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Post subject: Fender Jaguar
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:07 pm
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I currently own a P-bass and a J-Bass, but I saw a Jaguar bass online and I really like the looks of it. Can anyone tell me more about this bass? How does it sound, play, feel, quality level, ect. I play a lot of Blues and Classic Rock.


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Post subject: Jaguar Bass
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 5:03 am
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I have the hotrod red Jaguar, and it is spectacular sounding, and very well made. Japanese Jaguar based Fender products have superb finishes, very smooth. You'll get used to the buttons and wheels and stuff quickly. Bottom line is it's an active bass similar to a Jazz, but with the nice cut off switches for pickups, or run in series for a deep, twisted sound, play around enough with it and you can emulate a Jazz, P-Bass, or some weird combo.

The bass will run in passive mode if batteries die--a nice touch.

As with all newer Fender Basses, I wish they'd have a string mute attachment standard.


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Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:17 am
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The Jaguar plays a lot like my Frankenbass - which is a 70's p-bass body with a JP-90 neck. The body is a little lighter than the p-bass with better contour. Of course the electronics blow the standard p-bass setup away. You can dial in any tone you can imagine. It's a very easy to play and rewarding instrument right out of the box. It can handle whatever you throw at it. I would recommend it to anyone. 8)


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Post subject: Re: Fender Jaguar
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:58 am
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affolterp-bass wrote:
I currently own a P-bass and a J-Bass, but I saw a Jaguar bass online and I really like the looks of it. Can anyone tell me more about this bass? How does it sound, play, feel, quality level, ect. I play a lot of Blues and Classic Rock.




Howdy, I've had my HRR Jaguar Bass since late '08. Like yourself, I also play a lot of Blues and Classic Rock type stuff. The Jaguar is a very cool bass to own and play, the sounds you can get of of it are unbelievable. Since this bass does have jazz bass pick-ups, it works out best as a jazz bass and handles the songs jazz basses are appropriate for with total ease. HOWEVER, you are able to pull off some very authentic P-bass sounds which is neat but once you get into the higher notes on the D and G strings, you can tell it's a jazz bass at heart. My favorite position is using only the bridge pick-up and some volume. No tone. It's a simple position but it's a very warm sounding and octaves, slides, harmonics, basically any texture you can think of sounds good in this position and on this bass in generally. But I try to stay away from using to much tone, it sounds too metalic and bright for my taste.

There is a small catch to all these cool tones!

Once the bass is in active mode, and once you turn any treble or tone, you'll get a hum. Mostly, I've gotten it once I would turn the treble control wheel (the one closer to the bridge of the bass). But once you touch the strings, the hum is reduced. Even if you touch the chrome or tuning pegs, the hum will be reduced.

So it could be a shielding problem or a problem that can be fixed with different wiring. Maybe swapping out the stock pick-ups with some Noiseless pick-ups will do the trick.


One very cool upgrade for this bass would be replacing the stock bridge with a Leo Quan Bad A. II bridge. It's a feature on the Geddy Lee Jazz Bass. This bridge gives the feel of the stings some better playability, and any blues using pull-offs, slides, hammer ons, or bends sound great and feel great with this bridge.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 2:23 pm
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Just FYI. Both Musicians Friend and Music 123 both ran closeouts on Jaguars starting this past weekend. By Monday they were sold out. Musicians Friend had them at 599 with a FREE Fender B-Dec rehearsal amp. THEN marked them down to $499 at some point over the weekend blowing all of them out. Now when you go to Jaguar Bass at either site they say DISCONTINUED. However Fender still lists them on the site.

I always wanted to get one. I played one and it was wildly versatile. I wouldn't say it was balanced perfectly, but it sure had a huge array of tones.

I hope they are not really being discontinued...they are a wild instrument. I also liked the BIG BLOCK P-BASS which was neat too. Also gone.


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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 4:10 pm
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I checked up on a talkbass forum discussing the jaguar, and someone called up fender after seeing it discontinued on musicians friend, and evidently it's not being discontinued. I've seen this before. Sometimes production is temporarily halted or their stock is out, and musicians friends takes the instrument off their site.


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Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 4:15 pm
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Also in terms of the bass itself, it has a lot of good things going for it, and a lot of not so good things~ or I should say things that should be improved but could be upgraded after the fact.

It has the jazz pickups and can replicated a 70's era jazz bass. It is important to note that the bridge pickup is in the 70's location, which means it is about half an inch closer to the neck.

Some people really like this sound, others are not as crazy about it. Essentially it gives the bridge pickup more treble and less mid-mids.

The stock pickups are the same pickups they put in a standard MIM. Not horrible, but not great.

The series parallel switch is a great feature, and one that I've put in my jazz bass.

The active preamp.... well, I'd say that's the bit that you might want to consider upgrading if you do get the amp (that and the pickups). It does the job, but it is not a fantastic preamp. At least it lets you go between active and passive.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:02 pm
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anubis16 wrote:
I checked up on a talkbass forum discussing the jaguar, and someone called up fender after seeing it discontinued on musicians friend, and evidently it's not being discontinued. I've seen this before. Sometimes production is temporarily halted or their stock is out, and musicians friends takes the instrument off their site.


Thanks for that info.

Surprising that nobody extolling the Jag's virtues and shortcomings has mentioned the neck on them. Usually on CIJ basses the neck gets lots of praise. Not saying the neck is good or bad, but my 72 Jazz had those celluloid block inlays and I never was really crazy about how they felt. I thought they impacted the tone and sustain whether that was factual or not that was my feeling. The Jag I played at GC in Charlotte (technically in Matthews) about two years ago seemed pretty fast. The neck was the only thing that stopped me from buying. I've been on P-basses the past 5 years and I just like the wider neck better. That is the same reason I sold off my Cowpoke P-Bass Special and MIM Jazz. Just didn't play them as I was always reaching for a P-bass.

Anyone else wish that Fender had a CASH FOR CLUNKERS program? LOL.


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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:11 am
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[quote="brotherdave"

Not saying the neck is good or bad, but my 72 Jazz had those celluloid block inlays and I never was really crazy about how they felt. I thought they impacted the tone and sustain whether that was factual or not that was my feeling. [/quote]

I'd be very surpassed if they had a significant impact on the tone or sustain. The fact is that the frets are still touching the wood, not the celluloid, and most of the resonance passes through the wood. However, I can understand certain physiological things around them. For the longest time I thought that maple frettboards made fretting feel softer. I know it's not true, but I still sorta 'feel' that every time I play a bass with a maple frettboard.


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:49 pm
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You are probably right Anubis, but yeah feelings. I just felt that the resonance of the neck was somehow diminished by the celluloid inlays. Maybe not. Sure looked classy though. I've never had another block neck since.


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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:00 am
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I have a 2008 Red Jag, really great bass overall but I also noticed a lack of sustain. My main bass is a string thru American Jazz and with the proper volume that thing just sustains for bar after bar, almost indefinitely. With the Jag I think it may be more the cheesy stock bridge than the neck, I'll probably go the badassII route eventually. The Jag neck is really fast. The bass is loud as hell when you activate it. I was getting a lot of hum when I activated the bass at hight volume and took my fingers off the strings. Fender says this is how their active pick ups are, the person playing it acts as the ground! I wasn't buying it. The guy who does my set ups checked thru some threads and found that if you put copper under the pick guard and run the ground to that, it takes away the hum. We tried it and it immediatly improved althouth I still get hum at high volume when the bass is active, it is noticibly less. Just keep your fingers on the bass at all times and pray you don't get electrocuted! :shock:


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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 5:25 pm
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Don't worry, you won't get electrocuted. You can only get electrocuted if the ground wire from the bridge is severed.

This is true of all basses (I believe active or passive). Your body is part of the ground, and putting your fingers on the string will reduce the hum. There are ways of reducing hum, like shielding pickup and control cavities, and adding an additional ground lug to the body of the bass.


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Post subject: Jaguar Manual
Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:37 pm
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IS there a specific manual for the jaguar? i downloaded the current fender manual but it's just an overview of all the models and standard features.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:08 pm
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I think the following link could help.

http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/ ... 05APg4.pdf


Good news, I have just booked mine on MF, the Item's going to be able on October 10, hope everything will be alright. i booked the white one, really nice, and $599.

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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:35 pm
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Guys,

Can anyone confirm if the new wave of Jags are MIM or CIJ?. I'm kind of confused I booked mine on sale for $599. but I read somewhere that the 2009 models are going to be MIM. If anyone knows please confirm so I can cancel my order on time, I dont want a MIM.

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