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Post subject: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2013 10:31 pm
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My Bass arrived last Thursday. The last week has been frustrating at best. This is my 1st active Fender bass. This is my 1st post on this forum.

1st problem. I have been unable to get a User's guide/Owner's manual or anything that shows what knobs do what, that gives a description and specs for this specific model. How does one get that info? It did not come with the bass, nor could I or the guy at the online retailer find it at Fender.com. The guy at the retailer managed to get me one diagram showing the knobs and what they do, but that's it. Are the pickups active? (He says they are.) It has two batteries. Fender.com doesn't list the P/Us as active.

I question whether it truly has a "channel bound neck". The online retailer's description says it does, but the neck on the bass I have looks nothing like the videos I have seen of Fender guitars that do have the channel bound neck. The guy at the online retailer insists this bass has the channel bound neck. I disagree. Fender.com's description does not state it has a channel bound. In the end doesn't matter, but I would like to know for sure.

The treble range on this bass is minimal at best. It makes almost no difference whether boost or cut. Is that a normal thing for the Fender active electronics or is something wrong? The mid and bass have a great range.

Active/passive - when I switch to passive, I have no control over the tone. it makes no difference in tone when I turn the tone knob. The pan pot and volume still work as they should. Is that how it's supposed to work? Go to passive, lose all control over tone?

Would appreciate any thoughts/insight into any of the above. For the money I am spending I would like to be COMPLETELY satisfied with my purchase. Don't get me wrong - it's a beautiful bass, plays like butta (compound radius), I CAN get a good sound out of it in active mode. But definitely not impressed with the treble in active and the lack of any tone control at all in passive. Should I have just bought the passive version instead?


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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 12:57 am
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The Select pickups are passive hum-canceling stacks specially designed to eliminate the 60-cycle buzz while using the active tone controls. They work fine in both modes.

There's a passive tone control in the 2nd concentric pot which works only in passive mode.

None of the Select basses feature channel binding on their necks.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:56 pm
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They keep me locked in a barn most of the time so...what is a "channel bound" neck? That one just seems to have slipped by me.

Usually if I see batteries in a bass I'm thinking active. UNLESS they are for electric position markers. Those are purdy. :D


It sounds like there is a glitch with the treble controllation.

I would have bought a passive bass- you asked.

Can you post some pics?

Can I borrow $5 ? 8)


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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 5:34 pm
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Fender guitar and bass manuals are notoriously generic and mostly useless. On occasion they were notable for things like typographical errors, but never for content. They were the first thing you threw away. For about the past decade a plastic overlay indicated control function. Most dealers remove it along with the pickguard plastic covering during setup but it is usually present on display models. Not sure if that is what happened to yours or not.

Your 2013 Select Jazz Bass is an active bass. The 2012 model was passive I think. The 2013 active model has passive pickups, else they would not work at all in passive mode. Almost all pickups used on active basses are passive pickups. It is the preamp with active EQ that makes it active, not the pickups. This is one of the most common misconceptions about active basses and the phrase "active pickups" is often used incorrectly. There are very few truly active bass pickups made and none of them are used in any brand's stock basses that I know about off the top of my head. Even though most active basses use passive pickups, the passive pickups which they use are often maximized for use with an active preamp, which means they are not overwound so they retain full fidelity. Passive bass pickups are often more overwound for higher output, but on an active bass they depend more on the preamp to boost level which means the pickups can be wound for fuller fidelity instead of for maximum output.

As for the lack of treble, what amp/cab are you using? That might be part of it. There could be something amiss though. I'd get an in person checkup on it.

I don't think channel bound necks are being used on any basses yet. Maybe coming but not yet. Maybe they want to see how the guitars hold up first.

For more specific information about controls, switching etc you might want to shoot an email to consumerrelations@fender.com and ask away.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 6:33 pm
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If your controls are the same as my Am. Deluxe, the bottom (4th) knob should have a double knob. The larger knob is the passive tone control. The smaller knob sitting in above the larger knob, is your active mid control. The (3rd) knob is a dual also. It controls the active treble, and active bass.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:10 pm
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Thanks, Brother Dave. I will contact them. Not sure why i couldn't see their contact info before. Probably blinded by disappointment with the instrument. I'll call tomorrow, and post back what I've learned.

Stroker - The "channel bound fretboard" neck is something new Fender has come up with. Instead of laying the fretboard on top of the neck, they are cutting a "channel" in the neck and laying the fretboard INSIDE the neck. The sides of the neck come up around the sides of the fretboard. Take a look at this link -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geu_VAEcP3I


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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:01 pm
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Electric position markers ... :lol:

I once saw a dude who'd drilled out his position markers and replaced them with cubic zirconiums. They picked up the dim light on stages pretty well.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:18 pm
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leedeluna wrote:
Thanks, Brother Dave. I will contact them. Not sure why i couldn't see their contact info before. Probably blinded by disappointment with the instrument. I'll call tomorrow, and post back what I've learned.

Stroker - The "channel bound fretboard" neck is something new Fender has come up with. Instead of laying the fretboard on top of the neck, they are cutting a "channel" in the neck and laying the fretboard INSIDE the neck. The sides of the neck come up around the sides of the fretboard. Take a look at this link -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geu_VAEcP3I



I LIKE IT ! Thanks


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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 11:47 am
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I've seen tritium inserts used in neck markers also.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 1:21 pm
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Wow. That channel bound neck is pretty cool. Patent pending. Fender strikes again with an innovative approach. Be interesting to follow production intrument reviews for the first couple years. Thanks for bringing that forward.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:02 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
Electric position markers ... :lol:

I once saw a dude who'd drilled out his position markers and replaced them with cubic zirconiums. They picked up the dim light on stages pretty well.



Perhaps Stroker means SIMS LED fretboard markers.

The dude you're talking about is none than Level 42 bass nut Mark King.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2013 8:43 am
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No. Actually it was a guy I'd seen playing a small club in Edmonton and it wasn't the fretboard inlays he'd drilled out it was the side markers.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 11:54 pm
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So, Gang. It took a week, but I finally got the correct info on this bass. I'll respond to each of my original issues -

ISSUE - "Unable to get a User's guide/Owner's manual or anything..."
UPDATE _ The diagram I got from (I'll say it now - Sweetwater) was INCORRECT. It was for the American Deluxe Jazz Bass. I finally got the correct diagram from them after telling them I was contacting Fender to get the real info about this bass. What I found out from Fender is below...


ISSUE - "Are the pickups active?..." The guy at Sweetwater told me more than once they are active.
UPDATE_ Talked to Fender - They ARE NOT active. Fender does not put out active pickups.

ISSUE - "I question whether it truly has a channel bound neck. Sweetwater's description said it does (They have since corrected that after I submitted my review of the bass and the bad info I kept getting from Sweetwater. They still haven't posted my review. I'm assuming because I detailed how much incorrect info I kept getting from Sweetwater.), The guy at Sweetwater insisted it had the channel bound neck, even went so far as to say he verified it with Fender.
UPDATE_ Talked to Fender - It DOES NOT have a channel-bound neck.

ISSUE - "The treble range on this bass is minimal at best."
UPDATE_ Talked to Fender - that's the range. The specs they sent me does show it has a rather flat treble response.

ISSUE - "Active/passive - when I switch to passive, I have no control over the tone...."
UPDATE_ Talked to Fender_ They MADE IT THAT WAY. When you switch to passive, THERE IS NO TONE CONTROL. Only Volume and Pickup pan pot work. (Oh yeah - The day I spoke to Fender, that was also the day when an ACTUAL BASS TECHNICIAN from Sweetwater, not the "Sales Engineer" I was dealing with - called to tell me the same thing, and to provide a copy of the correct controls diagram).

I consider NO TONE CONTROL IN PASSIVE to be a design flaw. They make the American Deluxe (which costs $600.00 less), but DOES have standard tone control in passive, but they make this "Select" bass without. I would not have bought the bass if I had known that.

Would have been nice if either Fender or Sweetwater would have mentioned that little bit of info on their websites.

In the end - I sent the bass back. Too bad. I really wanted to love this bass, and I tried and tried. After trying to figure out how it worked, getting incorrect info for a week from Sweetwater, just to find out about what I consider a design flaw, I couldn't keep it and be completely satisfied. And for $2300.00, I need to be completely satisfied.

So there you have it. If you're thinking about getting one - It plays great, it's beautiful, you can get great sounds out of it in active, but you have no tone control in passive, except for what you can get by using the pickup pan pot.

Let me just say how disappointed I am in my experience with Sweetwater (in case you haven't figured that out yet).

Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 3:14 am
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The Marcus Miller Jazz Bass has similar electronics, except you get a 2-band EQ and separate volumes for each pickup.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Select Active Jazz Bass - Help!
Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 5:08 am
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That's a shame about the the passive tone setting being non-functional. I don't understand why they would have even installed the passive tone control knob there, if there is no function. You would have done better with either an Am. Std., or Am. Dlx. Jazz.

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