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JV jazz basses. Thoughts


foxyFuze
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My general feeling is that they are very good basses, that were astounding value up until relatively recently when they became fairly priced... some of the ones I see advertised are, IMO, a little overpriced for what they are. The subsequent MIJ Fenders are, IMO, probably better value at this point. £900 or more for a JV Squier is getting up into AVRI or non-export MIJ territory.

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Yep, not sure how the trend is going to go, if they keep gaining value then spending even £900 is worth it as an investment. I`ve played a couple of JVs, they are great basses to play, not sure I`d want to gig one if I`d bought it as an increasing-value investment though, however as a home player would be a nice bass to have.

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All the JV's I played/tried were superb.

My JV PBass to me is as close to the pre-CBS Fender as it gets. The only P Bass that instantly felt better to me was a 66 P Bass that belongs to Steve Browning. What a bass that is...

I used to have a JV Jazz too and it's superb. You don't even need to plug it in to feel that it has this lovely 60's jazz growl/burp. Awesome. And the finish on the neck is very much to my liking too. I'd pay attention to the pickups - the original ones are spot on.

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Tough call, I would say. I have not played a Limelight but I have dealt with Mark and I know many people swear by them (as JV owners do too). I am not convinced that the JV's are pre-CBS investments in the making so my decision would be on which you enjoyed playing the most and don't pay too much attention to the 'aura' around them.

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31 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

Tough call, I would say. I have not played a Limelight but I have dealt with Mark and I know many people swear by them (as JV owners do too). I am not convinced that the JV's are pre-CBS investments in the making so my decision would be on which you enjoyed playing the most and don't pay too much attention to the 'aura' around them.

Yeah this Limelight feels great, really does. Just when someone popped up offering a JV it made me think....

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Jvs are good, but not worth £900. They were a budget instrument - in the context of their time of manufacture, they were excellent, showing up the poor quality of some contemporary USA fender product. The Jazz basses were also the first reissues with a dot neck. I think a tokai from the same era is as good. I have 2 jv jazzes. One I bought at a year old in 1983 and another I bought new in 1984. I have a mid 80s tokai jazz also. At £5-600 a jv is a good buy imo.

Edited by GuyR
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Agree with the poster above. Nice instruments but they’re really stretching the notion of vintage at £900. At that price you’re about £100 away from a Fullerton reissue of the pre-CBS Precision basses which are wonderful instruments, with US quality.

I’ve got a fair few Jap jazzes and Precisions and had possibly 20. Again. The quality can vary too, so don’t buy on spec but give it a go.

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22 hours ago, GuyR said:

Jvs are good, but not worth £900. They were a budget instrument - in the context of their time of manufacture, they were excellent, showing up the poor quality of some contemporary USA fender product. The Jazz basses were also the first reissues with a dot neck. I think a tokai from the same era is as good. I have 2 jv jazzes. One I bought at a year old in 1983 and another I bought new in 1984. I have a mid 80s tokai jazz also. At £5-600 a jv is a good buy imo.

I purely by chance tried a Tokai JB85 the other day; I was very impressed! I also see there's JB45 for sale near me, might have to have a look once I make some space....

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