First, I have to say, this is going to be the last Against the Blue Wall, because I am moving apartments. I am still going to look at gear it just won’t be against this specific Blue Wall.
I’m not sure why it has taken me so long to post this but a while ago I changed basses. If you look back into my postings I had a Schecter devil bass. It was a fine bass but mainly I wasn’t a big fan of the active pickups. I found I was just setting it to one setting and then leaving it. Heavy, very little treble or pop. It was also clearly a metal bass. It had these “tribal” markings on it. It was definitely a step up from my old Ibanez GIO but not everything I wanted. However, I believe the Ibanez GIO basses are the best beginner basses, if you want to spend less than $200 on one.
So I ended up trading it in for a Fender Telecaster bass. I know, it’s all teles with me. I had been eying a Gretsch hollow body bass, but ultimately the solid body suits me better.
I have gotten to like the Fender basses a lot more. For some reason I was always drawn to the Ibanez style basses in the past. I think I liked the simplicity of the design more. However, after playing through a few Gibsons and Epiphones, Squires and Fenders, some more Schecters and Warwicks and some acoustic basses , I decided on the telecaster bass. It’s in the modern player series, so it is imagining of a bass from the past that never existed, but it works. This one specifically has a really cool pickguard. I think Fender has come out with some of the coolest looking guitars and basses in the past few years. I am still waiting on the voyager because when that hits the shelf I am getting one. Basically, the reason I ended up getting it was that I liked the feel of the neck, the controls are really straight forward, I liked the tone and it has some cool humbuckers in it. I am also a fan of the butterscotch blonde finish.
One thing I really like on this bass as opposed Fender’s guitars is the neck has a high gloss finish all the way around it. I am not a fast bass player so maybe that’s why it isn’t in my way. I tried a few standard and American jazz and p basses, but this one just felt the best. That is one thing that the internet can never replicate, trying out basses and guitars in a store. It makes all the difference in the world.
Some of the features on this bass:
-20 Frets (the Schecter had 24, but I never went past 14)
-34” Scale (the Schecter was an extra long scale, it was more annoying that I thought it would be to find strings)
– open gear tuners- I am super happy with these. I at first didn’t like the Key style of the tuners and I would always go for the wishbone shaped ones. Maybe it was just time but now I think they look pretty cool. These thing hold the tuning really well.
-2 Humbucker pickups – I think this is the most salient part. Almost all Fender basses have single coils so this one definitely stands out.
-2 volumes and 1 tone – This is all I need. Maybe I love this simple configuration because I never took the time to really play around with the active pickups. At this point though I don’t really care why I like but I do.
So the one thing I did change was the knobs. It comes with these lightweight little chrome knurled ones and they don’t feel really solid. So I bought a few P-Bass knobs and put them on. When I look on forums and reviews this is the biggest complaint. So instead of complaining I just swapped them. The saddles are solid I trust them. Anyway, all the other saddles on basses I used before were pretty cheap, so these brass ones sound great. The only other thing I am not so sure about is the nut. It looks kind of unfinished and unattractive but I won’t do anything now unless it cracks or breaks.
I think this is a great bass. Fender calls it an entry level bass and I guess for about $600 it is. I preferred it of the more expensive ones though. I play a lot out bass with others but my main focus is on guitar so that’s why more of my money goes into guitars.
Here are a few photos:
Fender Telecaster Bass – This pic makes it looks really long but it’s not.
Body Shot
Head Shot – the tuners have never slipped on me
From a Distance
Songs of Adventure 