Fender Performer Bass
| Category | Strings (electric bass) |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | USA |
| Classification | bass guitar |
| Wikipedia | en.wikipedia.org |
| Wikidata | Q4038696 |
Overview
The Fender Performer Bass was a short-lived electric bass produced by Fender in the mid-1980s, paired with the Fender Performer guitar as part of a coordinated modern-design line. Its angular, sculpted body and active electronics positioned it against the contemporary basses from Yamaha and Music Man rather than against Fender’s own Precision and Jazz Bass classics.
Origin & History
By the early 1980s Fender’s bass catalogue was dominated by the Precision Bass and Jazz Bass, designs unchanged in their essentials since the 1950s and 1960s. The Performer Bass, manufactured at Fender Japan during 1985 and 1986, was an attempt to enter the modern, slap-friendly active-electronics segment that was growing rapidly in pop and fusion. It did not establish a long sales life and was discontinued after a short run, but it has gained a small collector following.
How It’s Played
Standard four-string bass technique applies — fingerstyle, pick, slap, and tap. The active preamp gives the instrument a hotter signal and a more sculpted EQ than passive Fender basses, lending itself to the percussive slap-and-pop styles popular in the 1980s. Two split-coil humbucking pickups deliver a fuller tone with reduced single-coil hum.
Cultural Significance
The Performer Bass is interesting historically as one of Fender’s clearest attempts to look beyond its own heritage at a moment when other manufacturers were leading instrument-design innovation. Its short production life and limited sales make surviving examples uncommon today.
Related Instruments
- Fender Performer – the matching six-string
- – the long-running Fender bass standard
- – the other Fender bass classic
- Fender Urge Bass – Fender’s later signature active bass
- Fender Telecaster Bass – another Fender design experiment
Frequently Asked Questions
Was the Performer Bass active or passive?
It used active electronics with onboard EQ.
Is it the same as the Performer guitar?
They share a body language and were sold as a coordinated line, but the bass is a four-string with its own scale and electronics.
Image: Jpm61 at English Wikipedia, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
