Mayones Jabba Bassic VF 5 Spring Green Metallic

Mayones built the Jabba to be a modern J-style bass, and the Bassic VF 5 is the most forward-looking version of it. The “VF” stands for V-Fret: a fanned multiscale fretboard that runs 35″ under the low B and tapers to 33″ under the top string, so every string gets the scale length that suits it best. In Spring Green Metallic it’s a striking thing to look at — but the real story is what Mayones has packed inside.

This is Mayones’ Bassic line, their streamlined production series out of Gdańsk. “Streamlined” still means a hand-built Polish instrument with their own Velvetrone pickups and a preamp that does things most basses simply can’t.

The ash body gives this Jabba a punchy, articulate foundation — clear lows, a vocal midrange and a top end that cuts without turning harsh. It’s the kind of wood that lets a J-style bass speak with definition rather than blur.

The bolt-on neck is hard rock maple, a single piece stiffened with two carbon-fibre rods so it stays dead straight under the tension of five strings across a long multiscale. The pau ferro fingerboard adds a touch of warmth and a smooth, slightly oily feel under the fingers — close to rosewood, but tighter-grained and more consistent.

The multiscale is the headline. Running 35″ at the low B and 33″ at the top, the fanned V-Frets give the B string the extra length it needs to stay tight and piano-like, while the upper strings stay short enough to feel relaxed under the hand. You get the focused low end of a long-scale bass without the stretch fight up high, and the 20″ fingerboard radius keeps it flat and fast for modern playing.

The pickups are Mayones’ own Velvetrone Noble VF — soapbar-housed but voiced for that classic J-style growl, with a modern clarity and a hot, even output across all five strings. There’s vintage snap in there, but it’s tighter and more hi-fi than a true vintage set.

Behind them sits the Velvetrone Musashi Nitōryū preamp: an active 3-band EQ with Volume, Balance, Middle, a stacked Treble/Bass control and a passive tone. Pull up on the volume knob and you drop straight into passive mode — so you’ve got a transparent, powerful active voice and an old-school passive one in the same instrument.

Then there’s the part that sets the VF apart: a built-in M-Headphones System. The bass carries a 1/8″ headphone out, a 1/8″ aux in and a USB-C outlet right on the body — plug in headphones and a backing track and you can practise silently anywhere, or run USB-C straight into an interface. For a working or travelling bassist that’s genuinely useful, not a gimmick. Add the Mayones Single Saddle bridge, lightweight Hipshot Ultralite Clover tuners and Schaller straplocks, and the whole thing is built to gig.

This one’s for the modern player who wants a J-style five-string that does it all — tight multiscale low end, real active/passive flexibility and a practice-and-recording rig built into the body. We think it’s one of the smartest basses Mayones makes.