Damn, those are beatiful. Aguilar pickups on the 5's, did they come that way? I've been searching for a Jazz neck with a P/J combo on a 4 but don't love the new model out now.
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Who makes a great J right now?
- Thread starter 600 Ohms
- Start date
They didn’t come like that. I swapped the pickups and put audere preamps in all of them. I routed the body of the PJ myself and had WD music make me a custom pick guard to convert it to a PJ. It’s just an American Standard Jazz. The two JJ’s are American Deluxes.
Hi in America you have P R S Who are renown for top quality guitars, and will hold there value, and Kiesel who make custom guitars to your specifications, with a wide variety of options worth a look, but not sure on the resale value. Hope that helps
Played a bunch of Fenders today, although none of them fit my original bill of 70's spacing/Ash/Maple. I'm rethinking this, as I now want a 5-string alder/rosewood 70's and a 4-string ash/maple 70's. Why settle for just one?
I played two 5-string Elites: I really disliked the Ash/Maple one; couldn't get a sound on it. I rather enjoyed the Alder/Maple 5, but that may have had to do with the setup being way better on that bass. I was so-so on both the 4-string Elites I played, but didn't love either. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't prefer the Elite neck to the American Original's... both felt great to me, just I was battling the awful action and crusty strings.
There was one cherry red American Original 60's Jazz that I liked the feel and the sound of instantly. Apart from the reverse tuning keys and the finger bar where my popping finger wanted to go, it was a winner in all its passive glory.
Of course, being GC, only one of the 5 basses I played had the correct amount of relief in the neck and none had strings I could even charitably call "new" so with a good setup and a fresh set, I might have liked any of the Elites. I also discovered that I had too much difficulty with the 1 7/8" nut width on the 5s. I'm afraid for the 5 string, I'm going to have to special order a 1 3/4" nut from Lull or Sadowsky, cause these Fenders were just too wide for a 5 for my tastes. Ernie Ball nailed it with the StingRay 5, and my Alembic and Pedulla 5s are both narrower and vastly more comfortable for my hands. Sadly the StingRay isn't a Jazz Bass nor does it sound like one, even the two-pickup ones.
My friend's UV70 is sitting in my house and is just clearly a "nicer" bass than the Fenders, But I can tell it's a different animal. More playing to be done.
I played two 5-string Elites: I really disliked the Ash/Maple one; couldn't get a sound on it. I rather enjoyed the Alder/Maple 5, but that may have had to do with the setup being way better on that bass. I was so-so on both the 4-string Elites I played, but didn't love either. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't prefer the Elite neck to the American Original's... both felt great to me, just I was battling the awful action and crusty strings.
There was one cherry red American Original 60's Jazz that I liked the feel and the sound of instantly. Apart from the reverse tuning keys and the finger bar where my popping finger wanted to go, it was a winner in all its passive glory.
Of course, being GC, only one of the 5 basses I played had the correct amount of relief in the neck and none had strings I could even charitably call "new" so with a good setup and a fresh set, I might have liked any of the Elites. I also discovered that I had too much difficulty with the 1 7/8" nut width on the 5s. I'm afraid for the 5 string, I'm going to have to special order a 1 3/4" nut from Lull or Sadowsky, cause these Fenders were just too wide for a 5 for my tastes. Ernie Ball nailed it with the StingRay 5, and my Alembic and Pedulla 5s are both narrower and vastly more comfortable for my hands. Sadly the StingRay isn't a Jazz Bass nor does it sound like one, even the two-pickup ones.
My friend's UV70 is sitting in my house and is just clearly a "nicer" bass than the Fenders, But I can tell it's a different animal. More playing to be done.
i voted Sadowsky, but that's just because I like the way they work in a mix a bit better than a Fender, HOWEVER, they also don't sound exactly like a Fender, so if I was going for the most "faithful" tone possible, it'd definitely be Fender, and Fender is making great ones these days... my Elite is a VERY close second to my Sadowskys. I play it a lot.
FWIW.
FWIW.
The American Pro's are real good too. Sadowsky, Alleva Coppolo, to name a few make great Fender type basses. For a cheaper price the Fender American Pro's are a nice choice. So many companies these days make a Fender copy but any of the above have a good re-sale value.
Played more basses today. I learned a few things:
1. I played 3 more Elites and found one that was set up well and sounded and felt GREAT. It was the RW/Alder 4 string. I could totally live with that bass and be pretty happy. It was nice to know there was a really solid Fender available that had good control over sound. Was great in passive mode, too. But for a few hunrded more...
2. I played 3 Sadowsky's: All metros: RV4, MV4 & and MV5. Having well-maintained instruments in the shop does your sales for you. Deeply in love with the RV4. I made sure to play it in passive for a while before kicking the preamp in to really know that I liked the sound. I also really liked the MV 4 and 5, but the 5 suffered from the same wide neck problem as most other Jazz Fives, but it was so well set up that I could almost deal with it, but it was a literal stretch.
3. Never before have I liked steel strings. I've always hated the grabby/sticky feel of them compared to the smoothness of nickel. But the blue Sad strings on these basses kicked ass. After decades I never thought I could change my opinion on that.
4. With my dislike of 1 7/8" nut widths, I was happy to see the Will Lee 5 is 1 3/4, even for the Metro line. Perhaps a WL5 is in my future.
I'm starting to change my strategy a little. Short of playing a Lull and a Suhr, I feel like the Sadowsky feel, sound and quality suits me down to the ground. I think a 70's spacing J is maybe bass #2. That RV4 just had the magic.
***LATER*** My Pedulla Five has the same 1 7/8" nut width and I find it comortable. Hmm. Maybe I'm fine.
1. I played 3 more Elites and found one that was set up well and sounded and felt GREAT. It was the RW/Alder 4 string. I could totally live with that bass and be pretty happy. It was nice to know there was a really solid Fender available that had good control over sound. Was great in passive mode, too. But for a few hunrded more...
2. I played 3 Sadowsky's: All metros: RV4, MV4 & and MV5. Having well-maintained instruments in the shop does your sales for you. Deeply in love with the RV4. I made sure to play it in passive for a while before kicking the preamp in to really know that I liked the sound. I also really liked the MV 4 and 5, but the 5 suffered from the same wide neck problem as most other Jazz Fives, but it was so well set up that I could almost deal with it, but it was a literal stretch.
3. Never before have I liked steel strings. I've always hated the grabby/sticky feel of them compared to the smoothness of nickel. But the blue Sad strings on these basses kicked ass. After decades I never thought I could change my opinion on that.
4. With my dislike of 1 7/8" nut widths, I was happy to see the Will Lee 5 is 1 3/4, even for the Metro line. Perhaps a WL5 is in my future.
I'm starting to change my strategy a little. Short of playing a Lull and a Suhr, I feel like the Sadowsky feel, sound and quality suits me down to the ground. I think a 70's spacing J is maybe bass #2. That RV4 just had the magic.
***LATER*** My Pedulla Five has the same 1 7/8" nut width and I find it comortable. Hmm. Maybe I'm fine.
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I had a Sadowsky Metro RV4 but I preferred my Sire V7 Vintage so I sold the Sad and bought a Xotic XJ4. I think the reason is that I prefer the ash/maple scooped sound of the Sire and Xotic to the alder/rosewood of the Sad. I wasn't as keen on the punchy mids of the Sadowsky and I couldn't get my preferred scooped tone even with bass and treble dialled up (there's no mid dial to decrease mids). Apart from that it was a great bass. Great neck and playability. I changed the Sad hum cancelling pickups (Ultra J's I think) for Nordstrand single coils (not hum cancelling) which was an improvement but just couldn't get that lovely Marcus Miller sound that the Sire has. Once again, horses for courses as everyone has their own favourite tone.
Not hearing a huge difference between UV70-4 and RV4 in both alder and rosewood. Kinda preferred the RV by about 10%.
The UV70 has the slightly larger traditional jazz bass body than the RV4 and should have 70s pickup spacing (i.e. bridge pickup slightly nearer to the bridge which gives more growl). If it's alder/rosewood (or pay ferro which is a bit denser) with Ultra J pickups it probably will sound similar to the RV4. The woods and the pickups really make a difference IMHO as does the pickup spacing. I suppose the vibration of strings nearer the bridge has more overtones (I'm sure someone can explain the physics) so has a courser sound. String choice also makes a big difference to the sound as does string age. Also where you play on the neck. The main thing is obviously a players ability. I'm sure Bobby Vega could make a string on a brush handle sound good
I don’t doubt it at all. I would argue many of us are geographically predisposed to skepticism about certain makes, for no other reason than of distribution. Given how personal the bond between player and instrument is, it really is a touch and feel thing. It is heartening to know how many luthiers there are, scattered around the world, committed to the cause.
LA used to have the Bass Centre, which was a great pimp for HQ makes you never heard of. These days, the LABX has some cool things, but not like it used to be.
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