Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass

Taken from Fender.com: Marcus Miller’s combination of soulful groove and astounding technical ability has made him one of the jazz world’s preeminent virtuoso bassists.

Eurgh. That is my only problem with this baby, it is cursed with a Jazz player's name. And it's a pity, because the damn thing sounds huge and awesome and I know a lot of people who would never buy it just because they read that damn passage on some Fender catalogue or another

Actually not that many people. But enough.

Down to business, the MM J-Bass packs everything you would expect from this classic instrument plus a preamp system and a Badass II bridge, which is AWESOME. The Badass is much more tonally stable than the original J-Bass bridge design, and it sounds at least as good.

The body is made of ash and the neck is maple, emulating the 1977 designs of the Jazz Bass series. The neck design is actually kind of interesting, as it is extremely thin towards the headstock. The guy in the store told me that the 5-string model has a neck width only marginally bigger than a normal four-string pBass and apparently that was a request by Miller, who plays a five string.

I myself would never touch a five string with a 20-foot pole, but the thin neck suits me fine, since I use a lot of chord fingerings.

The tonality of the instrument is pretty versatile. You can get a wide tonal range out of the EQ system (max +15dB at 40Hz and 6.4 KHz from bass and treble boost respectively) in conjuction with the preamp. The preamp is actually pretty linear in frequency response, so no surprises there. I am considering of maybe sticking a Bartolini on the bridge position, 'cause you gotta love a Bartolini on distortion, and I use a lot of distortion. The neck pickup sounds just swell out of the box, I would never think of changing it.

So, just in case anybody didn't get the message yet, I LOVE THIS BASS. THIS BASS ROCKS. Even the price is extremely reasonable for what the instrument offers, and that is pretty rare for a Fender, or any other high profile U.S. manufacturer for that matter.