Fender Japan JB Hybrid II review

Reviewing a Fender Japan Hybrid II Jazz Bass 2024 model with quilted top. Does Japanese quality measure up?

[@SteveBlancoMusicianWarrior]

I love Fender Japan basses! This quilt top is pretty fabulous.

[@samatza]

Me too! My Japanese made Steve Harris P Bass has excellent fit and finish, same as the Jazz. The more I play this one, the more I like it. Be well, keep making music. :)

[@calvingodden3081]

Great review, always a pleasure watching samatza on Bass

[@samatza]

Thanks Cal! I trust all is well with you. :)

[@Belman5]

Beautiful looking bass. Fender Japan are doing some great work right now, and pricing is still reasonable compared to where other brand prices are.

[@samatza]

We thought so too. Really like these Japanese models. Be well. :)

[@highetk]

Lovely looking jazz bass. What's the routing like underneath the pickguard? Would it be possible to put a clear guard on it?

[@samatza]

Great question! We were thinking the same thing, check this out- kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKaxiXWuYtGspc0si=3xVJUSZHAAg2tMY_

[@mechart87]

Another great one Samatza! I haven’t seen you do a preamp Video in a while and was wondering what setup you used to measure frequency response curves like in the Alembic video. Hope you are doing well, glad that you continue to make videos for the bass community

[@samatza]

Thank you so much, glad you found it useful. I was pointed to a program called Tone Stack Calculator for the response curves, it's available here: www.duncanamps.com/tsc/ If memory serves me correctly I had to change two values of the resistors to mimic the Alembic pre. We haven't had any new gear come in lately but we're working on that. We love the bass community and are happy doing videos on products that we find useful and use ourselves. Keep making music, all the best! :)

[@Osariik]

Had a play around with that model bass at Bass Centre in Melbourne a few weeks ago (the same blue quilted top one) and very nearly got it, opted to order the plain black version of the bass though

[@samatza]

Congratulations, enjoy the new bass. :)

[@christosfragias592]

Lovely bass. Congratulations! 🎉

[@samatza]

Thanks Christos. I do like this one a whole lot.

[@wirthwhilemedia]

anybody have one shipped from Japan to US? I dig these, keep seeing warnings about customs fees, and have no idea how much that might come to..

[@Gnast]

I just had mine arrive and the E string poles are all sunken inside both pickup covers, I was wondering if that was the same case with yours

[@samatza]

@@Gnast yes, mine is the same. If you look closely you’ll notice the heights are staggered, this is for better string to string balance. The E string is the thickest so the pole pieces are set lowest to compensate. I hope this answers your question. :)

[@Gnast]

@samatza haha thank you for the reply, I just thought that it was slightly unusual and that at most, the poles would be flush with the cover. Sorry to keep bothering you, but another thing I've noticed is that I can't set the action low enough without horrible buzz on the 12th+ frets. Is this normal for jazz basses? As I could set lower action on a squier p bass and this is my first time owning a jazz

[@samatza]

@@Gnast no bother at all. I don't know your setup, any bass can be set up with a low action if the fret work is good. How low are you going? I usually set the neck relief to 0.010" and 2/32" to 5/64" G string to E string. That's pretty low and very comfortable. How are you setting yours? Neck relief is important because if the bow is too much and you're trying to set the saddles lower at the bridge to compensate you'll bet buzzing in the upper register. Check out my setup video and let me know how you go.

[@S.C.87]

I got this Bass today and the humming/buzz if i turn down 1 knob is really loud and you hear it also while playing. Is this normal? I upload a video on my Channel

[@samatza]

Hi, thanks for doing the video of this issue. Firstly, is there a soldering iron or other large transformer nearby? I get the same kind of noise if I leave my soldering iron on in close proximity. Single coil pickups will pick up some hum, especially from transformers, this is reduced when they are both on full, usually in most playing conditions the hum is not a problem. You will get a similar effect if you put your bass near a RF source, wireless router etc. near or on your laptop computer. You need to eliminate hum and noise sources in your environment. Does the bass actually play through the amp? You may have a disconnected ground connection somewhere. Can you verify the cable is good by plugging in another instrument?

[@S.C.87]

@@samatza thanks for your response, i solved the problem. It was a wrong settkng in my amp. Now i have just normal single coil buzz

[@samatza]

@@S.C.87 That's great news! Enjoy that bass, have lots of fun. :)

[@stevevarley5285]

I have this same bass, it looks, sounds and feels great but I've found the neck to be very sensitive to small changes in weather. I often have to adjust bridge saddle height and sometimes truss rod to lower action, or stop buzzing. Have you experienced anything similar with yours?

[@samatza]

That is a very good question. Since the video I took the bass to a gig, of course I always check condition before I use any bass. The settings were exactly as I had set them. We've had some wet weather in the past few weeks and it doesn't seem to have affected it at all. I don't know where you are situated but over the years I have noticed that sometimes new instruments take a while to acclimate to the environment. After a f ew months they seem to settle down and require a slight truss rod tweak when the season changes. Usually they are affected by humidity more than temperature changes. If you set your action really low these effects become more noticeable because it takes a lot less movement to create some fret rattle or buzzing. My action is quite low but it does allow for some degree of change without requiring truss rod adjustment. Can you tell me the relief and top of fret to bottom of strings measurements?

[@stevevarley5285]

Thanks for the reply. I'm in Sydney, so it's starting to warm up and we've had some rain. The last time I made a truss rod adjustment it was to .014" and I like my action around 2.5mm at the 12th fret. To give you an idea of how much its moving around on the weekend the set up was good, on Tuesday it was buzzing on the first 4 frets, of the A D G strings, I put it down and played another bass instead, on Wednesday I went to fix it but it wasn't buzzing anymore, and the set up was back to being good. I haven't checked the neck bolts are tight, so will try that this afternoon. I really hope you're right about it taking a few months to settle, because I'd love to keep it.

[@samatza]

@@stevevarley5285 OK, that's a good setup. It seems to have moved a bit. buzzing in the first position is usually caused by backbow. Persist with it but adjust in small increments and let it settle. I always clean the fretboard with lemon oil and apply some wax for unfinished wood. I'm not sure but this may also help with moisture changes. Best of luck, they are a nice bass.

[@stevevarley5285]

@@samatza thanks for your input. I feel a bit silly actually, I can't remember if I made a truss rod adjustment after putting on some lighter gauge strings. Neck relief was .006" and action under 2mm, so I've made some adjustments. The neck is definitely moving around more then I've experienced before, but that wouldn't have helped