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New Bass Day: J&D Vintage 1975 review: Good!


iconic
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Ok just a brief review of the newest bass to the fleet, the J&D or Jack & Danny Brothers Vintage 1975 Jazz, mine is surf green.

linky:- [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/jandd-jb-vintage-1975-sfgr-bass-guitar-surf-green--201561"]http://www.dv247.com...f-green--201561[/url]



[b]delivery[/b]:
£119.00 to door, order took 3 days to delivery from DVD 247, arrived very well packed with seperate inner and outer boxes with bag for allen keys for truss rod and saddles, ohh and foam under the strings for transit.

[b]finish & fit:[/b]
surf green paintwork is flawless and the colour IS the same as the pictures on the website :gas:
Under the pickguard the pup wiring is routed properly so no ugly troughs running thru/across the body, you could play without the pickguard should you wish.

as supplied cap is .047 as usual with most bass's, wiring and soldering is VERY neat and tidy indeed.

3 ply pickguard fits as it should....I'd love a tort' on it, so may look into that?

neck finish overall is good, neck to body pocket gap is tight, frets are fine, no high frets at all, fretwork side edges have the mearest hint of roughness but only if you pick with your finger, I can't feel anything when playing. The size is typical jazz width wise but slightly deeper than my Squiers.

The gloss laquer is flawless on neck rear, fretboard and head.

Binding is good fit but being picky (as if I paid far more for it ;) ) there is some very slightly tardy finishing on the binding at the heel end but you do need to look for it.

tuners work as they should, not too stiff, not too loose, hold tune overnight fine.

[b]intitial set-up:[/b] well 'as landed' set-up wouldn't make much difference to me as I would always set a bass up and low a a snakes belly in a rut if possible.

First things first, the trussrod came slackened off completely. I pulled the trussrod up fine to give me the usual hint of a gap at 8th fret. Nut next, I checked the string over 1st fret gap and this was spot on at .55mm over the E string, which is quite low and how I usually set my bass up, most new bass's seem much higher (to be safe I guess?) than this but she was spot on across all strings, with the gap decreasing steadily.

String height set up when checking string height over 12th fret was just over 2.2mm, I then dropped the string height on the E string to a tad under 2mm, decreasing across the others and NO string buzz at all across all strings, I could go lower...this bass can certainly take a low set-up indeed!

[b]sound: [/b]the original strings come with a label declaring "Jack & Danny Brothers US made" or someething like that, I haven't a clue who makes them, she is on std strings as I write this...they are rounds and work fine, feel like my Fender Superbass, not rough at all.

Sound with all pups up & tone wide open (treble up)! is very bright, clear & piano like (hi-fi some may say?) but rich enough, super loud too, I went from Squier VMJ and the difference was amazing, this bass has hot pups! The VMJ sounds quite tame compared to this J&D...the CVJ sounds like its on flats in comparrison.

with rear pup on only tone up good olde jazz honky nasal stuff and clear...quite addictive actually.

with front on and tone down, good smooth deep tone for when bright isn't required...I may drop a bigger cap in her though as most of my bass's have a .1uf cap, that's just me, good have that option.

obviously loads of tones in between.

One thing I did notice when slapping away to Level 42's 43 was a loud cracking noise like a tired speaker, if I play gently this went away as I'm a bit untidy when trying to slap, quite heavy handed. So I concluded the front pup too high for my style. I wound the neck pup down as far as it would go but it was still too high, so I took most of the foam out from under the front pup, dropped it down further (too far really!) and all is well. Haven't lost much volume either...did I mention hot pups.

The pups have quite deep magnets...not sure what this means?



[b]Summary[/b]:

So there you have it, it's not a Fender Custom Shop but it works fine, and as with most cheap bass's with a good set-up I reckon they are good enough for most, better than me and stonking good value for the fun you get with them...and this one is crushingly beautiful in this colour combo. I would buy another if it got stolen.

For those whom would purchase simply for the Surf Green body (and why not), it's well finished Alder, quite hard as the pick guard screws don't 'slack' after coming out a few times, and no nastyness under the pickguard, not heavy too, feels like a CVJ, the VMJ is a bit heavier.

I can't say if an AllParts or Fender neck would fit though, I can't do all the hard work!

cheers guys

E&OE I've read this thru a few times, if theres any missing words ( a bad habit of mine) I do have an excuse but the gist is there :P

Edited by iconic
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[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1390163405' post='2342235']
Thanks for the excellent review - I think I'm going to have to buy one now, (I've only got 4 Jazzes at the moment) :)

Just one question, what is the weight?
[/quote]

without scales....feels like a Classic Vibe Jazz weight...erm not heavy, but feels substantial enough, sorta typical...if that helps...which it probably doesn't ;)

Difficult to compare to VMJ's. I've had two VMJ's the first was a genuine boat anchor that would of saved the Amoco Cadiz, the second VMJ feels erm...normal.

Edited by iconic
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Thanks, my CVJ and VMJ were/are about 9.5 lbs - a bit on the heavy side but probably average, I guess this is about the same.

I like hot pickups, all my Jazz basses (including Fenders) have sounded quiet compared to my '63 Fender.
I know I can just turn the amp up, but it's not the same as a loud source signal imho.

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Great review, I'm very tempted to get one at this price. I don't want to spend a lot on a bass due to the RA but I need to build up playing hours when I'm not having a flair up. This would do the job nicely but I hate black blocks on maple necks. What to do?

Edited by Bassman Sam
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Great review! These basses look awesome (it helps if you like black blocks on maple - which I DO!) so it is good to know that they sound decent as well.

I wonder if that body would fit a standard Fender J neck? At that price it's cheaper than a refin in surf green.... :gas:

Edited by Conan
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[quote name='roceci' timestamp='1390248201' post='2343175']
iconic, good to see you pulled the trigger on one of these in the end! Damn you for writing a much better review than I did tho ;-)

Hope you're as happy with it as I am with mine.
[/quote]

It was your review that pumped my GAS sir!

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[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1390247652' post='2343166']
I'm not after another Jazz but I'm just wondering if the workmanship and playability of the J&D Jazz extends to their Precision bass clone... http://www.dv247.com/guitars/jandd-yc-pb-4-string-bass-guitar-black--201637
[/quote]

Aria do a cheap jazz with a precision neck, STB-JB the quality of mine is amazing, no excuses anywhere on my example....the J&D is very good for the price, the Aria STB-JB is exceptional.

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[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1390247652' post='2343166']
I'm not after another Jazz but I'm just wondering if the workmanship and playability of the J&D Jazz extends to their Precision bass clone... [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/jandd-yc-pb-4-string-bass-guitar-black--201637"]http://www.dv247.com...r-black--201637[/url]
[/quote]

I bought one of these Jazz's and a Precision from them a couple of years ago. While the Precision was a nice bass it seemed to have a lower quality feel to it than the Jazz. I felt it was better than the Squier Affinity and Vintage Icon Precisions I had at the time though and happily gigged it a few times.

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