I tried one, and liked it. Nice tone, comfortable to play. The deal-breaker for me was the looks of the thing, the pickguard especially. Oh, and I have two EBMM basses and a Fender AmStd P already, so that might have had something to do with it. 
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What's wrong with the Fender Dimension Basses?
- Thread starter tlite
- Start date
There's nothing wrong with them. If you like it, that's great. If I have to criticize, I'd say they are musician/g&l like basses with shorter horns. All of my basses have the upper horn at the same place and I'd get a g&l instead because of that but that's just me.
Pictures or it didn't happen.With regards to the Dimension basses I am completely incompetent since I have not tried it/them. Nowadays very many ask many many questions to the world (like on TB) and read/listen to numerous reviews before they decide because it is important to get something that other people think is cool before buying a bass which might be expensive. And that might not be the best way to choose that bass. One thing that makes it difficult for a new designed bass is that it will always be measured against an old-school P or J and then everyone reading (believe) they know what is meant. Also if you have never even owned a P or J bass. As long as this is the case anything new from fender will be short lived transients. Even if the bass itself is fantastic - which might be the case with the Dimension basses.
Sometimes the judgements of accredited specialists might be off.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." (Charles H. Duell)
"Guitar groups are on the way out" (Decca to Beatles in 1962)
etc. etc.
I love the looks of the American Deluxe in Cayenne (red), but would replace the active guts with passive. That's the one I want. Too much work / cost ...
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Blah blah blah Leo got it right the first two times blah blah blah...
I bought an American Standard V HH (relatively cheap), and added an Aguilar OBP3 with passive switch. Haven't used the passive option since, as I like being able to boost basses and mids when using the bridge pickup. It's being converted to fretless as we speak, just because I wanted a non-epoxy fretless five string bass with humbuckers and I could hear it work out well in my head with the sound of the pickups. It was a guess, but I can't wait.
Although I have many basses (many of which are Pedulla's, but also a Fender PJ and a Jazz), the Dimension seemed good enough to me to customize it a bit. It's well built, and it sounds great in many settings. It doesn't feel as 'personal' to me as the Pedulla's, but I've been playing Pedulla basses for 20 years now so that's not strange. I like having a bass that feels different from the rest.
It does not sound like P or J or MM, and I don't think it was the intention to make it sound all of those basses. It's something else, and to be honest: I don't understand the criticism.
To me it should be more "rounded" more like a MusicMan, more contour, slicker knobs, different headstock. It wants to be a Fender and something else, like they could not decided which direction to go. It's nice don't get me wrong, but feels "hollow" somehow, which does not mean anything, just IMHO. I am talking looks wise, it's a perfectly fine instrument. Cheers
I'd take that model she's playing in a 4 or 5 string. I think it looks and sounds great. I don't mind at all when Fender rolls the dice on something new, and me and Fender go back a long way.
Oh yes, the knobs were cheap. The bass felt 10x better after I replaced them. Hey, I'm not a Fender fanboy. Gave my first Fender away when I was 20, got it back when I was 40, then added a Jazz and a Dimension. Just because I liked the idea of seeing something a new design.
I think it's interesting that all kinds of luthiers like Dingwall, Lull, Xotic, De Gier, Tobias can make renditions of existing Fender models. They sometimes look odd to me, slightly misshapen, or they add unnecessary stuff. Yet, no one asks the question 'what were they thinking? Nice try, but you got it wrong'. We all see it as valid additions. Personally I think it's Fender's personal failure not to improve these models themselves. Why had Leo Fender to leave his own company to be able to reinvent some of the stuff, like he did with Musicman and G&L? All these fancy expensive Fender copies are boring to me. It's the safe choice for luthiers, but it's not very creative. I expect something new, something of their own. It would be very strange if Tobias would make a Wal or Alembic copy.
But hey...let's imagine the P wouldn't exist at all, Fender started out with the Jazz bass in the 50's, and the P would be presented this year. I wonder how people would respond. Now people say: sure, it has a clunky body, a clunky neck and the sounds you get are very limited....but that's 'how it's supposed to be'. I'm convinced that if before only Jazz basses existed, people would give it the same treatment as the Dimension gets. They might call it a silly attempt by Fender to try something new. Useless, misshapen...not a Jazz bass. They should've stuck with what they got.
To me, Fender's attempt to try something new, in a world full of Fender copies, deserves more respect. And the criticism on the basses is quite consistently based on ideas and assumptions of what Fender must've thought and not on the actual quality of the instrument. Assuming that they wanted to build a MM and criticizing it for being it something else, is not valid criticism on the bass itself. It's about your personal expectations. Many basses were and are built this way. Wals, Pedulla's, Yamaha's, even Gibsons...
Hey, I'm not a Fender fanboy. Gave my first Fender away when I was 20, got it back when I was 40, then added a Jazz and a Dimension. Just because I liked the idea of seeing something a new design.I think it's interesting that all kinds of luthiers like Dingwall, Lull, Xotic, De Gier, Tobias can make renditions of existing Fender models. They sometimes look odd to me, slightly misshapen, or they add unnecessary stuff. Yet, no one asks the question 'what were they thinking? Nice try, but you got it wrong'. We all see it as valid additions. Personally I think it's Fender's personal failure not to improve these models themselves. Why had Leo Fender to leave his own company to be able to reinvent some of the stuff, like he did with Musicman and G&L? All these fancy expensive Fender copies are boring to me. It's the safe choice for luthiers, but it's not very creative. I expect something new, something of their own. It would be very strange if Tobias would make a Wal or Alembic copy.
But hey...let's imagine the P wouldn't exist at all, Fender started out with the Jazz bass in the 50's, and the P would be presented this year. I wonder how people would respond. Now people say: sure, it has a clunky body, a clunky neck and the sounds you get are very limited....but that's 'how it's supposed to be'. I'm convinced that if before only Jazz basses existed, people would give it the same treatment as the Dimension gets. They might call it a silly attempt by Fender to try something new. Useless, misshapen...not a Jazz bass. They should've stuck with what they got.
To me, Fender's attempt to try something new, in a world full of Fender copies, deserves more respect. And the criticism on the basses is quite consistently based on ideas and assumptions of what Fender must've thought and not on the actual quality of the instrument. Assuming that they wanted to build a MM and criticizing it for being it something else, is not valid criticism on the bass itself. It's about your personal expectations. Many basses were and are built this way. Wals, Pedulla's, Yamaha's, even Gibsons...
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buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
1. Fender, like any other established company, charges a premium for the name - people pay to have something recognizable. The Dimension is a new model, and therefore not that.
2. People who buy Fenders want Ps and Js.
Fender tried to get it in the mainstream by giving it to Wolfgang, but it did not catch on.
2. People who buy Fenders want Ps and Js.
Fender tried to get it in the mainstream by giving it to Wolfgang, but it did not catch on.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
. I thought I saw one on stage with Van Halen a few years ago. If not, even less publicity for the model.
What's wrong with the Dimension?
The same thing with most all Fenders.
Paint,plastic and chrome.
The same thing with most all Fenders.
Paint,plastic and chrome.
