Fender Blacktop Precision & Jazz
this Precision to the point that as soon as you plug it in it actually feels like a completely different bass! Each of the humbucking pick-ups feed it’s own volume knob before going through a single tone control, ironically enough, the knobs on this guitar are black plastic Jazz bass style knobs. Upon plugging the bass in the first thing I had to do was reduce my amps gain settings as it would seem that Fender were not lying when they said these were high output pick-ups! Both positions deliver a powerful throaty sound ideal for rock playing, almost perfectly matching a valve amp’s front end where any additional overdrive really brings things to life. The neck pick-up as expected is the deeper and rounder sounding of the two and is also really responsive to where you play the string itself, whilst the back pick-up doesn’t suffer from some of the thinness that can blight pick-ups in this position and offers a modern bass sound with a nice burpy mid-range. Used together, the back pick-up can be mixed in to add attack definition or some rock growl to the middle pick-up. With both pick-ups on full however the Blacktop Precision doesn’t quite hit the spot if you are trying to get the popular Fender ‘scooped’ mid sound. However, in fairness, I’m not sure that is what this bass is all about. Tonally, the Blacktop Precision is quite versatile but it’s hard to get away from the fact that the bass feels like it’s begging you to take out a thick plectrum and start digging in…it just wants to rock out!
Blacktop Jazz With it’s pair of split coil pick-ups the Blacktop Jazz Bass promises to
sound more like a Precision than the Blacktop Precision does! If you are wondering, when the Blacktop range is all about putting humbuckers on Fender basses, why has Fender has put a standard split coil on the Jazz? Well, strictly speaking the standard split coil Precision pick-up is a hum cancelling pick-up although each string only has one coil under it, which gives it a unique sound that blends a single coil type tone and response with a punch and ballsiness one would normally associate with a standard twin coil humbucker, and of course... no hum! Both pick-ups are wired to a
standard passive Jazz control circuit (vol./vol./tone). Plugged in, things at first feel a lot more familiar and dare I say ‘vintage’ when compared to the Blacktop Precision. Soloing the middle pick-up unleashes the archetypal Precision bass sound. In isolation there are basses with more natural bottom end, but play it in a band setting or a recording situation and the tone just seems to fit perfectly. It’s difficult to explain but the inherent ‘rightness’ is all part of that classic Fender Precision sound. So far then we have a Jazz bass which sounds like a Precision, which is all very nice (especially for bassists like me with small hands). On its own the bridge pick-up gives a nicely defined sound but still offers some roundness to the tone which is unusual for a pick-up so near the bridge, a good combination is to use the bridge pick-up soloed whilst playing finger style right up by the neck which gives you a nice deep tone but with enough hard edge to still cut through. With both pick-ups on together I was surprised to hear that the Jazz bass sounded just like
SHOULD I BUY ONE?
Being a bit of a Luddite, when these basses arrived I almost didn’t want to like them. They seemed to mess with the idea of the classic Fender bass guitar. However, in use they both feel like Fenders and in the case of the Jazz bass still sound like a Fender, even if it’s not the Fender you expect! Despite Fender basses appearing in a million rock bands over the years, the Blacktop P-Bass has gained a ton more attitude. The Jazz on the other hand is a little more restrained and all the better for it; capable of classic Jazz bass tones, old school precision tones and even some sounds similar to that of Leo Fender’s later work, makes this one well rounded bass. As similar as these basses look they really are like chalk and cheese. Maybe they should have been called the Evil Twin and Perfect Cousin?!
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a classic single coil Jazz bass, albeit on steroids. The slightly scooped mids were still there but everything just sounds just a little stronger and forthright, offering both a great slap tone and a great finger-style sound at the same time. Compared to the Blacktop Precision the Jazz bass doesn’t quite match it’s stable-mate for sheer power but in most other ways those spilt coils offer incredible versatility for a passive bass. Spend time balancing those volume controls and you can dial in a wealth of awesome sounds! In fact it’s almost like having an active tone circuit in there, which brings me to my one major complaint about both the guitars.
Both basses feature a simple
passive treble roll off tone control that, whilst not like having an active preamp is still usually a more than efficient tone-shaper. Unfortunately, the tone control on these basses leaves a lot to be desired as the tone knobs act more like a switch. Turn the knob slowly down from fully up and instead of the treble gradually tapering off nothing seems to happen until the knob reaches the end of its travel, and when you get there the sound is muffled and honky, it seems strange that Fender of all people should drop the ball in this way. However, in the big picture this feels like an inconvenience rather that a deal breaker as the Precision works best as a balls-to-the- wall rock machine whilst the Jazz offers superior tone shaping simply by adjusting the pick-up levels. PM
Fender Blacktop Jazz Bass
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