

Yeah, I meant you should've tried another Squier, as that particular one may have had a issue. Like I mentioned before, neither of my Squier Dimensions have any hum or buzz.

They only had the one at the store. I wasn’t really gonna go out of the way to play another model of a bass that didn’t really appeal to me to begin with. Was just trying it because it was there.

 

[P. Aaron]

I have been switching on/off between my Precision V and my Dimension Dlx 5 at the classic Country gig I’ve been doing for the past month (50’s thru 80’s C & W) and as much as I love the Precision, the Dimension does it just as well and the old classic guys I play with like the sound of both basses.

The Dimension cops an unmistakable Fender tone. Fits right in like it was always there.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I just picked up a used Deluxe (MIM) Dimension Bass 5 string, single pickup, cherryburst, rosewood, 18v preamp. Price was too good to pass up. It's in absolute mint condition. Love the neck, B string is great. Tone is quite different from any other Fender, a lot like a StingRay. I re-strung it with a high C string. Very impressed with the quality of this bass. I probably won't be using it with a live rock band setting; I'm going to be using it with acoustic duo gigs. Be able to work some cool chord voicings with the high C.

 

[Pinball]

What's is wrong with Dimensions? Absolutley nothing.
I just think that the active bass market is way overcrowded. It has done pretty well to make the impact that it has.
I remember playing a deluxe and thinking "nice bass but it isn't really outstanding compared to the competition", It did impress me though and I loved the neck. By the time I decided to buy one they were hard to find and I could only find an HH V Standard and some H Deluxe's within my budget. I went for the Standard model as I like the vol/vol/tone passive set up of my SB2...all I can say is wow I'm impressed. The natural tone is superb.
I have two American Standard V's and absolutly love them...they replaced a Stingray and ATK and are my gigging gigging and recording option.