Fender LTD AM ULTRA PBass EBY TGR

First and foremost, I must confess that I don't have a super long history of bass playing, but I have high standards when it comes to any product that I bring into my life and home. With that in mind, here is what I have to say about this bass.

A bit more background: I picked up the bass as a new hobby (but with a long history of musical instruments - clarinet, piano, and some guitar - during my teens a good 20 years ago) and I have been playing for about a year now (practicing around 3 times a week, 1-2 hours a time, now nearing the end of the Hall Leonard Bass method books and playing some other songs once in a while), and I used a Mexican-made Fender Mustang bass during this time (which I was perfectly happy about, except for developing a bit different taste regarding what my optimal looking instrument would be). Over the past months it became clear that the bass will not be a passing fad for me, so I started looking into getting a higher-level instrument, preferably something that has the potential to be my pride and joy for many many years.

I loved the PJ setup of my Mustang (with flat-wound strings), so I wanted to have that, plus a passive/active circuit to have all the options for the future - if I am already going to buy an expensive instrument, it better have all the features, right? On top of that, it had to be pretty, something I enjoy looking at, and picking up all the time. And since I was very comfortable playing on a short-scale, I felt like I could go for a long-scale this time.

When I first saw this bass browsing here (as I did in the past months once a week or two), I immediately fell in love, even though the price was well over my original idea of a budget (~2000 EUR). "Unfortunately" it ticked all the boxes: PJ, active/passive, looked amazing, etc. Originally I thought that the price was still too much, but any other bass I kind of liked felt like a compromise with a sour taste after this point, so after after a few days of reasoning pro and con, I decided to pull the trigger.

The bass looks as good in reality as it is on the pictures, it is beautifully done, the only tiny flaw I could find is on the bottom side of the last fret having some residual lacquer, but you cannot even see that in normal playing or display positions, and I am sure I could scrape it off if I really wanted. Other than that, everything is as expected for an instrument in this price range. I just love the black headstock with the golden lettering.

The setup was perfectly good out of the box, string height, action, intonation all on point. All knobs turn smooth but not too loose, there are detents at the middle positions (except for volume and passive tone), and I appreciate the quick release strap knobs that were included. The bass comes in a heavy-duty Fender case, matching the price of the instrument.

I only tried the factory strings for a couple of minutes while I checked the bass initially to see if everything worked, then I immediately installed La Bella (760FS) flat-wounds, as I prefer flats both for their sound, and their feel. I mostly play with a balanced neck and bridge pickup mix (or P only when the music requires), with tone around 33-50%, and I love the sound this instrument creates. It is much fuller and more sustained than my Mustang (even though this is an unfair comparison in many ways, comparing short and long scale, and a different quality and price-range in electronics, and bridge hardware), TLDR it is a significant and worthy jump in quality from what I had before. It is true that you get what you pay for. And if you turn the active circuit on, then you get even more of the fullness and sustain (and more tone options too, but I need more experience to discover what I prefer there, so for now I am more sticking to passive mode).

While I was slightly afraid of the long-scale precision neck coming from a short-scale jazz-necked bass, the transition was pretty easy.

Overall I am 100% happy with my purchase, the bass sounds and looks amazing, which makes me want to play more, and that is the most important thing. It is also a worthy piece on display in our living room, so I prefer to think of it as a piece of art too (not like I need extra validation or anything). I hope I will play it for many many years to come.