Fender Am. DLX Jazz Bass - Noisy as hell

Marton · #1 10-06-2009, 09:06 AM

I just got a new cab today (Epifani T-112) and my Fender Deluxe jazz bass is very noisy in it, unless I completly dial down the tweeter. The bass is not that noisy in other cabs, and I tried my other deluxe jazz (with an audere pre-amp), my stingray 5 and my passive jazz, and none got that annoying noise trough the cab. Any ideas how to fix the problem ?

ldervish · #2 10-06-2009, 09:50 AM

Thinking out loud here, I have been told that some of the Fender preamp boards are much more noisy than others. If you have one of the noisy ones it would also stand to reason that it could be noisier than other brands of onboard preamps. So that could be part of it, possibly remedied by a chip or transistor replacement or at worst a board or harness swap.

The other part could be that the T-112 is more sensitive to those freqs than other cabs (?) or itself has a bad/failing/noisy component in its crossover network.

A tech with a scope should be able to tell you and offer advice, or you may want to try replacing the Fender unit and see what that gives you.

lavaman67 · #3 10-06-2009, 10:04 AM

FWIW, I had a 2007 ADJ with the stock 18Volt pre-amp and it was very quiet. But, I don't have tweeter in my cabs either, so I am not sure how much help that would be.

fish slapper · #4 10-06-2009, 02:27 PM

I have an 07 Dlx J V and its dead quiet, even when I pan from one pup to the other.

**Eric Swaim** · #5 10-06-2009, 02:38 PM

I have a 1997 American Fender Deluxe Jazz Bass and it is "noiseless". I did own a 2002 American Deluxe Jazz Bass and it was very noisy especially in an older building with older electrical wiring. You might be able to shield the cavity of the bass with copper shielding tape. May or may not help, but has worked for me in the past.

Marton · #6 10-06-2009, 06:43 PM

Thanks for the help guys, I will try to shield the bass.

By the way, my bass is a 2007, and the interior seems to be shielded (strange black paint) but I really don't know. I have another deluxe of the same year with a replaced preamp that don't do this, so it's probably the preamp. Anyways, I wanted to try and Aguilar in it, I guess.

I also checked for the pan, and the most noisy setting seems to be in the middle, pretty strange.

Marton · #7 10-06-2009, 08:18 PM

I've done my homeworks and shielded the bass cavities, the hum is still present. Nobody have another idea before I change the preamp ? If so, Aggie OBP-3 seems a great choice ?

Kubs · #8 10-07-2009, 01:22 AM

I think second version of Fender preamp in Deluxe series is some kind of lemon.....

I had two MIM Deluxes with older preamp(one with noiseless, one with Suhr pickups), and USA Dlx. FMT wit newer preamp and SCN pickups.

MIMs with older were dead quiet, FMT was noisy as hell - static noise, of course there was no hum but static noise is even worse than hum of single coils....every time I touched strings it clicked.....not nice thing for such bass....