Fender American Professional II Precision Bass - 3-color Sunburst with Rosewood Fingerboard Reviews

Just purchased the darkest shade of the four that were available. Absolutely beautiful instrument. The pictures don't really do it enough justice.

I thought this would be a good bass for me. It's the full scale with enough weight to have a good sustain which is what I wanted. This is the first time I bought anything without trying it out first. It feels great and tuned up easily. Sweetwater did a great job of setting it up for me. Played it for the first time in Church last night. Pastor came up afterwards and said what a sweet sound. That's all the comment I needed to know it was the best choice for me!

I love this bass. The output gain on this thing is incredible. It makes my Squier Jazz sound like a Teddy bear and I have Geddy Lee pickups in that bass. I am really impress with the workmanship on this beauty, as well, and I bought a "B" stock to save money. The blemish is barely visible. If it wasn't pointed out by Sweetwater, I would have never noticed.

Did I say I love this bass?

I'm never one to leave a review but after having this amazing instrument the past 6 months I've not been more happier with my decision to purchase. I'm new to Bass and wanted something that truly spoke to me and inspired me to play. Well this beauty sure has that effect on me and I've not been able to put it down since picking it up. Also one of my favorite bassists Burke Shelley (Budgie) played one exactly like it with the same three color burst and rosewood fingerboard. Sadly he passed away January 2021 and I ultimately ended up purchasing mine July 2021 so it really has that much more sentiment to me. I even named her Shelley! I understand most people would not spend this much on an instrument when starting out but I was fortunate enough to be able to and do not regret my decision one bit. The quality is absolutely amazing and I'm proud to own American made. Not to say anything less is subpar but it's nice to own a quality product that I know will outlast me. A motto I've always lived by is " buy once, cry once." Well I've not once cried since purchasing this so by far the best purchase I've made yet! As always amazing customer service from Sweetwater and Specifically my sales engineer, Ryan Thorpe make Sweetwater the only place you will ever need to buy from. Thank you for another seamless transaction and here's to the next! Keep on rocking.

Waited 59 years for this bass. FYI: It had nothing to do with shipping delays. Although Santa does have a lot of ground to cover. My favorite bass in my favorite finish (sunburst). Waiting the recommended 24 hours for the bass to get acclimated felt almost as long as those 59 years. It plays great and through body stringing for a bass was new to me. Shipped with Fender Super Bass .45-.105 round wound strings although I'll probably switch to flat wounds when I restring it. I thought about a Squier Classic Vibe '60s P Bass in sunburst as well since I've been playing a '76 Jazz Bass for 45 years. But I made the right choice. It's a phenomenal bass and I highly recommend it. Maybe one of these days I might actually take the plastic protective film off of the pick guard. Leaving it on gives new meaning to the term "Completely Original".

The best modern p-bass in a long time.
Great feel and balance.
The tone is outstanding.

The case is just right for a gigging musician.

I don't want to put it down.

The look, feel, and sound! Physically well balanced, sonically perfect! This is a superb instrument. You get what you pay for when you buy a guitar. Straight out of the box. Another purchase that I would ONLY trust to Sweetwater. If you buy it elsewhere you "take your chances"!

Been a bassist all my life. With few exceptions I've been a p guy. Currently own 4. Wanted the newest version for 5 bolt neck. Everything about this bass is top shelf. Put TI flats on it for tone out the ***!! I do session work and jams and couldn't be happier. Highly recommend this bass and Sweetwater.

Such an amazing sound coming from this. Warm tones as well as a growl. The neck works well, the rolled edges make it easy and fast. I have been a Fender guy for a while but this just put me over the top. I waited a long time to buy an American made but I am sold now on these.

Took a chance on this bass, love the build quality, beautiful parts from the bridge to the flawless finish. Full sounding pups, the C profile neck is perfect, good fret work and rolled edges. The ATA case is awesome! I did not detract any stars, because this is a personal preference, but I just couldn't bond with the narrow tall frets. I much prefer medium jumbo and wished Fender had them on this new bass. If that were the case I would have kept it, but I returned it. Not a fan of those frets. Are you listening Fender?

This is the 4th American Fender bass I've bought from Sweetwater, the Universal Epicenter of terrific customer service. It is however, my first P since switching to bass as my primary in 2012 - finding at the suggestion of a jam session curator that while I was a good guitarist "you might enjoy bass and get to play more." Was he ever right! I also found out in the process it pays to have good curators and teachers steer you towards an instrument that fits your musical skill set better - I love playing guitar but always tended towards, um loving jazz improvisation but favoring a rock oriented approach... and I found that bass feels much more natural to me to play. Anyway, during this journey to bassist, all I've played and owned were various flavors of Fender Js - starting with a Squier Jaco copy, a Squier Vintage 70s 5, and an American Special J. I don't have those 3 anymore as I sold them as I decided to upgrade the quiver to include Fender American Js.

For a while, I've been a J snob, and I've spent a lot of time playing various other kinds of basses to find a sound and a comfort level that I would like better than a J, thinking I'd like something other than a Fender in the arsenal. I keep playing with Ps, but thinking "hmmm. Limited. One pickup, blah blah blah, its a blues and country bass."

The band I'm in is recording our next CD, and as the newest member I've learned a lot about recording the past year as we've grappled with practicing around the pandemic safely as well as recording in our home DAWs. It became more and more apparent that my Js just weren't cutting it in terms of the sound I was looking for. I'm not a slapper or a prog rock guy on bass, and the J always seems harsh and clanky and not punching through the band mix like what I hearing in my head. I'd played various humbucking basses - mostly G&Ls - off the rack as I was going through the process, but I just didn't like the way they felt in my hands, and the sound just wasn't... Fender enough. I toyed seriously with picking up a L-1000 as I have zero interest in an active bass, but I kept thinking about how I just don't feel like I'd ever bond with a G&L which did not nearly as comfortable as a MIM P in my hands. The L-2000 was also an option, but again - active - and just far too many controls for what I can see myself realistically using a bass for.

So I'd been stalking the SW site several weeks waiting for P stock to become available, and jumped on this Pro II P in burst and rosewood about 12 hours it came on line. I was so anxious to get the fantastic plastic processed when two of these showed up in February online that I couldn't wait for my usual sales engineer Sam, who is Mr. Super De Dooper awesome, but got through and got 1 of the 2 at 11:00 AM PST after both had been onsite less than a day. I'm glad I did, because when I refreshed the listing at 11:30 both basses were gone! Right now, it has been extremely hard to get stock with demand at all time highs and the instrument makers a bit challenged with work force and supply issues. And I got a great call back from Sam about my purchase shortly after shipping. He's a stand-up dude!

Other than.a day's delay because of the uber cold temps during that week in February, it arrived here somewhere in California's Central Valley just awesome out of the box and ready to rock after I waited the 24 hours to let the box warm up inside. This thing is a BEAST. The guys in our band love it, it fills up the sonic part of the band - with far less amp volume out of a Genz Benz Streamliner 600 head with two Focus 112T cabs. We'd already recorded our tracks for the first 6 of our 12; I'm going to do the 2nd half with the P - if the guys like the results, I'll go back and redo my parts on the first six which were recorded on the red J. There's nothing wrong with any of my Js, but I think I'd probably have bought a P much earlier and my quiver would likely be down a fretless J if I'd not been a J snob and plucked a P earlier.

It plays differently than a J, of course, with the thicker neck, but I do find the P body and balance more to my liking than a J. They're just different instruments. It came set up fine; I've tweaked it a little bit by swapping out the stock Fender 7250Ms for the lighter and smoother D'Addario rounds I like - the regular light gauge, and I dropped the saddles. I'm getting my first covid shot this week, so the set-up will be fine until I feel comfortable taking it into the local set-up wizard for a super pro job where he adjusts and I provide feedback until it is perfect. Right now, I run it with all the knobs on the GB head (or my BA 210) basically at 12, with the tone rolled off. It sounds so thumpy, articulate, warm without being muddy like a J can get.

The first name the bass gave for itself out of the box - which when I unboxed it and opened the case, my GF, who while not a musician has the most extensive music collection I've seen of any human being, and has a wry sense of humor, said "is that its coffin?" - was Big Boy (remember the Big Boy restaurant statue? Yes, I'm old)... but after I took it to rehearsal for the first time last week, it just sat in the band mix so absolutely perfectly that its moniker is now "The Zone". Because I felt totally in The Zone playing this instrument. I should've known I'd bond with a P... my first electric guitar was a Strat, but I never bonded with it - or the 335 - or a succession of Ibanez solid and one semi-hollow before I picked up a Tele in 2010 and screamed "This is *it*!" I'm so a Tele guy on guitars... it seems appropriate that Leo's first bass has bonded with me so hard. I'm smitten. I love the simplicity, I love humbucking without batteries or freaky coil taps or so many knobs my instrument is basically a new math problem. Volume, tone, your hands and your creativity without major brain drain. I love this P. You gotta get one! :)

This is my 4th P Bass. ( they all have their own individual voice ) On this bass I didn't change the Round Wound to Flat Wound. This in my opinion made the bass more articulate, brighter, and I like that. The Tone is at detent and all amp tone controls are set flat. I like my action on the lower side and I'm more into jazz. My touch is light and not aggressive. This tone and style with this bass Works for me. I Love the Sound. " Tone is in your Fingers "

I've waited awhile to give my review. My lower rating on this bass is for several reasons. Within a couple weeks of delivery, the neck was so bowed forward that it was ridiculous to play comfortably. One of the features of this instrument is the rods built into the neck for supposed stability. Luckily, my local luthier straightened it out and commented that there's no excuse for a brand new instrument being that far out of adjustment. Next, the nut was cut too low from the factory and the A string buzzed bad when played open, so I got that fixed. Also I don't like the V-mod pickups so I replaced them with Lindy Fralin PU's, but that's just a matter of taste.
Ben Elder is a fine salesman and was friendly and helpful, and listened patiently to my complaints. After waiting several months on backorder, I am disappointed that the much hyped "Sweetwater 55 point inspection" would dare to pass off this top of the line and expensive bass without it being perfect in every way!
Now the good: the bass is breathtakingly beautiful, no doubt. The finish is amazing on the body, and the satin finished neck is so nice. Very good molded case. Now that I have corrected the problems and replaced the strings with Fender flatwound 55's, the bass plays well and surely brings the thunder.