Fender American Performer Precision Bass - 3-Tone Sunburst with Rosewood Fingerboard Reviews

After a slight delay from the shipper my brand new Fender American Performer Precision Bass arrived. I was not disappointed. When an email arrived from the shipper that it had arrived and was not here I flipped out a little bit. I called Sweetwater right at closing and they were quick to address the situation and reassured me a team was on it. The next morning my new guitar arrived in pristine condition. I want to thank my sales engineer Aaron and the staff at Sweetwater. I always feel like someone has my back when I buy from Sweetwater. These people care and treat me with great respect. They have always follow up through the entire process. I've been playing over 50 years and found that buying from Sweetwater is better than buying from the old mom & pop music stores from the 70's, These folks have raised the bar in the industry. I am not good at always responding to Aaron when he reaches out to me but I can't thank him enough. I am a customer for life!

I had an American Special Precision and Jazz separately and was tight on space, so I decided to get this to basically consolidate two basses into one. For the most part, it did exactly that! Mine is very light AND well balanced, and sounds amazing. Great fit and finish. I will miss the Jazz width neck, but this guy is also pretty slim.

So, I learned on a Fender. That was my very first bass. It was a special edition P with the J bridge pick up, black body, and gold pick guard. I LOVED that bass. I eventually outgrew it and moved on to active Ibanez and Spector basses. Flash forward 20 years, and I feel like I'm just missing *SOMETHING* out of my tool box. It was that classic, passive P Bass sound that only Leo Fender mastered. I looked at the Ultimates and Deluxes, but I wanted that P/J config that I remembered being so sweet as a teenager. I also wanted a fully passive bass. So, this is what I settled on and... let me tell you, this is everything that I wanted, straight out the box. I did have a genuine bone nut installed on mind, and, thanks to mad scientists at Sweetwater, my bass came straight out the box tuned and playing like a dream. The satin backed finish on the neck is definitely preferable to me. This has all of the classic tone you expect out of a Precision, with some of the sonic flexibility that the Jazz bridge pick up brings. I absolutely love this classic 70's sunburst, as well (Reminds me of Jaco's). A word of note- if you're looking to replace the pickguard, make sure you get one specifically for this model, as the screw holes and knob holes are ever so slightly different than the vintage models. I see myself still playing this guy in 30 years, and likely passing it on to the next generation when my fingers have fully succumbed to arthritis. If you're thinking about picking one of these up- do it. 10000% happy with mine (especially for the modest price for an American made Precision). Special shoutout to Eric Rojas and team for helping me get this bad boy in my hands!

I've had about a dozen Fender basses throughout the last few years, and the American Performer is the top tier of P Bass I've played. I've owned Ultra and Elite lines of instruments (I miss the 21st fret and truss rod adjust wheel, but oh well), but my American Performer feels better than all of the others I've played. I like the stock pickups, but my preference is EMG Geezer Butlers, so I replaced the stock ones with the EMG P/J set.

If you're thinking about grabbing one, just do it. They look good, feel good, and sound good.

P.S. If you get one and want to replace the pickguard, DO NOT get the standard 13-hole pickguard as the holes for the pots aren't cut the same. You'll need to look up pickguards specific to the American Performer series (I used WD Music).

This is my favorite instrument. The tone is beautiful and blending the pbass and jazz pickups makes it versatile. I run this with a sansamp di and an mxr compressor. It's really
all i need.

Very nice...Will probably install a slight shim for better action.
My Sweetwater rep, David M. has been taking great care of me & my friends for around 20 years.

Absolutely love this bass.Its everything I had hoped it would be and then some.
David got it out and into my hands in record time too. Thank you , David! Thank you Sweetwater!

I've had this for over 2 years. My son coined the term "The One Bass" for a Lord of the Rings reference because I baby it. I love the classic tones. Neck at 100% and bridge at 75 with tone knob 50 to 75% will do it up right. It's just a lovely bass. The hardware is high quality and doesn't feel cheep. I play through SanSamp DI at church. Nothing but great things to say about it.

Been playing since I was 10. 54 years. I LOVE the tone of this bass. The best of both a P or J sound. The neck and playability are top notch. The fit and finish are superb. I give it a solid 10! Looks just like a mid 70's P bass, with the added Jazz pickup.
I purchased the top of the line Deluxe Fender black/red plush case for $ right after. This bass deserved it.
The package has a great 70's vibe.
Love it.
My sales rep Dan was top notch, as well.

I do love the Fender it sounds great and the action is very fluid. But I find that the Ibanez 650 can be hammered on more so than the Fender I am very pleased with the Fender and extremely happy with it. But I am very much in love with the Ibanez as well

I love this bass. It is my first bass, but I have several guitars - from Fender, Gibson and Taylor. The workmanship and quality of components is first rate. Zack at Sweetwater was great to work with - as always.

I play bass on about half of ourset list, and for the longest time, the only time I ever got to practice on a bass guitar was at our band rehearsals. So, a few years back I bought a cheapo practice bass. It had finally come time to upgrade not only my own practice bass, but do it in a way to replace the bass we used at gigs.

The American Performer Precision did just that. The P/J configuration works very well supporting all the tones our little cover band needs. The fit and finish are fantastic and effortless. Once I got it acclimated from the sub-arctic temperatures, I found that I played it for 2+ hours before realizing how long I'd been playing!

When I finally placed my order, it was on backorder from Fender. I was given an ETA around March, but it came in early February. Tiberius Huiu has been a fantastic sales engineer over the years for me, and with his insight and encouragement, I took the leap on this baby, and man, am I glad I did! It's worth every single penny!! Can't wait to show it off at the next practice!!

Excellent performance bass. I reallly like the combination of P bass pickup and Jazz pickup. Makes it easy to change and find the time you want. Plays easy, decent weight. A really cool solidly made Fender product. Excellent customer service from Sweetwater.

An instrument has to sound great, feel great, and look great to inspire you to bring the best out of each other. This bass rings the bell in all three areas - and at such a reasonable price point. I already own two Rickenbackers, a Spector and a 70s Fender Jazz and wanted a Precision to round out my collection. After reading up on this American Performer series and watching tons of YouTube demos, I chose this model with the PJ pickup combination and the rosewood fingerboard for a slightly warmer tone. The Yosemite pickups sound absolutely classic, like entries from an audio encyclopedia on Fender tone, but with a new level of clarity and warmth. The P-J combination is one of the most perfect pickup pairings in history and the ability to blend the two and create light and shade with the tone knob makes this one of the most versatile basses ever created. I also love the new, incredibly slim and easy-to-play neck with satin finish. This is easily the lightest bass I have ever played and remains comfortable even after wearing it for hours. Finally, it's simply a work of art and a joy to look at. The 3 tone sunburst is gorgeous and its retro vibe definitely brings out my 70s funk.

If you like Fenders, you can't go wrong with this bass. I feel that it should have come with a case and not just a gig bag, but Sweetwater has many options in that department. I think I'm going to go for the Fender tweed case with leather trim for my new baby.

Ok, I'm pretty new to bass but have been a guitar player for many years. I tho't I'd gently wade in by buying a Squier P-Bass (P-J) to see if it was for me. Well, I guess I took to it like a duck to water! I played that Squier for about 3 months and decided to go all in. I got a nice 2-bass-deal (the other is a USA Fender Fretless Jazz bass) from Sweetwater and I am so glad I did. This bass lives up to the legend and the mystique that Fender has earned over the decades. This one has the flexibility of owning a P AND a J bass in one. I'm old-school so I've got her dressed in Fender flats and man, she is sweet! From vintage rock to country to jazz to hillbilly--I'm having a ball with this bass. For what it's worth, I played this along side a Ric 4003S for a couple months and the Fender won, hands down from playability standpoint. The Ric went back. But that's just me--nothing against Rics. Not a lot of experience with 4-stringers but I just can't imagine it getting much better than this...

I've wanted one for a long time now and I'm happy I finally went ahead and pull the trigger on the purchase. I was nervous about buying one without physically trying it out, but I couldn't be happier. It is light enough to play standing for 2 hours or more a night. The only problem I've had with this Bass is that I don't ever want to put it down. Also, the people at Sweetwater are awesome. After I made my purchase I was contacted by Sam who didn't just give up when I didn't answer the phone but was good enough to talk over texts to make sure I was good to go and had everything I needed as well as giving me a point of contact for any questions or concerns I may have. The professional photoshoot pics of your new guitar is a really nice thing to have too because this beauty is something you want to show off to your friends and family asap.

What a great instrument looks as good as it plays, and Joe at Sweetwater makes me feel like he really cares

I'm a hobbyist so I couldn't really justify separate P- and J- basses (although a fretless J is a must-have). This fits the bill perfectly! Ultimate US-made Fender craftsmanship, top-end Fender pickups and instant P-to-J flexibility. The modern neck profile is really, really sweet! Had a Ric but we just couldn't quite bond (I'm sure it was me...) THIS is the one.

This is a wonderful instrument, the best of both Fender worlds. It has the meaty girth of the P bass with the additional punch and clarity provided by the J bass bridge pickup, same passive vol. vol. tone controls as a J. The fit and finish are all first quality, I could find no flaws whatsoever. And, Sweetwater's inspection process had the bass set up perfectly out of the box. My large hands would have preferred the old P bass 1.75" nut width, but this at 1.6".is much more comfortable for me than the J bass 1.5" width. The bass is a joy to play and I couldn't be more pleased. I do think Fender could provide a more substantial case for a bass in this price range: the gig bag is good for keeping the dust off, but that's about it.

This guitar thumps and It's everything That I wanted in a Bass and more still working with it and so there is way more to it Fender is always my brand in electric Guitars they know what you want It;s that simple Many years of work has gone into this Bass and it's beautiful to look at also

Easy to play and the tones are amazing. I may never buy another bass.

I've been playing guitar for 35 years, but only about 2-3 years ago, did I start playing bass. I"ve been playing a $100 Epiphone in my studio and at church. I spent hours mixing trying to get the right sound. I got this beauty yesterday and rerecorded 3 songs in a couple of hours.
The tone is so good, I can't choose which sound I like the best. Besides that, it just feels good and plays well. The action is very tight! I'm very happy with this purchase.

As a veteran Fender bass player (over 45 years), I own several Precision's and several PJs, all MIA except for one MIM that I couldn't pass up on. This American PJ is light and extremely playable. It's also quite the tone monster! The only thing that gets my panties all scrunched up is that I find it insulting a little bit that a hard shell case is not included. Offering a gig bag on any axe over 1K just rubs me the wrong way and I felt the need to share this with my bass playing brothers and sisters.

The greatest sounding and feeling bass i've ever played...

Creo que es lo mejor que an hecho hasta ahora .

I'm not counting my first bass. It was a bass but didn't compare to this one. I gave it 4 stars due to my very much lack of experience.
everything seems to work fine. Sound is nice. being it having a P and J pickup gives one a taste of both worlds.

Sweetwater was a pleasure to work with. Nate is a good person I feel. My Bass was packed we'll and came to me quickly and without
any problems. seemed to have been setup well. again, my first bass. I'm learning as I go. This Bass should not disappoint anyone. just
remember. nothing is perfect.

I hope to play well enough to deem me worthy of a second bass. Humbucker or jazz.

I got myne used a few weeks ago and has serial number starging with US19.. so it's a 2019 US model neck.

It came with D'Addario strings, better then Fender but still not to my expectations, got much punchier and cleaner tone with GHS Boomer 45-105 strings.


Pros:

- Wonderful slick neck with cool '70 black Precision logo on head stock. Notice it says Corona California on the back of the head stock.
- Playability is wonderful.
- Action was just the way I like.
- Love creasebucket tone control. May not be that great for guitar, but totally appropriate for bass, so you maintain some mids clarity while poliching the edge.
- Pickups are decent and mixing the two scoops the tone of Precision pickup and gives a nice clean and articulate Stingray tone. Way better tone then non-US Stringray by the way for a fraction of the US Stingray price.
- Unique funky color. Myne is Candied Salmon (which they call Penny) with Mapple fret board. I know some of my band mates may not like it for it's kind of girlish, but I don't care, I'm a 54 years old ultra conservator male and I find the color VERY cool and funky. I love to funk and this one will.
Cons:

- Bridge pickup output way lower then Neck pickup. Turning the bridge pickup on swallows the neck pickup volume and requires to adjust the gain on the amp. I think they should have overwound the bridge pickup to match the Precision pickup. A G&L Jazz bridge pickup may do the trick. J&L Jazz pickups are nice and have more mids then Fender while not as edgy.
- Cheap light weight bridge. I don't like that bridge where string end stumbles on bridge intonation screw.

It seems to me that the Americal Professional is a better deal for the $$ then the American Performer.

With the American Professional, you get

- Slightly better Nech. This neck is great, but the American Professional neck is even better.
- Slightly better pickup.
- Far better bridge: high mass string through body
- You get a hard shell case

But you don't get this P/J configuration.

By the way, not that I abaolutely need to spend all of my money on Fender, but I tried so many other brands during the last 20 years and I'm always back to US made Fender for both electric Guitars, Basses and amps. They are so nice to work on. Leo got everything right when he intended to make things simple, functional, reliable and easy to work on. I don't find anything attractive about Gibson or Rick after trying them over and over. Only US Made Fender gives me what I need and they always work flawlesly for ever.