Fender Meteora Player Plus Bass - Shooting for the Stars and Landing Short - LowEndLobster Review

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Hey Everyone! Today we're going to be reviewing the Fender Meteora Player Plus 4 string bass, one of Fender's newest designs and part of their Player Plus series. This bass features the same 3 band preamp as the other basses in the series, but what sets this one apart is the beefy Fireball pickups and the retrofuturistic body shape that looks like something out of the Jetsons. Is this a forward thinking Fender or another flop? Let's find out!
This bass and all my other basses with rounds are strung with SIT Foundation Nickel Plated Stainless Steel 45-105(125) unless otherwise noted. Check them out at sitstrings.com/
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[@PB-dp5lt]

PAU FERRO geez that caught me off guard

[@LowEndLobster]

I totally said rosewood ahaha and was like "I could either take the time to record myself saying pao ferro, import it, pop it in... or just google it and have the google lady do it" ;P

[@Alfura11]

@@LowEndLobster It got a laugh out of me.

[@PaytonHatfield86]

Yeah i laughed a lot

[@kevinjackson7539]

The first disappointment is that Raiders sticker 😂

[@nanoluciani]

It's so funny how Doug cemented his signature *THIS!* and *Quirks & Features* that it's almost impossible not to imagine him saying it everytime you hear it somewhere else 😂

[@LowEndLobster]

Right?! I love Doug's content so much

[@dylangoode9393]

Daddy Douuuuuug

[@ChaelaThompson]

Such a cool bass, frustrating too with the pickups I agree, especially since the double jazz bass style humbuckers are usually 2 full single coils in a bigger housing. I remember seeing a 00s pbass deluxe that had them with a mod that allowed between 60s and 70s j tones

[@harrytruman3146]

My Schecter Raiden, which I bought used for about 300, has two humbuckers like the meteora. Has three knobs: volume, volume, tone. The tone knob can split the pick ups to single coil which is odd that this expensive bass can’t do that

[@room34]

I don't get Fender's current obsession with this particular bridge, especially on the American Ultra series. It's not a terrible bridge, but it's definitely not as good as the 3-screw bridge they put into the American Professional (I and II) series, and doesn't offer a string-through-body option. I've been a "Fender guy" since I started playing bass in the early '90s, but I am really disappointed with anything with the Fender name on it at the moment. Squier is turning out better instruments! (At least, if you grade on a slight curve factoring in the price… but I seriously sold my American Ultra Jazz and replaced it with a Squier 40th Anniversary that I like better, for about 1/5 of the price!)

[@DrTomoculus]

I thought $899 but was WRONG! No, I don't think that's worth $1200. But then I heard it, and it is just a fantastic sounding Bass. Dang.

[@joshuamartin6069]

I just have to say how much I appreciate the addition of the neck dive assessment into the reviews.

[@stephenmurphy3999]

SAME!

[@Cash_Lovell]

I know fender would never do it but I thing the Meteora would be the perfect bass for to try out a multi scale length on.

[@FransvandenBergeMuziekschuur]

These pickups have a history. They are 4 low output jazz bass pickups. Glued together to form two humbuckers. I think they are both 4 wire pickups. They are one of the last designs of Bill Lawrence. At first they were developed for a signature bass for Roscoe Beck.

[@lucastperez]

So interesting! When it showed the pickups more closely right at the beginning of the video (for example at 0:51, I just paused and looked at it for a moment haha), I imediately saw that it at least looks like 2 single coils glued together.

[@FransvandenBergeMuziekschuur]

@@lucastperez you can do a lot of interesting wiring options with 4 wires per pickup. Tho I’d like to turn this bass into a tractor bass. Two single coils against the bridge and one bisonic pickup in the front position.

[@xavierandradev]

The Roscoe Beck pickups are not two J pickups glued together (like the Meteora ones). Bill Lawrence's design has an extra magnet just under the string hidden under the cover (for 22 magnets total per pickup), so in practice each string "sees" 3 magnets. This is roughly the same concept behind Bill's later J45 and P46 pickups.

[@FransvandenBergeMuziekschuur]

@@xavierandradev Thank you for this information. The pickups I received were glued in. So no possibility of seeing what you know. All I know is whenever I hear his pickups... I like them the best.

[@mentula3784]

I absolutely love the way this looks ❤ easily the best looking bass since the jazz in my opinion. I hope they release a passive PJ version

[@TFEnright5]

I’ve seen quite a few Meteoras on Reverb for $800. Some new or close to it. I think for that price they’re a pretty good deal.

[@AndruJorj]

A Meteora is the only bass I currently feel like I *need* to add to my collection. It's got perfect specs, looks cool as hell, and since it's a Fender will retain its value on the used market of the future. Wish I could pull the trigger on one right now!

[@chekerbored]

@LowEndLobster I have Roscoe Beck IV on the off chance you'd want to review it. I've been wanting a compare and contrast to the meteora since I've seen a "similar" pickup config come out.

[@LowEndLobster]

Oooh! Join the discord channel!

[@Nicky_Boy]

The meteora had nice tones to it for sure. I’m def spoiled by the Sire preamps tho. The mid sweep plus a tone control that works with or without the preamp is such a great feature

[@robjgolde3221]

I could stomach the $1200 price tag if it were a 2 band preamp with a passive tone control, a series/parallel switch and a hardshell case. It looks cool and sounds cool, but for what you’re getting stock, thats a little steep

[@steverolfeca]

PS: it would be nice to get a look inside the control cavity: are the coil connections brought out of the pickup shells, so modders can add a mini toggle switch or two?

[@IggyYTube]

I really like your video's a lot ... just when it comes down to the Fender brand I'm a bit too pro Fender I must admit where you are a bit too anti Fender or am I wrong here ?

[@Chickenbrain269]

What's the deal with this dude cracking himself up every time he plays something?

[@slapnut825]

I've had the meteora as my main gig bass for about a year now and I love this bass. To me having the simplified EQ was good to have if I ever needed to change something on the fly its always just super fast and simple.

[@basscoup]

No tone control in passive mode - what was Fender thinking ?

[@thesupermkgod]

i DO NOT support the vegas raiders, when they were oakland maybe, sorry fender I DONT LOVE MY WIFE, cool sweatpants though how much fender

[@gf9898]

You’ve always been the Doug DeMuro of bass to me and this just cemented it 😂 Love the channel, so useful!

[@ryban1001]

“It’s a pretty OK bass.” That made me laugh out loud! Well, you could have said, “Meh!”

[@michaelkeefer4293]

I dig it! I agree that it's a little over priced but I do like the looks and sound. And personally, I like having less controls. At least it doesn't seem to be riddled with QC issue like a lot of MIM Fenders.

[@albertmarkethinkpr1325]

This bass should have been passive all the way. I have 18 volt instruments might as well ask for 230V next time and a wall plug

[@rolandjosef7961]

I like this guitar, but I prefer a Bass guitar that is always connected to my amp without unplugging. Question: Does it drain the battery when I leave the cable plugged in and switch the toggle to Passive? Please provide clarity on this. Thank you.

[@briansotobassist]

I need one. Tired of p bass and j bass shapes. Also double humbucker begs for mods

[@kronkproductions5570]

Had one, liked it, quickly sold it to buy a Sire P8, which has roasted maple neck, tone, blend, 3-band, active passive switch, and even mid freq onboard. No brainer. No regrets on the switch

[@MB57]

The Meteora sits right in between the Ibanez SR Standard & Premium in price. Not an awful value. I wouldn't buy one, but seems like a fun bass.

[@TheDinosaur82]

I knew it was Bully's as soon as I saw the Raiders logo.

[@willistaylor4077]

Too expensive. That would be over $2,000 Aussie now! Funky tone, though. 👍

[@thefool2007]

Body shape is an acquired taste. Tone is good, but not enough tone options for the configuration. Headstock shape should have been more complimentary to the body and should have come with ultralight tuners for that price (as well as a hard shell case). No passive tone control (true passive option) tips the scale to the dealbreaker side. Nice that it is a good player and again, the tone is actually quite good.

[@batandy23]

I just want you know that I wanted the Meteora and didnt buy one because you hadnt reviewed it. Instead i got the last gen aerodyne based on your review and could not be happier. Seems i made a good choice lol

[@J0ttem]

I bought mine last year in the same finish, as I needed a dedicated bass for permanent drop C tuning for my stoner/doom/psych band. Funnily enough I pretty much only use it on passive mode with the pickup pan set to 100% neck pickup. I basically wanted a P-bass (on steroids) with a jazz neck and this was the next best thing my local store had available. I loved it the moment I took it in my hands and silverburst is my favourite finish, so I just had to take it with me. No regrets so far. Also, since it's not another P or J bass, it'll probably sell relatively poorly. I'm willing te bet they're gonna be a lot harder to find within a year or two.

[@shuruff904]

pair that with an Acapulco Gold pedal and you'll be set

[@J0ttem]

@@shuruff904 using a Darkglass Duality at the moment but that Acapulco sounds pretty interesting. Thanks for the tip!

[@shuruff904]

@@J0ttem Love Darkglass, but the first time I ran my 91' Yamaha BBG4S ii through it, it's like you're forced to play some Sleep or something lol.. hell, for fun I hooked up my 60$ Glarry bass to it and even that sounded awesome...Darkglass will always have my heart tho for sure.

[@michaelblaney4461]

Kind of cool bass but the $1199 price tag kind of hard to take , all the other then regular player series basses, these player plus models are overpriced. I really like the bridge pickup sounds 😊

[@Barry101er]

Very cool; second hand purchase, always the way to go these days, generally 😊

[@PlayWithYourThumb]

Not a fan of offset bodies. Even some J basses leave me cold.

[@thesupermkgod]

maybe if the bass came with watery gack butter (little seafood joke for you)

[@klaymeister]

Price is just for the name. I do think it looks and sounds fantastic though.

[@budverissimo1]

No beard, that's weird. Sweet bass though nonetheless 👌

[@conhuir]

I like it! 😍

[@trunks828]

I miss the dimension bass it literally sounds just like it.

[@jasondorsey7110]

Everybody threw shade at the dimension bass till they saw what fender replaced it with

[@srirachaseahawk]

Needs an MM in the bridge instead :)

[@funkypunk1001]

14:25-15:02 okayyyy there Brian Bromberg! 😱😱 edit: also, speaking of economy, the Schecter Stiletto Studio 4 is a humbucking 4 string that's a few hundred bucks cheaper and comes preinstalled with a full EMG pup and preamp set

[@perrysar5954]

"Sounds great,plays great,feels great" but just an average bass...get it together lobster!

[@LowEndLobster]

You say that as if I've ever had it together ;P

[@stigstingray2256]

On a plus, it looks awesome in silver burst 😊

[@julianthesmooshyhusky8976]

Lol i knew that thing was bully’s the second I saw that raider’s sticker

[@LowEndLobster]

Hehehe

[@aldito7586]

I played a Pedulla bass when I was young. - Talk about an instrument!!! I'm not a believer in this "MAGIC" stuff. "Well you know that they put sacred bees wax on the wood and they floated this 900 year old wood on a sacred river and then they prayed over it". - Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say. Listen. A great instrument comes from a great luthier. And that's that!

[@VeitLehmann]

I like it. But I don't love it. I especially like that Fender managed to create something unique that's not looking like any Fender before, but that still looks like a Fender and has that vibe. But it's a shame that they stuck with the square neck joint, and the pickguard's shape is essentially nice, but lacks refinement. It doesn't flow very well with the body shape, looks like they didn't finish the design completely. I like the sounds which are not really P or J, but something that should work for everything you'd use a P or J for, and something more, and still sounds like a Fender. However, I agree, I'd also miss the passive tone blend. The lack of other switching options help keeping it simple and keeping a distinct character. With some refinement, and some ingredients of the Roscoe Beck and/or the Dimension, it would have been a winner for me.

[@NelsonMontana1234]

Fender just isn't very good at gimmicks. They got it right with the P and the J and they should leave it at that .

[@daviddesmond2143]

I like the 5 way switch on the Sterling Sub HH and far fewer knobs as on the Sire's. Fender just seems like they reheated the failed Dimension bass and copied Sire's rolled fingerboard. I am not impressed and Fender could be making much more innovative stuff but I guess they want people to buy custom shop stuff to get that.

[@keinname629]

Who's that guy with no beard?

[@carlton1390]

Great review! That top horn (with the strap button) is pretty short just like on the Fender Dimension Bass. Surely this is a recipe for neck dive. That bridge is actually better than Kickass AND Badass in my opinion (!) and first appeared on Fender Ultra Basses

[@braddietzmusic2429]

Tonally is it any different from the MonoNeon that looks to have the same type/model of pickups but in the five-string version?

[@yeikiubass]

3 star? You're getting soft lobster

[@bobbybonner4162]

I have the exact Bass no complaints

[@uvulapie]

I enjoy your reviews but miss the beard. I'm a mediocre bassist and couldn't grow a beard to save my proverbial life, so I was living vicariously through you.

[@Below-Average_Joe]

Lobster, who provides a hard case for $1,200 in 2023?

[@eileenscat]

I think the sound is rather flat, though it might be a good platform for someone who might enjoy going crazy with pedal combinations and such. Not something I’d put a liver down for though lol

[@c0c01]

Lobster, please don;t miss your review on Fender Limited-edition Suona Jazz Bass Thinline.

[@steverolfeca]

I like that the tone controls focus on finer control of usable tones, instead being touchy and overblown (cough, Ibanez EHB, cough)…

[@MrNotForEveryone]

Sounds good and plays well. It's expensive, but in today's market, everything is... it's just the world we live in

[@user-vt9fo3rq3m]

I love Fender but I think I love lobster more for keeping it real! They need to step it up if they want to stay on top.

[@chrismorris3897]

Thank you for the video, and thank you Bully for letting Lobster borrow this Bass. My question on this Bas would can it modded to be a 4 or 5 Bass?

[@jonlavigne3270]

I wouldn’t recommend modding it to be a five string.

[@Waggel86]

Well, you can technically route out the neck pocket and pickup cavities. You'd still need to come up with a new neck. 5 string neck are quite a bit wider while still having tighter string spacing. Yes, 5 strings fit on a 4 string neck, but the spacing would be so tight it's unplayable. At that point going for a full custom build might actually be more sensible.

[@Suthrnfried]

Great review. Preamp frustrations made me strip the whole thing and throw in Fishman Fluence. And yes, an Aluminati neck because why the hell not.

[@ShredAimlessly92]

I love double jazz pickups that you can switch between series and parallel, they’re super versatile. Seymour Duncan makes the NYC pickups that are essentially these pickups in an EMG35/40 housing that replicate this versatility. I wish Fender would embrace them more outside their weird models, like the old Blacktop Precision from the early 2010’s.

[@kuslers]

I almost almost did it but but I have a Modern Player precision that I find has more various toness. Hence I don't need another active bass.I'm to old main stram and can't get past the new shape and wish maybe it was just a modded jaguar.

[@ikestoddard2458]

Although this model has a bolt on neck, it would be nice to see someone take the body shape and match a through neck to it to give the bass-vi some competition. On the pickup side, oh Bartolini, where for art thou? 😁

[@kazanyemmi]

Its nice to see fender doing aomething some what new but the one thing im finding disapointing is with the pickups and the need for two 9v batteries in the back cavity. I dont know much about the pickups but it would have been nice to have a single option and relocate the jack to the faceplate instead.

[@kurstone8511]

Do you recommend the Status graphite necks? Cant tell how you feel about em with the eye shifts you did there when you brought them up 😆 3:32

[@DevilsFourString]

Yeah, very cool basses, just over priced a few hundred bucks.

[@michaelJ415]

I’ve got those on a modern player Jazz bass( pickups) they are loud, aggressive, definitely death metal tones I’ve learned to mute the string near bridge,with palm, but still pretty loud, sounds good in that platform👍🏻

[@freddiesoverbite6162]

I knew when I saw the raiders sticker it had to be Bully’s bass. Love when they all went to NAMM together.

[@gazfunk]

The Sire and Fender sounded very different to me. The Sire sounded very modern tight. The Fender a bit more rock & roll.

[@deanmentjes7774]

Great review, thanks! I really appreciate you talking about the bass's weight and strap balance when standing. Two hugely important things for long gigs....

[@boxmonkey1]

Pau Ferro 😮

[@grantkoeller8911]

$1200 dollars and you don't get a hard case, all you get is a gig bag????

[@MrTatiblack]

you shaved!

[@thebassplayification]

Oh god, what is thaaaaaat?

[@AtamiskxIx]

I know it's nothing new, but Fender continues to deliver these overpriced yet underwhelming instruments. They've become so boring now, idk.

[@eckie4679]

I think the marketing department won over the common sense one 🤔

[@jasondorsey7110]

​@@bassnbrass9272They're trying to combat the shrinking market by appealling to players' GAS

[@andrew6889-p5c]

Keep the honest reviews coming. I love that you don’t think everything is amazing. I value your opinion.

[@meeamee]

i remember being stoked with the bridge pickup tone when testing it, super fat, it’s a comfortable neck too

[@samlelowitch]

The tone reminds me favorably of the Deluxe Dimension bass.

[@jackshittle]

The new Fender Mediocre bass - get yours today!!

[@LucasJRice]

This would be a really cool guitar to see made in America.

[@joermnyc]

I mean you could rip out the controls. It’s cut for 4 knobs and a mini-switch, so with a push-pull volume for each pickup, and stacked concentric knobs for tone (maybe hi, mid, low and a Q sweep for one of them (if possible with what stacked concentric pots and active eq are available) and keep the on-off switch as is.

[@xdoctorblindx]

Yes, because a 1200 bass should need its electronics replaced and reconfigured to get the basic functionality that a bass like this should have.

[@bertilbroddeus8458]

Hello 😀Bertil from Sweden here 😅Say no more 🤩🤩

[@MeatballCereal]

I can't help it, i see the Meteora and I think ... Mediocre.

[@loiseaunoir1021]

I like the tone and I think the sunburst looks great.

[@richshields6692]

Does sound nice. You seem to be able to dig in a little more then other basses you've played. Nice playing lobster.

[@earlgarcia9824]

I remember fender released in the 2000s I'm not sure about the series name Modern Player maybe they had a J bass with 2 p bass split coils and a p bass with 2 j style humbuckers just like the meteora bass ,cool bass it has the death metal look ,I agree with you the price is up there but these days everything is up,up,up. Great honest review.👍

[@trappenweisseguy27]

Fender “Blacktop” series.

[@xavierandradev]

I love the Tequila Sunrise Meteora.

[@eckie4679]

Not a fan of the style. Does it give you anything different to the now discontinued (?) Dimension HH basses?

[@jasondorsey7110]

Interesting to see all the love for the dimension bass all of a sudden...makes me wonder when are people gonna realize how good the gibson eb-13 really was?

[@angrycarebear8631]

I don’t suppose you’ll do a review of the fender Suona thinline jazz bass?

[@angrycarebear8631]

Of course once it’s released

[@themaschi]

PAU FERRO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@r.l.rachel740]

Meteora has versatile tones. Thx for the review LeL.

[@marunikusbakufu]

Nice riff on Doug DeMuro! Ha!!!

[@LowEndLobster]

"And now we're going to give this bass a Dou... err.. LobsterScore!"

[@marunikusbakufu]

@@LowEndLobster Ha!!! You should start a list with various types of basses that you show at the end of each vid. I'm thinking that the Hard Luck Kings basses would be the equivalent of Doug's review of the Mitsubishi Mirage... Ha!!!

[@danielb8697]

Looks so so so so so cool

[@ruhaidai]

Fresh lobster with the trim.