Great upgrade to great bass!

Just a quick look at the ash top and you know this one is a winner. Take a bass like the J-bass, and fix all of its problems and this is what you get. Plenty of punch with its pickups without all of the single-coil hiss. Active tone controls (3 way) that really work, combined with volume and balance that work well too. Mines sunburst and is probably one of the best Fender sunbursts with the nice ash grain showing through. The beauty of ash without the weight.

This bass is used largely with Peavy TMax amplification which their high end two-way solution. The neck is slim, but not as slim at the nut as a standard jazz bass. It has a 60s stratocaster-like feel to it, commonly known as a c-neck where there is no pronounced "V" in the center of the neck.

Soundwise, its got jazz bass sounds and it has a lot of others. It sounds most like a J-bass with the front pickup on full, tone dead center on all. Combining the pickups and changing tonal variations brings in many unfenderly-like sounds. Sounds are easily obtained due to good control placement. Tone and balance have center detent clicks that can be felt.

This bass is a great value in an American instrument. You cannot find an equivalent at this price. In other manufacturers cases you will be into thousands of dollars for an equivalent instrument or spend the same on a Korean or Japanese instrument.