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Post subject: Active electronics problems jazz bass
Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 1:10 pm
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Location: Springfield Missouri
I have a 1997 American active jazz deluxe bass. Bought it new, had no problems until a couple years ago, with the active electronics. It took quite some time to come to the conclusion that it was the active electronics. The backpick up only worked on the E and A stings, the front pickup worked fine across all 4 strings. It seemed to only do this at first on really hot days, outside, or in a garage etc when it was hot outside. Finally it was happening at gigs in the air conditioning also. Sooo, I replaced the electronics, and the problem went away. 4 months now, and the problem is back ! I can t keep buying new active electronics, and even if there is a warranty, I can t keep going through this.
Should I ditch the bass and go with a Stock Jazz bass, or try to
find out why the active is going out ? The pick ups are fine, they ve been tested, and work in another bass etc.. I also have a couple of
other pick ups, I could put in, that are not the "noiseless" design with
the split pole piece configuration. I could put those in and disconnect the active electronics, but it seems a shame to have to do that because of
faulty active electronics. Any suggestions? :cry: [/b]


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Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:09 pm
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For starters, fender preamps..... suck. Like many preamps, they color the natural tone of the pickups even when the preamp is flat, which makes extremely dynamic and interesting pickups (like the ones on your deluxe bass) sound loud and generic.

If you're gonna replace the preamp, spend the money on a good one. I suggest an Aguilar preamp, but there are many good ones out there. The aguilar does a good job at being very transparent so it doesn't color the sound of the pickups as much. Also, get one that has an active/passive switch, that way if you have an issue with the preamp on stage, you can just go into passive mode.

I happen to be a proponant of passive electronics because even the best preamp will color the sound of the pickups at some level. If you do go for active, get a good preamp and have an active passive switch. You can hide the active passive switch in a push/pull knob if you don't want to have an obvious switch on the bass.


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Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:28 pm
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anubis16 wrote:
For starters, fender preamps..... suck. Like many preamps, they color the natural tone of the pickups even when the preamp is flat, which makes extremely dynamic and interesting pickups (like the ones on your deluxe bass) sound loud and generic.


I think you're wrong. The preamp in my MIA Precision Deluxe sounds great, is extremely versatile and doesn't adversely affect the sound of the Fender Original '62 P-Bass pickup I installed in the instrument.

As for what the "natural" tone of a pickup would be (as if pickups were some kind of organic device), and exactly what anybody means when they say a bass sounds "generic," well... I have no idea. Those terms are meaningless substitutes for actual thought on the subject. Would "generic" means that it sounds like the bass on thousands and thousands of hit records? Seems to me that would be a good thing.

Finally, the word is "proponent."

To the OP:
When you say you replaced "the active electronics," did you replace everything from the pickups forward... the pots, wires, switches, etc.? I have a hard time seeing how any of those components could cause half a pickup to fail. You say the pickups have been tested, but how... for continuity? You say they work in another bass,m but how long did you play them in that bass? I'm not convinced your active EQ could cause the problem you're describing. Perhaps someone esle here can explain how that could be.....


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Post subject: active electronics.
Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:41 pm
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Yea, like I said earlier, I m happy with the sound of the Fender Active pickup for the most part. The word "generic" throws me a little. I mean
most Fender basses have a "generic" sound, meaning, that they all have a similar quality to them. Other than "over EQ d" or something, Jazz basses generally have 2 single coil pups on them, and you either play em full on, or lean to the back or front etc.. To me that s a generic Fender bass sound. These pups are high output, along witht the active, makes
it a hot bass, and whatever I plug it into, it sounds "Good" to me.
But I will take your advice, and if I do go "Active" again, it will
be with something other than Fender Active . Thanks.


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Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:52 pm
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SlapChop wrote:
anubis16 wrote:
For starters, fender preamps..... suck. Like many preamps, they color the natural tone of the pickups even when the preamp is flat, which makes extremely dynamic and interesting pickups (like the ones on your deluxe bass) sound loud and generic.


I think you're wrong. The preamp in my MIA Precision Deluxe sounds great, is extremely versatile and doesn't adversely affect the sound of the Fender Original '62 P-Bass pickup I installed in the instrument.

As for what the "natural" tone of a pickup would be (as if pickups were some kind of organic device), and exactly what anybody means when they say a bass sounds "generic," well... I have no idea. Those terms are meaningless substitutes for actual thought on the subject. Would "generic" means that it sounds like the bass on thousands and thousands of hit records? Seems to me that would be a good thing.

Finally, the word is "proponent."

To the OP:
When you say you replaced "the active electronics," did you replace everything from the pickups forward... the pots, wires, switches, etc.? I have a hard time seeing how any of those components could cause half a pickup to fail. You say the pickups have been tested, but how... for continuity? You say they work in another bass,m but how long did you play them in that bass? I'm not convinced your active EQ could cause the problem you're describing. Perhaps someone esle here can explain how that could be.....


Hey, I'm not hating on active electronics, or saying you can't get a good sound out of the fender preamp, but Fender is very behind on preamp technology. And perhaps it was wrong of me to say "generic" sounding, but let me elaborate on that thought.

The problem with the fender preamp is how it colors the tone (and no, I'm not suggesting that a pickup is organic in any way as you were suggesting I said). I actually tested this out when I was at a guitar center. I took 4 basses, a MIA standard jazz, a MIA standard p, a MIA deluxe jazz, and a MIA deluxe P.

The MIA passives sounded quite different from each other, each having that distinctive. When I tried out the active jazz and p, their tones were far less distinct from each other. This is a result of the preamps coloration of the tone. That's not opinion there, that's fact: all preamps color the natural tone of the pickups. Some do so less than others, but Fender preamps are particularly notorious of this.

Again, I'm not saying you can't get a good sound out of Fender preamps. Rather, they limit your options because of the coloration.


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Post subject: active fender electronics
Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 7:53 am
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I m cool with that, and understand. I ve often wondered why I put my faith in a 9 volt battery anyway. This has convinced me to get away from active electronics entirely. I had a 72 jazz bass for years that I swore
I d never get rid of, but thought I had to have the latest greatest thing at the time. The bas I have is great, so I ll probably take the active out and
wire it like a stock jazz bass. The pickups are fine so it should sound
good. It ll be an adjustment because my tone knobs will be different, but
a relief not to have to worry about the active going out etc..
Thanks for your advice.[/b]


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