Friday 6 May 2011

Fender Jazz and Peavey Foundation, fretless. . . .

I have a Yamaha RBX 270FL, which I haven't done yet.
I bought it new - Yes I know, not something you hear from
me very often but I was in a city centre and saw a music shop.
Like most of them these days, it is now closed down!
I wandered in to see what they had and most of it was just
the usual run-of-the-mill stuff, apart from the Yam.
After half an hour of Shall I, Shan't I, a deal was down and
I was out the door!
I will come back to the Yamaha, later on but it was what got
me into lined fretless, as my prowess on a blank board is
not something to envy - I get by and I enjoy the challenge
but it is not something I would like recorded!! :)
Anyway, back to the plot.







I bought the Fender Jazz, some time ago and had lots of fun
with it but not long after, I managed to get hold of a Peavey
Foundation and being a big Peavey fan (must do another T-40
soon!) I thought I would give it a go.
I soon found myself playing the Peavey a lot and after so much
previous attention, the Fender was left feeling a bit lonely!
The Jazz is a great bass and I was very impressed by the quality
of the components and the build, lovely to play but I kept reaching
for the Peavey, so after a couple of years of this, I decided to let
the Fender go to a new home.
The Peavey foundation, like a lot of USA Peavey instruments of that
period, is often overlooked but if you manage to get your hands on
one, that has been loved and set up correctly, it will bring a smile
to your face.











Nice weight and balance, lovely neck - very comfortable and the
Super Ferrite pick-ups are brilliant.
When I'm in the mood, I stick on my Tascam BT, pop some
headphones on, bit of chorus and compression and stick something
like Paul Young's, "Where ever I lay my hat" and I'm well away.
If you spot one, or the fretted version - grab it. . . . . before I do. :)

EDIT: I knew I had seen this somewhere - Quote from a fellow owner.

A Foundation with Super Ferrites is a bass that can hang with even
the best Seventies Jazzes, IMHO.
I cannot imagine a better four string bass

As I have had a few e.mails saying "how come you don't have many
Fenders", next time - another Fender!
Cheers. :)
Any input, info, questions you may have - drop me a line.
Always great to hear from fellow owners, players and
collectors.
contactflateric@gmail.com

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

After reading you I guess I'm gonna buy that Peavey Foundation FL that I just found.

Flat Eric said...

You won't go far wrong with that choice. Let me know what you think. :)

Steve in PR said...

Hi from Wilmington NC. I wanted to let you know that I just bought a Peavey Foundation FL Bass and I absolutely love it. I read your info as research and you are absolutely correct about the sound from the super ferrite pups. The neck is a little different from my Jazz bass but just as narrow up top and comfortable. I have the same color as the one in your picture but mine has gold plated hardware and a rectangular string retainer on the headstock. Definitely Made in the USA and it is an 1988 bass. Absolutely love it!

Flat Eric said...

Steve Hi. Sweet, aren't they? A really nice range of tones and as you confirm, a lovely neck.
Would like to see some pics of the Gold and the retainer. Please?
contactflateric@gmail.com

Hope you continue to enjoy it.

I now have a fretted foundation - took me ages to find the one I was after - will do that one soon.
Cheers. :)

Jeff said...

I've had my Foundation 5 fretless for 14 years or so, and I love it. I started out (a few centuries ago) on a Mosrite, playing blues-rock. I loved the narrow neck and the light action. The thing I immediately liked about the Foundation was how the neck reminded me of the Mosrite. I was in a music store looking for a new bass, and was playing a used Ibanez and figuring on buying it... commented to the clerk that it had an almost fretless sound, which I liked. He said, "did you check out the Peavey fretless over there?" I hadn't noticed it was fretless because of the inlays at the fret lines. The rest is history... love at first touch.
Now I'm playing (or trying to learn to play) jazz, and it serves very well. Reading other reviews I see that I'm not alone in enjoying its ease of play, tonal versatility, and all around good feel.
I have a little Behrenger practice amp that sounds good with it, but now I've been playing it through my PA system (also Peavey... no, I don't own any stock!) and it sounds rather nice. With more treble than bass on the PA head, I get an almost woody tone from it.
I think my only complaint is its tendency to have a somewhat flanged sound... a little too electronicky, if you know what I mean. I think this is typical of Peavey amps, so I guess I wasn't surprised to get it from the bass. I'm able to get it to a tolerable minimum, though.
All in all, a wonderful guitar.