Review : Fender Player II Jazz Bass
Introduction
With the release of the Player II series of instruments, Fender has told the world that the equipment coming out of their Ensenada Mexico is neither lower grade or lesser quality. Frankly, if you cannot hear and feel a difference and want a Fender product, why would you pay more?
As I was very impressed with the Player II Stratocaster, I wanted to see how the bass lineup did, and as I love the Jazz bass neck and tone, I worked with Shane at The Arts Music Store to arrange an evaluation unit for a short time.
Initial Findings
I had high expectations after the Player II Stratocaster and was not disappointed in any way. Body shape is a Jazz Bass which is gently offset. The one I received was in Aquatone Blue but the instrument is available in Sunburst, Hialeah Yellow (think chicken fat yellow like a 70’s Vette), Birch Green, Black, Polar White and that fantastic Coral Red that the Strat I had was painted. Pick the colour you like best. I thought the blue was different enough from the normal boring (to me).
The body is Alder and is reasonably weighted. The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard. A maple fingerboard is delivered with the Black, Coral Red and Polar White paint colours. The truss rod is adjustable at the headstock. It has a 34” scale length with 20 frets, a synthetic bone nut and medium jumbo frets. The fretwork was very good on my sample, and there was no fret sprout at all. It has the narrower 1.5” Jazz bass nut. The body is finished in high gloss polyester and the back of the neck is wonderfully smooth and stick free satin urethane. The neck shape is the standard Fender C.
The pickups are both Fender Alnico 5 Jazz Bass pickups. Each has its own volume control and there is a single tone control that affects both pickup’s output. This is a passive bass so no worries about batteries.
The bridge is a standard four saddle arrangement and the tuning machines are open backed. There is no rocket science here, just proven simplicity.
Balance is excellent even with a cloth strap. I did not encounter head dive in my use. Everything was where I expected it to be and there was no acclimatization required on my part. Folks accustomed to wider nuts, such as on a Precision Bass or an alternate vendor might need a few minutes at the worst.
The strings are Fender’s generic .45 - 1.05 set. Not the worst, but I am no fan of Fender factory strings, so if I were spending the money on this instrument, as with any, I would plan on replacing the strings after the first month and I had decided to keep the bass. The action was set well out of the box, with no fret buzz. If you are a heavy slapper, you would probably raise the action a bit to avoid fret bounce and thwack.
Playing
It’s a Jazz bass, and a good one, so comfortable with great sound and decent but not overdriving power out of the pickups. I tried it through a variety of bass amps and found it very versatile. In addition to the SVT 8x10, I also played through a Darkglass MT900V2 which sounded good although I do find those amps a bit pokey some times with passive pickups. I also did my attempt at slap with a Markbass MoMark 15 and while I love the sound, I’m really a beginner at the slap technique. The final amp that I tried was a Mesa Subway that I like for 5 and 6 string bass and this bass did a great job. I also ran it through a Spark 40 and it sounded ok, but I confess that I find the Spark’s computational audio bass options to be weak on their best day, but that’s my opinion.
The point is that it sounds terrific in all cases. The neck is very fast and very comfortable. Vibrato techniques were smooth and while for slap, I would raise the action a bit, it gets the job done. I was whacking the frets with the strings as it is, but I blame my lack of skill more than the bass.
Sample Sounds
To provide you with some idea of how the bass sounds when recorded, I elected to plug it directly into my Quad Cortex using my Ampeg SVT preset. This preset includes the 87 compressor with a slow attack, medium release and 12:1 compression at a 60% load into the output. It then goes to an SVT head, gain at 5.3, bass at 2, mids at 4, treble at 2. The cabinet is an Ampeg 8x10 with 70’s Alnico speakers miked with a Shure SM57 and a Neumann U47 both slightly off axis.
The signal goes to UA Luna as left and right. Each side uses an API Vision Channel Strip with a bass preset using a Studer A800 preset for a little warmth. The final master uses Neve Summing, and an Ampeg ATR-102 tape for very gentle saturation. There is a UA 1176LN compressor using a bass preset and a Precision Maximizer using a Mix Boost.
I then mixed the master track down to MP3 at 256kbps CBR. This is how I would record this bass for rock music and even with MP3 compression gives a really good idea of how really nice this bass sounds out of the box. The track starts with both pickups, then middle pickup only, then bridge pickup only, then both pickups for the remainder. I left out any overdrives, choruses or delays, because the only thing other than a compressor that I use is a gentle chorus set low on some occasions. You will use whatever pleases you.
Wrapping Up
At $1099 for this bass, I struggle to see how you could go wrong. It plays great, feels great and sounds great. It’s passive so no battery issues or potential for weird wiring problems. It’s built on the proven Jazz Bass framework and says Fender on the headstock. While it’s called a Jazz Bass, lots of rock and country players have used them for decades. Don’t let the name get in the way. Also forget the country of manufacture BS. If it feels good and sounds good, it’s good and that is that. If you want to get yourself one, please consider buying from The Arts Music Store, either live in person or via their online store. They help me get units to share reviews with you.
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