Fender... Pff

[Jobiebass]

Hey guys and gals,

Sold my Marshall VBA today to Lloyd (top bloke) and as my Ampeg SVT-3 pro should be turning up tomorrow (cheers Jayc) I popped down Electro music to try out a SVT 410hlf. Luckyly they had a 2nd hand SVT 610hlf so ended up buying that instead.

Tryed it out with a Stingray cause I guess thats the closest they had to a Modulus Flea in the shop. Sounds amazing. love the tone of the amp/cab.

Picked up a USA Fender P bass with a £1195 price tag, played it thru this rig, sounded TERRIBLE. Sounded very week, very middy and even with loads of tweeks on the eq on the amp, it just sounded imho Pants. Couldnt get a nice tone out of it to save my life. Tried a Jazz bass (someones signiture one with ashtrays and its all maple) and it didnt sound much better.

Ive not liked Fenders for a long time, but I was always under the impression they are nice basses and played well. But after today id go as far as say... I cant stand Fender! Maybe its the cab/head that doesnt like Fenders, but tone wise I thought it the Fenders realllllly lacked something.

Does anyone else feel this way or am I going mental?

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Jobiebass' post='498960' date='May 27 2009, 04:24 PM']Hey guys and gals,

Sold my Marshall VBA today to Lloyd (top bloke) and as my Ampeg SVT-3 pro should be turning up tomorrow (cheers Jayc) I popped down Electro music to try out a SVT 410hlf. Luckyly they had a 2nd hand SVT 610hlf so ended up buying that instead.

Tryed it out with a Stingray cause I guess thats the closest they had to a Modulus Flea in the shop. Sounds amazing. love the tone of the amp/cab.

Picked up a USA Fender P bass with a £1195 price tag, played it thru this rig, sounded TERRIBLE. Sounded very week, very middy and even with loads of tweeks on the eq on the amp, it just sounded imho Pants. Couldnt get a nice tone out of it to save my life. Tried a Jazz bass (someones signiture one with ashtrays and its all maple) and it didnt sound much better.

Ive not liked Fenders for a long time, but I was always under the impression they are nice basses and played well. But after today id go as far as say... I cant stand Fender! Maybe its the cab/head that doesnt like Fenders, but tone wise I thought it the Fenders realllllly lacked something.

Does anyone else feel this way or am I going mental?[/quote]

Put a BadAss on it.

[LukeFRC]

Remeber you are used to an active bass tone and flea/stingray pickup position.
some basses are like that though, sound crap however much you fiddle. My JV squire and (to a lesser extent) the Fender CIJ P bass I had were pretty good, You didn't have to use the amp's Eq to get a good sound.
Good basses I think sound amazing even played with flat Eq. I could turn up anywhere and just plug my old P into a DI box and know that it would sound mint. Thats quite cool.

[dlloyd]

[quote name='gareth' post='499001' date='May 27 2009, 04:42 PM']As a matter of interest why would you get rid of a valve amp for a tranny??????[/quote]

Is an SVT 3 pro a tranny amp?

[CHRISDABASS]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='498962' date='May 27 2009, 04:25 PM']Put a BadAss on it.[/quote]

I hope your joking!

[ahpook]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='498994' date='May 27 2009, 04:40 PM']Remeber you are used to an active bass tone and flea/stingray pickup position.[/quote]


i'd say that's about the nub of it and if you don't like fender basses, you don't like fender basses...luckily there's lots of flavours to the bass rainbow.

Edited May 27, 2009 by ahpook

[Kongo]

If your used to an MM pup bass then the Jazz bass will sound thinner...it's just it's tone...Pure biting slap and you can get a good finger tone.
At the moment I'm actually dropping my modern basses for Fender designs...That's Fender, Musicman and G&L...they all work for me tone and feel.

[Jobiebass]

[quote name='CHRISDABASS' post='499026' date='May 27 2009, 05:01 PM']I hope your joking!

[/quote]

Me too! Helps sustain but ive never noticed a sizeable dif with the tone, if any at all.


[quote name='gareth' post='499' date='May 27 2009, 04:42 PM']As a matter of interest why would you get rid of a valve amp for a tranny??????[/quote]

I wasnt feeling the full valve, dumbed it down to the SVT-3 cause it has the Valve pre-amp so hoping to get some of the valve sound but with the ease of solidstate. Plus I feel the Marshall was a pretty Rock oriantated amp, which I dont really play anymore, gone for more of a classic indyesk tone.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Jobiebass' post='499048' date='May 27 2009, 05:13 PM']Me too! Helps sustain but ive never noticed a sizeable dif with the tone, if any at all.[/quote]

Keep up!

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=50198"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=50198[/url]

[gafbass02]

Lmao :-)

[wateroftyne]

I think Stingrays sound terrible.

SHAZAM!

[MuseMatt]

reason why I'm selling my Fender.... they're so cliché

[Jobiebass]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='499580' date='May 28 2009, 08:33 AM']I think Stingrays sound terrible.

SHAZAM!

[/quote]

haha, I was waiting for you to say something along those lines.

[Amafi]

I think Fender rely on their name more than the recent quality of their guitars.

Even though I own a Fender myself now, (Marcus Miller sig bass) which is decent enough, I had to exchange 2 others before I got it.

You [i]can[/i] get some cracking tones out of the Fenders but I think it needs a bit of work - I'm still learning as the bass is relatively new, but I'm sure it's in there somewhere.

In all honesty, had I not part ex-d another guitar to buy the Fender, I would have went with something else.. Unfortunately the only guitars around the same price range were Fenders, so that's why I ended up with it.

[risingson]

I like Fenders and Musicmans but I don't think I could ever say that a Jazz bass sounds thinner than any bass with a single MM humbucker configuration that I've ever heard. Aside from that... it's horses for courses, innit. Fender will always have it's critics. I think the price tags on the new Fenders are ludicrous.

[Cat Burrito]

It's all subject to tastes. I've got 2 Fenders and they are just great. I didn't pay half of what you did. Mine are Japanese and serve my needs perfectly. I am conscious of paying for the name & have my own views on slipping standards but a good Fender P-bass is all I need.

[Kongo]

[quote name='liamcapleton' post='499711' date='May 28 2009, 11:30 AM']I think the price tags on the new Fenders are ludicrous.[/quote]

+1 they go way too far with the prices!
Myself I'm a bit standofish about going ahead with a USA jazz as one I played @ Reverb had a raised fret!
For a bass over £1000 that's a bit much but...I'd love a Deluxe Jazz V...gah!

I'm currently saving to go on a hunt for the Jazz 24 V...That's worth chasing for me and it's Korean LOL!
So that's MIK? LOL!

[redstriper]

Fender basses are the sound on nearly all the great rock, soul, funk, reggae etc. etc. from the past 50 years.
To me, it's how a bass should sound and the USA vintage range are still great instruments.
I don't think they're relatively much more expensive than they've ever been.
I also don't think you can beat them for sound and they still seem quite popular amongst pros, but it's all a matter of taste and I don't like Ampegs or Stingrays

[Machines]

I love the sound of old school Fenders on classic tracks, I've got a Jazz which gets close enough for me and i'm probably going to get some flats for this cheapie Hohner P Bass my Dad gave me.

That said - they don't suit everything ! My Warwick is not going to lose first place in the pecking order in my metal band.

[4000]

[quote name='gareth' post='499001' date='May 27 2009, 04:42 PM']As a matter of interest why would you get rid of a valve amp for a tranny??????[/quote]

I've had several valve amps and would choose transistor 95% of the time.

[greyparrot]

[quote name='4000' post='500226' date='May 28 2009, 08:27 PM']I've had several valve amps and would choose transistor 95% of the time.[/quote]


I think the fender jazz on the back p/u tone rolled off sounds sweet. Bring in the neck p/u tone on and you have a a wicked slap sound and motwon sound. After the sadowsky sound, i think it will be very hard to go back to a passive fender, but i would like one day to have a 2nd bass and that would be a fender jazz again, even or probley a Vintage modified squire for £200. MM basses are very in your face, great, but not all the time. Jazzes sort of sing MM sort of shouts at you! Price wise, i would not pay £1000 for an 09, but would look for a 2nd hand one for about £600. I think fender keep the prices high to keep them up with the big boys, it sounds daft, but if it was £600 new for an 09 usa, i wonder if it would still have that initial sparkle to a first owner of the bass?? Personally i dont really think a standard USA 09 fender is worth more than £700 brand new.


GP.

[Stag]

The singer in my band used to be a bassist many moons ago and he has a '75 P Bass, which I use every now and then because its fantastic. It's one of the few basses I think actually gets [i]better[/i] everytime I play it. Really great tone to it... particularly when I put it through his old Sound City valve amp!

[Kongo]

[quote name='Machines' post='500165' date='May 28 2009, 07:17 PM']I love the sound of old school Fenders on classic tracks, I've got a Jazz which gets close enough for me and i'm probably going to get some flats for this cheapie Hohner P Bass my Dad gave me.

That said - they don't suit everything ! My Warwick is not going to lose first place in the pecking order in my metal band.[/quote]

I've been interested in trying a $$ 5-string myself...I take it it goes well over beefy guitars?

[Mokl]

[quote name='Kongo' post='500014' date='May 28 2009, 04:36 PM']+1 they go way too far with the prices!
Myself I'm a bit standofish about going ahead with a USA jazz as one I played @ Reverb had a raised fret!
For a bass over £1000 that's a bit much but...I'd love a Deluxe Jazz V...gah!

I'm currently saving to go on a hunt for the Jazz 24 V...That's worth chasing for me and it's Korean LOL!
So that's MIK? LOL![/quote]

In all fairness you could get a raised fret on any instrument, no matter what the quality (I had to rectify one on my Fodera recently). You were probably unlucky to find a duffer amongst the current crop of US instruments IMO, and I would be surprised if it left the factory that way. In terms of neck shape and tone I'm not crazy about them FWIW, but having sold quite a few over the years my impression is that the quality is generally very good for the price point - certainly much more consistent than it has been for some time. The factory setups don't tend to do them any favours, but generally you can get them playing very nicely with relatively little fuss. If you like the idea of a USA Fender, then I wouldn't let the one bad experience put you off.

[Wylie]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='498962' date='May 27 2009, 03:25 PM']Put a BadAss on it.[/quote]


Lots of folks have written online (esp. in Harmony Central reviews) that they've bought Mexican Fenders at a good price, then immediately replaced pickups and bridge - effectively bringing their total cost up to that of a Japanese Fender. It would make sense to get a Japanese Fender to begin with.

I played a number of Mexican and American Fenders, both new and used, before getting my CIJ P-bass, and I found exactly -none- that could touch the CIJ.

TG