MusicRadar Verdict
A Fender bass in touch with the needs of today's players. Sleek, comfortable and full of sonic delight.
Pros
- +
Comfortable to play. Lots of robust, powerful sounds on tap. Balanced output.
Cons
- -
Price.
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
Fender's Dimension bass offers a new look and specification from its classic range of solidbodies. With a sleeker body, new pickup design, active electronics, solid bridge block and stylish scratchplate, it's definitely a bass that is aimed at the forward-looking player.
"The Dimension is extremely comfortable to play, and the asymmetrical neck profile is a real boon"
The offset body design, with full back scoop and forearm chamfer, looks and feels great; and in spite of the smaller body horns, the neat Gotoh sealed-gear tuners help keep headstock weight down, so the overall balance is good.
The Dimension is extremely comfortable to play, and the asymmetrical neck profile is a real boon, particularly on this five-string version. It's offered with one or two pickups, and this model is built in Mexico, so it also offers a saving over the USA models.
Sounds
Although our review model has just one of the new staple-pole humbuckers, the onboard active electronics and three-band EQ offer far more sound variation than we are used to from classic Fender basses.
Tone is the key word, with lots of robust and powerful sounds presenting plenty of twang and a generally honky quality, thanks to a very effective midrange.
The treble is gentle in operation - clean but not glassy - and for those more traditional sounds set the bass control on full while winding the mid and treble all the way back; but even then, a funky element is still present when you really dig in. Great performance, balanced output across all five strings, and the low B speaks with authority.
Getting something new from Fender, rather than a vintage modified, or upgraded model, makes this special, and although it's not cheap, make no mistake - this is a beautiful bass to play: a great new tool in the Fender box.
"I'm like, I'm freaked out right now. I'm scared. I feel like I'm drowning on stage and I feel like I'm failing”: SZA on that misfiring Glastonbury headline set
“It sounded so amazing that people said to me, ‘I can hear the bass’, which usually they don’t say to me very often”: U2 bassist Adam Clayton contrasts the live audio mix in the Las Vegas Sphere to “these sports buildings that sound terrible”
"Even if people think it is ludicrous, it's an entry point. And people were just ready for a bit of fun”: Blossoms explain why they named their album Gary
