Painy Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 (edited) Today I received my first ever Fender - albeit a crafted in China modern player series. Having recently re-discovered the joys of passive basses after 17 years of playing active basses exclusively and filling the p bass gap on the cheap with a Harley Benton (not in a position to buy the multi thousand pound Warwicks that I've owned in the past these days) I decided I needed a jazz to go with it. With my experimentation with the p bass bass having gone so well I was prepared to invest a bit more this time and so this is what I've ended up with - my new Fender Modern Player Jazz Bass V in satin finish Olympic white. Straight out of the box it was unfortunately, quite literally, unplayable! The neck was actually curving backwards and the saddles were dropped down as far as they could go so that the strings were flat against the neck all the way along! After a rather drastic set up though, what a difference. Fast, low action. Nice balance and very versatile tone wise thanks to the 4 way selector switch. This to me is another great example of how these days you don't have to spend a fortune to get a great bass. This was almost exactly a tenth of the cost of what my old Warwick SS1 fiver would cost to buy new these days but I really couldn't say it was anywhere even remotely close to 10 times better. Now I'm just looking forward to gigging it on Saturday night. Only had time to take one quick pic so far tonight but I'll add some more when I get a minute. Edited January 30, 2015 by Painy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 I've yet to play one of these. I imagine it will certainly be heard and felt with those pups. Look forward to your thoughts after the gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledum Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 (edited) Nice bass, congrats! [quote name='Painy' timestamp='1422573304' post='2674341']This to me is another great example of how these days you don't have to spend a fortune to get a great bass.[/quote] I feel the same way when I play my Squier Affinity Jazz Bass. Edited January 30, 2015 by Tweedledum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 The quality of guitars coming out of China these days is really high I quite fancied a Modern Player 4 string at one point I'm sure those pickups are awesome, and look as if the bass will pack some punch! I've got a China-made Squier CV 60's P bass, and the quality of that is absolutely amazing especially for the money! Once you've played that gig - please let us know how it sounds I'd be very interested - as I might still be tempted..... one day Enjoy your New Bass Day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 There's a woman who occasionally turns up to a jam night I sometimes go to and she playes one of these, though it has a maple fretboard and I've never seen another like it, all others I've seen are rosewood. It is also a 5 string like the OP's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painy Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 The black finish comes with a maple board, the olly white and 2 tone burst both come with rosewood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painy Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 So I got to try this out at a gig last night and I'm really impressed. With the selector switch set to both single coils it was exactly what you'd expect from a Fender Jazz - tight, punchy and focused. With the selector set to both humbuckers it retained all of those characteristics and was still that unmistakable jazz sound but bigger, warmer and fatter and with a higher output (enough to be worth setting the input gain on the amp to the humbuckers rather than the single coils if planning to switch between the 2 to avoid clipping. The neck humbucker solo'd gave a reasonable p-bass tone when plucking nearer the neck. I was curious to see if I could also get anywhere near a Stingray type sound from the bridge humbucker but as I suspected it was too close to the bridge for that. The bridge humbucker and neck single coil together however got it much closer and would actually be my choice of setting for slap tones (not that I do all that much slapping mind you). The neck humbucker / bridge single coil setting did give another tonal option but is probably the one I'd be least likely to use. Nothing wrong with it particularly but the other settings were just a bit more useable for me. When comparing it to my p-bass, I found that the humbuckers on the jazz allowed it to compete for fat low end front but with better articulation - basically you could hear each individual note that was hitting you in the ribcage with a sledgehammer! Overall I couldn't be happier. It would be interesting to compare it head to head with say a a USA standard jazz but I really have to say I struggle to imagine where the USA could improve on this bass enough to justify the price difference. This really would feel and sound like a great bass at twice the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Must admit I`m wondering why they haven`t introduced this pickup config on the US Series - unless they have and I`ve missed it? It seems to have the best of many worlds going by the reviews I`ve read, including the above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 [quote name='Painy' timestamp='1422573304' post='2674341'] Today I received my first ever Fender - albeit a crafted in China modern player series. [/quote] You shouldn't feel like you have to qualify it like that. It's a Fender, and as long as you're happy with it, who cares where it was made? Enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrikmarky Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Looks stunning mate ...saw the black one in pmt on Saturday ...dare not try it ..I wouldn't be bothered by where it's born either , cannot see how you could justify the best part of 1500.00 to 1600.00 for a usa made fender nowdays ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painy Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 (edited) Cheers guys. You're absolutely right. To be honest the " just a Chinese Fender" comment was perhaps a little tongue in cheek after reading comments on here recently about the cheaper ranges of Fenders devaluing the brand etc. In truth I think the only way this bass devalues the brand in anyway is by taking away USA Fender owners' chance to say " Look how expensive my bass is, it's a Fender don'tcha know"! Having played this bass in anger now I'd have to say it is genuinely a quality instrument worthy of the logo it carries on the headstock and I say this not as a newbie who thinks it's great just because it's better than the crappy bass I got from Argos before it, but as a player with 20 years and well over 1000 gigs experience who has owned my share of basses costing anywhere from 2 to 4.5k to compare it to. Aaaaand..... Breath! Pat, the black one in PMT was the one they got in for me to try out against the Squire VM PV (which was also surprisingly good and it was actually a pretty close thing). I liked the maple board on it but really wanted the white finish. Shame they don't offer white and maple as an option or I'd have had that instead. Actually, come to think of it you should buy it... And we could swap necks Edited February 1, 2015 by Painy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrikmarky Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Quite like the Matt black with maple neck ..though I seem to be heading down the route of this maybe ? (If I'm a good boy )... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painy Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Nice! Looks worth behaving for anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 That's great you're happy with it and even better you've gigged it and it performed well. The quality from the Far East keeps getting better and better. Congrats Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 [quote name='Painy' timestamp='1422620437' post='2674676'] The black finish comes with a maple board, the olly white and 2 tone burst both come with rosewood. [/quote] Thanks for the info, must be that is the only black one I've seen then! It sounded pretty good from what I recall, seen her playing it just a couple of times. If I was to consider switching to 5 strings at some point I think this would probably be my road in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Thanks for sharing your thoughts and findings with us Painy Nice to know what others think of the sound - especially at gigs You can try instruments in a guitar shop but you don't really get a true idea of what it would sound like in a live situation.... Your thoughts on the pickups backup what I anticipated they would sound like.... Must try one out soon I'm getting GAS again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painy Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Happy to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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