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This model is an exact replica of Jones' own guitar.

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• Review

For some time now Led Zeppelin bassist and session legend John Paul Jones has championed instruments made by UK luthier Hugh Manson. He used one last year while touring with Them Crooked Vultures and the model we have on review here is identical to John's own custom model, with all the upgrades and tweaks included.

So that it remains competitively priced it's been manufactured in the Czech Republic, but before it goes on sale, each bass is given a full quality test and a final set-up in the UK to ensure that Manson's reputation for quality remains intact.

This is a truly stunning instrument, which features a beautifully matched maple top that really catches the eye. But Hugh Manson is a luthier known for his classy and refined designs, and the JPJ somehow manages to look the part without appearing showy or garish.

"There are loads of great tones to be extracted from the JPJ and it's hard not to keep twiddling knobs."

The upper body horn aids stability when playing and the downward curve of the lower horn helps to secure the bass on your leg when sitting down.

The surface is left exposed so you get the full benefit of the exotic top and, proportionately, this is smaller in body than our photographs may suggest. It's a well-balanced instrument and sits comfortably into the body.

The neck profile is similar to a Jazz Bass but a tad deeper back to front so there's more substance in the hand. The cutaway is deep anyway but is further assisted by a chamfer on the lower horn so getting the benefit of all 24-frets is easy.

The ebony fingerboard is super-smooth to the touch and it certainly helps to make this feel a pretty luxurious piece. A very nice addition here too is the Hipshot D-Tuner, which allows the bottom E string to be dropped a full tone to low D.

Actually, this particular model can be adjusted to drop to C, so it does require the lever to operate over quite a large arc compared to some, but it's easy to use and very accurate, holding tuning in both positions even if you keep swapping from one to the other.

When dropped to D, the bottom string still speaks confidently and in balance with the rest of the pack - it's not often you can say that.

Sounds

As active circuits go, this is delightfully uncomplicated, which helps enormously in finding and shaping some truly great sounds.

The pairing of active humbucking pickups provides high output with power to spare, so you feel confident that every movement of the controls is going to make a definite contribution.

The dual-concentric tone control presents treble at the top and bass below, with each control offering boost or cut from a centre detent.

Working on full bass and total cut on treble, with just the neck pickup in action, we discover that although this is rich in warmth - there is no way that it can ever sound woolly. There's bite to each note that ensures clarity and definition.