Fender "innovation" launch

[BassApprentice]

Another Fender launch happening next week - and I don't think it has a P Bass in it 😯😂

 

Seems they are sticking with the Meteora shape which could be cool. Don't think we'll be blown away by the specs on anything in this release.

[PinkMohawk]

Well, I guess Fender *not* doing a P bass is innovative. 

[simisker]

nvm

Edited October 6, 2024 by simisker

[Cosmo Valdemar]

The Meteora really deserves a different headstock.

[PinkMohawk]

2 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

The Meteora really deserves a different headstock.

Maybe a take on the one from the old Fender Performers? 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Just now, PinkMohawk said:

Maybe a take on the one from the old Fender Performers? 

That would work! 

[Doctor J]

They all have P pickups, even the Telecaster. That's ground zero of the last 40 years of Fender innovation. The world ends on the 16th.

[PinkMohawk]

6 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

They all have P pickups, even the Telecaster. That's ground zero of the last 40 years of Fender innovation. The world ends on the 16th.

A Jazz with 3 P pickups in a strat config, with a strat blade switch would actually be interesting. 

[jd56hawk]

3 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

The Meteora really deserves a different headstock.

Some better colors, too...Grey Burst and 3-Tone Sunburst were terrible choices.

[Linus27]

Whatever they are launching, I'll bet money that there won't be an unlined fretless bass in the line up.

[jd56hawk]

Sorry, can't find a Jazz bass pic.

[miles'tone]

11 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

The Meteora really deserves a different headstock.

I agree. It needs one to complement the Jetsons body (which I like btw).

It deserves a headstock with retro sci-fi styling and 2+2 tuners imo. 

 

[matbard]

This is the revamped Ultra II series.

It has been rumoring for weeks now.

[eude]

18 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

Another Fender launch happening next week - and I don't think it has a P Bass in it 😯😂

 

Seems they are sticking with the Meteora shape which could be cool. Don't think we'll be blown away by the specs on anything in this release.

 

I could never deny Fender's enormous importance in the world of electric bass, but "Innovation" is not a word I ever really associate with Fender these days, have the innovated anything in the last few decades?...  

[Hellzero]

52 minutes ago, eude said:

 

I could never deny Fender's enormous importance in the world of electric bass, but "Innovation" is not a word I ever really associate with Fender these days, have the innovated anything in the last few decades?...  

Yep, the pickups and their configuration alongside the built quality of the Roscoe Beck models (V and the rarer IV): these were true innovations for Fender.

[simisker]

This is an industry where we don't even have battery power indicators despite 35 years of active instruments. Let's not get giddy about any promised "innovation"

Edited October 7, 2024 by simisker

[LeftyJ]

I think their latest line of Tonemaster guitar amps was pretty innovative: a digital modeling amp that captures just one classic amp. They have digital versions of several classics, like the Champ, Princeton, Deluxe Reverb, Twin Reverb and tweed Bassman which capture all the characteristics of just that one amp, in a package that looks like the classic amp it's emulating and with a similar speaker configuration and power level. They're priced close to their Mexican-made actual tube amps, and I see many pop up used, so I'm not so sure about their success, but I kinda like the concept - even though it completely defeats the purpose of digital modeling amps to have the tones of ALL the classic amps at the tap of a switch 

[eude]

3 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

I think their latest line of Tonemaster guitar amps was pretty innovative: a digital modeling amp that captures just one classic amp. They have digital versions of several classics, like the Champ, Princeton, Deluxe Reverb, Twin Reverb and tweed Bassman which capture all the characteristics of just that one amp, in a package that looks like the classic amp it's emulating and with a similar speaker configuration and power level. They're priced close to their Mexican-made actual tube amps, and I see many pop up used, so I'm not so sure about their success, but I kinda like the concept - even though it completely defeats the purpose of digital modeling amps to have the tones of ALL the classic amps at the tap of a switch 

OK, that's fair, in the world of bass through, they haven't been innovators for a long time.

[LeftyJ]

7 minutes ago, eude said:

OK, that's fair, in the world of bass through, they haven't been innovators for a long time.

 

Agreed! 

[Kev]

20 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

Another Fender launch happening next week - and I don't think it has a P Bass in it 😯😂

 

Seems they are sticking with the Meteora shape which could be cool. Don't think we'll be blown away by the specs on anything in this release.

 

Innovation Never Rests.  You have to applaud the rage-baiting, which I think is what the kids call it these days.

[BigRedX]

47 minutes ago, simisker said:

This is an industry where we don't even have battery power indicators despite 35 years of active instruments. Let's not get giddy about any promised "innovation"

 

35 years? More like 48. The original Stingray came out in 1976.

[neepheid]

Also, F U very much Fender...

 

[NancyJohnson]

On 06/10/2024 at 14:47, BassApprentice said:

Another Fender launch happening next week - and I don't think it has a P Bass in it 😯😂

 

Seems they are sticking with the Meteora shape which could be cool. Don't think we'll be blown away by the specs on anything in this release.

 

Where's the innovation exactly?

 

Very likely same old shapes, same old pickups, same old electronics, same old.  Imagine if Fender were a car company; everything would still look like Christine.

 

 

[prowla]

There was speculation in one group that they might be doing aluminium necks, but maybe not.

[Woodinblack]

As I mentioned on one of the companies that posted that picture, I am guessing the innovation is the same guitars in a slightly different colour, and with another confusing label that people will have to explain where it fits in the range.