Fender Meteora bass

[NoirBass]

New Fender Meteora bass:

 

https://www.fender.com/en-GB/player-plus-active-meteora-bass/0147393395.html
 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by NoirBass

[NoirBass]

https://www.musicradar.com/news/fender-meteora-player-plus

[Doctor J]

 

[NoirBass]

12 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

 

Doh! I’m way behind the curve. Serves me right for not reading the entire forum before I post! 🤦‍♂️

[Rayman]

I LOVE these.... Bully Tha Kid just did a quick review of one on YouTube, in a kind of silver burst colour.... love it

Edited March 16, 2022 by Rayman

[40hz]

I think I might seemingly be the only person who absolutely loves this bass! Sounds pretty sweet in the demos too. Nate Navarro put one up yesterday.

[Grahambythesea]

Sorry, @40hz I think it’s hideous and predict an even shorter lifespan than the dimension bass.

[Eldon Tyrell]

Fender should have called it the "Fender Marmite" bass. People either love it or hate it. There's not much in between. I feel my role here is to be somewhere in the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water 😉 

[uk_lefty]

48 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

predict an even shorter lifespan than the dimension bass.

Regardless of whether it is any good or not I fully agree with you. It won't last, they'll be cheap on eBay for the next ten years then they'll suddenly become semi collectible and sell for about the same as they cost new right now. Forum searches in ten years time will find this and hail me as the David Dickinson of basses.

[40hz]

No doubt it won't last long, but I don't buy a bass, based on whether other people like it or how successful it is. I dig it, massively.

 

The only let down for me, is the pickup covers. They look cheap as anything. Would have been better off with a smoother look - maybe not having exposed polepieces. They just look like two Jazz Bass pickups, stuck together with Pritt Stick or chewing gum, which knowing Fender, is probably not too far off. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by 40hz

[Waddycall]

Yuk

[Little Dragon]

Undecided on the looks, not sure the headstock matches. May have been better if the head was a similar shape to the very rare Japanese Performer?

[Ed_S]

I'm not against the body shape - kinda reminds me of a Talman - but the neck just looks like an afterthought to me. I reckon with an ebony board and matched headstock, that sunrise burst one would look just daft enough to get my vote. If they're as unpopular as people predict, I'll have one for cheap next Black Friday and find it a better neck.

[drTStingray]

This looks as though it was inspired by the Musicman Big Al HH. Is it fitted with Dimension pick ups/electronics etc? 

 

The demos sound good but I also predict it won’t last too long in the range!! 

Edited March 17, 2022 by drTStingray

[jd56hawk]

3 hours ago, Little Dragon said:

Undecided on the looks, not sure the headstock matches. May have been better if the head was a similar shape to the very rare Japanese Performer?

 

[NoirBass]

5 hours ago, jd56hawk said:

 

Agreed, that looks a lot better.

[uk_lefty]

15 hours ago, 40hz said:

No doubt it won't last long, but I don't buy a bass, based on whether other people like it or how successful it is. I dig it, massively

Agree 100% I think it looks fantastic and I love the double jazz pup. I've just bought a bass this week but if this was available to me it would have been a contender. They just don't do them for left handers, typical Fender. 

[Rich]

Yes, there's been a lot of debate on the other thread... general consensus is that the stock one looks lazy and that almost anything else would be better. The Starcaster h'stock seems to be popular, but the Tele one works quite well too. Even the old 80s pointy Performer one would be better.

[Musicman20]

Should have been 3 single coils! 

[jd56hawk]

2 hours ago, Musicman20 said:

Should have been 3 single coils! 

Didn't help this one.

Of course, the fact that Fender decided to name it after a mobile scooter for senior citizens didn't help...neither did being available in only one finish.

[Cato]

41 minutes ago, jd56hawk said:

Didn't help this one.

Of course, the fact that Fender decided to name it after a mobile scooter for senior citizens didn't help...neither did being available in only one finish.

 

Fender stopped making those Rascals just before the current short scale craze started really kicking off.

 

If they started making them again now I suspect there would be a lot more interest.

[NoirBass]

I really do think Fender are damned of they do and damned if they don't.

 

They are in many ways cursed by having the 2 if not 3 most popular (and well used) bass designs ever! P,J, T.

 

Like many of us on here, I spend most of my time playing a P bass and when I'm not I'm sort of wishing I was.

 

I say good on them for at least trying to offer something slightly different.

[Bassassin]

Far more wrong than right - the body & scratchplate are great designs, but that's where it ends. Aesthetically the bog-standard Fender headstock looks wrong & is lazy, imo a Tele shape would work better, and certainly not that wonky 80s Ibanez-looking thing above. No issues with the pickups, but they need single-coil & passive switching. For me, I'd like a bound maple/pearl blocks (pearl dots at a pinch) neck & a pearl scratchplate.

 

Also a Squier logo & £399 price tag would make the biggest difference.

[jd56hawk]

And just in case the 18-Volt active preamp isn't enough for blasting off to deep space...

[NancyJohnson]

Not my thing at all.  I know that in the past I've bemoaned the lack of innovation, new design/shapes etc, but this is an absolute munter.  

 

It is possible to do something new, I mean Musicman have a handful of love 'em/hate 'em shapes, but the Bongo and St. Vincent are wonderful things.  Fender do it and it looks like an animator from Hanna Barbera designed it.