A CLOSER LOOK AT YOUR AMERICAN ULTRA II JAZZ BASS

The American Ultra II Jazz Bass is the apex of modern Fender design, performance and craftsmanship. A masterful blend of cutting-edge tech and 150 classic hand processes in our Corona, California factory – from our fastest-playing necks to new Ultra II Noiseless™ Vintage Jazz Bass Pickups – the Ultra II J Bass both advances the state-of-the-art and stands the test of time.

We caught up with Allen Abbassi, Fender’s Director of Product Management, for a deep dive into each innovative feature, so you’re ready to unleash the expressive growl of our most advanced bass ever – the moment it arrives at your door.

OUR FASTEST-PLAYING NECKS

There’s fast. And there’s Ultra II fast. Designed for the most discerning players, it’s only fitting the Ultra II Series features our fastest-playing necks ever. But what exactly makes the neck so fast? Let’s break it down.

MODERN “D” SHAPE

“The Modern ‘D’ shape is like a Goldilocks of necks; it’s a medium thickness – not too thick, not too thin,” Abbassi explains. “Compared to the Modern ‘C’ we use on the American Performer Series or the old Elites, the ‘D’ has shoulders that slope up a little – but not quite as drastically – so it feels a little flatter and thinner in your hand. A lot of times pros and advanced players gravitate toward thicker, vintage-style necks, and equate thickness with tone. But when they try something geared toward comfort and playability, they’re surprised at how nice it feels.”

COMPOUND RADIUS EBONY OR QUARTERSAWN MAPLE FINGERBOARD

The 10-14” compound radius means the curvature of the fretboard changes – with a smaller radius near the nut and a flatter radius toward the body. “This allows you to play higher registers – it’s easier to bend notes, and you’re less likely to fret or choke out,” he notes. As for the quartersawn neck? “It's a premium cut of wood, which results in a stronger, more stable neck – and you can feel it when you play it. They're more resistant to warping and the grain looks stunning – it's a great high-performance feature.”

EBONY OR MAPLE FINGERBOARD

Typically reserved for Custom Shop designs, ebony is about as premium a wood as you can get. “It’s bright like maple but not as snappy,” says Abbassi. “It’s a little smoother; it can be considered a midway point between rosewood and maple. Players might also find that ebony enhances the fastness of the neck.”

ULTRA ROLLED EDGES

“All the American-made guitars have rolled edges – but there are varying degrees. The edges on the Ultra II are more rolled than on any other Fender. This gives the guitars a more comfortable, broken-in feel. The difference is immediately noticeable.”

ULTRA SATIN FINISH

Many players liken the Ultra Satin finish to the feeling of a well-worn vintage neck – it has that comfortable, broken-in feel that usually only comes with years of playing. “The satin urethane finish on the back is a special treatment we call Ultra Satin – we take a little more time making it smooth and slick, which contributes to the neck being so fast.”

LUMINLAY® SIDE DOTS

For the first time in the history of Fender, every model in the American Ultra II Series features Luminlay® side dots – high-quality fluorescent inlays that glow in the dark. “It’s a great high-performance feature designed for the stage,” Abbassi notes. The feature addresses a common problem players face on tour – inadequate stage lighting – ensuring the fret markers on the neck are always visible, even in a dimly lit room.

ULTRA II NOISELESS™ VINTAGE JAZZ BASS PICKUPS

New Ultra II Noiseless™ Vintage pickups are responsive and expressive, delivering definitive J Bass growl for exceptional Fender tone – without hum.

“All the pickups on the bass are completely revoiced,” says Abbassi. “We sweetened up the midrange, made sure the spot where we cut off the bass frequencies was just right so it didn’t get muddy, and made sure the highs were still sweet and had a lot of clarity.”

The pickups feature an evolved architecture of specialized stacked coils with the top coil wound around Alnico V rod magnets to produce true single-coil Fender tone, while the isolated bottom coil is calibrated to preserve the tone and reject hum.

“When you plug your bass into an amp and hear that hum – this gets rid of that. It’s a huge benefit, not just for recording in the studio, but for those who play live under fluorescent lights – which can contribute to buzzing – this helps tremendously.”

ULTRA II ACTIVE BASS PREAMP WITH S-1™ SWITCHING

Redesigned for unprecedented control, the 18 volt preamp features S-1™ switching for active/passive operation so you can change modes on the fly – plus a global passive tone control to easily shape your active and passive sounds for authentically deep vintage timbres. The precise and powerful 3-band active EQ offers shimmering musical highs, satisfyingly punchy lows and a switchable midrange frequency to seriously sculpt your sound.

The midrange frequency switch lets players choose the mid-frequency they want to boost – 325 hertz or 750 hertz. “That’s kind of the sweet spot for the mid-range frequencies that helps you dial in the tone and cut through in the mix,” Abbassi says.

Another important feature is the S-1™ switch. “None of the basses in Ultra I had an S-1™ switch; they had a small toggle switch that allowed you to go between active and passive,” explains Abbassi. This is different. Ultra II uses the S-1™ switch to switch between active and passive, which is faster and easier to use on the gig and cleans up the look of the bass. And since most players who buy Ultra play active most of the time, we made the up position of the S-1 active and the down position passive."

Finally, we added a passive tone control that works in both active and passive mode. “We had a lot of bass players saying ‘I love to use my passive tone control in active mode as well as passive mode’ so we made sure that was there. We also reconfigured the location of some of the controls so it was easier to access the most-used tones.”

4-SADDLE ADJUSTABLE HIMASS™ BRIDGE

This precision manufactured HiMass bridge provides increased sustain and rock-solid tuning stability, now with string-through or top-load operation for greater versatility.

“The Ultra II basses are string through – which is a more boutique construction. The strings are strung all the way through the body through the back,” Abbassi notes. “On Ultra I the basses were strung through the top – top load – so this is a new construction. The upgraded bridge means you can string through on the top or the back; a lot of bass players choose different strings to top load or string-through for feel or tone. So you have both options.”

We also made it easier to adjust the truss rod. “It’s normally on the tail-end of the heel – so to adjust it you might have to loosen the strings and pull out the neck. With Ultra II, we put the truss rod on the headstock – so now players can easily adjust the truss rod from there. It’s a big deal.”

Looking for an amp that can stand up to your Ultra? Check out our full collection of bass amps.