Just received my new Blacktop Jazz yesterday and will replace the factory strings with D'Addario Chrome flatwounds ASAP. The fit/finish is excellent and the photos don't do the white finish justice. It's something that you really need to see in person to appreciate. One thing that I found troubling though was the minimal range of both pick up volume controls. Sure, they turn almost a full revolution but it's almost like 70% of the pot is low volume then BAM! turn it just a few degrees higher and you've got a loud bass. It's almost more of an off/on switch than a true gradient volume control. I hate the thought of replacing pots on a brand new instrument.

Billlozon owns this item

I only picked this bass up in the store to give it a test play because it was sitting next to the Blacktop Precision I had come in to try out. Am I glad I did! At first, the look of the dual split P-bass pickups was a bit weird and I had little hope of it sounding any different than a normal, entry level P-bass. Boy was I wrong! The tone of this beast is truly amazing! Plugged straight into an SVT stack, it was clear and HUGE! It has the bottom end of the P-Bass but with more clarity (likely due to the second pickup being placed closer to the bridge). I immediately was able to get an amazing rock tone with minimal knob tweaking on the amp. Dropping back the tone knob a bit subdued the attack and mellowed out the tone nicely for finger-style playing, as did soloing the front pickup. The bass is solidly built. If you didn't look a the back of the neck, you'd think that this was a full-on American-made Fender bass instead of Mexican. If you didn't look at the price tag you'd think that this bass would easily cost closer to $1,000+ than the measly $500 it cost at the music store! Solid body, really nicely finished (Chrome Pearl White finish was surprisingly pleasing to the eye and I'm a black or vintage sunburst kind of guy!), neck feels great (although I'd prefer less gloss on the back of it), frets are nicely done, neck pocket was solid and the Hi-Mass bridge gives each note greater sustain than you'd expect. In a nutshell...Clear, clean and huge! The pickups clearly translated all the picking and finger-style nuances I could throw at it. Pushing the volume a bit added some nice grit that didn't get in the way of note clarity. The bass plays so effortlessly that I ended up playing for quite a while. I plugged it through an EHX Bass Big Muff Deluxe and it about tore a hole in the roof! The dual P pickups really made the distortion pedal come to life! All in all, a fantastic value for the money and a real tribute to Fender's attention to quality manufacturing...even "across the border"!