Bass Gear Review

Reviewer	matt blake
Experience	5
Email	matt_blake@gmx.at
Review date	August 22 2003
Manufacturer	Fender
Model	American Deluxe Precision V Bass
Price	€ 1400.--
Item owned for	6 months to 1 year

Bass type	5 string fretted
Neck join	Bolt-On
Neck construction	maple
Fingerboard	maple, 22 frets, 34"
Body	Fender says body made of ash
Finish	white blonde
Pickups	1 DLX split coil (neck), 1 special design humbucker (bridge)
Hardware	strings through body bridge, chrome
Electronics	active, volume, PU blend, bass & treble ("staggered"), mid

the split coil is 2 strings wide on the "low" end, 3 on the "high" end. the bridge humbucker consists of 2 coils with 6 polepieces each, the same one is used on 6-string versions, too. the single 9V-battery department at the back got 2 screws in metal threads (!) the eq works very well. the bass control is set at 40Hz, the mid at 500Hz, the treble at 8kHz. the treble sounds almost like a passive control if rolled off. the electronics don't need much battery, I changed mine after about 40 hours of playing and it made no difference. when I bought it, it was tuned to BEADG, and the B sounded very tight, even without amp. this bass is about 10% lighter than my other Fenders, and I guess this affects the low range. there had been a second one at the shop, it was very heavy, and the B string was "dead" although it seemed to be relatively new... the string spacing is like on a Jazz bass at the first fret, and a little bit narrower than a 4-string at the bridge. I also tried a 6-string, but the difference to my 4-string basses was to big. I need 5 strings to play chords (I play in a pop-rock trio, and there's a lot of empty space to fill whenever the guitar plays solos), so I changed the strings to EADGC (d'Addario .035 .045 .060 .080 .105). first I feared that the split coil might not have been balanced, but it was just a matter of adjusting its height. this bass sounds a little sterile compared to my "Hot Rodded" Precision bass, but that's alright for playing chords, and you could also call it "transparent" instead. it gets much warmer if you dial in more bass. I never use the mid control (don't know why), but it makes a great difference, too. due to the "light" body and the "heavy" neck, some folks may have a problem with the balance.

Construction	100%
Appearance	100%
(looks perfectly like a Precision bass)
Playability	100%
Sound	95%
Value	90%
Overall	98%