All user reviews of 4/5 for the Fender Deluxe Active Jazz Bass V (2004)

I play everything, bass, guitar, drums, keys, vocals... mainly bass though! I've been playing nearly 4 years, and in true bedroom-artist style I have practically stayed in and learnt music for pretty much most of those 4 years...

I bought it online from Soundslive.co.uk for about £475. It arrived but with a horrific dent in it that had taken the lacquer clean off! Quickly sent it back and got one straight from the Fender shop.

There is a certain good feeling about playing a Fender, its a brand you can trust, its a brand that has those around you (of my age anyway) going "ooooh" and wanting to stroke it in various ways, some a bit more worrying than others. But anyway, it gets a brilliant range of warm tones, from bassy to treble, and with a good mid. The pickups are beautifully noiseless and with no hum, the action is comfortable (however I had to tweak it a lot, as it was all over the place when I got it!) and the neck is smooth and great to play.

The active pickups with the 3 band EQ are great for on-the-fly tone adjustments. The tone pots are in easily accessible positions so you can just modify your tone on the spot and keep playing.

For the money I paid, I expected something great. Its a Fender. Its a Deluxe series. Its a Jazz bass. But, whilst it suits many styles of music, I find myself constantly going back to my beaten up... I mean "well loved" Yamaha RBX 774. The Jazz simply does not beat it. It's a case of value for money really, the Yamaha (£375) offers AMAZING tone etc, but that's not part of this review, whereas with the Jazz, I find myself a bit... lost. I feel like its built for the bassist who wants to disappear. The tone is either bassy or treble. Whilst you can get a great range of tones, you can't get that certain treble growl atop a bass sound.

Almost perfect! Its INCREDIBLY heavy though, another reason why I go back to my Yamaha for the sheer lightness. But other than that, the construction is great, except the volume pot seems to "scratch" on the scratchplate as I turn it, which doesn't scream Fender quality to me...

A great bass. A great to play, great to listen to. But its not really for the bassist that wants to stand out and be original, its for those content with standing at the back letting the guitarists do the work (and we all know that's not how it's supposed to be!)

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com