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1996 Fender American Precision Deluxe Upgrades

genmed42

genmed42

Dec 31, 2011
203
15
#1
So, I have a 1996 Fender Am Deluxe Pbass in Burgundy/Transparent wine Red that’s in excellent to minty condition, the only thing I’ve ever upgraded to it was a badass bridge, I really love this bass she’s a beauty and I don’t want to get rid of it so I’d like to invest and upgrade on it with some much improved modern technology, what I’m not too crazy about anymore is the old original pickups, they’re not terrible just after playing a newer Elite I could hear the difference, the sound of the bass is decent it’s just not on par with the pups and electronics of the newer Basses such as the Elite.
So my question is should I change the pickups only and keep the original fender Deluxe Preamp or replace all the electronics pups and Preamp? Or Will simply only changing the Pups make that much of a difference?
Any suggestions/advice on which Pickups I should go with and or what preamp?
I’ve been looking at Noiseless Gen 4 Jazz pups also Looking at Fender Custom shop 60’s Jazz pups, and even some other brands like Aguilar 60’s Jazz, Lindy Fralin, Bartolini, And also if you’ve been down this Road with this same bass your results positive or negative, thanks in advance for all your input that’s much Appreciated.
 
#5
I've upgraded dozens of the American Deluxe basses of various types over the years and let me tell you:
From my experience, the preamp is the weak link. Once you get rid of it, a whole world of sound opens up.

Years and years ago, I would pick up one of the older, Suhr-pickup equipped Dlx J basses and thump on it for a minute, finding that it had a really muffled, weak, choked sound to it. I blamed it on the pickups at the time.
But I eventually had an Am Dlx J with a Sadowsky preamp in it. Not only did that sound amazing, but it let me hear those pickups by themselves when bypassed. And HOLY CRAP! Those pickups sound absolutely amazing. The difference was very easy to hear immediately.

I've swapped in East preamps, Sadowsky, Aguilar, Nordstrand, pretty much any other preamp besides the traditional Fender one (or Bartolini) and the result was always a vast improvement.
So if you ask me, change the preamp first. The pickups may be fine.
 
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#6
genmed42 said:
So, I have a 1996 Fender Am Deluxe Pbass in Burgundy/Transparent wine Red that’s in excellent to minty condition, the only thing I’ve ever upgraded to it was a badass bridge
Click to expand...
that's the one thing i would have left alone!

the stock string-through body bridge is basically perfect, low mass but rock-solid and adjustable string spacing.

are the keys lightweight, or the heavy solid chrome boat anchors the american standards of that era came with? if the latter then light weight keys are a big improvement in how it hangs on a strap.

i would indeed consider a pickup and preamp upgrade; does it have the big single pole pickups or the "noiseless" labeled ones?
 
#7
rojo412 said:
I've upgraded dozens of the American Deluxe basses of various types over the years and let me tell you:
From my experience, the preamp is the weak link. Once you get rid of it, a whole world of sound opens up.

Years and years ago, I would pick up one of the older, Suhr-pickup equipped Dlx J basses and thump on it for a minute, finding that it had a really muffled, weak, choked sound to it. I blamed it on the pickups at the time.
But I eventually had an Am Dlx J with a Sadowsky preamp in it. Not only did that sound amazing, but it let me hear those pickups by themselves when bypassed. And HOLY CRAP! Those pickups sound absolutely amazing. The difference was very easy to hear immediately.

I've swapped in East preamps, Sadowsky, Aguilar, Nordstrand, pretty much any other preamp besides the traditional Fender one (or Bartolini) and the result was always a vast improvement.
So if you ask me, change the preamp first. The pickups may be fine.
Click to expand...

+1
I love my Elite Precision but I never play it with the Fender preamp. The bass sounds great passive but when I turn on the preamp it just sounds way too bright and harsh. The fact that I love the sound of the bass passive tells me that the pickups probably aren't the problem.
I just ordered a Nordstrand 3B-4a "2-Pickup 4-Knob 3-Band Vol/Vol Stack - Tone P/P A/P - Mid P/P - Treb/Bass Stack" to replace the Fender pre. My hope is that the Nordstrand, which a passive tone control, will enable me to warm it up in the active mode.
 
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#8
JOME77 said:
+1
I love my Elite Precision but I never play it with the Fender preamp. The bass sounds great passive but when I turn on the preamp it just sounds way too bright and harsh. The fact that I love the sound of the bass passive tells me that the pickups probably aren't the problem.
I just ordered a Nordstrand 3B-4a "2-Pickup 4-Knob 3-Band Vol/Vol Stack - Tone P/P A/P - Mid P/P - Treb/Bass Stack" to replace the Fender pre. My hope is that the Nordstrand, which a passive tone control, will enable me to warm it up in the active mode.
Click to expand...

Update. The Nordstrand preamp arrived the day after Christmas and I installed it last night.
I could not be more pleased with the sound and versatility of the preamp! It totally transformed the active sound of the Fender. Very nice smooth lows and glassy highs. Much more modern sounding but I can get a nice vintage sound with either the passive mode or using the passive tone control to roll of some of the highs (in the active mode).
I totally recommend changing out the Fender preamp for the Nordstrand. It really works well with the Noiseless Fender pickups too. Not sure about the Precision Deluxe but on the Elite I had to purchase new stacked knobs for the concentric pots. The Fenders would not work (hole too small).
 
#10
walterw said:
that's the one thing i would have left alone!

the stock string-through body bridge is basically perfect, low mass but rock-solid and adjustable string spacing.

are the keys lightweight, or the heavy solid chrome boat anchors the american standards of that era came with? if the latter then light weight keys are a big improvement in how it hangs on a strap.

i would indeed consider a pickup and preamp upgrade; does it have the big single pole pickups or the "noiseless" labeled ones?
Click to expand...
They are not noiseless,rather the original 95/96 pickups that came with the deluxe
 
#11
rojo412 said:
I've upgraded dozens of the American Deluxe basses of various types over the years and let me tell you:
From my experience, the preamp is the weak link. Once you get rid of it, a whole world of sound opens up.

Years and years ago, I would pick up one of the older, Suhr-pickup equipped Dlx J basses and thump on it for a minute, finding that it had a really muffled, weak, choked sound to it. I blamed it on the pickups at the time.
But I eventually had an Am Dlx J with a Sadowsky preamp in it. Not only did that sound amazing, but it let me hear those pickups by themselves when bypassed. And HOLY CRAP! Those pickups sound absolutely amazing. The difference was very easy to hear immediately.

I've swapped in East preamps, Sadowsky, Aguilar, Nordstrand, pretty much any other preamp besides the traditional Fender one (or Bartolini) and the result was always a vast improvement.
So if you ask me, change the preamp first. The pickups may be fine.
Click to expand...
I appreciate all the info, this Is what I was looking for. I’ll check out some of these preamp manufacturers you mentioned
 
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#12
This era was a low point as far as Fender electronics were concerned. I had a 1999 Jazz Bass Deluxe and both, the preamp and the Noiseless pickups were horrendous. I eventually got a pair of Lindy Frailin pickups, ditched the preamp and wired everything passive (that left a dummy knob but no big deal).
The issue since pickups AND preamp are both bad is that it represents a large spending when you want to replace them. Also, in a PJ config, both pickups do not cancel the hum when working together the way Jazz Bass pickups do. and the bridge pickup can bring a good amount of noise as soon as you roll off the PBass pickup. For this reason, it is preferable to choose a noiseless/split-coil model than a single coil for the bridge.
Whatever you do, I recommend to buy a set meant to be used together as PJ pickups. Otherwise it might get unpleasantly unbalanced with the PBass pickup much louder than the bridge pickup.
 

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