New Fender Player II Modified range launched

[sPiKi]

Some interesting features and good colours, but £999? Good value?

 

https://uk.fender.com/products/player-ii-modified-active-jazz-bass?variant=50790143557919

 

 

 

Edited April 15 by sPiKi

[gjones]

Well, a John East pre amp would cost about £200 to upgrade your standard Player II, so £999 isn't so bad considering, I suppose..

 

 

[HeadlessBassist]

Okay, so these are replacing the Player Plus I presume? (Really liked the graduated paint schemes on Player Plus.)

 

Btw, the guy who did the Precision Player Modified video was very annoying and playing out of time.

 

As for the girl in the Player Modified Jazz video, please bring back Annie Clements, Fender.

 

 

[asingardenof]

This range will be competing with Sire and the Sadowsky MetroExpress range primarily, and I'm not sure what these bring to the table to make them stand out other than being a more recognisable brand to muggles.

[neepheid]

4 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

This range will be competing with Sire and the Sadowsky MetroExpress range primarily, and I'm not sure what these bring to the table to make them stand out other than being a more recognisable brand to muggles.

 

I'm thinking similar - first the rolled edges, now the preamp, it smacks of playing catchup to me.

[Terry M.]

They've gone from a 12" radius on the Player Plus models to 9.5" on these which will save them some money on production as it's now shared with other models. The Player Plus already had the rolled fingerboard edges so from what I can see it's just the passive tone control that's new (and the aforementioned radius). I only recently acquired  a used Player Plus Jazz V with a modified Sadowsky onboard pre and it's not going anywhere in favour of this new one. Flatter fretboard radius has always been a plus to me for added playability. Oh and the Player Plus V Jazz has my preferred 19mm string spacing as standard. No thanks Fender I'm good for now.

Edited April 15 by Terry M.

[Sean]

Fender innovation at its peak.

[basshead56]

The Dusk purple and Harvest Green Metallic look cool on the Jazz but hardly anything spectacularly different.

Fender seem to think a preamp and a different/extra pickup equate to revolutionary.

 

Would've been much cooler with a Meteora or Rascal or something a bit bolder than the traditional fare of the last 40 odd years.

[crazycloud]

More meh from Fender.

Based on my recent purchases from Cort, and having owned and played many Fenders of various vintages and construction location, I'd have the Cort GB series (FSO-ish) any day for lots less pesos. Haven't tried a Sire, but likely the same would apply; I'd buy the SIre blind, and returns are harder for change of mind here, over the Fender every time, MIA, MIJ, MIM, MII or MIC.

Edited Wednesday at 08:06 by crazycloud

[Lozz196]

I really liked the colour of the butterscotch one in the vid, looks much better than in the photos. Agree there`s not much here that`s new, but maybe Fender are reacting to what people have said they prefer, they mentioned a redesigned/better preamp for example. 

[Alanko]

18 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

Btw, the guy who did the Precision Player Modified video was very annoying and playing out of time.

Weird that he talks about the empowerment of modifying instruments yourself, when this is a pre-modified instrument. He talks a lot if rubbish in general, however. Adding a J pickup to a bass gives you more midrange?!

 

Agree with the idea that Fender have been shown up slightly by the spec Sire can deliver for less money.

[Terry M.]

1 minute ago, Alanko said:

Weird that he talks about the empowerment of modifying instruments yourself, when this is a pre-modified instrument. He talks a lot if rubbish in general, however. Adding a J pickup to a bass gives you more midrange?!

 

Agree with the idea that Fender have been shown up slightly by the spec Sire can deliver for less money.

I was also wondering about this. How is talking about modifying a brand new bass effective marketing? Made little if any sense to me. I've never been more grateful for the 2nd hand market. Fender are charging quite a lot of money for that passive tone circuit.

[jd56hawk]

Not a Fender fan, but I wouldn't mind owning this one.

I don't expect anything innovative from Fender, why should I, but this sounds like it may just be something that gets the job done, and that's really what it's all about.

Edited Thursday at 00:18 by jd56hawk

[chris_b]

I am a Fender fan, but they said nothing that would make me reach for my bank card.

[crazycloud]

5 hours ago, jd56hawk said:

I don't expect anything innovative from Fender, why should I, but this sounds like it may just be something that gets the job done, and that's really what it's all about.

And there are dozens of other brands that will do the same, usually for less money, and better consistency and QC.

[Geek99]

On 15/04/2025 at 15:36, HeadlessBassist said:

.

 

As for the girl in the Player Modified Jazz video, please bring back Annie Clements, Fender.

 

 

What is wrong with her? She did a good job of demonstrating 

[Terry M.]

Surely it can't be that hard for Fender to design a tone control that works in both active and passive modes. Unless they literally can't see the point in doing so. I'm not saying it's an ABSOLUTE must but it does expand the tonal pallette somewhat. Sire managed it from the get-go so...

[AndyTravis]

33 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Surely it can't be that hard for Fender to design a tone control that works in both active and passive modes. Unless they literally can't see the point in doing so. I'm not saying it's an ABSOLUTE must but it does expand the tonal pallette somewhat. Sire managed it from the get-go so...

They did it on the Jaguar Bass in about 2005

[Terry M.]

1 hour ago, AndyTravis said:

They did it on the Jaguar Bass in about 2005

So they CAN do it. Why stop there I wonder...

[AndyTravis]

3 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

So they CAN do it. Why stop there I wonder...

$3 saving on 10,000 basses.

 

probably.

 

scrimp scrimp scrimp.

 

keep costs down, push prices up. 
 

etc.

 

Got excited when I saw “electric blue” - but then realised it’s just a flat blue paint like the Squier affinity Baltic blue from 10 years ago.

 

meh.

[Alanko]

8 hours ago, chris_b said:

I am a Fender fan, but they said nothing that would make me reach for my bank card.

I tend to think Fender should leave active electronics to the competition and focus on making good passive instruments. Their preamp designs carry minimal clout. Fender were late to the game on this one. Even Sire preamps are quietly well regarded online, whereas Fender stuff is just mystery OEM stuff.

 

I might be in the minority on this one, however!

[Geek99]

On 15/04/2025 at 15:36, HeadlessBassist said:

 

 

Btw, the guy who did the Precision Player Modified video was very annoying and playing out of time.

 

 

 

 

I agree he is annoying however both are about a thousand light years ahead of me in both skill and talent so I don’t feel good about criticising their playing 

[Terry M.]

1 hour ago, Alanko said:

I tend to think Fender should leave active electronics to the competition and focus on making good passive instruments. Their preamp designs carry minimal clout. Fender were late to the game on this one. Even Sire preamps are quietly well regarded online, whereas Fender stuff is just mystery OEM stuff.

 

I might be in the minority on this one, however!

I agree with you. My used Player Plus Jazz V I got already had been retrofitted with a Sadowsky onboard circuit. A huge reason why I bought it.

[jd56hawk]

4 hours ago, crazycloud said:

And there are dozens of other brands that will do the same, usually for less money, and better consistency and QC.

Yes, I know, I have one of the best Jazz basses made.

[Alanko]

19 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

I agree with you. My used Player Plus Jazz V I got already had been retrofitted with a Sadowsky onboard circuit. A huge reason why I bought it.

My suspicion is that most end up with an upgraded replacement preamp if used as a main instrument. The benefit being that the body is already routed for batteries, additional controls, etc, versus hogging out a passive bass to house these.