Elite jazz noise

[Cuda]

First outing for a new Fender Elite jazz, some IEM buzz passive but not active , straight from the bass to passive cheap-o house DI to the board.Not bad but weird as my other deluxe magnifies the buzz when going active?Now keep in mind I was standing in front of a 20 foot Christmas tree , lit up with hundreds of lights.I just stayed active and all was good ,just wondering .

 

[Geri O]

First outing for a new Fender Elite jazz, some IEM buzz passive but not active , straight from the bass to passive cheap-o house DI to the board.Not bad but weird as my other deluxe magnifies the buzz when going active?Now keep in mind I was standing in front of a 20 foot Christmas tree , lit up with hundreds of lights.I just stayed active and all was good ,just wondering .

I’ve written about this before when I had an Elite, and I’m just now seeing this (I’m searching for threads on the new Stingrays).

The otherwise really nice Elite does suffer from the typical lousy shielding job by Fender. Even with the Noiseless 4 pickups, i was still getting some noise here and there that shouldn’t be happening.

I would up using copper foil tape and completely sheilded the control cavity, under the pick guard in the pickup area, anywhere there was wiring, even the little wire tunnel leading to the bridge pup. And I soldered together all the pieces of copper tape in one little area where they overlapped. This made the bass MUCH quieter.

The Christmas tree with all the lights (probably LED) is a fairly tough noise test for a bass.

 

[Cuda]

Thanks for the reply, I love the action and the neck feel on this bass and so with your advice I will shield it. The tones when active are great but my sound man didn't, like the buzz before I went active. I'll try it without the Christmas tree this week and see how it goes. But then I,ll get busy and put the copper to it.

 

[Geri O]

Thanks for the reply, I love the action and the neck feel on this bass and so with your advice I will shield it. The tones when active are great but my sound man didn't, like the buzz before I went active. I'll try it without the Christmas tree this week and see how it goes. But then I,ll get busy and put the copper to it.

Keep in mind, you’ll probably void the warranty doing so. Between the shielding, changing the pups, and changing the preamp, and a Hipshot D Tuner, I’m sure I blew my warranty way out of the water on all of it.

Also, good copper (or shielding) paint will be easier to apply and is just as effective. I just didn’t have the time to allow for the paint to dry. I needed to add the shielding foil, put things back together, and get back up and running in an evening.