Fender American Professional II Jazz Bass Review - for METAL!

[@JonathanGarcia-iu3ln]

Killer tone! I think any Jazz Bass with a proper setup will suit metal, this is the only "classic" that never disappoint

[@Paajanenae]

Can't go wrong with a Fender (that has a bridge pickup)! I might actually swap the pickups for some SJB-1s, I have a feeling that vintage pickups might give me the tone I'm after.

[@JonathanGarcia-iu3ln]

@@Paajanenae I'm myself into the process of getting a Fender JB, so your video is very useful. Still don't know exactly the model I will go for, but I was thinking about one with vintage pickups. Interested in your feedback if you go for the swap!

[@Paajanenae]

@@JonathanGarcia-iu3ln I have a feeling that vintage-style pickups will get you closer to the right balance of clank and a driven midrange. I've been 200% in love with my Charvel which has the DiMarzio Area J pickups in it and it sounds killer. Those are vintage oriented Alnico II pickups so I'd say any vintage model will do. Fenders do already have killer pickups stock tho, so you might want to just try those first :) I've been loving both the Yosemite and Player series pickups.

[@JonathanGarcia-iu3ln]

@@Paajanenae You're probably right. The only Jazz Bass I ever owned was a Mayones Jabba with Delano pickups, amazing but active (I almost only go for passive basses at the moment). I have a big "crush" on a limited 60th anniversary JB in arctic pearl, but still a lot of money for me, so I kinda hesitate to go for something cheaper, but my guts and heart are telling me to go for this one

[@Paajanenae]

@@JonathanGarcia-iu3ln If you have the means, I'd say to go for it :) Life is too short to buy instruments you can't afford though. I'm a bit worried about the 7.5" fretboard radius on that model since that might give you fret buzz if you're playing hard. A flatter radius or a compound radius are much more suitable to that, but I don't think you'll take a huge loss when selling a limited edition anniversary model used 😄

[@GuitarznGirlz]

Thankyou! I play a 5 string jazz bass and a 4 string fretless jazz bass for all my gigs. Pop, country, and metal i use the same 2 basses and now i have a video showing people im not the only one that does this.

[@Paajanenae]

Thanks! A jazz bass can really handle anything you throw at it. For fretless instruments there's a whole movement using fretless basses in technical death metal. You should check out Steve DiGiorgio and Sean Malone as players if you haven't yet :)

[@GuitarznGirlz]

That was the main reason i got into fretless bass. Listening to Opeth and Death.

[@WilDBeestMF]

I know they have a big body and can be on the heavy side, but I'm really unsure as to why Jazz basses are not used in heavy music all that often. They have this gnarly mid grind that's super easy to work with.

[@Paajanenae]

I know right! While I understand that most people don't dig their classic and round looks, pretty much nothing beats a good jazz bass pickup setup on an alder body when it comes to the sound. Full low end, bright and snappy top end and when using both pickups the phase canceling clears up all the honk from your midrange :)

[@WilDBeestMF]

@@Paajanenae Absolutely! Single coils are underrated in the heavy realm. Admittedly, splits and hummers both kind of throw themselves at heavy rock. But to my ears, the singles have this articulate SNARL to them. The next guy might call it "thin" or "anaemic" but you know he's just jealous of the ZING. 😁

[@Paajanenae]

@@WilDBeestMF I think the way guitarists need to rely on high output humbuckers to get a thick, heavy sound kind of bleeds over to the bassists as well. I've yet to find a humbucker that can really work well in a distorted context, but I've really enjoyed a split P-bass style pickup when playing in the same octave as guitars. Grind galore :)

[@WilDBeestMF]

@@Paajanenae I found the same thing with humbucker pickups, while a Jazz almost demands a bit of overdrive, and sounds lovely doing it. Haha. Yup, splits will definitely get you grinding. Splits and singles have such uniquely different grind.

[@cliffords2315]

eat more Beef

[@robm2540]

I just got one, about a week or two ago. I play in a doom metal band and it works perfectly. It sounds amazing through my rig. Easily the nicest instrument I’ve ever owned.

[@PM-oq6ku]

I'm used to play a P all the time. But in my experience a J is better for distortion. A J+ Darkglass B7K rules

[@Paajanenae]

I love a P for some softer parts and stuff that has the guitars and bass in the same octave! But the J pickup configuration is a great allrounder 🔥

[@ephraim.1964]

Fantastic mods & adjustment, Killer sound!! 👏👏🙌🙌❤️

[@SteveBlancoMusicianWarrior]

Nice video. Fender Jazz Bass for anything! It's a legend🥂

[@Paajanenae]

For sure!

[@JuhaAitakangas]

Nice on Paajis!!! Killer riff , tone superb playing...as always man!

[@Paajanenae]

Thank you, glad to hear it! 💜

[@averagetim6190]

Your pick attack is fierce 🤘

[@sikzo4628]

Has nothing to do with the video, but so far I've not heard you speak single word (mostly watching the bass covers lol), and your voice surprised me quite a bit lol, way deeper than I thought it would be.

[@Paajanenae]

Ahah, thank you I guess 😂 My mother says that my voice is a "dramatic baritone", I think it translates pretty well into videos with a lot of talking :)

[@walruspigeon7463]

Cool stuff. we need more of this metal-specific bass stuff. Also being finnish helps 🍻

[@Paajanenae]

Haha, thank you! I'm actually a third generation metal worker, expect instead of working as a turner I turn instruments into metal machines 😎

[@walruspigeon7463]

@@Paajanenae 🤘

[@0tf850]

Love your syncopation man!

[@Paajanenae]

Thann you!

[@federicohernanbass]

Awesome mate!! I put a 130-65 on my jazz bass and sounds awesome too! I never went back to standard E tuning. Greetings from Argentina!

[@Paajanenae]

Low tuned Jazz Bass is where it's at!

[@mishkovelichkovikj9912]

I play in a metal band over 10 years now. I used to play a 2000$ custom handbuilt 5 string metal bass with active pick ups. We play in drop C# tuning and am a pick only player. I bought a Fender Highway one jazz bass 5 years ago just because I always wanted to have a Fender to play at home and to have a 4 string. But since then I have been using only my fender and eventually sold my other 2 basses, because I just never enjoyed playing the othet basses as much as the fender.

[@Paajanenae]

That's a ballsy move, but definitely the right one! You could try the EMG Jazz Bass Pickups, those have a killer glassy tight tone which really boosts the aggression for a pick player!

[@mishkovelichkovikj9912]

@@Paajanenae I had a bass with those pick ups and one with schaller active jazz bass pick ups, the biggest problem for me was the battery. I was so afraid of running out of batteries during a live show and I was also told that the sound gets bad once the battery is running low. So I spent a small fortune on 9V batteries, because I used to change them before every show. Also like 90% of metal bass players use EMGs so that kind of sound is really generic and sterile to me. I've even started to use only the neck pick up on my jazz bass. The only pedals I use are the Digitech Bass compressor and for a bit of grid the TC Electronic Vintage bass distortion (also made by T-REX pedals as the Bass Juice)

[@Paajanenae]

@@mishkovelichkovikj9912 That's cool, I'm more of a DiMarzio man myself :) For some reason their Vintage bass pickups have that something I've been looking for

[@mishkovelichkovikj9912]

@@Paajanenae I have never tried DiMarzio pick ups, what I really want to try are the seymour duncan quarter pounder jazz bass pick ups

[@igorquebec7315]

Man, that's a pretty Jazz Bass!

[@Paajanenae]

Agreed, this finish was beautiful!

[@YeahButStilll]

Man I have a jazz bass and your tone is EXACTLY what I’m looking for. So good. I’m looking into the neural dsp darkglass plugin. I’ll have to check out the other pedals you have too.

[@Paajanenae]

Thank you! I didn't like the Darkglass plugin, it felt really odd compared to the pedals but it has a free trial so give it a go! I'd say the secret to my tone is more lies in the strings I use, the Ibanez PD7 and the IR I've chosen. I'm working on a multi-part series on how to dial in bass tones like mine!

[@musenw8834]

Dude, did you tune the bass down to C F Bb Eb in this case? That's so cool 😎😎😎 🤘 Glad to hear how a jazz bass can work in metal 🤘😈

[@Paajanenae]

For sure! Drop-C is a great tuning for this bass :)

[@badassbassist]

Olli my friend found you on yt....always a pleasure to watch you play dude

[@Joetime90]

I just love Jazz Basses. Still have my 2007 Geddy Lee CIJ.

[@Paajanenae]

It just works! The Geddy Lee models are pretty sick

[@licccio2133]

The Jazz Bass is THE bass for recording heavy ass music in my opinion.

[@Paajanenae]

There's no arguing with that!

[@MrClayman619]

For recording ANY music imo

[@user-jx6jn4rc4b]

Звук плотно лег в микс! Круто! :)

[@PacifaeGaming1]

Your play is DOOOOPE! Thanks for the vid mate ;)

[@Ross58]

Awesome dude ✊

[@brannontejeda3854]

Sounds really good. You look like you pick hard like me 😂. I love watching others play bass and and seeing that top string going crazy in drop C .I have a 84-87 fender jazz bass special and low key like it more then my sterling bass. The grit on the fender is dope.

[@Paajanenae]

Thanks! Yeah I really love the grit on jazz basses as well 🙏

[@l8sk8r86]

Great video, cheers!

[@johndude2726]

Holy shit it sounds amazing!

[@obiwankablowme7964]

new sub love the tone and mix great content dude

[@Paajanenae]

Thank you! Happy to have you with us 🥰

[@thomasfoster4091]

That’s an excellent review.

[@kryptichands968]

Sounds great, im working on finding the spectrum of sounds on my new j paranormal, its different from my past experiences with a p bass and a gretsch g2220 , but well worth it

[@StraiyEU]

i got a player plus p(j) bass and a player plus jazz bass... its all i need... maybe upgrading them someday to the american ultra...

[@marko_makinen]

👏Well done! You can definitely get it to sound nasty. Might still be a bit too round for my finger technique, but you'll never know until you try it?

[@Paajanenae]

Might be a tad bit difficult, but not impossible for sure!

[@nandocrus2169]

hi! im from Argentina, i got a China copy of jb. Whit a Nux screambass pedal and a calibration correct its really works for metal, the band is Xiferon! you can see a video live, the song is 'El quinto' in La cuadra bar in KZbin. Tanks! sorry for my inglish! jaja

[@Paajanenae]

That seems to work quite well! Really nice clang you've got there :)

[@nandocrus2169]

@@Paajanenae yeah! Tanks for watching! Finaly i find my personal audio, simple and efective...bye!

[@timlynn6938]

That's killer bass! I wonder if you always set all of your knobs to the max tho? Thanks!❤

[@Paajanenae]

Pretty much always, yeah! Since these are passive controls, the maximum position is the most neutral position, letting you use the full signal of the bass.

[@noyd4172]

I wonder how the initial DI+compressor clean sound would have fared in the full mix.

[@Paajanenae]

It would've required much more processing to fit nicely and would've made for quite a different result 😄 But sure it's doable

[@michaelhonn]

so sick

[@feuersturmomega5000]

Hell yeah!

[@rockandrollisyourmom]

Oh hell yeah

[@YihanWu1994]

May I know what are the songs that u played during the video? The intro one sounds beautiful

[@Paajanenae]

Thank you! The intro song is the outro of a song I wrote for my band Golden Rot. It's not out yet. The other riff was just something I wrote for this video!

[@YihanWu1994]

@@Paajanenae omg! Is it gonna be released? I hope it will be soon! Looking forward to it

[@Paajanenae]

@@YihanWu1994 We don't have our plans set in stone yet, but hopefully soon!

[@Dreadduude]

What kind of amplifier do you play? A tube amp? God i love your tone

[@Paajanenae]

Thank you! No amps here, all I use is listed in the description! I'd love to get an Ampeg one day though

[@Dreadduude]

@@Paajanenae Haha feel you, probably the best amp money can buy. Now the money part ;)

[@janh.370]

Awesome video and amazing sounds. How do you deal with the 60hz noise from the single coils when sustaining notes?

[@Paajanenae]

You use them both at full volume which then cancels out the hum.

[@Sl1mfit]

Mulla tuli muusinetissä vastaan Squierin Classic Vibe 60s jatsari. Alkoi kinostelemaan kovasti. Ootko ite kyseistä bassoa testannu? Miten taittuu metalliin verrattuna tähän Fenkkuun?

[@Paajanenae]

Tykkään Squiereistäkin kovasti! Hyvin kolisevat ja kilisevät, ei mitään vikaa. Niissä on jonkun verran (muutama tullu vastaan mut ei mitään hälyttävää määrää) ollu vähän koholla olevia nauhoja eli jos pääsee paikan päälle tsekkaan niin kandee soittaa kaikki nauhavälit läpi 😄

[@Ziasita]

Awsome

[@richy1051]

0:16 Music intro is so spicy why not make an entire song?

[@Paajanenae]

It is a song, actually the outro of a song 😄 We're currently working on it with my band Golden Rot

[@PJyrstinkangas]

Onko tää "pot stopper" siis sama mitä Custom Sounds myy pedaaleihin?

[@Paajanenae]

Juuri se sama! Tilasin pedaaleille läjän enkä tarvinnutkaan niin bassoon meni :D

[@edruiz1202]

Do you have a band with music like this??? If so what’s the name??? Sounds bad ass!!!!

[@Paajanenae]

Hahah the intro will be on the upcoming Golden Rot album, the breakdown in the middle is a ripoff of Smartfiend by Vola :)

[@edruiz1202]

@@Paajanenae cool man!!! Golden Rot!! You must play Elden ring for sure!!!

[@Paajanenae]

@@edruiz1202 Hahah I do but the name of the band was just a coincidence!

[@Gloomshimmer]

what about the noise? Hesitate to get a ibanez gsr180 (im a guitarist mainly) because of the noise. Is it possible to hum it without noisegate?

[@Paajanenae]

What noise? Two single coils wound in reverse and connected parallel like in all J Bass style pickup configurations are silent :) When both pickups are on, they work like a humbucker to cancel the noise

[@Gloomshimmer]

@@Paajanenae ah ok. i come from guitar, and there its only when the SC are in a parallel shift. we dont have blend knobs.

[@Paajanenae]

@@Gloomshimmer It's the same effect as with a strat in the 2nd and 4th positions and in a tele in the middle position

[@qu14torze82]

Hi, can you please share some information and advice about the pot stopper you're talking about at 2:31?

[@Paajanenae]

It's a thin circular piece of rubber I bought from Custom Boards. This product: www.customboards.fi/products/custom-boards-pot-stopper

[@qu14torze82]

@@Paajanenae wow thank you very much for your quick reply! 🤘

[@zmoore5555]

Whoooooaaaaawwww

[@OonaEskeli]

👊🏼👊🏼

[@Paajanenae]

💪😤👊

[@stvlake]

Never cared for a jazz. Too scooped and springy sounding. Rickenbacker are better tone wise.

[@Synathidy]

Wow, whatever that music was at the start, it sure isn't metal. The band that immediately came to mind as comparable in sound was Creed. All that's missing is a guy singing "With arms wide open..." in a dorky voice.

[@Paajanenae]

Post-Metal would be the genre for that track!