| Reviewer
| The Detractus
|
| Experience
| 4
|
| Review date
| December 29 2001
|
| Manufacturer
| Fender
|
| Model
| American Hot Rod Precision Bass
|
| Price
| $1104
|
| Item owned for
| 1-6 months
|
| |
|
| Bass type
| 4 string fretted
|
| Neck join
| Bolt-On
|
| Neck construction
| 1-piece maple (don't see any seams on the back of the neck |
| |
)
|
| Fingerboard
| rosewood, 20 frets, 34" scale
|
| Body
| Ash, 1-piece body (i.e. I can't see any seams in the woodgrain)
|
| Finish
| Transparent sunset orange
|
| Pickups
| 1 "P" pickup in the neck position, 1 Jazz pickup in the bridge posit |
| |
ion
|
| Hardware
| Chrome, Fender open-back tuners, Fender bridge w/ string-through-bo |
| |
dy option
|
| Electronics
| Passive, P pickup volume, J pickup volume and tone
|
| |
|
I picked one of these up at the local music store, maybe a year and a half
ago when they first came out. Immediately fell in love with it. The
overall feel of it was fantastic. I wanted to walk right out with it then
and there, but didn't have extra money to spend.
A year and a half, and one bonus check later, and now I have one. It is
much lighter than my G&L L2000, and is fairly well-balanced when strapped
on.
I'm going for classic "P" tones with some occasional cut-through bite.
The electronics are perfect for this. I set the "P" volume to max, set
the "J" volume to zero, roll off the tone about 1/3 to 1/2, and it puts
out a real smooth classic tone. Dialing in some "J", and playing around
with the tone, I can get varying degrees of that growling midrange added in
for those times when I need it.
My L2000 can get close to that classic "P" sound but doesn't quite
duplicate what this Fender can do. However, the L2000 however has a maple
fretboard, and is overall more agressive sounding.
When the strings go dead, I'm going to try some Rotosound RS66's on it.
| Construction
| 95% | 
|
| (The pickguard warps from the body a bit in places.)
|
| Appearance
| 100% |
|
| (She's a real beauty. But beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.)
|
| Playability
| 95% |
|
| Sound
| 100% |
|
| (Sweet and smooth.)
|
| Value
| 90% |
|
| (My G&L seemed a better deal at $200 less with more sophisticated electronics. |
| But if you want the Fender, its very much worth it!)
|
| Overall
| 100% |
|
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