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Deluxe Jazz Bass Upgrades

deluxejusa

deluxejusa

Jan 30, 2012
58
54
#1
I currently have a 2000 4 string American Deluxe Jazz that to me is missing a lot of tone. I have to leave the pickup blend centered and mess with the onboard eq to get an OK tone. Neither pickup sounds good alone or even panned slightly to the front or back. I'm wondering if it is the pickups or the active electronics. Pickups are the stock Fender noiseless single coils. I also have a '97 Deluxe Jazz that has the Suhr pickups in it and that thing has tones of tonal variation. Looking for recommendations for pickups or preamps that would get this bass sounded as it should. Thanks.
 
#2
I have two Deluxe Suhr pick-up Jazzes and they also have tons of tones. Don't know about American with newer pickups but I have heard they are great ( Should be for a 1500.00 bass) Sounds, to me, like there might be a problem with the pre-amp.
 
#3
I have exactly the same bass as you, but overall I think I liked the tone more than it sounds like you do. The bridge pickup sounded just okay, but the neck pickup sounded great and I favored that one most of the time.

A couple of years back I upgraded the pups to Nordstrand NJ4SEs, and they sound fantastic. A bit more recently I swaped in an Audere preamp and, IMO, YMMV, etc., this bass is just perfect. Sound great and is very flexible.
 
#4
I have an earlier one, about 1997. Mine did not say Noiseless on the pickup cover. I put Duncan Classic Jazz (nothing special) pickups in it and the thing woke up nicely. The original pickups always sounded out of balance. It is by far my favorite bass to this day. With that preamp I can get almost any tone I have ever needed. I love it!

Not sure if that helps
 
#6
Any pickup set you would recommend? I was looking at the DiMarzio DP149 ultra jazz set. I use this bass for mostly rock and some funk. I'm not looking to break the bank, would like to keep it around or under $100.
 

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