Hohner Jack Custom Headless Bass Review

Headless basses with a body for the masses in the mid to late 80s and 90s meant, for a lot of us, one of these!

[@Toby_the_Glen]

Thanks Mick, I really enjoy your reviews! Keep on doing what you do mate!

[@mindhead2005]

Thank you for your support and encouragement, mate! I appreciate it.

[@peterdegen1194]

Great video Mick! Sounds great, that Hohner.

[@mindhead2005]

It’s a great little bass! Thank you!

[@JulianRedAudio]

This kind of basses are very well preciated in my country, Colombia for cultural and musical style reasons, most latin groups here in the 80's and 90's used Hohner or Cort headless basses.

[@mindhead2005]

Thank you for sharing they do. They do well in hot countries too

[@mikebuick2332]

I had one of the original Hohner ‘The Jack’ basses back in the 80s and I’ve always regretted selling it. It was the closest thing I to a Status that I could afford! Nice to see one of the later versions 👍

[@mindhead2005]

They come up sometimes Keep an eye out!!

[@mikebuick2332]

@@mindhead2005 I’ll got one eventually for posterity. Luckily, I did manage to acquire a Status King Bass Artist, and like you, I’m a bit tidier with the narrower string spacing. Anything bigger than a Jazz bass neck with standard spacing and 34 scale is awkward for me 😂

[@mindhead2005]

@@mikebuick2332 gorgeous gorgeous bass!!

[@Shred_The_Weapon]

It’s incredible that the pickups on that bass sort of visually resemble traditional single-coil ones on my Jazz bass, yet they have the punchiness of EMGs that ordinarily go on headless instruments like this. That’s even before you activate the active circuitry. Whenever you play that Led Zeppelin bass line, “Black Dog”, it makes me think of an instance in the Police story. There was one woman that I’ve read about in which they went in the studio to do a session for this by Jon Kayle that didn’t turn out any recordings but included guitar player-come-lately Andy Summers playing a riff by Led Zeppelin that somehow cemented his place in the Police. In the time since I read that story in autumn 1997, my imagination points to “Black Dog” being that riff that Andy played.

[@mindhead2005]

I wasn’t aware of that story. Very cool!! Yes the pickups are really beefy, which would make one question the “common knowledge” of what specific pickups sound like before we hear them! ;)

[@ramsay777]

Love the vibes of these 80s headless basses, I always thought the Steinberger set-up was a narrower spacing which kinda put me off. Good to know they're 19mm though!

[@mindhead2005]

Steinbergers are 16.5 mm spacing. Steinberger licenced things like this are wider. 19mm I think

[@asmcelhinney]

Lovely bass. Body shape puts me in mind of a Peavey something or other. Can't go wrong with a headless!

[@mindhead2005]

Oh yeah! The Cirrus or one of those?

[@mixc8]

Nice to see some one focusing headless axes!!! Sub

[@mindhead2005]

Thanks bud

[@springy-2112]

I have mixed thoughts about mine. I'm really sad that I destroyed it. But I really love what I made out of it.! I also have a fretless b2 I'm harvesting for parts and starting to feel guilty about. 😊✌️❤️

[@mindhead2005]

Ah don’t feel bad, bro They’re tools They exist to serve us, and that means modification That’s life!

[@dalrok]

Great review, You seem to have found a decent one. The problem with these instruments (B2 & Jack) was, that they had serious quality control problems at the time. You had to try out dozens before You maybe got a decent one. I owned a B2A 'paddle' (with active EMGs instead of the passive HZ and inferior Hohner electronics) in the 80s & 90s and it was a very good one. But the luthier I bought it from, a good friend of mine, who worked at No.1 guitars in Hamburg at the time, had to try more than 30 before he found that one. I immediately had him modify it because I already played active EMGs in my other bass and they sounded far superior than the 'Select' models & electronics Hohner used. Same problems with the 'Jack' models, a friend of mine had a really shitty one in the 90s with a totally 'dead' sound. The 'Jack custom' were the 'premium' line, the non 'custom' models were inferiour in playability and sound. Today You mostly find the good ones, that survived. The bad ones were sorted out over the time.

[@mindhead2005]

I had a loan of a jack that was awful. A natural one with a very big neck that was just lifeless I’ve been luckier with B2 and B2A models, and I had a couple of really decent ones One I put a single “real” EMG in, in the stingray position, but the physical limitations of those instruments remain. My son lives in Hamburg Great city!

[@PeteWade]

I remembered having a goo on me for one of these back in the day when I first saw one in music maker / music minds. 🤔 can't remember which. Nice bass. Nice slap tone. 👍👍👍

[@mindhead2005]

Goodwins was where I saw them. I was mad for one but hadn’t the money in those days. Thanks Pete

[@PeteWade]

@@mindhead2005 I was similarly constrained. Was still, at the time, playing a Marlin I bought in a tiny second shop opposite Jervers street sc? It had a nice neck but would only stay in tune for 1 song. Hadn't a clue back then and had to get the keyboard player to re tune between each song on stage. Morto!!! 😅

[@mindhead2005]

@@PeteWade lol! A Marlin Sidewinder probably. Biggest selling guitar in the UK at one time!

[@thewomble1509]

I've had one of these for over 30 years. Unfortunately , the neck/frets have warped from the 12th fret onwards. Had it been a bolt on neck it would have been easy to fix but sadly it would cost an arm and a leg to have a new veneer, neck straightening and new frets fitted and dressed. Great little bass though. The EMG pups are great and it played like a dream until it didn't!

[@mindhead2005]

I had the same problem with both a Ric and a Peavey Cirrus Neck through is always a risk

[@thewomble1509]

@@mindhead2005 Yes, i learned that too late! I'll never get rid of it but I don't know if it will ever get fixed.

[@mindhead2005]

I hear you The string spacing on mine is not for me so I’ll be moving it on but what a fun bass

[@thewomble1509]

@@mindhead2005 Nice vids btw, keep them coming.

[@lextual]

Can not find and full body headless bass that meets my need or aesthetic standards. Gone back to playing my near 40 year aul’ Horner base model Steinberger copy recently however…

[@mindhead2005]

Well, that’s not so bad! They are great basses. Did you look at Ibanez EHB basses?

[@tymanngruter1808]

Victor Wooten..... watch your back! 🎯

[@mindhead2005]

Ha! Victor knew the score😊

[@MrSilver261]

I've always liked those honour Jack basis is it true they use EMG select pickups

[@mindhead2005]

Yes. Some of them are branded “Hohner” with the “select by EMG” logo underneath.

[@MrSilver261]

@@mindhead2005 I absolutely love eMG select

[@mindhead2005]

Me too. Super pickups

[@mixc8]

@mindhead How would you compare the tone to the B2A?

[@mindhead2005]

Very similar except the jazz pickups actually tighten it all up a bit. The preamp appears to be the uniting factor. It really does sound great. Ergonomically it's better than the B2a because the lack of a strap pivot makes the B2a poor on a strap for me