USA Standard vs Special vs Highway One Precision Bass

[jimbojimbo]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to buy a new bass. Primarily I'm a guitarist, but with my job I play a lot of bass and need to get a decent one - I produce music.

Ideally, I'd like a USA P Bass, but the budget won't stretch to a new one, so I'm looking second hand and have around £500-£600 (max) to spend.

I've been doing some research but I'm still a little unsure of a few things. Would someone mind throwing me a few straight-forward bullet points, or something, to illustrate the difference between the types:

USA Standard / Special / Highway One.

I've seen a bunch around and getting confused as to what to do!
I'm not only looking for USA ones, I know they're the best, but I know that there are certainly some decent mex/Jap ones about, especially the reissues.

Of course, correct me/educate me where you can!!

Thanks!

[The Dark Lord]

Main difference is the USA Standard has string through body routing. Get more resonance that way.

You should be able to pick up a good USA Standard on here for between £500 and £550. To be honest, the Special and the Highway One won't come much more than £50 or so less than that.

[Lozz196]

As above really. The introduction of the Specials/HW1s was to make more affordable US versions. So essentially, reductions/changes that brought the prices down. As going used and not new, the difference isn`t so much.

My particular recommendation is the 2008 onwards US Standard. I`ve had two of these and both have been incredibly good (my current main bass is one of these). They come in fairly light, have great resonance, lightweight tuners, hi-mass bridge, just a great all round bass.

[skidder652003]

Pick up a nice MIJ/CIJ (jap) reissue for £350/£400. Nice bass!

[hamfist]

An honest question to the OP .... why limit yourself to just a P ? I can quite understand why you want the P tone, as it is the best, but you could pick up a nice PJ configuration bass for the same money and have extra very useful tones for more versatility for your recording.
There are a number of Fender Precision specials/deluxes out there (both MiM and MiA) that are PJ. Also the Yamaha BB series basses, G&L SB-2 tributes etc. I would also say don't discount non-Fenders. In my experience the "precision" sound from something like a Yamaha BB or a G&L SB-2 and, I suspect, a number of other PJ basses out there, is well within the variety of the range of "precision" tones that different Fender precisions will offer.

Just a thought.

[gruffers]

Essentially the highway/special series don't have. hipshots (they have the Mexican style tuners) neck tints. hard cases. or high mass bridges, with the exception of the highway ONE which sports a BadAssII as standard. Highway 1's and specials have the BBOT. Both the HW ONES & the specials have posiflex graphite support rods. HW 1's have standard skunk necks. Only the US has through body stringing as previously mentioned (no biggy if your planning using flats as flats go through the bridge anyway) pickups are a bit of an enigma on the highway series though apparently they a US pickup made specifically for the highway series.

[gruffers]

Oh. HW's and specials have the "grease bucket" tone circuit. Also

[ingmar808]

OP: You could get a brand new Fender Modern Player well within your budget. Check them out - you won't find a bad review anywhere.