Modern Player Jazz Bass Review

The Modern Player series was introduced in October 2011, as an affordable 'First Fender'. This bass include a real 'retro' bridge with brass saddles. Its has two volume knobs and one tone. It's a passive bass with two dual jazz bass pickups (Humbuckers). Overall it's an amazing bass for the price.

Features:	8.5
Sound:	9.5
Action:	9
Reliability:	9.5
Impression:	9.5
Overall rating:	9.2
Reviewer rating:	9.2
Users rating:	9.1
Votes:	15

overall: 9.2

Reviewed by: BenGriffiths, on may 14, 2012

Price paid: £ 401

Purchased from: Andertons, Guildford

Features: The Modern Player series was introduced in October 2011, as an affordable 'First Fender'. The body of the bass is made of Alder, with a rosewood fingerboard. This bass include a real 'retro' bridge with brass saddles. Its has two volume knobs and one tone. Its a passive bass with two dual jazz bass pickups (Humbuckers). The bass come with Fender strings, medium gauge, but I swapped them straight away with Ernie Ball Power Slinkys. No accessories came with it. // 8

Sound: When I plugged it into my Laney RB3, I didn't know what to expect, I've never played or owned a Fender before. When I did it gave me a rich, deep sound that I couldn't get with any of the other basses. I thought it might have been the strings so I tested some super Slinkys and it still gave me the same kind of sound. If you turn up the tone knob to full it gives you a real sharp tone which is brilliant for slap bass, or all the way down for FAT lows. Brilliant sound altogether! // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: I changed the strings straight away, when I did I didn't need to adjust the action, it was pretty much perfect. However I did adjust the pickups to my liking. The was is really solid, nothing was loose or needed fixing. And after owning it for a few months now, the jack input hasn't come loose or started moving about. Everything fitted perfectly, no flaws that I couldn't point out much that's wrong with it. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I've used this bass for a gig once and its my main bass, I use it all the time for band practice and for practicing at home. Everything about it seems like it would last forever and I would defiantly rely on it without bringing a back up and with a thick layer of gloss it doesn't look like the paint will wear off anytime soon. // 10

Impression: I play I wide range of different music, mostly stuff from RHCP, RATM and Muse. I've been played bass for just over 2 years now and will be using this bass for ages, its a massive upgrade from my Squier MOD 70's Jazz. If this bass was stolen I would probably buy this bass again or a MusicMan, pretty hard to decide. Overall its an amazing bass for the price and now I can officially say I've owned a Fender. // 9

Reviewed by: unregistered, on august 23, 2012

Price paid: £ 300

Purchased from: Ebay

Features: In terms of features this is a fairly bog Standard Jazz Bass aside from the Vintage style bass bridge and also the jazz humbuckers making a big difference to the sound giving a full humbucking tone or rolling it back to half volume giving the old single coil sound. // 9

Sound: I play a variety of styles from Red Hot Chili's style funk to palm desert riffs the sounds this bass can produce are good in variety the pickups are able to pickup full C downtuning without any problems, whilst they are humbucking pickups and give a nice fat tone rolling back the volume to around half gives the good old Fender jazz bass sound and its very versatile in its applications I'm happy to say. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: At first I was slightly wary of this series as it was china-made and having had below average quality control from china before I was wary however at 300 for a Fender I was prepared to risk it. I was very happily surprised by the quality of this bass aside from adjusting the truss rod and raising the action from the travelling it had had with the couriers it was in perfect condition and ready to play right out of the box. // 9

Reliability & Durability: Whilst a heavy beast to lug around with a thin strap using a wide leather strap its a great, the construction is very solid and I would confidently play this live without a backup, the construction and build quality is frankly great and I would feel safe with it in a gig bag if no decent hard case was available. // 9

Impression: From switching from a Squier jazz bass to this bass its not an overly hard transition to make as its a large quality improvement and the tone is great as well, if this was stolen I'd buy another or broken I would try hard as hell to get it properly fixed its a great bass and fully worth the price its listed and not the £300 I managed to snatch it for only fault I have which is one of pure vanity is that it attracts fingerprints like no bass I've ever had. // 10

Comments

[JB95]

The was is really solid

Wat

[DoodlySquat]

JB95 wrote:

The was is really solid

Wat

You've never heard of the . Everybody has very solid these days.

[Vabolo]

JB95 wrote:

The was is really solid

Wat

Exactly.

[Wolfene]

Just wondering if I should get this or is a Squier vintage modified jazz bass good enough?

[BenGriffiths]

Wolfene wrote:

Just wondering if I should get this or is a Squier vintage modified jazz bass good enough?

Get the fender i have the squier and the fender beats it by miles

[MaggaraMarine]

BenGriffiths wrote:

Wolfene wrote:

Just wondering if I should get this or is a Squier vintage modified jazz bass good enough?

Get the fender i have the squier and the fender beats it by miles

There are many different Fenders and Squiers. These Fenders are made in China so they might come from the same factory as some Squier guitars. Though I don't think it really matters, I think they use more quality parts on these Fenders.

[Jordanelpaco]

Wolfene wrote:

Just wondering if I should get this or is a Squier vintage modified jazz bass good enough?

ive played both types of these depends what your looking for this reminded me of a musicman im sure it was to do with the pickups and the squier vm jazz is litereally the closest thing you'll get to a fender jazz without paying the load of cash. i prefared the squier cause it had such a fast maple neck on it but thats just my opinion. but dont pick this just cause its name!

[clitheroekid100]

Love my Squire Jazz Vintage Modified.I have tried the Fender Modern Player and that was good too but I wouldn't swap. Try them out for yourself. 40 years of playing and I'm still learning (of is that forgetting?!)

[Untensil]

I have one of these and it sounds amazing! I had to get it setup before I could really play it. However, I seem to have a grounding issue with the bass.