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Fender Highway One Jazz bass


NancyJohnson
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It's a toss-up between an MIJ Geddy Lee or a MIA Highway One Jazz (with the BadassII). Anyone playing a Highway One? Opinions? Also how is the nitro finish holding up?

Cheers
P

Edit:: I've got a '79 Precision that has barely got a ding on it because of the finish...I'm querying the nitro finish simply from the perspective of how easily it'll ding and peel, rather than hunting down a forty year old bass or an artificially aged one.

Edited by NancyJohnson
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My Highway One Jazz is a great bass. It plays well, and looks the part, I like the finish, although many don't.

The build quality is good, and the fretboard is nice and smooth.

Soundwise, I found mine to be very dark sounding, lots of bottom end, and a nice top end click (Steve Harris style), but it lacked a little top end sparkle, and I found it hard to find a traditional jazz style mid bark.

I've upgraded mine with Villex pickups, which have transformed the sound from "nice" to "amazing" at a cost of about £120. With the upgrades, the bass is now a fantastic bass, extremely powerful and versatile, whereas off the wall it was less so, although still very playable. It was bought as a backup to my Stingray, but live, I've found myself prefering the jazz to be honest.

I believe the hardware could be Mexican, with the timber and assembly of the bass originating in the US, although I can't be 100% possitive about that.

It's a great bass, very playable, and with a great tone out of the box, but you won't get a Marcus Miller type honk with it if that's what you like. For rock, pop or even reggae with a deeper tone it'd be great, but for slap, I found it a bit too dark sounding.

I guess if you were asking me which bass I'd buy today, a Geddy or a Highway 1, if I had the choice, I'd buy a Geddy. I reckon it'd be more versatile as a standard bass straight from the box, and being made in Japan, I reckon the build quality would maybe be superior too.

I love my H1 and won't part with it, but only really thanks to William Villex and his pickups, it really has transformed my bass, but at a price.

Hope some of that helps.

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I'll probably get a H1 P at some point, purely because of the nitro finish. Shame it doesn't come in more colours though. I actually think i prefer the previous version too, pre-BA bridge.

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Yes this one of mine is some kind of transitional model, with the old style neck and logo, and the newer body with badass and greasebucket tone control.

They do have a certain "mojo" that new basses don't always have. I love the finish, and the more battered and bruised it gets the better as far as I'm concerned, although it's holding up well so far.

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I've seen the Greasebucket thing mentioned...what is it?
P

[quote name='Rayman' post='26098' date='Jul 2 2007, 04:39 PM']Yes this one of mine is some kind of transitional model, with the old style neck and logo, and the newer body with badass and greasebucket tone control.

They do have a certain "mojo" that new basses don't always have. I love the finish, and the more battered and bruised it gets the better as far as I'm concerned, although it's holding up well so far.[/quote]

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I love my HW1 jazz although i dont use it at the moment as im in to 5 strings.
I have one of the early ones but have put a BAII on it. Not sure it was for the better tone wise but the original bridge was very loose on a couple of strings.
Its the only Jazz i have played so cant compare it to the MIA's but it does have a very nice jazz sound. plenty of growl. I also have TI flats on it and it does motown very well.

As pointed out the finish leaves a lot to be desired. Mine looks like ui have had it since the 60's but its only about two years old. The pait seems to just fall off. I did read that this was meant to happen to make it look vintage but i dont believe its true.

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[quote name='dave_bass5' post='29801' date='Jul 10 2007, 03:14 PM']I love my HW1 jazz although i dont use it at the moment as im in to 5 strings.
I have one of the early ones but have put a BAII on it. Not sure it was for the better tone wise but the original bridge was very loose on a couple of strings.
Its the only Jazz i have played so cant compare it to the MIA's but it does have a very nice jazz sound. plenty of growl. I also have TI flats on it and it does motown very well.

As pointed out the finish leaves a lot to be desired. Mine looks like ui have had it since the 60's but its only about two years old. The pait seems to just fall off. I did read that this was meant to happen to make it look vintage but i dont believe its true.[/quote]

What finish colour/board is it? Are you interested in getting shot of it at some stage as I just need something as a back up.
P

Edited by NancyJohnson
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[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='29856' date='Jul 10 2007, 04:41 PM']What finish colour/board is it? Are you interested in getting shot of it at some stage as I just need something as a back up.
P[/quote]

Its Red with a Rosewood board but im not thinking of getting rid of it just yet as its the only 4 string i have and i would like to hang on to it.
Plus it looks a bit rough in certain places so i wouldnt get much for it even though i have looked after it.

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...a rough and cheap Highway One Jazz is what I'm looking for...red too. Keep me in mind.
P

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='29858' date='Jul 10 2007, 04:45 PM']Its Red with a Rosewood board but im not thinking of getting rid of it just yet as its the only 4 string i have and i would like to hang on to it.
Plus it looks a bit rough in certain places so i wouldnt get much for it even though i have looked after it.[/quote]

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