The most lightweight bass that Fender has ever made, Blu's signature bass brings the best of a classic design and some modern appointments.
Blu DeTiger (her real name, by the way) now has her own signature Fender Jazz Bass. Featuring a unique and eye-catching Sky Burst Sparkle, the design of Blu’s bass speaks to the needs of a professional gigging, recording and playing musician, influenced by decades of pop, soul, Motown and more, melding it all together into her own unique blend of music. All of this probably most obviously on show on her debut record All I Ever Want Is Everything that was released earlier this year.
Blu is at home in New York, and we speak to her about the Limited Player Plus x Blu DeTiger Jazz Bass.
I start by congratulating Blu on the signature bass and she beams, responding in a relaxed tone, “Thank you, yeah, super exciting.”
Beginning with an important line of questioning, why did she choose the Jazz bass amongst the mire of endless Precision vs Jazz bass arguments?
“Actually for me, I started playing a P-Bass before I even got into the Jazz Bass stuff. When I was playing P-Bass, that’s when I started learning to slap and play funkier bass lines, and that’s when I was like ‘Okay, it’s probably time for me to get a Jazz bass,’ just because it’s easier to slap and do that technique on a Jazz bass.” she explains.
“That’s kinda the style that I fell in love with, so once I picked up the Jazz bass, I was like ‘Okay, this is the style for me.’”
Blu goes on to explain she still owns P-Basses, for when she needs them in the studio or on the stage, they do have a unique sound after all, but the Jazz Bass feels more like home. “But I appreciate both!” she laughs.
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Blu’s bass is a reasonably traditional Jazz bass, bar the addition of a Custom Blu DeTiger Fireball humbucker in the bridge position.
“That idea came from… one of my favourite bass players is Bernard Edwards (bass player and co-founder for Chic). And his bass playing style, and the bass that he played has that sound that I was trying to achieve. So we tried this different pickup configuration where we have the humbucker and it adds this punch and drive that you wouldn’t normally get.” Blu states.
“[It] makes the whole bass super versatile, Fender has never done that pickup configuration before and I wanted to do something new and that would serve me as a player. I need that sound live, since I’m playing ‘lead bass’ almost?” she says. “It has the coolest tone, and it makes the bass super versatile.”
Blu goes on to explain that with the bass being so lightweight, the addition of the humbucker helps to round out the sound. The Blu DeTiger Jazz Bass is a chambered ash body, ash being a reasonably light wood at the best of times, the chambered design both serving to remove some weight while adding to the bass’ tonality.
“It’s all about balancing the bass to hit all the marks, but… it’s super sick. It’s [the humbucker] like a built-in drive.”
We chat for a moment about how important versatility is in recording, especially when the studio is so focused on getting the sound right from the start.
“If you’re spending money on a bass, and that’s your bass, you want to make sure you can get any kind of sound out of it. We achieved that on this one.”
Blu is leading the way for a new generation of bass players, following a long line of funk-focused, grooving and rock-solid bass players. Her bass influences include people like the aforementioned Bernard Edwards, as well as James Jamerson who played on a lot of Motown recordings.
“I studied [Motown] really heavily and deeply.” Blu explains, listing her influences one by one. “Larry Graham [of Sly and the Family Stone], some of the first slap bass lines I learned were his. Meshell Ndegeocello, she sings and plays, it’s incredible. Marcus Miller, yeah. Those are my top-tier list [of influences]. I could go on and on.”
Blu’s influences speak to her penchant for funky and soulful bass lines, all of these players having been both artists as well as session bassists on a slew of recordings.
We pivot here, speaking to the design of her new bass and the conversation she had with Fender began. A little digging on her Instagram reveals a version of her signature bass with a single coil in the bridge position.
“Basically, a few years ago I had a Custom Shop made. That’s the bass you’re referring to with the single coil.” she states.
“Me and the master builder at the Fender Custom Shop came up with this colourway, and everything I wanted and it was a very early prototype without me even realising that it was a prototype.”
“At that point it wasn’t even decided that I was doing a signature. It kinda stemmed from that Custom Shop.”
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We chat for a moment about the more regular design process, with prototypes being built, changed, honed and refined, whereas Blu unknowingly had the chance to really put her prototype through its paces over a few years and figured out what she loved and what might need work.
“Yeah it probably would’ve taken me much longer if I didn’t have this Custom Shop, but I already had the aesthetics down that I wanted, that knocked out a whole part of it,” she says. “And with the electronics we just changed out of the pickup and the bridge… I guess we did a lot to it.” she acknowledges, referring to the addition of the 18v Active Preamp with 3-Band EQ and Active/Passive Switch, as well as additional switching options to offer unparalleled versatility.
For a company like Fender, with over 70 years of designs, customisations and new releases, it’s really not easy to make something new. But here we are, with the Blu DeTiger Jazz Bass, a unique take on a classic design, with aesthetics and design elements never before seen on a Jazz!
“Yeah, that was my whole thing. I wanted to make something that the company hasn’t made, or something that I feel like is missing on the market.” she explains. “Like the humbucker thing, or the aesthetics of it, or how it’s super lightweight. It’s the lightest weight bass Fender has ever made!”
“I couldn’t find a lightweight bass, and that’s why I had to make the Custom Shop. It was missing.”
‘Was’ being the operative word here, the Limited Player Plus x Blu DeTiger Jazz Bass now being available worldwide.
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