Did Fender fix the hum issue on the new Am Dlx Jazzes? - Page 3

JC_Bass64 · #41 09-17-2012, 09:26 PM

I have a 2011 American Deluxe Jazz 5 (Natural finish) I bought it in May 2011 & I think my bass was made in March or April 2011 ( my case has a tag with a production date of April 2011) anyway for the most part my bass is quiet.....I mainly use it in passive mode & it's silent & when in active made I get a bit of a buzz but nothing serious.......I love this bass!! Fender hit a home run with the current line of American Deluxes.

If anyone would like more info or feedback regarding this problem with the N3 pickups
then go to the Fender Lounge forum on Fenders website.....this topic has been discussed there in great detail..........

Testing123 · #42 09-18-2012, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC_Bass64

If anyone would like more info or feedback regarding this problem with the N3 pickups then go to the Fender Lounge forum on Fenders website.....this topic has been discussed there in great detail..........

Are you referring to this thread: http://www.fender.com/community/foru...lit=N3+pickups ???

eriky4003 · #43 09-18-2012, 08:05 AM

Folks,
If you are experiencing a 60Hz hum (a 'b' note hum), you may want to try the ElectroHarmonix Hum Debugger which I've used successfully with a Yamaha active 5-string. It'll run you about $120 but you won't have to go inside the electronics.

rbolanos · #44 12-23-2012, 10:13 AM

just got mine from Long and Mcquade in canada, and the bass hums with both pick ups on. (50/50). when soloed on neck pick up, the hum goes away, if I solo the bridge pick up its worst???
definetely some issues on mine..unfortunately I'll have to return it.
I am so glad that some of the basses don't hava this issue, as I love the sound!! it would be a dream if it didn't have any hum, or at least reduced hum.

Sparkdog · #45 12-23-2012, 10:26 AM

I went through a long and frustrating ordeal trying to sort out the hum in my 2012 Am Dlx Precision, which I've posted about if you want to read it, but the bottom line is that it could NOT be fixed without replacing the pickups with fully shielded ones. The N3 pickups allows interference into the electronics and the preamp amplifies that to the point of being unusable in many venues I played.

I went through the whole process of contacting Fender, getting all kinds of conflicting info, going to a tech they recommended, and he is the one who told me it couldn't be fixed without changing pickups.

So we're talking about a $1600 bass that has to get the pickups replaced to be a reliable gigging instrument. IMO Fender should have issued a recall for all of these basses and made them right, the fact that they continue to sell them without owning up to this problem is really crazy to me.

I ended up dumping mine. It was a great bass in every other way, but the electronics made it useless for me and the idea of spending hundreds more to make it work just wasn't worth it to me.

End of rant...maybe it will save some other TB'er a lot of money and aggravation.

Sparkdog · #46 12-23-2012, 10:32 AM

It's not dude...do the research.

Or just buy one, you'll find out what BS is. Selling defective products. That's BS.

DiabolusInMusic · #47 12-23-2012, 10:53 AM

Ok, so there is no absolutely no mystery as to what is going on with any of your basses in regards to hum. You are experiencing outside electrical interference due to a lack of proper shielding, a common problem with Fender.

If you touch metal/strings/bridge and the noise gets louder you have a shielding issue, if you touch the metal/strings/bridge and the noise goes away it is a grounding issue.

Fender used to do nothing, now they do a quick splash of conductive paint, however they do a sloppy attempt at it, they also leave the actual pickups untouched.

Take some copper foil tape (you can source it locally from stained glass supply shops) line the control and pickup cavity, the back of pickguard if necessary and line the pickup covers themselves. Make sure the cavity is completely covered right up over the screw holes, that way the screw pierces both sides of the tape and makes great contact. You will also want to ensure you solder a wire from the pickup cover shielding to the control (or pickup) cavity copper lining. For this last step I like to wrap my pickup shielding around to the outer side of the cover so I can solder to the side of it. Ensure you wrap the pickups with electrical tape, you don't want to make contact with the shielding.

This will remove all hum from the bass, if there is any left it will be negligible. The hum left is also probably coming from the amp picking up dirty power more so than the bass picking up something else.

I have shielded many basses, precision and jazz, this will remove the issue with complete certainty. Contrary to what Fender and their tech's tell you the hum is an issue and can be corrected. I am amazed by the amount of techs that have told me you cannot remove hum (or static pops from certain basses) that it is just a design flaw you have to live with. It isn't and hum should all be removed.

If anybody needs any further assistance PM me I will be glad to help. There are already satisfactory guides on TB, I do have at least one on hand I can gladly share if you want. (the guide is for a Marcus Miller Jazz)

Pet Sounds · #48 12-23-2012, 01:09 PM

My Fender Select P-Bass, with a price tag north of $2K, hummed like a hornet until the dealer installed copper shielding. I generally like Fender basses, but this seemed like a ridiculous lapse.

73jbass · #49 12-23-2012, 01:13 PM

I got a new white AMD Jazz 5 in August,and its dead quiet. No hum at all.

pmcd · #50 12-23-2012, 02:58 PM

I bought a brand new 2011 Am Deluxe V. Although I wasn't in love with the pickups and pre, I bought it mostly based on how it sounded and felt acoustically. The bass was indeed noisy. The only "silent" sound that could be had was the neck pickup soloed in passive mode.

I decided since it was new and under warranty, I'd go ahead and contact Fender and see what they could do. They clearly were aware of the issue when I spoke to them. They hooked me up with a local repair guy, whom I knew.

Long story short, they tried 2 sets of new pickups, a new preamp,shielding, and the bass STILL WAS NOT SILENT. In the end, Fenders answer was to send out a COMPLETELY NEW 2012 BASS. Guess what. SAME PROBLEM!

Fender clearly has some issues with these new Deluxe basses, though they wouldn't come right out and say that they COULD NOT fix the problem. I like the bass enough that I'm gutting it and putting a different set of pickups in with no preamp(my preference anyway).

john nam · #51 12-23-2012, 03:03 PM

that's why I went through 3 deluxes and settled on the American standard jazz 5 and it's the best jazz I've owned.

DiabolusInMusic · #52 12-24-2012, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmcd

I bought a brand new 2011 Am Deluxe V. Although I wasn't in love with the pickups and pre, I bought it mostly based on how it sounded and felt acoustically. The bass was indeed noisy. The only "silent" sound that could be had was the neck pickup soloed in passive mode.

I decided since it was new and under warranty, I'd go ahead and contact Fender and see what they could do. They clearly were aware of the issue when I spoke to them. They hooked me up with a local repair guy, whom I knew.

Long story short, they tried 2 sets of new pickups, a new preamp,shielding, and the bass STILL WAS NOT SILENT. In the end, Fenders answer was to send out a COMPLETELY NEW 2012 BASS. Guess what. SAME PROBLEM!

Fender clearly has some issues with these new Deluxe basses, though they wouldn't come right out and say that they COULD NOT fix the problem. I like the bass enough that I'm gutting it and putting a different set of pickups in with no preamp(my preference anyway).

Ask your tech if he was shielding the actual pickup covers and grounding them, most people do not do this step and it is the most essential on problematic basses.

I have yet to see a bass I couldn't remove hum from and I don't expect to ever see one that I cannot remove the hum from (short of faulty electronics)

Kmonk · #53 12-24-2012, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by watchmoresuns

my 2012 black am. deluxe jazz is silent with the N3 pick-ups, both active and passive.

I find this interesting because I have a 2011 MIA Jazz Deluxe with N3 pick-ups that is very noisy in active mode when playing through my practice amp but fairly quiet when playing through my stage rig.

masque · #54 02-25-2013, 09:41 AM

wow this thread has me all sorts of worried. about a week ago I bought a deluxe precision that I love everything about it except the noise and I dont want to send it back because of all the other things I love about it. it seems to me that there is a lot of controversy on whether shielding this bass will actually get rid of the problem......i'm no expert on hum but the issue for my bass is a buzz and popping that goes thru the system at all times with the volume up.....touching the bridge, removing your hands from the strings or touching the pickups makes zero difference in the hum and buzzing and popping.

john nam · #55 02-25-2013, 10:19 AM

the popping might indicate that it's a bad instrument cable, but if not, it's just the fender electronics. IMO, in order to completely get rid of all of the noise, you have to convert it into a passive bass.

btw, the passive 2012 am std jazz 5 is lighter (no preamp), has amazing playability with absolutely no buzzing.

masque · #56 02-25-2013, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john nam

the popping might indicate that it's a bad instrument cable, but if not, it's just the fender electronics. IMO, in order to completely get rid of all of the noise, you have to convert it into a passive bass.

btw, the passive 2012 am std jazz 5 is lighter (no preamp), has amazing playability with absolutely no buzzing.

nah the cables are all good......i've used other instruments thru the same setup with no buzzing or popping at all.....i'm not too keen on converting it to a passive system since I bought it to have the studio flexibility of being able to switch between passive and active with this bass. so i'm at a bit of a loss as to what I am going to do.

english4bw · #57 02-27-2013, 02:47 PM

I just had my luthier do the shielding/signal wire ground fix on my 2009 Fender ADJ-V. Needless to say it's all good now, but only after much consternation and effort on my part to deal with the issue.

The noise from this bass was completely unacceptable, especially since the pups are N3s which are supposed to be noiseless technology, coupled with the fact that the active system should be eliminating any hum or buzz. For wires to be incorrectly grounded in a bass at this price level is totally ridiculous. Fender should be ashamed.

Very disappointed in Fender's QA/QC dept. on this one.

alexgeddy · #58 02-27-2013, 03:14 PM

Hi,
I have a fender 2010 model jazz bass. Bought it brand new off the truck at the store.. After a few jobs where I couldn't play the bass and talking to fender (who at the time were of no help) I put the bass in it's case and left it till now.. I called fender the other day and talked to Josh in customer relations.. he was very aware of the problem... He advised me to take it to a Fender master repair center and have them refer to the "Shielding Note" If that doesn't fix it they will replace the pickups and all the electronics with a newer set of pickups. I'm taking mine to the repair center tomorrow and post when I get it back...

Bill

Sparkdog · #59 02-27-2013, 04:01 PM

"Fender should be ashamed.

Very disappointed in Fender's QA/QC dept. on this one."

I agree 100%. That a company of Fender's stature in the industry would allow this to go on this long is really nuts. They should have done a mass recall of these instruments and made them right for their customers. We're not talking about a cheap imported product here, this is a bass that is supposedly their top of the line and sells for north of $1500.

I know a number of TB'rs have posted and said "mine is dead silent". Great, I'm glad you didn't get a lemon and a king sized hassle, but tons of folks did and Fender is very aware of the issue. I guess they will continue to deal with unhappy customers one at a time and put a band-aid on the problem. I'm sure that's the cost effective approach, but that doesn't make it right. They have the resources to do this right.

I predict this will ultimately be Fender's version of Toyota and their defective brakes.

My Am Dlx is long gone so it's not my problem any more, but I'm a lifelong Fender guy and the way they are handling this pisses me off.

OK, rant over!

english4bw · #60 02-27-2013, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparkdog

"Fender should be ashamed.

Very disappointed in Fender's QA/QC dept. on this one."

I agree 100%. That a company of Fender's stature in the industry would allow this to go on this long is really nuts. They should have done a mass recall of these instruments and made them right for their customers. We're not talking about a cheap imported product here, this is a bass that is supposedly their top of the line and sells for north of $1500.

I know a number of TB'rs have posted and said "mine is dead silent". Great, I'm glad you didn't get a lemon and a king sized hassle, but tons of folks did and Fender is very aware of the issue. I guess they will continue to deal with unhappy customers one at a time and put a band-aid on the problem. I'm sure that's the cost effective approach, but that doesn't make it right. They have the resources to do this right.

I predict this will ultimately be Fender's version of Toyota and their defective brakes.

My Am Dlx is long gone so it's not my problem any more, but I'm a lifelong Fender guy and the way they are handling this pisses me off.

OK, rant over!

Yep. I totally agree. I feel exactly the same way.

2 words come to mind... LAKLAND

and

SADOWSKY.

My next Jazz or Precision will NOT be a Fender.
They have lost my business.