The Man, The Myth, The Legend
You’ve seen him. Even if you’ve managed to somehow remain unaware of his name in bass circles; somehow slept on his Whammy-fied, octave-up flights of funk; stayed in the dark on the man behind all that brightness – you’ve definitely seen the chromatically colorful, comic book character-esque MonoNeon. And if, like most of us, you’ve heard his brilliance on the bass for yourself, then it should come as no surprise that this mythic, string-slapping superhero has been recognized with his own signature bass! Fender has just released their MonoNeon Jazz Bass V, a Mexican-made, Mono-spec’d 5-string J-Bass, retailing at $1,599.99 and now widely available. We jumped at the chance to take a close look at one and pass our findings on to you!
Initial Thoughts
Giving me some initial cause for concern, the bass shipped directly from Fender wrapped in a relatively thin and lightweight gig bag (included with the model), itself within a shipping box perhaps only four inches deep, with no real protective packing material on its broad sides and minimal packing below the instrument’s butt and above its head. The MonoNeon Jazz Bass V, however, arrived completely unscathed! I imagine at the volume that Fender produces and ships, they’ve likely figured out a thing or two about what’s really needed for safe transit. Or, perhaps the included, color-matched pair of socks (for the headstock, obviously) bestowed super powers upon the intrepid instrument!
Fender MonoNeon Jazz Bass V
Fender MonoNeon Jazz Bass V
It’s hard not to start with the looks – because that’s definitely what you noticed first – so let’s not fight it. Mono’s favorite colors were selected for the body and headstock finish: neon, crossing guard yellow and orange, with the headstock matching the pickguard. Gold hardware is a well-suited addition to the palette, comprising an upgraded, HiMass™ Fender bridge, control plate, jackplate, strap pins, string trees and tuners. This is not a bass you play to fade unassumingly into the background. The bass looks joyful and embodies a sort of celebration of music and bassdom.
The dual-J, custom humbucking Fireball pickups were dialed in and fine-tuned in conjunction with MonoNeon, says Fender, and they sound exceptionally thick, low, and meaty. While Fender doesn’t provide the spec, I’d strongly assume the humbucking coil pairs are wired in series configuration, evidenced by the exceptionally high output and their highly mid and low-focused nature. They are mated to an 18v preamp, which provides a good amount of tonal flexibility, especially for adding a bit of snap and brightness to the amplified tone and perhaps cutting back a bit on the luxurious but profound lows and low-mids. A cool, sub-mini toggle switch is provided between the Mid and Bass controls and selects either active or passive mode; however its positioning can be problematic when adjusting either of those controls, especially the Bass – the lower of the stacked Treble/Bass pot. There doesn’t seem to be a passive tone control when in passive mode, with only master volume and balance functioning in that scenario. With all controls at detent, the active mode has noticeably more output than passive, meaning it’s not a unity-gain style preamp implementation.
The HiMass™ Fender bridge was a great upgrade choice and felt very solid, but I do wish that it provided for the quick release of strings, either via top-mounting through an open channel or alternatively through widened string thread-through ports on the bridge’s rear plate. There are similar bridges that do feature that option, which greatly reduces the time involved when restringing.
Posted by Sean Fairchild | May 19, 2023 | Bassic Reviews, Gear
by Bass Gear Magazine
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