Welcome to Bass Player magazine - Acoustic and electric bass guitar tabs, chords and lessons
Bass Player magazine is your source for acoustic and electric bass guitar tabs, chords and free online bass guitar lessons, tutorials and videos for both beginner and professional.
|
Skip to [ End of Second Navigation ]
Skip to [ End of Music Player Network web site links ]
|
 |
Your current location
BassPlayer.com >> This Month >> Fender American Standard Precision, Precision V, Jazz &
Skip to [ Story Content and jump story attachments ]
Click on the Images Fender American Standard Precision, Precision V, Jazz & Jazz V| May, 2008 With a Precision or Jazz Bass in hand, a player can take on the world. There’s little these two cornerstone instruments can’t do. Take the P-Bass; its thick, punchy tone is the very definition of bass guitar, staked on playing as wide-ranging as James Jamerson’s Motown magic and Paul Simonon’s punked-out pickstyle with the Clash. No less important is the Jazz. This versatile two-pickup tool can be found with many a brilliant bass performer, from Jaco Pastorius to Marcus Miller and beyond. Fender is keenly aware that the spirit of these instruments lies not only in their venerable history, but also in their continued evolution—a dichotomy that metaphorically encompasses music’s own embrace of past and present. Without corrupting the instruments’ iconic reputation, the latest American Standard Series instruments deftly incorporate each bass’s historical hallmarks with modern touches aimed at improving playability and tone. At first glance, each bass looks abundantly familiar—except perhaps for the Precision V, which is the first of its kind in the Fender line (specifically, the first passive Precision 5-string with only a P-style pickup). Despite the American Standards’ superficial similarity to their predecessors, each bass is laden with substantial, if visually subtle, updates. The necks get a deeper tint for a classier appearance. The bodies have a thinner undercoat to improve resonance. The pickups now have flush polepieces, as opposed to the staggered poles that occasionally led to an annoying popping sound when touched with a string. All-around, the Fenders’ hardware is a marked improvement. The new Fender High Mass Vintage bridge allows for through-bridge or through–body stringing and uses big nickel-plated brass saddles, height-adjustment screws with nylon bushings for vibration resistance and stability, a machined brass backstop for enhanced mass, and socket-head intonation screws. The tuners get an update, too: The Fender/Hipshot design is 30 percent lighter and made from high-quality brass and steel. One big final improvement is the new SKB cases, included with each bass. These solid flight-worthy cases are stackable and include TSA-approved locks, meaning a suspicious security agent can use a master key to inspect the contents without ruining the latches or cutting a lock. The instruments’ myriad upgrades, combined with an exceptional attention to construction detail, gave each bass a high-end look and feel. There’s no glaring omission, no obvious corner cut that prevents easy positive comparisons to other Fender-style basses that cost way more. Fender has so clearly perfected building these basses, and the results—a flawless finish, hardy hardware installation, and faultless fretwork—defy criticism. Playability was excellent on all four; each well-balanced bass arrived with a nice medium-low setup, new taper-wound Fender strings, and accurate intonation. New-to-’08 touches, like the rounded fingerboard edges, gave each bass a decidedly broken-in feel. Again excepting the Precision V, the Fender basses held no surprises whatsoever. They sounded like they should. First, the 4’s: The Precision was stout and aggressive with its tone rolled up, the maple fingerboard adding a crackly upper-midrange bite to the bass’s porcine presence. Rolling off the tone casted this zing in an inky hue, nevertheless retaining the substantial girth and buttery ear-feel. Our Jazz tester had the slightly subdued snap of a rosewood-fingerboard-equipped J-Bass, not the slicing growl of the maple-’boarded variety. The J was wonderfully pliant; mixing different pickup ratios and tone-knob settings uncovered crisp slap sizzle, utterly undersea thud, and burbling back-pickup wallop. It sounded particularly sweet up high with the tone rolled off; I found the smooth mids and pleasant texture melodically inspiring. The two 5’ers are nothing like each other. The Jazz V sounded much like its smaller sister, but for the extra string. The wider neck obviously alters playability—it’s a little less easy to fly on the V, but still, it’s a comfortable, eminently playable instrument. The B string was taut, controlled, and well integrated with the other four strings. The Precison V was fascinating. A rare breed, the P-style 5 uniquely communicated the B string’s rubber-bandy, buoyant low end. I dug the Precision V’s decadent richness, strong fundamental, and creamy tone. Sadly, I didn’t have a 5-string set of flatwounds lying around, but imagine that! Fat indeed. Fender’s latest American-made classics are superb. Each would be a loyal life-long companion, covering most gigs without fear of breakdown or lame tone. Truth is, they can’t really sound bad. They also give the cottage industry of high-end Fender-style basses a kick in the pants. If you don’t own a P- or J-Bass, you should. Try one of these first. TECH SPECSPrecision & Precision V Street 4-string, $1,100; 5-string, $1,200 Jazz & Jazz V Street 4-string, $1,150; 5-string, $1,250 CONTACT(480) 596-7195 www.fender.com |
Bass Player is part of the Music Player Network.