Fender American Special basses

[sellisnba]

Just wondered what people People's view of the American special range is. I may be in a position to buy a 2012 p bass locally used, it has a few bumps and scrapes but adds to its character. I currently have a 2012 Mim precision bass. Would it be a worthy upgrade over my existing bass or am I wasting my money. I've heard very mixed reviews on this range. Any help would be appreciated.

Edited May 26, 2016 by sellisnba

[AndyTravis]

I really liked them - felt nicer than the mexi range.

I wish I'd got a particular P bass I had in the shop I used to work in.

[Joebethell]

Cracking basses for the money really loved mine when I had it for a P it was far nicer than some higher priced models and much lighter! damn GAS made me sell it!

[M@23]

I had a 2012 Jazz, it was really nice. Looked great in white/rosewood and sounded great. I recorded a full album with it and the producer opted to use it over his '77. It had a very deep and dark tone to it.
The only issue I had was it had absolutely zero shielding from Fender, so was very noisy.

[Lozz196]

From what I`ve read they are very nice, though apparently have a slimmer neck than US and MIM Standards.

Nige - if you decide to go for the Special and offload the MIM, I`ll happily take her back.

[Geek99]

I had one - US feel for less money, I didn't care about the case and the graphite rods

[franzbassist]

Most excellent bang for the buck.

[Lw.]

I quite often play an American Special Jazz - it's a nice bass, good tone & just behaves the way you'd expect a decent bass to behave, absolutely nothing wrong with it. It doesn't feel quite as nice as my American Standard but that could just be because it's someone else's bass & not set up by me. The main differences between the two are the special has the cheaper machine heads & bridge compared to the really nice ones on the standard and the edges are less nicely finished but that's about it as far as I can tell, though the special has a nice bit of flaming on the neck & a slightly sparkly paint job which I do quite like.

If your MIM is a good one I'm not sure how much of a step-up the American Special will be, though my knowledge of the MIMs is less the few recent ones I've played have been pretty good basses in their own right. The American Standards & American Vintage models are a real step up IMO but then they cost more.