Fender American Ultra Jazz Bass V - Ultraburst with Rosewood Fingerboard Reviews
The American Ultra neckplate graces Fender’s top-of-the-line production instruments — their most advanced series of guitars and basses for discerning players who demand the ultimate in precision, performance, and tone. The Fender American Ultra Jazz Bass V delivers the same iconic vintage vibe and visuals as its ancestors. But play a few notes and you’ll quickly realize that this is a state-of-the-art, high-performance axe. The contoured offset alder body balances beautifully and always feels just right; while the fast, comfortable Modern "D" neck profile, compound-radius fingerboard, and tapered neck heel turbocharge your playing. Amazing-sounding Fender Ultra Noiseless Vintage Jazz Bass pickups and active 3-band electronics complete the setup.
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Highest Rated Reviews
No Complaints
The Ultra V is a great playing, great sounding instrument. I got The Ultraburst finish. The neck plays faster than my Modulus, which I did not think was possible. It has the best slap tone I've heard. Top notch craftsmanship and playability. It's worth the money, in my opinion.
FENDER ULTRA V JAZZ BASS
It is beautifully made gorgeous rich colors. Well made resonates with great tone. Neck and cutaway make it easy to play and reach notes in the higher part of the neck.
All That Jazz and More!
I was seriously considering the American Pro Jazz V yet something told me to step up and get the Ultra J Bass. So happy I did go with the Ultra as it plays like a dream. I also have so much tone control going from Passive mode to Active. You can dial in wherever you need. The playability of this Bass is off the hook as tha neck maintains that modern D all the way up and down the neck. I'm not a fan of the compound C to D necks so this Bass keeping the D shape makes playing way up the neck a joy! This Bass is balanced nicely and looks great. Sweetwater Rep David Brehm is a total Pro and a person of integrity and I highly recommend this Ultraburst Bass and dealing with David at Sweetwater!
Phenomenal Bass, With One Caveat
I've had this bass for a few days now, and am totally satisfied with the build quality and the tones this thing puts out! This is the best neck I've ever played, and it's not even close. The three band EQ is highly effective, and I'm glad the passive switch is there in the case that a battery runs low during a rehearsal or a gig.
All this to say... I believe the bridge Fender is installing on these basses needs a redesign. There is so much material between the string and the body of the guitar, that to get reasonably low action may require a neck shim. I like to set my string heights at 0.090" (treble) to 0.100" (bass), which was not possible due to the G and B string saddles bottoming out. I installed a small neck shim which resolved the issue, but other buyers might not be so enthusiastic about a $ bass needing this kind of modification. Buyer beware is all I'm saying.
Otherwise I'm totally impressed with this bass, and look forward to gigging with it.
Whatever tone and style your heart desires
Overall not a bad bass!! The neck feels great with the compound radius, and the preamp tone is an improvement over their past offerings... however, my only true complaint is the preamp does not have unity gain when switching from passive to active with the eq knobs centered, there is a noticeable boost. No complaints with passive tones.
Strictly to my light playing style, I’m not able to lower the action for the G string below 1.5mm with the factory bridge, even with tightening the truss rod to 0.005 ( my preferred relief). I prefer light strings and this bass definitely comes with 45-105’s. Lighter strings won’t fix the action issue, but will absolutely feel better under my fingers than mediums.
Not what i expected
I like the fact that it can be played active or passive.
I don't find the new neck to have a wow factor or that I can get any closer on the upper frets because of the new body shape. The body is still in the way of comfortably playing the high notes. It's heavier than my 4 string precision... way heavier. And it has the standard number of dead notes I've come to expect on any Fender bass... like a dozen. Especially on the D around the 7,8,&9 frets.
I have other basses in this price category that are far more pleasing to play. It sucks to pay this much money for average.
