Jet Guitars Jazz Bass

[bubinga5]

6 hours ago, ead said:

Well the bass has just arrived, nicely packed from R&T in Barrow-in-Furness (dead easy to deal with btw).

 

Initial inspection revealed nothing to be concerned about at all and the gold finish is really deep and lush.  The strings align well with the pickup pole pieces, the action has been set quite low and the bass weighs in at just a few grams over 4kgs, so a very decent weight.

 

There is a nice thick slab of rosewood for the fretboard and there are no sharp fret edges.  The neck pocket is also nice and tight.  The bone nut may be cut slightly too deep but we will see if that's an issue when I give the bass some TLC after work tonight.  Overall a great job by Jet Guitars' manufacturing partner.

 

I'll give it a good play over the next couple of days and report back.

 

Token bass pic.

 

Please do.  Congrats

[ead]

After work I took a few bits off to have a poke around.  The fretboard looked a little dry so a light rub with some lemon oil was in order.  The electrics are not of the highest quality but do work well are are not simply "on/off" switches.

 

The cavity was unshielded (unsurprisingly) and a bit dusty as others have noticed, but again easily sorted.  It is also wide enough to comfortably take a 9v battery...

 

The strings felt a little dead but I'm leaving them on until after band practice next week.  The bass plays really nicely out of the box and has clearly had a very good set up by R&T.  The roasted neck is amazing and so nice to move around on with the lovely satin finish.  A great bass, certainly excellent VFM and as good as many Fenders.  Can't wait to try it with the band.

 

A couple more pics for you.

 

 

[leroydiamond]

18 hours ago, ead said:

After work I took a few bits off to have a poke around.  The fretboard looked a little dry so a light rub with some lemon oil was in order.  The electrics are not of the highest quality but do work well are are not simply "on/off" switches.

 

The cavity was unshielded (unsurprisingly) and a bit dusty as others have noticed, but again easily sorted.  It is also wide enough to comfortably take a 9v battery...

 

The strings felt a little dead but I'm leaving them on until after band practice next week.  The bass plays really nicely out of the box and has clearly had a very good set up by R&T.  The roasted neck is amazing and so nice to move around on with the lovely satin finish.  A great bass, certainly excellent VFM and as good as many Fenders.  Can't wait to try it with the band.

 

A couple more pics for you.

 

 

What weight would you guess this bass might be?

Edited June 20 by leroydiamond

[ead]

1 hour ago, leroydiamond said:

What weight would you guess this bass might be?

 

According to my scales it's about 50g over 4kgs, so just under 9lbs.

[leroydiamond]

24 minutes ago, ead said:

 

According to my scales it's about 50g over 4kgs, so just under 9lbs.

Many thanks. 

[ead]

Well I've now had the bass for about a week and have played it most days including a full 3hr session at practice last night.  Overall I find it to be a really good jazz bass indeed.  My only direct frame of reference in terms of a 70s spacing is my former Geddy Lee Ltd Edn Japanese Jazz.  Possibly also an ACG J Type that has the same spacing but is a rather different beast.

 

The bass is still absolutely stock including the strings it arrived with and they sound pretty good so I am wondering whether the retailer also changed them when they set the bass up.  Compared to the Geddy Lee bass the JJB-300 really isn't far behind at all.  I'd say maybe slightly less 'richer' in sounding in terms of it having slightly less deep bass to my ears.  We're really not talking tinny, just a fraction less depth.

 

The roasted maple neck for me is actually considerably better as I'm not a massive fan of the heavily lacquered gloss necks.  It's not as super skinny as the Geddy but that also suits my large hands!  The band loved it and the colour was also a source of comment.

 

The pickups are quite lively and the bass is certainly no shrinking violet and the rosewood fretboard now looks lush after my lemon oil treatment as well.  The tuners are a little stiff, but I've not yet had a play with the tensioning screws so I may be able to fix that easily.  They hold tune well so hopefully no need to do anything else in this space.  I'm not sure how heavy they are but I'll take one out and weight it when I have a moment.

 

I think the bass would also be a good modding platform.  The things that I was thinking about (mostly before I had given the bass a chance to shine) were any permutation or combination of the following:

 

KiOgon loom (obvs) 

Different p/guard.  Possibly black or parchment but, maybe more interesting to add a brown tort item.  Not that the red tort looks bad but I think brown tort would just be the mutt's nuts.

Clearly loads of pickup options and I was thinking about EMG Js

Tuners, but only if I can't get the original fit items adjusted to my liking.

 

However after a week with the bass I think it sounds pretty good as is and maybe just a higher quality loom is what's needed.  Possibly an alternative pickguard too.

 

All in all I have spend more money on used Jazz basses that have not been as good as this one.  I love it and I can't see it going anywhere soon tbh.  It would, however, be great to hear what a proper player/reviewer like our very own @Dood would make of it. 

 

Either way I hope that is helpful to you good people.

 

Edited June 27 by ead

[Dood]

Awww thank you for the kind words  . They are on my radar and I hope to get my paws on one soon for a full review! Great review @ead! It's funny you should mention EMGs as I have a J set here ready for a J bass. I'll do a comaprison video for those when I have a moment to set that up too. 

[bremen]

On 27/06/2024 at 09:39, ead said:

Well I've now had the bass for about a week...

 

The roasted maple neck for me is actually considerably better as I'm not a massive fan of the heavily lacquered gloss necks...

 

Either way I hope that is helpful to you good people.

 

It certainly is helpful, thanks Ead, I'm very tempted to get one of these.

 

Is the heel the same dimensions as standard J/P? In the event that I don't get on with the J body and pickups, would I be able to stick the neck in a P body?

 

Thanks

[bremen]

Mr Ead replied by pm to suggest "possibly not".

 

But I bought one anyway 😀

 

All the way from Glesca...should be among us next week. Dead excited, me.

[LukeFRC]

They do look good 

[ead]

3 hours ago, bremen said:

Mr Ead replied by pm to suggest "possibly not".

 

But I bought one anyway 😀

 

All the way from Glesca...should be among us next week. Dead excited, me.

 

Clearly photos will be required plus another opinion on the bass

[bremen]

My opinion is that it's the nicest bass I've ever played. The neck is sublime, I mean the way it looks and feels.

 

Really nice setup from Merchant City, easy action all the way up with no fret buzz anywhere. Perfectly intonated. Some reviewers hve noted that the strings are a bit dead, mine certainly weren't.

 

It's my first Jazz type bass, after many years of P fanboidom (and a Warwick Thumb that just wasn't me). It's good to have less variation in tone betwen EA and DG, that's the one thing I've struggled with with Ps.

 

Rehearsal Monday and a pair of gigs next week (one of them a return to Glesca for the bass) so let's see how it goes in the real world.

[bremen]

Ead, what is this loom upgrade of which you speak?

[ead]

3 hours ago, bremen said:

Ead, what is this loom upgrade of which you speak?

 

There's a BC member @KiOgon who does very high quality looms for a very decent price.  One thing I have not checked yet is the hole diameters in the bell plate to make sure I get the right pots rather than having to do filing.

 

p.s.  I think that we need to see a pic now

[ead]

Just a heads-up for any owners thinking about mods, I measured up the pickguard last night and it appears that this is not a std J bass item, so looks like I'll need to get one cut specially.

[bremen]

[ead]

Nice!  Looks like the burst has been done nicely with some sensitivity.

[bremen]

12 hours ago, ead said:

 

There's a BC member @KiOgon who does very high quality looms for a very decent price.  One thing I have not checked yet is the hole diameters in the bell plate to make sure I get the right pots rather than having to do filing.

 

p.s.  I think that we need to see a pic now

OK...do you think there's a problem with the wiring then? Mine seem good, not on/off, easy to reduce the bridge pickup a bit while keeping neck full on.

 

[ead]

10 hours ago, bremen said:

OK...do you think there's a problem with the wiring then? Mine seem good, not on/off, easy to reduce the bridge pickup a bit while keeping neck full on.

 

 

Well I've not ordered anything yet.  As you say all seems good electronically and I'm going to give the bass several more practices and maybe a gig or two before I decide.

[bremen]

Mine's just developed a plague of fret buzzes, despite the perfect setup when it left Glesca. I'm reassured that it just needs a tweeze of truss rod and a nice lie down with a cuppa tea and a spliff.

 

Shame I won't get to gig it tonight but the Precision sounds gorgeous so all good.

[ead]

Having just upgraded the pickup (Fender Custom Shop '59) and the wiring loom on my JBP I have notice a really nice improvement in tone taking it from a really good bass to a great bass so am now minded to do something with the JJB too.

 

I was just scouting evilbay and stumbled across a set of the Tom Brantley pickups (he does Geddy Lee's pickups).  Too much of a coincidence so I have just acquired them.  I'll now look for a suitable loom.  Reporting back will of course be in order once everything arrives and is installed and tested.

[miles'tone]

Sweet serendipitous score!

A 'Ki0gan' loom (fellow basschatter) with series/parallel push-pull vol pot ftw! 👊

[ead]

1 hour ago, miles'tone said:

A 'Ki0gan' loom (fellow basschatter) with series/parallel push-pull vol pot ftw! 👊

 

Yes indeed, already on order.  I've gone for a straight VVT set up with 250k pots and a 33nF cap for a little more top end.  Emergency 47nF cap included in case I feel it's too much.